How Much for Ex Racer? 3k?

ihatework said:
Ex racers are ten apenny - you can pick them up for £500 easily.

That said it really depends on the quality of the horse. A real head turner, with substance, good movement and spot on conformation will easily fetch £3K+ out of the sales. Admittedly they are few and far between, but without seeing good quality pictures and video of the one you refer to it is impossible to say if it fits this catagory, although I suspect not!
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Totally agree, you can easily pick up a bog-standard ex-racer for free or peanuts, but also if something is conformationally correct, a good mover and obviously a little bit special, whether it has raced or not, it will be worth more money.
 
I think there is a huge difference between a bog standard ex racer with possibly dubious conformation, and one that's a bit more special or where the trainer has had put a bit more thought into the horse's future prospects.

There's a trainer near us that takes his pointers/NH horses to our pleasure rides and to local shows and gives them a decent all round education while they're race training. They also genuinely go hunting - he's not one of these that unloads a lorry load at the meet just to get his cards signed and then goes home again. Nice horses, too. I would hazard a guess that if you wanted one of his horses when they'd finished racing, they wouldn't be free ;)

Also with arabs, the fact that a horse has raced is often seen as a plus point. They're not started as early as TBs, and the fact that they've gone out there and done a job and stayed sound gives them extra kudos as a possible performance horse over the twirly twirly in hand jobbets.
 
I paid £500 for an exrace horse exactly like the one you are advertising.

There are so many horses for sale and loads of ex race horses, £3000 sounds way to much to me.
 
Arrgh - a lot of these responses infuriate me - how can you put a price on a horse you haven't even seen? If it's a cracking animal why shouldn't it be worth 3k JUST because it has raced TWICE!!!

Here is a pic of our ex-racer,

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This pic was on the mantlepiece at my mum's house when one of the top show producers and judges in this country was there for coffee and the first thing he said when he walked in the room was "ooh what's that, it's fabulous?"

Our boy was in racing for 6 years, ran on the flat and over hurdles. He was my daughter's first 'proper' horse bought when she was 16 years old, she did all the work on him herself. He has won nearly every time out, hacks safely, loads easily, is bombproof in traffic, is loads of fun and has more personality than any horse we have ever owned.

Yes, there will be a bit of work to do if a horse is just out of racing but this varies hugely from animal to animal. Even though ours was in racing from the age of 2 until 8 he adapted quickly and easily to his new life.

He was far less work than starting one from scratch and you wouldn't expect to buy a ready-to-break 4 year old of real good quality, breeding, conformation and movement for much less than 3k would you??
 
I would say it is unlikely that the horse is worth 3k - unless he is something very special.

Yes, an equivalent WB might easily sell for that much, but regrettably, the ex racer tag does drive the price down. If someone can get another one the same for £500 they won't pay 3k!

Her best bet for making some money on him would be to do some schooling, get him working correctly in w/t/c, introduce him to poles/small jumps and take him to a couple of local shows or fun rides. Even just basic reschooling will make him more sellable and distance him a little from the ex racer stigma.
 
millitiger said:
depends a lot on the quality of the horse and its potential to go on in another sphere.

People shouldn't expect every ex-racer to cost under £1k but equally it is impossible to value a horse on the info above!
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Have to agree with this, not enough info. The prefix of "Ex racer" does not mean it has to be dirt cheap but the same as any similar decent horse with no experience and a bit of potential.
 
HollyJ said:
Hi - Just wanted opinions please. Do you think this price tag is a reflection of a fair market price?

Light bay 16.2 - lightly raced (3 times) but didn't make the grade.

No known injuries but VERY green. Doesn't work into a natural outline in all three paces though does show some potential that it would? No show successes and literally just out of field with a couple of months ridden training...

Over to you....... i think its a bit unrealistic and would suggest maybe 1500 - 2000 is abot the market price.

Asking this on behalf of a friend that i don;t want to see ripped off.
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I would say that £3k is a lot of money for an exracer, depends on breeding and temperament though and if they have any vices. You can get some really god exrace horses and some not so good. I brought my ex racer for £1k 2 years ago and after a lot of hard work put into her she is prob worth £1500.
There are a lot of charities that have racehorses that desperately need rehoming I think that would be a better option, there is a really good charity called HEROES.
 
I wonder what some people on here think horses like Ensign etc cost when they were purchased from racing yards- just because it is an ex-racer does not instantly mean it is worthless.

Perhaps the reason ex-racers have such a bad rep for soundness and temperament issues is that the leisure industry only expects to pay under £1k- if you pay for dregs you may get lucky and find a bargain but equally you may end up with the dregs!
 
