Use the Aquanita Team at the 2007 Yearling Sales to find your next horse

The 2007 yearling sales are about to start and the team from Aquanita will be inspecting every horse offered for sale at all the important sales conducted in Australia and New Zealand. That is likely to see us inspect over 4,000 horses.

So if you are thinking of buying a horse or even a share in one consider us as your best value for money option.

We have put together a selection team involving our four Trainers (Tony Vasil, Robert Smerdon, Dan O'Sullivan and Liam Birchley), our Veterinary Surgeon Kim McKellar and our National Racing Manager Damian Slocum. We also have a wide network of bloodstock advisors that we tap into at all major sales for advice and opinions.

We have developed a selection process that is quite exhaustive and involves

•	A review of the major breeders potential drafts in Spring.
•	An initial physical inspection to identify better conformed horses.
•	An inspection of X-rays by our veterinary surgeon (where available) for horses considered as candidates.
•	A physical inspection of those horses still on our shortlist after the completion X-rays by our veterinary surgeon to identify issues not necessarily picked up by X-rays.
•	Ranking of horses to ascertain an indicative value.
•	Developing a bidding strategy to buy the horse.
•	Hopefully buying the horse at a commercial price.

And we have an eye for horses in all price brackets so we can usually accommodate all budgets when looking to buy.

History tells us that we usually end up buying somewhere between 2 to 4% of all the horses we inspect so a lot fail to make the grade. History also tells us that many horses bought at sales do not stand up to the rigours of racing which is why our process is designed to hopefully save buying a potentially high risk horse.

It is not an exact science and the process does not come without considerable cost but the rewards can be great and therefore justifies the time and effort involved.

The costs of buying a horse with us are straight forward. They include:

•	The purchase price
•	A sales inspection fee
•	Insurance
•	Miscellaneous costs such as scoping a horse and transport form the sale.

We invoice these and require payment in 14 days of invoice.

The Sales Inspection fee is charged as follows:

•	Where our vet is in attendance and x-rays are available $1,700.00 (plus GST)
•	Where our vet is in attendance but no x-rays are available $600.00 (plus GST)
•	If our Vet is not in attendance and none are used in the selection process no charge is applied.

Our sales inspection fees are only applied when professional help is employed and a horse is actually bought as a consequence. Because there are invariably dozens of prospective horses which are assessed, using the x-ray and physical inspection process, that are eliminated as a consequence, the cost is best seen as a form of insurance. Furthermore, the fee is constant regardless of the purchase price of the horse (as opposed to the practice adopted by some buyers and agents of charging a fee based on a percentage of the purchase price, something we consider inappropriate).

In addition to this charge we have a policy that for every horse we purchase, insurance is taken out at the fall of the hammer for a one month period. This and any scoping, transport or similar expenses incurred to get a horse from the sales to its chosen home are also passed on at cost.

The yearling sales our team will be attending are outlined below so if you would like to attend any of them or you would like us to buy all or part of a horse please contact our National Racing Manager, Damian Slocum on 03 9573 3700 or 0417 115 613 or email racing@aquanita.com.au now.

Ends