Always back the horse named self-interest, son. It'll be the only one trying
There is not much good that you can read into the results from the just concluded APG National Mixed Standardbred Sale. On almost every metric it was a gross failure. Clearance rates were atrocious, with only just over 1 in 6 lots being sold. That means that just under 5 in every 6 horses offered […]
Sales Numbers (Sold/Lots) 2019 – 61/113 2020 – 98/193 2021 – 107/198 2022 – 79/205 2024 – 33/176 Sales Volume (Totals) 2019 – $422 450 2020 – $600 950 2021 – $688 900 2022 – $515 800 2024 – $190 650 2024 (Exc. top lot) – $100 650 Clearance Rates 2019 – 54.46% 2020 – […]
Lots offered – 176 Lots sold – 33 Clearance rate – 18.75% Gross volume – $190 650 Average price – $5 777 Average price (excluding top priced lot) – $3 145 Average price (excluding top 5 priced lots) – $1 916 Median price – $1 750 Top price – $90 000 Second top price – […]
This is an opinion piece written by a long time harness racing participant and reader. The words are theirs, only the name has been changed to protect their identity. The views published below are Bill’s not our own, although we do agree with a number of them. Archie APG mixed sale results = 31 sold […]
A reader has written in to ask: You don’t think the future track uncertainty had anything to do with the results? The last announced position from government was Albion Park shut March 2025, and Norwell is not scheduled to open until Oct 2026 (if it does at all). This has probably had a pronounced effect […]
Today’s APG sale was a disaster on every front. The clearance rate – the number of lots sold – was down from almost 70% last year to just over 50%, meaning that almost half of the yearlings that went under the hammer didn’t sell. The average sale price of the ones that did sell was […]
Surprisingly Burwood Stud haven’t brought a whole lot of quality to the sale, with its 6 lots being predominantly by bargain basement sires. I can’t get enthused about any of them, just as none of Cobbitty Equine Farm’s draft excites me very much. The Vagg family’s drafts often feature foals by bargain basement sires and […]
The APG Gold Coast yearling sale is on again this weekend, with 80 odd lots on offer for eager buyers willing to chase the much less attractive than before reduced $100 000 prizemoney in a sales race series for each sex limited to 2-year-olds, as opposed to the riches on offer for both 2 and […]
Everyone’s favourite bankrupt convicted water thief during a drought Dean Baring, formerly a senior executive of the harness auction company Australian Pacing Gold, has seemingly branched out into the thoroughbred yearling world. Traxion Management Services, a company formerly co-directed by Baring and now directed by his wife because bankrupts can’t be company directors, is selling […]
The APG is back! And still absolutely slack. The mob who unsuccessfully attempted to sue me a year ago for telling the truth are having one last crack. It reminds me of the last gasp of a drowning man. They’ve launched it with a new e-magazine that looks like it’s been designed by a kid. […]
