THE South African breeding industry’s progressive game of Bigwig Chess reached a tumultuous climax on Tuesday, 14 September. The afternoon produced announcements so surprising they literally shocked the racing community at large into what is best described as a kind of meditative silence.

Media releases by South Africa’s rival bloodstock sales companies Bloodstock SA (BSA) and Cape Thoroughbred Sales (CTS) were issue barely two hours apart as the business day drew to a close. Some may have reckoned these were April fools jokes dropped on the unsuspecting as late as September. In the absence of any rumours to the contrary, however, they appear not to be such.

Both parties employed diplomatic, upbeat tones and neither made a reference to the other’s position, but what was revealed will leave most observers somewhat alarmed. While there were absolutely no hints of looming battles over sales territories or clients, this could well prove to be a watershed which won’t be shaped without high-brow casualties. At times like these, racing can make bitter enemies of good friends, foster a climate for irreparable divisions and unholy alliances.  As it stands, the industry hasn’t fully come to terms with drastic changes for survival facilitated in recent years by the streamlined brutality of big business. Fresh rifts will delay and complicate the needed growth and progress.

On to the story: As the ominous narrator in television’s hit series, ‘24’, likes to say: “The following happened between (approximately) 4 and 5pm…”

In what is arguably a monumental setback, BSA made it known that multiple Champion Breeder Mick Goss of Summerhill Stud had withdrawn his event-defining draft from next month’s BSA Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale 2014, a concept the seasoned horseman and master marketer moulded into a formidable trend-setter.

CTS, in turn, threw down the gauntlet with an immediate, head-on challenge to their well-established peer. Shrewdly timed or via strange co-incidence, they announced their entry into the Johannesburg sales market, launching the bold venture with their own 2014 Ready To Run Sale (to be held more or less the same time as the now significantly weakened BSA R2R Sale). CTS threw another stray spanner in the works with the news that a new Select Yearling Sale will be staged under their banner in  April 2015, a time slot traditionally reserved for BSA’s historically entrenched National Yearling Sale and indeed scheduled for 22-25 April 2015.

BSA’s Chair, Susan Rowett, wrote in her public issue: “I have received notification from Mick Goss that Summerhill are withdrawing their draft from BloodStock South Africa’s Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale 2014.

“The reasons for the withdrawal relate to Summerhill’s wish to introduce a R500,000 buy-in for horses that are not sales graduates, as well as the number of lots on the sale and the quantum of the buyer contribution to the race stake.  TBA Council and BSA management wanted to formally discuss and decide these strategic issues after the RTR sale this year, but this was unacceptable. It is a sad and unfortunate ending as Summerhill have been instrumental in building up the sale over many years.

“BloodStock South Africa and the TBA are committed to looking after the interests of all vendors and at this time, I wish to reassure vendors and buyers that the 2014 RTR Sale will go ahead with a Sales Race to be run in 2015 with the ONLY eligible entrants being graduates of the sale.

“We have over 110 horses on the sale, and they include some exceptional youngsters.  The buyer contribution will be R10,000, and the race stake for 2015 will be R2,000,000.

“We are committed to running excellent sales for the benefit of our vendors, members and buyers.  The surplus proceeds from our sales activity provide crucial support for equine welfare, health and research and to fostering the interests of the breeder and the thoroughbred in general in South Africa.

“I would like to thank our vendors and buyers for their exceptional support of the TBA.”

CTS Chief Operating Officer Adrian Todd wrote in his release: “We are extremely excited by the opportunity to fully cater to the Johannesburg market in the same manner as we have currently been conducting sales in the Cape. It has always been CTS’s motto to think outside of the box, in order to enhance the South African bloodstock market to the benefit of both buyers and sellers”

The CTS Johannesburg Ready To Run Sale, with around 170 entries expected, will be held to coincide with the Gr2 Charity Mile, the Gr3 Graham Beck Stakes, the Gr3 Starling Stakes and the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup held at Turffontein Racecourse on the 1st of November 2014.

The CTS Select Yearling Sale, to be held during April next year in Johannesburg, is designed to enable vendors with quality, late maturing yearlings or yearlings hampered by travel restrictions, access to a CTS style sale that complements the company’s existing yearling sales in Cape Town.

Todd said: “CTS feels that a select sale in Johannesburg in April truly complements our existing Cape Town sales market and also offers an opportunity for vendors who have not previously been able to access CTS’s sales due to movement restrictions or late maturing yearlings. Rather than competing with our existing sales, this initiative complements and enhances our current offering of quality horses.”

“As promised, CTS will continue to offer new and innovative platforms for the selling of racehorses”, concluded CTS Chairman Chris van Niekerk.

Editors note:  Since Both BSA and CTS are valued paying advertisers on mikedekockracing.com, we wish to place on record that views expressed above are intended to be fair and balanced. Comments posted should not be construed as biased or in support of the objectives of either party.