10th January 2022

January blues have set in, and a winner is desperately needed. 28^th December, the date of our last winner seems like a long time ago. We have backed off many horses and will just have them on tick over for the month of January. They won’t lose much fitness but will just get a chance to fill up. 

Lee Mottershead has written about the dangers of buying a racehorse. I share few of his views on most topics involving racing, but he makes some valid points. However, it is not just the vendors who pay commission, purchasers pay commission to the sales companies for the privilege of buying a horse too. We all know that a private examination of eyes, heart and limb can be carried out at HIT sales. We also know that a standing scope can be passed with the vendors permission as well as tendon scans. It is a very different story at store sales where a purchaser will meet much resistance from vendors should they wish to carry out any private examination of any sort. I have never seen or heard of a private wind test being carried out at any sale. The conditions of sale allow a horse to sound like a tractor on the lunge, if the horse doesn’t whistle it is deemed a pass. This is unacceptable, and the conditions of sale need to be changed in order to protect the purchasers. A paralysed larynx is very different to a paralysed vocal cord. Favouring vendors and themselves with the conditions of sale is unacceptable. When I reference sounding like a tractor it may appear extreme, but I have literally been on the receiving end of just that. When I was told it didn’t whistle as was deemed a pass I was horrified. My vet confirmed the horse’s larynx had been paralysed for such a period it was nothing but scar tissue. The sales company weren’t interested in anything other than payment and made it clear I was bound by the conditions of sale. Thankfully, I sorted it with the vendor, and we all moved on. That horse should never have passed a panel of vets but I guess the vets were working within the conditions of sale written by the sales company. To this day, the conditions of sales remain unchanged! A horse sounding like a tractor should not pass any vetting under any circumstances and the panel of vets should have the ability to fail it given they know find well its wind is compromised.   

I still believe that all stores should be scoped and graded with the results published on the vet cert. It will never happen as it is not within the sales company’s interest to have horses that fail to meet the grade that purchasers find acceptable.  

Terrierman and Cruz Control head to Exeter and Immortal Fame and Quick Draw to Doncaster tomorrow. To read my thoughts click here.