Thoroughbred valuation
{{Short description|Determining the value of a horse}}
{{Globalize|1=article|2=United States|date=September 2024}}
Thoroughbred valuation is the art of determining the value or potential value of a Thoroughbred horse, particularly of race horses.
Prices on Thoroughbreds vary greatly, depending on age, pedigree, conformation, and other market factors.{{cite web |url=http://extension.umd.edu/publications/PDFs/FS665.pdf |title=Price Factors and Sales Trends |accessdate=2008-06-05 |work=Maryland Cooperative Extension |author=Commer, Malcolm |publisher=University of Maryland |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081031105044/http://extension.umd.edu/publications/PDFs/FS665.pdf |archive-date=2008-10-31 }} In 2007, Keeneland Sales, a United States–based sales company, sold 9,124 horses at auction, with a total value of $814,401,000, which gives an average price of $89,259.{{cite web|url=http://ww2.keeneland.com/sales/lists/copy/recap.aspx|title=Yearly Sales Recap|accessdate=2008-06-05|author=Keeneland Sales|work=Keeneland Sales Website|publisher=Keeneland Sales|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513173403/http://ww2.keeneland.com/sales/lists/copy/recap.aspx|archive-date=2008-05-13}} As a whole for the United States in 2007, The Jockey Club auction statistics indicate that the average weanling sold for $44,407, the average yearling sold for $55,300, average sale price for two-year-olds was $61,843, broodmares averaged $70,150, and horses over two and broodmare prospects sold for an average of $53,243.{{cite web |url=http://www.jockeyclub.com/factbook.asp?section=13 |title=2007 Auction Statistics |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=The Jockey Club |work=The Jockey Club Factbook |publisher=The Jockey Club}} For Europe, the July 2007 Tattersall's Sale sold 593 horses at auction, with a total for the sale of 10,951,300 guineas,Traditionally, the obsolete guinea, £1.05, formerly 21 shillings, is retained as the unit of account for these sales. for an average of 18,468 guineas.{{cite web |url=http://www.tattersalls.com/ |title=Tattersall's (Select Sales & Results, then July) |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=Tattersalls |work= Tattersall's Website |publisher=Tattersall's }} Doncaster Bloodstock Sales, another British sales firm, in 2007 sold 2,248 horses for a total value of 43,033,881 guineas, making an average of 15,110 guineas per horse.{{cite web |url=http://www.dbsauctions.com/news/SalesStatistics.htm |title=Sales Statistics |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=Doncaster Bloodstock Sales |work= Doncaster Bloodstock Sales Website |publisher= Doncaster Bloodstock Sales |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080317143123/http://www.dbsauctions.com/news/SalesStatistics.htm |archive-date = 2008-03-17}}
Averages, however, can be deceiving. For example, at the 2007 Fall Yearling sale at Keeneland, 3,799 young horses sold for a total of $385,018,600, for an average of $101,347 per horse. However, that average sales price reflected a variation that included at least 19 horses that sold for only $1,000 each and 34 that sold for over $1,000,000 apiece.{{cite web |url=http://ww2.keeneland.com/sales/lists/sale/results.aspx?SaleId=200802 |title=Keeneland September 2007 Yearling Sale Results |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=Keeneland Sales |work=Keeneland Sales Website |publisher=Keeneland Sales |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125221957/http://ww2.keeneland.com/sales/lists/sale/results.aspx?SaleId=200802 |archive-date=2008-01-25 }}
The value of a Thoroughbred may be influenced by the purse money it wins. In 2007, Thoroughbred racehorses earned a total of $1,217,854,602 in all placings, an average earnings per starter of $16,924.{{cite web |url=http://www.jockeyclub.com/factbook.asp?section=9 |title=2007 Racing Statistics |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=The Jockey Club |work=The Jockey Club Factbook |publisher=The Jockey Club}} In addition, the track record of a race horse may influence its future value as a breeding animal. Stud fees for stallions that enter breeding can range from $2,500 to $300,000 per mare in the United States,{{cite web |url=http://breeding.bloodhorse.com/sirelists/national08/leading_sire.asp |title=2008 Leading Sires |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=Blood-horse Magazine |author-link=The Blood-Horse magazine |work=Blood-horse Website |publisher=Blood-horse |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613203823/http://breeding.bloodhorse.com/sirelists/national08/leading_sire.asp |archive-date=2008-06-13 }} and from £2000 pounds{{cite web |url=http://www.oracle.racingadmin.co.uk/pls/production/osts201 |title= Stud Advertisement for Desideratum |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=Weatherby's |work=Weatherby's Online Stallion Book |publisher=Weatherby's}} to £75,000 or more in Britain.