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Reflections on Yearling Sales BY SALTATOR . Again, as a year age, E. J. Tranter, president of the Fasig-Tipton Company, has been remembering a few of his friends witn luxuriously bound copies of a complete file of the different auctions of thoroughbreds held by his firm during the past season. "Full leather" and "full gilt," it presents a twin-like resemblance to its predecessor for 1C22. There is little difference in their respective bulk, and for the most part the contents are closely similar. With the exception of an occasional draft from a racing stable, the activities of Mr. Tranters company which really means his own, for, as everybody knows, Mr. Tranter is the company and the company is Mr. Tranter, to all practical intents and purposes consist in the sale of yearlings. And, from year to year, the breeders who sell their yearlings through him at Saratoga run true to form. That is to say, you will find tho same ones "in line, season after season, with the same line of sires and dams, allowing, of course, for the changes that time and fashion bring about. I have spoken before of the elegance of the catalogs which the Fasig-Tipton Company get out their superior typography, beautiful paper, attractive covers and the clear and careful manner in which the pedigrees of the offerings are displayed. All things are supposed to be susceptible to improvement, yet it is raher difficult to see howe these catalogs Avell could be bettered. Both in their "tout ensemble" and. their details they approach the ultimate. "It is the little thing3 that count." The modern manager studies the psychology of his sales and those who make up his clientele, buy buyers and sellers, and endeavors for his own sake and theirs, not to "overlook any bets." We are living in days when elegance of appointment means a great deal where pat- ronageofaJughjcJa5as.thedesidjiCum In the "good old days" things were done much more simply, not to say sloppily. But at this period things must be staged attractively or they wont "go over." Of course, to pervert the Shakespearcanism, "the colts the thing" or the filly, except that fillies at Saratoga seem to be in weak demand as compared with the males of the species. But the way in which the colt is "presented at court" means almost as much. There is a vast difference between pushing your way into a stuffy, smelly, cribbed, cabined and confined sale ring, perhaps littered and unkempt, the light poor and the atmosphere oppressive, the seating or standing accommodations uninviting, those for showing the lots put up inadequate, and the catalogs describing them of a similar description, and the way things are done at Saratoga in these days. What often used to be an ordeal, except to those wholly "on the make" has become a pleasure; so pleasing is the environment and so seductive are the details. I dont know what Mr. Tranters "overhead" for his Saratoga sales is, but it must be a big item. But, in the language of the street, "he should worry," in view of the tremendous takings which of late years have signalized the enterprise. The full "facts and figures" have been set forth in Daily Racing Form and I need not here attempt to repeat them. But as is well known, 1923 was the "banner year." I well recall a conversation that I had with Mr. Tranter just after the close of the season of 1921. It had been a record breaker, and the head of the Fasig-Tipton Company was elated as he surveyed it in retrospect. But looking ahead, he was full of forebodings. "It is not one chance in a thousand," lie remarked, "that this record can be equaled next season. Theres bound to be a break in the market." In answer, I asserted I felt sure that it would be. So confident was Mr. Tranter that he even wanted to make a bet with me but as betting personal never interests me, we failed to strike a wager. Had we, the stakes would have had to be divided. As I recall it, the yearling average of 1922 fell off a trifle from 1921 ; but, on the other hand, the gross receipts of the sales at Saratoga, as a whole, showed an increase. The showing of 1923 has eclipsed everything for previous seasons, with the Nalapa Farm transaction the "star feature." And now, I suppose, Mr. Tranter, who is, as I write, helping reduce the finny surplus off the Florida coast, at Fort Lauderdale, is laying awake nights, worrying about what on earth will come along in 1921 to keep it up to 1923, or carry it ahead thereof. Truly, the woes of sales managers are terrible, and one sometimes wonders how they bear up amdeitheiruajidconUnue.cheerfulJ As for me, in the course of the decades, I have seen so many surprising things shaken out of the thoroughbred bag that I am surprised no longer by much of anything. It is all "on tho knees of the gods," and no matter how marvelous what has been may appear to be, something still more so is very apt to occur most any time. For .instance: Only about a decade ago the entire thoroughbred turf and breeding industry -was in the doldrums. Yearlings were worth about ten to twenty-five per cent of what they now are, and it looked, the way things were going, as of in a season or two more one might not even be able to give them away. Just at that time the president of the Fasig-Tipton Company was figuring where and how he would land when he had Continued on eighth paic. YEARLING SALES REFLECTION Continued from first page. to cut looee for the drop, and was depending upon his trotting auctions as a parachute. It is not improbable that at that psychological moment it would not have taken anything dazzling to have persuaded him to "sever his connection." But, also at that moment, nobody was looking for the chance to take over his enterprise. The vending oC articles for which there is no crying demand docs not excite the covetous. So Mr. Tranter "held on" and gritted hia teeth, resolved that it was "up to" him to b in at the death ; which apparently was ero long to be bulletined. By the same token, he is still holding on, and right now many estimable persons Avould like to help him do the job. But he is not looking for help. Not at all. Nor, when Ave turn over his catalogs and read the returns up his little functions, is it any wonder? Incidentally I may say that luck, fortune, chance, the caprices of time and tide, are not entirely responsible for his present situation. K. James Tranter happens to have what may be termed as genius for his business. Coupled Avith that he has behind him a long and intensive training for and experience in it. I racall the day Avhen he Avaa part of what Avas known as "the kid combination" in the sales arena. That Avas over twenty years ago. Thousands of horses havo since passed through his hands, and thoco of the companies, for which he has acted. And, it is safe to assume, thousands more will. To the "end of the chapter- which, I hope, is far, far distant.
