The scene from this year's International Horse Sale was slightly subdued. Only 19 out of the 32 horses were up for auction on the day. My first visit to Sha Tin Race course was at 8.30a.m. on sale day to join the auctioneers, breeders, press, members of the HKJC (Hong Kong Jockey Club) and trainers for breakfast. There was lots to take in, being somebody who doesn't know very much about horses apart from being just a punter when it comes to racing. I was taken through the whole process of how the sale of a horse comes about, what breed, what a filly, gelding, colt and yearling means to how the horses are screened before a sale etc. I could hardly concentrate breakfast! One key fact of course, is that only horses bred in the Southern Hemisphere were on sale here today.
John O'Kelly the auctioneer from Tattersalls, apparently a celeb in the international horsing world was there to chair the auction. This man can apparently speak several different languages and can switch easily from English to French to Italian in one sentence! There is a whole load of press about including TV coverage from Australia, New Zealand, Ireland the UK and of course, Hong Kong. Mind boggling how serious this is! I was very lucky enough to be led down to the centre of the action and also shown where the stable lots are - where the horses are placed during the sale. Just like any other auction, instead of having a painting or a sculpture being put on a plinth, the horse is paraded around on a platform in full view so that the buyers can have a good look. Once the bidding starts, it goes very quickly - from HKD 500,000, the price can escalate up to HKD 4.8 million in a matter of minutes! (As illustrated in the photos above)
By the close of auction, the total sales amounted to HKD 70 million (which pleased the organisers given there were so many horses withdrawn), and my hosts were very happy as their horses shown above were sold at a profit. All's well that ends well. Yee haw!!
PS: In case you are still scratching your head about some horsey terms, here they are explained:
Gelding: A castrated male horse
Colt: A young male horse under the age of four.
Yearling: Horse that is a year old
Filly - A young female horse too young to be called a mare
Fact 2 - Reason there appears to be 2 names to a horse lot is because the horse has not been named until it sold to its new owners. The 2 names that appear refer to the mother and father of the horse.
(T-Shirt from Top Shop, Trousers & Scarf from Zara, Necklace & Shoes from Jimmy Choo for H&M)
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