Store sales season analysis: scale of market correction laid bare with boom times firmly in rearview mirror

Results from the latest round of store sales are in and they do not make pleasant reading for National Hunt breeders and pinhookers. 

But, before we delve into the nitty gritty, there is one point worth acknowledging. Year-on-year declines in sales figures are to be expected from time to time. It would be unreasonable to anticipate exponential price increases at the best of times, never mind when the wider economic forecast is as unsettled as at present.  

It is all but impossible to calculate the impact factors such as Brexit, general elections and soaring interest rates have on bloodstock markets, but it is safe to say they do not help. And that is before we look closer to home at elements such as chronic levels of prize-money.