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Auctions: An ever-increasing trend

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INTERNATIONAL (by Aurélie Covini) The supply of horses for auction continues to grow, thanks to various online platforms that now offer sales very regularly. In this first quarter of the year, the number of horses sold at auction has increased by more than 50%. In France, still far behind in terms of auction offerings compared to what is done elsewhere in Europe, the Fences agency has for the first time organized an online sale of performers, as is sometimes seen in Belgium.

If only seven horses found a new owner, with a turnover of €133,500€ and an aver- age price of €19,071, sales boss Arnaud Evain is nevertheless optimistic about this new concept for France: “Half of the horses of this sale had been tried, but two- thirds of the horses that were bought were bought by people who did not try them. It is, therefore, a model that can work, as long as the horses are well described, to show the videos, the model, the locomotion, with small comments and areas of estimated value”.

Embr yo sales always meet with success. However, prices seem to have peaked, other than for offspring that come directly from ex- tremely confirmed lines. Globally, the prices for embryos rarely exceed €20,000, and the only guarantee of a pedigree on glossy paper probably justifies the reluctance of buyers. If we consider those who were sold for more than €30,000, we find a future brother or sister of the stallion I'm Special Muze, from the two cracks of Harrie Smolders, Emerald and Walnut de Muze. This em- bryo fetched €60,000.

A future offspring of the champion Valentina van't Heike sold for €44,000, an embr yo from the same mother as the star Emerald fetched €43,000. Another embryo that had a €40,000 price tag is an offspring of the full sister of the stallion George Z (a son of Usha van’t Roosakker) who had been previously gender-tested and whose buyer was assured of having a filly. This embryo sold at the Zangersheide online auction and will go to France and the stables of Roger Huon (Élevage Ker vec). An embryo out of Quasibelle du Seigneur, (a sister of the top stallion of Gerco Schröder, London) went for €30,000 – which wasn’t so much when you consider that another embryo of this mare sold for €70,000 during this same period last year...

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