Price Surge

To those of us who have seen the rises and falls in Thoroughbred prices for the last 35 years, the 30% surge in prices at the major North American auctions this year is something we think about in context. Example: it’s not just that prices are up, but they are up, at a fairly consistent 30% level, in three major auction trading sectors: yearlings, weanlings (not that surprising, perhaps, given the yearling surge) and– maybe more unexpectedly–broodmares and breeding prospects. Owning broodmares has been a very unpopular pursuit the last few years–a lot of people couldn’t get out of them fast enough–but now the tide has very definitely (and very suddenly) turned. It doesn’t happen in every case that the Thoroughbred market predicts the general economy, but it has to be, in this case. The money is starting to flow again, and the Thoroughbred market this year is a good example of that.