Ex-racehorses increasing in value?

Girlracer

Girlracer

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I am aware obviously if you know where to look they're very easily picked up cheap, particularly if they haven't undergone any retraining.

However I have an awful habit of browsing mainstream sites for ex racehorses and have noticed an increase in the value of them. On Horsemart for one with miminal re schooling (basics) they seem to be £2000+ now, and the majority are priced between £1500 and £3000+.

I nearly died this evening looking at the 'source an exracehorse' site, at the direct from the trainer section. Thy are extortionately priced.

I was surprised at friends of mine that purchased a 5yo similarly bred to my boy for £2400 when he had raced, then hacked a bit and that it - so needed all basic schooling.

Mind you still a small portion of what they were worth probably just a few months earlier. You really can buy an exceptionally bred horse for not a lot of money, sad really.
 
The trouble is people are realising that when you buy an ex-racer, especially one which barely touched the track, you're buying a well bred horse who was bred with the goal to perform. And what they need to perform well on the track correlates pretty well with what they need to perform in other disciplines, especially eventing.

Then you also get the rise of horses like nikkimariet's and PS's showing they can be dressage divas. Or Firewell's Jae shwing off what perfect allrounders and how much fun they can be for someone who wants to do a bit of everything on a horse that finds it easy and if they wanted could go further. Or Bubblegum's daughter's horse who events at Intermediate and has been produced solely by a teenager! So people are realising they can get the perfect horse in an ex-racer. So demand goes up, and then so do prices.

And the RoR showing has turned into a real 'thing' that the pros do. Where there are pros hunting for horses, you get the bigger prices.

It's nice, I think. You get less numpties when the horses are priced at £1k+, and the numpties who do buy them are at least able to feed them enough and have them cared for correctly (gross generalisation, I know).
 
Well my friend picked up 6 yr old by a St Ledger winner whos jumping 1.20m, no injuries, illness, very chilled out only minus is he cribs, for only 800 quid. Hes a cracker, floating paces well put to gether, no scars blemishes or bumps.

Personally no matter how well bred I wouldnt pay more than 1k for an exracer considering I could get myself a younster whose never had anything done and produce myself for that ;)
 
I find that attitude bewildering tbh. If you find a smart, well bred youngster for under £1k please send them on to me: when we were looking, quality horses fetched quality prices regardless of what they were.

I don't know if I'm biased as Al has pretty much exclusively ridden TBs, and all have been at least in training (Reg raced a lot, Bee raced once, Smokey was in training, then became a polo pony). And the idea any of them, even Bee with her quirkiness, are/were worth under £1k is laughable.

I agree you can get diamonds in the rough, as with any breed. But they are becoming few and far between as people realise that ex-racers are smart horses, and if sound and will pass a vetting can fetch decent money with just the basics of reschooling.
 
My ex racer originally sold for £3k straight off the track with no re-schooling at all. He was crap at racing, but a nice horse and well bred.
 
I agree with Lolo - it is not like you are rescuing an animal, you are acquiring a well put together quality horse. If I look at mine (who was free as it happens), he has stunning conformation - a top judge who has judged all over the world couldn't find anything he didn't like.

Re going up in prices my other one made around £3k at auction over 10 years ago as an ex racehorse to go eventing. I think the work that ROR has done has opened up a wider opportunity to win prizes particularly aimed at ex racehorses so has probably helped to encourage a bigger audience - the pros have always known they are a source of good horses.
 
My sister first started in ex-racehorses back in the days when they were hated. Coloured horses were the thing then. She used to get them given to her straight from the trainers as on-one else wanted them.

The first one she got was a 3 year old mare when my sister was 17 and she took her through to Grade C's and her breeding wasn't the greatest but wasn't the worse either. She just refused to race.

When my boy gets a bit older i will be after one for my next horse (I've had a couple in the past as well) and i'm thinking i'm going to actually have to pay for one this time.
 
I think it's a timing issue as well - you can pick up very smart horses for very little money but only if you're in the right place at the right time. If a trainer or owner decides a horse isn't up to racing and wants it gone, then it will change hands extremely quickly in my experience - i.e. 2-3 days. The cost of training livery is very high and it is worth more to the trainer and also the owner if the horse is sold fast so the owner doesn't have to pay ongoing costs and the trainer has an extra stable to be filled by a better racehorse. There are trainers who can afford to hang on and wait for the right money but the ones you see advertised on Horsequest are not usually direct from the trainers.
 
