‘You can’t just set fire to money’ - buyers lift the lid on their yearling sales strategy

A period of seismic significance is about to begin that will see crucial decisions made, vast sums spent and, for better or worse, the future shaped. 

Those who spend wisely during the yearling sales season, which kicks off in Deauville on Friday, will be set fair for a period of prosperity. Those who don’t will be served a sobering reminder that there are only so many good horses to go around. No pressure, then. 

But good horses aren’t always easily found. There is research to be done, sales grounds to be scoured, mountains of evidence to analyse and, at the end of it all, difficult choices to be made. The process by which hundreds, if not thousands, of yearlings are filtered is entirely subjective. But, no matter what level you are buying at, each search has to begin somewhere.