New blood at TBA South Africa

lol @ Rob ha ha

I did meet Tom and Caroline and no doubt the effort they are putting in is superb and full of passion, it won't be easy but I will give them as much support as possible, but meeting all the others in the industry it won't be easy for ABC to get rid of the forum stigma, but will continue the challenge.

what do a forum stigma mean

Harry it is the interpretation the industry has of us that we are negative and anti establishment force, when the forum is read, the bad or negative is highlighted and the positive generally ignored.

Spoke to Tom Yesterday and then received a PM from him today, with some queries re my post etc. To me, here is someone making an effort.
He has my full support !

Louis, he spoke highly of your inputs and every positive can overcome the negatives

I did try to warn the guy.

Rob, nothing that occurs until the reserve price is reached is of ANY consequence.

It is strictly up to the bidder to determine what he or she or it considers to be the price they want to pay.

There are many ways to be taken advantage of at a public auction, but virtually ALL of them can be avoided by dealing with professionals that one can trust and by educating yourself.

Auctions are no place for an amateur and neither is the stock market or a poker game.

It is incumbent upon participants to learn the rules.

My only complaint about the TBA auction is the slow pace with which one of their auctioneers conducted his business, but it seems that he is now out of the picture, so this problem no longer remains.

I very much enjoy going to TBA auctions, both as a seller and as a buyer.

People that complain about TBA auctions are whiners.

Hi Barry, thank you for your honest response. I respect what you have done for SA racing having bought SA horses and exposing them to the international arena. Mike De Ko Kock is given credit as being the best international ambassador to SA racing but I still believe that you were the pioneer in getting SA horses on the international scene. I do not want to "blow smoke up your arse" but I really do respect your comments and at the same time believe that we have to look at ways of improving our auctions and adopting "best practise methodology'.

I have not been involved in the industry for a limited length of time that , but in my limited experience as buyer and seller I have a pretty good understanding of the way TBA conduct their auctions. I have never had the resources of the large buyers at the sales but have been caught up in the false bidding of a horse that has eventually gone unsold as they were unable to identify the buyer.

I agree with Craig Eudey.....the reserve prices should be published prior to the sale. The trainers and bolodstock agents could save so much time not vetting horses that are outside of their price range/mandate.

I believe that breeders should be transparent in the prices they expect and they will attract the right buyers with the right budgets to bid on their horses if they believe the horse is worth the value. If not, negotaiations could take place prior to auction.... a win win for both seller and buyer

Rob, not to belabour (I use your spelling to show how kind I am being!!!) the point, but--again--part of the learning curve is to figure out by experience which of the consignors is there to screw you and which ones are there to conduct legitimate business.

I would say that the majority of serious buyers understand which sellers to avoid. Some consignors work out deals in advance, or will work out ones at the sale, amongst their trainers or bloodstock agents.

Once you learn who they are, you will learn to steer clear of them and concentrate on the stock that you can actually buy.

Yes, there are games being played, but I don't think that the TBA is involved in them. The real trick is to figure out which are the few consignors that use substances to pump up their stock to make them look like superior athletes. You don't want to buy horses from these folks, because when you get these yearlings home, you will think that somebody let the air out of your balloon.

In the vast majority of instances, however, the auction game is strictly played on the up and up. There are a few unethical people that you must learn to identify and hurdle over. Once you accomplish this, you might find as I do that public auctions are as fun as going racing.

Spot on Barry you are a quick learner, however many muggs have been doing it all wrong for years and get caught over and over. Now they cry foul when times are tougher. Horse auctions are no place for the uninitiated, help and guidance is at hand, finding it is just not that easy.

RobP Wrote:

---

>
> I agree with Craig Eudey.....the reserve prices
> should be published prior to the sale. The
> trainers and bolodstock agents could save so much
> time not vetting horses that are outside of their
> price range/mandate.
>

I have never heard anything dumber, but then I will concede I am not the sharpest knife in the draw. Can either you or Craig Eudey tell me where I can see an example of this somewhere? Because I just cannot conceive how it would work on products which are based on a matter of personal skill and judgement from the buyer. This gets brought up time and again, so there must be something to it. I'd like to figure this out once and for all.