Author
A Kansas native who has worked in racing journalism since 1974, he is the co-founder of the newsletter Racing Update, and served as the paper's editor until 1993, when he moved to Scotland. Oppenheim developed a reputation as an independent observer of the sales scene in the early 1980's, and he and the staff of Racing Update originated a number of methods of stallion and sales analysis which have been adopted throughout the industry. For the past 10 years he has written a weekly column for TDN, as well as reporting from the major sales. He also works as a consultant, primarily for pedigree analysis, in a private capacity.
Gainesway Farm’s Tapit broke Smart Strike’s 2007 record $14.3 million in progeny earnings for a North American sire when Untapable became his fifth Breeders’ Cup winner in seven crops of racing age by winning the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Oct. 31–with two months left in the season. He finishes the season with new-record progeny...
Last week we wrote about four Kentucky stallions we reckon are very good buys for 2015 which breeders might actually still be able to get to. Here are four in Europe. Happy New Year! https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/members/columnist_frame.cfm?id=9719
If you still have mares in Kentucky not booked for 2015, here are four stallions listed at $10,000 and under which look to us like very good buys. All have been advertised lately in TDN, so no guarantees, as usual, that there are still seasons available; but if they are, here are our four ‘best...
The North American and European auction marketplace, which we cover in the Weekly Sales Ticker, bottomed out in 2010, when the sales we covered saw gross receipts of just over $1-billion ($1,033,910,608, to be precise) for 21,577 horses sold, an average of $47,917. Two years later, by the end of 2012, the sales had improved...
When stallion managers set their prices they are trying to appeal to two constituencies: owner-breeders and commercial breeders. Maybe there aren’t as many owner-breeders as there used to be, but they can still have a significant impact on stallion prices and availability. Dubawi, now Darley’s kingpin stallion, is a good, dramatic example of this: the...
With Arqana running today through Tuesday, and Fasig Maryland’s mixed sale on Monday, those sales will wrap up the 2014 North American and European commercial auction marketplace. Whereas last year saw gains in the neighborhood of 30%, this year has been more about consolidation; in most respects, the market is more or less level with...
Over eight days of selling during the last two weeks at Goffs and Tattersalls, a total of 1,521 weanlings have changed hands, for gross revenues of $87,348,860 when converted to U.S. dollars, and an average of $57,428. About 30% of those sales were from the first crops of 19 stallions which each had 10 or...
When stallion managers set their prices they are trying to appeal to two constituencies: owner-breeders and commercial breeders. Maybe there aren’t as many owner-breeders as there used to be, but they can still have a significant impact on stallion prices and availability. Dubawi, now Darley’s kingpin stallion, is a good, dramatic example of this: the...
Sometimes, things just crystallize right before your eyes: the light goes on. Often this unshakeable conviction unravels at the eighth pole, but occasionally inspiration strikes when you’re trying to divine the secrets of the Thoroughbred marketplace. https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/members/columnist_frame.cfm?id=9583
It’s an odd thing about sales companies: they are the first to respond to market changes by altering the formats of their sales, yet, both in America and Europe, they’re fiercely competitive in what they have to say about the sales–or, rather, what they say about their sales. I’m quite grateful because, really, from the...
When we combine Fasig-Tipton’s sale Monday with Keeneland November Book 1 on Tuesday-Wednesday, we’re looking at the three key sessions of the Kentucky November Mixed Sales. There were a total of 647 horses (including late additions) catalogued on the three days, of which 381 (58.9%) were sold. Gross receipts over the three days were $159,530,000,...
There will be a lot of handicapping going on over the next few days, in the first instance for the ultra-competitive Breeders= Cup cards Friday and Saturday. Last year the stars aligned for once and I hit the jackpot wheeling the ill-fated Chriselliam (Iffraaj) in the GI Juvenile Fillies Turf, which ironically (since it was...