Black Beastie said:
Well my friend picked up 6 yr old by a St Ledger winner whos jumping 1.20m, no injuries, illness, very chilled out only minus is he cribs, for only 800 quid. Hes a cracker, floating paces well put to gether, no scars blemishes or bumps.

Personally no matter how well bred I wouldnt pay more than 1k for an exracer considering I could get myself a younster whose never had anything done and produce myself for that ;)
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Make the most of that situation ,people cannot produce youngsters for that and they wont be there in a year or two when this batch of youngsters have gone through the system. There has been a huge reduction in mares being covered so will reflect in prices. Ireland even more than here!
 
Black Beastie said:
Well my friend picked up 6 yr old by a St Ledger winner whos jumping 1.20m, no injuries, illness, very chilled out only minus is he cribs, for only 800 quid. Hes a cracker, floating paces well put to gether, no scars blemishes or bumps.

Personally no matter how well bred I wouldnt pay more than 1k for an exracer considering I could get myself a younster whose never had anything done and produce myself for that ;)
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How long ago was this btw?
 
i got my boy for 1.5k straight from the trainer and he was cheap at that considering his confo, temp and talent but they wanted a good home for him that wasnt going to sell him on. Personally i find ex racers the easiest horses to handle and do everything with as they have had it done from an early age. People are probably now just getting over the stereotype that they are lunatics. I have met more lunatic cobs that tbs :p
 
when i was looking (and got CS) there were LOADS going in the £200-£600 bracket, but mostly sold unseen and as i wouldnt buy unseen (didnt want to ride it or vet it, just see it move) i lost out on 4/5 that way.

were plenty more in the £800-£1200 bracket.

CS was originally £1500 i think but i had set myself a mental budget of £1k so only went to see him when he had to go asap and price was dropped.

Fast forward to Dec 11 and when we were looking for Fig the £200-£600 market had disappeared, we only found decent ones at £900+ (and ended up paying £1200 for Fig, a fortune by my standards lol!).

i disagree with the "its a well bred horse" theory, they have failed at the one career they have tried and most have not proved themselves to be any good at anything else and with a few rare exceptions do not have bloodlines recognised in any other sphere! The prices on horsequest make me roll my eyes and i doubt most go for that.

i do think the increase is due to ROR/increased opportunities to cash in on an ex racer investment. They are quite *trendy* at the moment too, everyone wants to produce a miracle story.

i do think prices will drop again when something else is flavour of the month, such is the way of the world.
 
My old boy was a freebie, but he'd done a tendon p2p... not that that stopped him hunting twice a week until he was 19 :rolleyes: And at 28 he is still a little ******... still can't catch the sodding thing most days!
I may have something to add to this post next week :p ut I can't let myself get too excited :D:D:D
IMO racers are sadly discriminated against, and as mention previously I have been p****d off with more times on a Welshie and my Arab than I ever have by a TB. They deserve an increased value as most of them are incredibly intelligent, very capable and very brave horses... it's not their fault the didn't run quite quick enough! :) Admittedly you get some who don't handle the hard work and don't stay sound, but when you get a "sound" one, at least you know its been in the hardest industry out and stood up to it!
 
I think it's great that prices are increasing and think it's largely due to the new show classes and also fashion. As some have said though, you can still pick them up cheap (friend paid a few hundred quid for one a few months ago). There are still plenty going for meat so supply certainly still outstrips demand. Perhaps they are being 'sorted' better with only the nicest ones now being sold on? I do think they will always have a price ceiling though as there is a steady supply and many people just wouldn't buy one (including me!). Things are definitely looking up for the ex-racehorse, thanks at least in part to a concerted effort by several individuals and organisations.
 
