THE sales circuit is something that I fear I will never understand, but the alluring intelligence of agents, and the secret language spoken between its dominant figures, keeps me trying.

The strength of the bloodstock market last year, post-Covid, was surprising and the success stories from pinhookers seemed to be in abundance.

I am still very much an amateur on the scene, but an old boss of mine always said, “the best way to learn is to stick your hand in your pocket.” It was my desperation to learn that sparked my decision to embark in the pinhooking process.

Unrealistic fantasy

It seemed like an unrealistic fantasy at first, or an idea that would remain lingering for years to come. It was only the belief and willingness from some incredible shareholders that allowed me to bring the lingering to life much earlier than I had anticipated.

As much as I love the pinhooking stories where the best in the business are able to turn a €3,000 foal into a €52,000 yearling, like Boyne Bloodstock managed to do this week with their Muhaarar colt (Lot 78), I thought playing it safe was the best way to go. I was petrified to lose my investors.

By safe, I mean we purchased a nice foal by a popular sire with minor physical room for improvement entering adolescence. My main thinking behind the purchase was that I wanted to minimise any possible losses.

I now understand the extent of my naivety and one of the main learning points I am taking away with me from the process is that there is always a large amount of scope for economic loss.

Our purchase came from the Goffs November Foal Sale, the hammer coming down in our favour on a chesnut filly by Dandy Man.

Prepping process

We brought the filly home and gave her a lovely winter and spring out on grass.

When the time came in mid-July to start the prepping process, we had to take a very natural approach due to our limited facilities. Hand-walking was the primary aspect of her exercise regime and we were able to take her up the road once or twice a week to educate her on the lunge.

I have had the pleasure of working for several consignors, yet I can’t even begin to describe the feeling of being in charge of all the decisions. What rugs to put on? When should we step up her exercise? What turnout regime will we do?

It also didn’t help that her companion was a very underdeveloped National Hunt yearling, who made our pinhook look like the epitome of strength and power. Ignorance truly is bliss.

It was when she arrived at the sales that we could make realistic comparisons, and the valued opinions of some of our bloodstock connections made us incredibly nervy.

Not so Dandy

On day one of this week’s sale it appeared to me that the market for Dandy Man progeny was not as strong as we had anticipated. Expecting the worst, I began to plan a pre-training route for our filly.

When she entered the ring on Wednesday morning, the Fairyhouse amphitheatre turned into a ring of remorse and regret, with the only entertainment on offer being my naivety.

Stuck on her reserve price for what felt like eternity, she finally stumbled passed her foal purchase price, much to our relief. She sold for more than we paid, not enough to make an overwhelming profit but enough to break even.

It was also enough for me to fall in love with this sector of the industry even more, and enough for me to learn valuable lessons without being heavily penalised.

I need to continue learning before I can embark on the process again, but I sincerely hope I can repeat the experiment in the near future.