{{cite web |url=http://www.oracle.racingadmin.co.uk/pls/production/osts201 |title= Stud Advertisement for Dansili |accessdate=2008-06-05 |author=Weatherby's |work=Weatherby's Online Stallion Book |publisher=Weatherby's}}
Between 1974 and 1988, yearlings sired by Northern Dancer led the Keeneland July Selected Yearling Sale by average price 12 times. In the 1983 Keeneland Sales horse auction, one of Northern Dancer's colts, eventually named Snaafi Dancer, became the first yearling to sell for $10 million at auction. In 1984 12 yearlings by Northern Dancer sold for a sale-record average price of $3,446.666.{{cite web|url=http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/editorial/journal/article.cgi?id=16863|publisher=Bloodstock Research Information Services |accessdate=December 28, 2009|work=Bloodstock Journal|title= Keeneland November to feature Windfields Farm, Overbrook dispersals |author=Staff}} In the 1980s, Northern Dancer's stud fee reached $1 million, an amount four to five times other stallions and a record that still stands in 2009.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/17/sports/horse-racing-northern-dancer-one-of-racing-s-great-sires-is-dead.html|author=Thomas, Robert|title= Northern Dancer, One of Racing's Great Sires, Is Dead |work=New York Times|date=1990-11-17 |accessdate=2014-09-23}}
The highest price paid at auction for a Thoroughbred was set in 2006 at $16,000,000 for a two-year-old colt named The Green Monkey,{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/43609/the-green-monkey-retired|title= The Green Monkey Retired|author=Biles, Deirdre |date=February 13, 2008 |accessdate=December 19, 2009 |publisher=Bloodhorse.com}} who was a descendant of Northern Dancer. Record prices at auction often grab headlines, though they do not necessarily reflect the animal's future success; in the case of The Green Monkey, injuries limited him to only three career starts before being retired to stud in 2008, and he never won a race.
Most expensive Thoroughbred yearlings in history sold at auction
For a number of years, in the 1970s and 1980s, horses sired by Northern Dancer (1961–1990) held the top ten price records, with 174 Northern Dancer offspring selling for a total $160 million at the Keeneland Sales over 22 years. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association calls him "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history."{{cite web |url=http://www.ntra.com/stats_bios.aspx?id=3407 |title=Windfields Farm - NTRA |accessdate=2014-09-24 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105144626/http://ntra.com/stats_bios.aspx?id=3407 |archive-date=2010-01-05 }} At the time of his 1990 death, his descendants had won more than 1,000 stakes races. {{As of|2020}}, twenty-seven of the thirty-three horses on this list were from the Northern Dancer sire line.
The most recent common ancestor in the sire line of all thirty-three horses on this list is Phalaris, all via Pharos except two—Meydan City and King's Consul—via Sickle.
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Thoroughbreds yearling fillies which sold for more than $7.5 million (inflation adjusted), according to The Blood-Horse | ||||||||
| scope="col" | Horse
! scope="col" | Foaled ! scope="col" | Sire ! scope="col" | Dam ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Breeder ! scope="col" | Year sold ! scope="col" | Nominal price ! scope="col" | Real price (in {{Inflation-year|US}} US$) ! scope="col" class="unsortable" | Buyer | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altruiste | 1999 | Diesis | Allegretta | Haras d'Etreham | 2000 | $8.2 million | ${{Inflation|US|8.158797|2000|r=1}} million | Suprina |
| America's Joy | 2018 | American Pharoah | Leslie's Lady | Clarkland Farm | 2019 | $8.2 million | ${{Inflation|US|8.2|2019|r=1}} million | Whisper Hill Farm |
| Alchaasibiyeh | 1983 | Seattle Slew | Fine Prospect | Spendthrift Farm | 1984 | $3.75 million | ${{Inflation|US|3.75|1984|r=1}} million | Sheikh Mohammed |