Meet the sales addict who is relishing a non-stop season with her new consigning business

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Here, Martin Stevens speaks to Hetty Spencer about setting up Spencer Sales – subscribers can get more great insight every Monday to Friday.

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Spencer Sales might be an unknown name in the index of consignors in this season's yearling sale catalogues, but the woman behind the newly launched business is one of the most familiar faces on the circuit.

Hetty Spencer has been a vital cog in the Jamie Railton Sales Agency machine for more than ten years and has also assisted Con Marnane and his family in casting their Bansha bullets for the breeze-ups over the past five seasons or so. 

The accomplished horsewoman, who has shown hunters at a high level including at the Horse of the Year Show, has decided to put all that experience to good use and to strike out on her own now. 

“I’ve always been involved with horses in one way or another from a young age, and worked for Jamie and Con for a long time,” she says. “Showing horses is a huge advantage for consigning, as there isn’t really that much difference between getting a hunter ready for the big day and getting a lot in tip-top condition for a sale. It’s all about attention to detail in both disciplines.

“All the same, though, I owe Jamie and Con everything as I’ve learned so much from them. They drummed into me not just how to present horses at the sales, but how to present them so they really, really sell themselves – there’s a subtle art to that.

“I’ve enjoyed doing it for longer than I care to remember, but plenty of people had been asking me when I was going to give it a go myself, giving me a bit of a push to get on with it, and I finally thought it was about time. I can do the job with my eyes closed by this stage, so it feels right to give myself a bit more of a challenge, and be the front-facing boss of my own business.”

Hetty Spencer has been assisting breeze-up king Con Marnane in recent yearsCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

Spencer isn’t just dipping a toe in the market, she’s diving in. She is set to present three lots at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale in Doncaster next month – colts by Bungle Inthejungle, Cotai Glory and Sioux Nation – and then an In Swoop filly and Study Of Man colt at BBAG in Baden-Baden a few days later.

As soon as she returns from Germany she will have to hotfoot it to Tattersalls, as she is offering four lots at the Somerville Yearling Sale, and then it’s off to consign in Fairyhouse for the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, Kill for the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale and back to Newmarket for the October Yearling Sales.

What’s more, she will be a one-man band, though receiving support from some of her colleagues at Jamie Railton Sales Agency. Is she mad? Wouldn’t a more gentle introduction have made more sense?

“No, not at all,” she replies without a moment's hesitation. “To be honest, I’m not worried. I work well under pressure, so I’m pretty sure I can handle it. I’ve done a similar schedule for long enough working behind the scenes for other people, so I’m ready for it.”

As it happens, the task is made a little easier this year as Spencer isn’t prepping the yearlings herself, because she hasn’t found a suitable property from which to operate yet. Instead, she has familiarised herself with the lots on their respective farms and will only take charge of them herself at each auction.

Plans call for her to prep the horses herself from next season. Her foal drafts might include the first homebred of her own, out of Puffable, a winning daughter of Kodiac and Fred Darling Stakes winner Puff who received her maiden cover this year.

Top consignor Jamie Railton has been a great inspiration for Hetty SpencerCredit: Alisha Meeder

Ah, so from that point onwards she will probably reduce the number of stops on the circuit she does? 

“Erm, no, I’ll be giving it a good kick to try to consign at every sale still,” she shoots back. “If someone gives me a ring and says I’ve got one for this sale or that, I won’t be turning it down. I’ve always got my sales bag ready, I’ll travel anywhere.

“I’d do any sales too – foals, yearlings, horses in training, breeding stock, whatever. I’ll pinhook some of my own, as I’ve already had some success doing that with Jamie, but my phone is always switched on for outside business.”

You just can’t help some people. The thing is, Spencer is one of those incurable sales addicts who loves the company and culture at thoroughbred auctions.

“It’s all I’ve known for the past ten to 15 years so it’s kind of my way of life now, as much as it is for everybody else,” she says. “You get to know all the people involved at the sales as you travel from one destination to the next. We all love horses, and we all enjoy hearing how each other is getting on. It’s like one big family.”

Spencer Sales’ first yearling sale season is serious business, offering plenty of very attractively bred lots, but it is also something of a soft launch without a permanent base and the ability to prep in place yet. The ambitious new business owner behind it has some big ideas for the future.

“What I would love to do is to bring consigning into the digital age,” she says. “I feel that the business can sometimes be a bit basic, even backward, in not using technology enough to provide clients and potential buyers with updates on the horses, and to promote them to a wider audience. 

“From a younger person’s point of view, I think there’s more we can do on that front with all the technology available, whether it’s through photos, video, social media or other apps. We’ve got to think digitally, and I’ve got a lot of ideas for that.”

Just in case one of Spencer’s mentors in particular is suffering an attack of the vapours reading about her embrace of technology, thinking she might be about to buy up a load of high-tech timing devices and start plotting stride lengths on a spreadsheet, he can put the smelling salts away.

“Oh no, it’s definitely more about communications,” says Spencer with a laugh. “I wouldn’t be a big fan of timing two-year-olds, it can ruin horses. I’m very much in Con’s corner on that.”

If Spencer Sales’ success is in proportion to its owner’s hard work, determination and horsemanship skills, as it should be with a following wind, it’s going to be big. 

All that is needed is benevolent trading conditions to create the demand for her lots, but sadly that isn’t exactly guaranteed in another year of high interest rates.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not without my doubts,” says Spencer. “I know the market isn’t in the best shape at the moment, it’s going to be tough and competitive, and some people might think I’m silly for setting up a company by myself right now.

“But if I don’t do it now, when am I going to do it? I really believe there’s space in the market for new, up-and-coming people with fresh ideas. I’m positive about this being the start of something good. In ten years or so I’m hoping to have got to the level that Jamie is at: a market-leading consignor with large drafts.”

Good Morning should be strictly dispassionate, showing neither fear nor favour to any operator, but it’s hard not to wish Spencer Sales well in its maiden season when its enthusiastic solo helmswoman is such a fine advertisement for the business. 

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