I think the price of ex racers goes up when they are retrained and no longer ex racehorses. When they have proved themselves as riding horses/in other spheres as long as they are sound and injury free then the price should be in line with any other breed of horse with the same experience.
They are cheap when they are off the track because they are an unknown quanity, more of a risk. You could say that about any youngster but they haven't been broken and ragged around at a young age ;).
What I don't understand is when non racing TB youngsters still only attract peanuts because they are a TB. Stupid, TB's are the original sports horse, the biggest influence in WB breeding and still one of the most competitive breeds in world class eventing.

Needless to say I paid relatively high prices for the ones I bought in comparison to what other people would pay (£2,600 and £2,500) respectively. They hadn't done anything either. They were cheap at the price!! I'm very happy with what I paid. I know horses that cost 3x as much (and then some) who aren't a patch on thembut I did put the work in to bring them on :).
 
Firewell said:
What I don't understand is when non racing TB youngsters still only attract peanuts because they are a TB. Stupid, TB's are the original sports horse, the biggest influence in WB breeding and still one of the most competitive breeds in world class eventing.
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fashion.

i know people who would rather have a cheap WB than a (relatively speaking) expensive TB, despite the latter being better put together and a better mover, just because they think you HAVE to have a WB to win now days. Of course a top notch WB will win over a top notch TB in dressage or SJ (im not very down with the kids in eventing so cant comment there) but a good TB is better than a mediocre WB any day!!!!!!
 
It totally depends on what you buy and from where.

I think people think 'ex-racers' are all the same but racing yards, standards, practices, stock, and level of care vary HUGELY across the industry. For example a well started talented but slow horse kept on a small trainers yard and given individual attention is a very different beast to a less talented, more tricky, late developing critter on a huge commercial yard ridden by a diff jockey each day....the variables are SO huge that you simply cannot bracket all 'ex-racers' under one banner, about the only thing they all have in common is that they have raced!

I have never paid over 1k for any of mine including a well bred (for racing purposes) Sadler's Wells who was sold at 2yrs for 240,000 euros, 2 years later I bought him for £750, did 6 months re-schooling and sold him for £4250.

I think ex-racers are becoming very fashionable (a bit like lightweight coloureds did a few years back) but essentially all they are are thoroughbreds, once they are reschooled to their new career then being and ex-racers hold no benefit for them with the exception of entry to special ex-racer classes.

I like them because my budget is small and my taste is for tbs, but given the chance to buy a tb for the same price that hadn't raced I would pick that every time, and save myself all the re-schooling hassle! ;)

I also wouldn't ever buy one that 'had been reschooled' I'd much rather see the raw materials straight out of racing and deal with it's transformation myself, how can you tell how well someone has reschooled them, it's like getting someone random to break in a horse, unless you know and trust the person doing the re-schooling i'd pick a blank canvas over a semi re-schooled horse any day.

Just to add I paid £675 for Dustry (in 2x installements!!!) and he came from a very well respected large successful racing yard, but what I bought was NOT a creature in tip top condition, and that is how you can get them cheap. Buy them under 1k take the risk, and just hope that you have spotted the potential for a good horse!!! :)
 
I second the previous post. There are some really low quality horses of different breeds that sell for more than a thoroughbred would. The prices of ex racers may be going up, but even by horsequest prices you can still get an awful lot of horse for your money in comparison to what you would be able to buy if you were looking at an ISH (usually contain a lot of thoroughbred) or a warmblood (often contains a lot of thoroughbred). If you are looking for an eventer or a riding club horse I don't know why you would go for anything else.
 
Sorry, I meant that I second Firewall. There were two other posts while I was writing:o
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
fashion.

i know people who would rather have a cheap WB than a (relatively speaking) expensive TB, despite the latter being better put together and a better mover, just because they think you HAVE to have a WB to win now days. Of course a top notch WB will win over a top notch TB in dressage or SJ (im not very down with the kids in eventing so cant comment there) but a good TB is better than a mediocre WB any day!!!!!!
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And then there's the folk who don't take sides and have a horse thats a cross between them both and enjoy the best of both worlds :D:D

I personally love ex racers. When you get a good TB I think there is nothing lovlier. In my experience, even if they are quirky to ride, they make better 'pets' than other sporty breeds and the majority are very nice people to have around the yard and work with. I've never come across a nasty TB but I've come across nasty WB's.

Lionhearted and versatile- what else could you want?