I would disagree with some of what has been said re. number of times raced; I think if a horse has raced for 3 or 4 years and retired sound then that's one hell of a tough horse likely to stand up to any job! You wouldn't be put off by a horse that had evented for 3 years would you!?

There was a discussion a little while ago on CR about good racehorses that most likely would have been top class in other disciplines too. (ie. a good horse is a good horse!)

Without seeing the horse there's no way of knowing if it's worth 3k..... it could be!
 
Back in Australia, some ex-racehorses will sell for $5-10k straight off the track, if they have nice paces, great confirmation, no lumps and bumps and have an attractive look as they are very much in demand for showing (most Royal Show Hacks are full TBS that were once race horses). If the horse has what one is looking for, or potential do well in whatever your choosen field, I dont think £3k is too expensive.
 
In australia though, I dont think they have the overbreeding that occured in ireland. The government gave tax incentives for breeding here, so you can literally see exracers being tied to the gates of meat factories as owners dump them cause they can't afford to feed them anymore. Some of them are cracking horses. my own lad was due to go to a meat dealer, and he is an absolute cracker with lovely paces and a great temperament. There are just so many of them around poor thing, its a disgrace here.
 
Oh.. We have plenty, in fact, probably too many racers in Australia. It is a huge industry. Its not as bad as tying a horse up to a fence and leaving it but we have plenty that go for meat money - just go to the markets and you will see trainers off loading them in the dozens. I used to have a lot of trainers offer good TB's for nothing or minimal prices, sadly you cant take them all in! However, for a good horse, and the showing industry is huge back home, that is the price you have to pay, considering if your horse does win at Royal Melbourne/Sydney and/or HOY - resale can be anything from $30k+. This maybe due to the 'main look' back home is generally either the fine riding pony, or for the hacks, thoroughbred look. I dont know enough about the showing scene over here to know what breeds are popular.
 
paddi22 said:
In australia though, I dont think they have the overbreeding that occured in ireland. The government gave tax incentives for breeding here, so you can literally see exracers being tied to the gates of meat factories as owners dump them cause they can't afford to feed them anymore. Some of them are cracking horses. my own lad was due to go to a meat dealer, and he is an absolute cracker with lovely paces and a great temperament. There are just so many of them around poor thing, its a disgrace here.
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Mine came from Ireland, still sold for £3k. Any horse is only worth as much as someone will pay, after all.
 
I paid 3K for mine 2 and half years ago, but she was 18 months out of racing (only raced 4 times) had been reschooled and was out competing up to Novice level dressage and 2'6 jumping. She also has excellent conformation and won a Racehorse to riding horse class last year. So 3 K for a green ones does seem a lot, but at the time I was looking 2 years ago I saw many at that price and quite which were more, but the market has seriously dropped since then.
 
I paid £1800 in the summer for a 7 year old mare, who is also a brood mare. She'd been in the home that I actually bought her from for a year, and they had established some basic schooling. Fact is, she's wonderful - great temperament, very pretty, good little jump and excellent to hack - so for me she's worth more than what I paid for her to be honest.
 
A horse is worth what someone will pay for it, but agree £3000 sounds a little much from what we have been told about it.

For comparison I paid £2300 for mine almost a year ago, He was just turned 5, raced 13 times as a 3 and 4 year old. Had been out of racing for about 6 months and was with a lady who had spent that time retraining him so that he would be used to "normal" riding. He is 16.2 and a chunkier type of horse, very good paces and well put together, and is now scoring 75% in prelim dresage. Retired sound just not fast enough. Of course still quite green but a stage on from the just off the track greeness. So I paid a little more for him for the stage he was at, all the hard work had been done for me!
 
A horse is worth what someone is willing to pay for it I guess.

I don't think it's right that people just assume because it's an 'ex racer' they should all be priced on the cheap side, some ex racers despite how many times they have run can be very a different class of animal compaired to others and some trainers know this, they know what they can get with some, they have their favorites, others they are more than happy to let them go for less to good homes, others to the sales.

Raced or bred to race, or just out of training, a quality TB that is a good strong and sound animal (despite what it says on the pedigree) with a great attitude to his or her work, is the same as any other breed of horse, that's my view anyway, some ex racers are well...just ex racers, but can have some that little something more about them.
 
There are lots of ex-racers comuing out of training, being many given away so unless this is really special it's a lot to pay.
I have seen a 3 year old mare advertised for £300 ran once. My old boy ran once then spent the next 14 years doing showing and dressage.
 
If your friend really likes the horse and he ticks all the boxes then £3k is a fair price for a horse. But having relatives in my family who train all types of racehorses from Flat, to National Hunt and Pointers too- I know that £500 to £800 ish is roughly what they may sell for if they are not suitable for a life in racing and they are normally very nice horses as well, so if i was a paying customer I'd not pay £3k!
 
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