BH 100: Letting Go

This feature originally appeared in the November 19, 2016 issue of BloodHorse.

Dispersals of private property are a fact of life. Estates need to be settled and finalized, and the vagaries of business sometime require people to change their course of direction. In the Thoroughbred breeding business, dispersals of major breeders and/or owners allow others to purchase bloodlines and gain entry to families that they otherwise might never get in on.

Dispersals are also history markers for the sport. Edward L. Bowen, during his term as editor of The Blood-Horse, wrote about the dispersal of Nelson Bunker Hunt in January 1988: “Hunt’s enterprise roamed racing’s major continents. He bred and raced winners of classics, great staying races, ordinary races, and three times he has been voted an Eclipse Award as outstanding breeder. The profile of his dispersal can stand as a biography of the man’s career in Thoroughbred racing and breeding.”

BloodHorse has been there to chronicle the top dispersals of the last 100 years, and in this week’s issue Tom Hall takes a look at the success others have had with horses picked up during the complete dispersal of Edward “Ned” Evans in 2011 (see page 24), following the  Dec. 31, 2010, death of the breeder of more than 100 stakes winners.

The Evans dispersal was one of the most important because of the bloodlines that suddenly became available on the open market and its value. Grossing more than $62 million during a time the country was in recession is a testament to the quality offered.

Prior to the disbanding of Evans’ bloodstock, sales held to disperse the Thoroughbred holdings of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor Hardin’s Newstead Farm in 1985; Tartan Farm’s dispersal of 1987; Hunt’s and Eugene V. Klein’s dispersals in 1988 and 1989, respectively; and the dispersal of William T. Young’s Overbrook Farm in 2009-10 were the benchmarks for horse power and financial heft.

The Newstead Farm dispersal, held at Fasig-Tipton in November 1985, came at a time when the market was at a peak, as witnessed by Miss Oceana, in foal to Northern Dancer, selling for $7 million.

Editor Kent Hollingsworth was on target with his analysis:

“Complete dispersals are different from your usual fall breeding stock auctions. They attract buyers ready to pay more than they would for the same stock offered in an ordinary auction, and buyers are looking for the grand producer and her progeny that would not be placed on the market but for a complete dispersal.

“Dispersal prices consequently are high, higher than in the current market. It is difficult, however, to compare the dispersal of the Newstead Farm horses Nov. 10, in a money way, with the earlier important dispersals: The L.B. Mayer dispersal of 1947-50, when 248 head sold for $4,479,650, averaging $18,063; the William Woodward Jr. dispersal of 1955-56, when 59 head sold for $2,475,600, averaging $41,959; the William du Pont Jr. dispersal of 1966, when 51 head sold for $2,401,300, averaging $47,084; the George Widener dispersal of 1972, when 69 head sold for $6,643,700, averaging $96,286.

“These dispersals provided an opportunity to buy from a successful owner/breeder a non-cull, something he would have preferred not to sell—a Busher, Honeymoon, Nashua, Bug Brush, Arts and Letters, or What a Treat.”

Keeneland held a record dispersal in 1964 for the mares owned by John W. Hanes and Leslie Combs II. The previous year Hanes announced that he “wished to reduce his responsibilities and the size of his commercial breeding operation.”

In the first phase of the sale, 26 mares sold for $1,056,000—a Keeneland mark for a dispersal, with a record price of $177,000 for the 7-year-old mare La Dauphine, in foal to Bold Ruler, selling to Charles Wacker.

Many others have followed, and many more will come. While bittersweet on the selling end as it brings one racing operation to a close, it provides opportunities to the next generation.

Read more BloodHorse 100 features here.