I think its good the prices are going up, means they will be less accesible to people who only fancy one for 'fashion'
 
Like someone else said the production of racehorses is falling. 2008-11 fell from 18k foals to 11k in UK & Ireland.
UK is still falling so with increased interest hopefully that will be better for the future of ex-racehorses and people will value them more. I owned two, one had gone on to be a grade A SJ , the other was a fab sporthorse broodmare.
 
Girlracer said:
However I have an awful habit of browsing mainstream sites for ex racehorses and have noticed an increase in the value of them. On Horsemart for one with miminal re schooling (basics) they seem to be £2000+ now, and the majority are priced between £1500 and £3000+.
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I recently saw an advert for a pretty, well put together mare, average bloodlines, 6yo, been out of racing for a few years, needs reschooling.






£6k!!!!!!
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
i disagree with the "its a well bred horse" theory, they have failed at the one career they have tried and most have not proved themselves to be any good at anything else and with a few rare exceptions do not have bloodlines recognised in any other sphere! The prices on horsequest make me roll my eyes and i doubt most go for that.
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I agree with this. They've already "failed" for the job that they were specifically bred for and I don't believe anything comes out of training without *something* be it physical or mental.

Everything has this elusive "potential" although it does lead to some ridiculous attempts at pricing (tight Scot here!). At the end of the day any horse is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

A horse with good conformation, movement and temp is a good horse regardless however nothing out of training is a blank canvas and that is, I feel, why the prices are (should be and the majority are) lower.

This is from a full on ex-racer fan. Although having dealt with numerous physical issues brought about by being in training at young ages I do question whether I can go through it all again with the next one(s) :/
 
The prices on source an ex racehorse are ridiculous and irratic, there are some that have done nothing for £6K and some that are completely reschooled and competing for £2K.

I doubt people get what they are advertising in this climate and I'm not sure trainers know how much they are worth once out of racing. They may also have residual value from racing if they didn't come last.

Don't assume all ex-racers on the market are rubbish. Some were good racehorses but not needed for breeding or gelded etc.

What annoys me more is that once retrained, a racer would still be worth less than any other competition horse. Surely if its doing BD/BE/BS etc it should be worth as much as any other horse of its level, competition results and potential.
 
noname said:
What annoys me more is that once retrained, a racer would still be worth less than any other competition horse. Surely if its doing BD/BE/BS etc it should be worth as much as any other horse of its level, competition results and potential.
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Agree.

Were I ever (never!) to sell Fig, I do ponder his price tag.
 
I completely agree with what Princess Sparkle said re breeding, I knew a guy who was trying to sell a gelding off the track, with no re schooling and not great conformation. It had a nice nature and was very well bred but he was thinking it should be worth 3k+ just due to its breeding? Needless to say he eventually sold for £800 to someone ncoe and realistic that he knew.
 
noname said:
What annoys me more is that once retrained, a racer would still be worth less than any other competition horse. Surely if its doing BD/BE/BS etc it should be worth as much as any other horse of its level, competition results and potential.
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However also completely agree with this. It is very strange. I think it comes from everyone thinking that they could pick up an ex racer for nothing and retrain... So why pay the going rate if you could do it yourself? I think that some people seem to underestimate the time and effort and consistency it takes to retrain an animal that has already been taught to do a job.
 
noname said:
What annoys me more is that once retrained, a racer would still be worth less than any other competition horse. Surely if its doing BD/BE/BS etc it should be worth as much as any other horse of its level, competition results and potential.
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I do agree with you but maybe they are valued a bit lower because they have more miles on the clock and therefore are seen as more vulnerable to career ending injury?
 
armchair_rider said:
I do agree with you but maybe they are valued a bit lower because they have more miles on the clock and therefore are seen as more vulnerable to career ending injury?
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I can see why people might think that but it's not a view point that I agree with. Horse are a lottery and that's all there is to it really, every horse has a history and some that really have been rallied around don't make it for long, where as some horse who should not make old bones seem to be as hard as nails and go on forever!
 
I think it's really good that people are realising that ex-racehorses are talented, that will mean that less of them will go for slaughter so the racing industry won't be so frowned upon and less horses will die... It can only be a good thing surely?:D
 
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