Quality and Quantity At Trickledown

Paul and Sara Thorman of Trickledown Stud have offered one of the largest consignments at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale for a number of years. The Hampshire-based couple are known for selling quality, as well as quantity, for a broad range of clients, with Trickledown sales graduates including Cockney Rebel, Compton Place and George Washington.

Trickledown has the biggest foal consignment of this year's catalogue at 51 weanlings. A daunting prospect for some, but a typical December for the Thormans. When asked the key to success when selling big numbers, Paul quips, “Marrying well.”

In a more serious tone, he continues, “My wife is an organisational star and I also think we have the best staff of anybody. Our front person is, in fact, a client: Chris Mills's wife, Lesley, does our cards and she's the only person I've seen to manage eight cards at once. To be honest, there is not a big difference between selling 50 or 80, as you split them into two groups, and Wednesday's and Thursday's foals have gone before Friday's and Saturday's sell.”

His last line also points to another key characteristic of Trickledown–they sell on every day and, therefore, at every level. “We always put a few in on Wednesday to stand out and get noticed and we have three nice ones this year. I once sold a Dutch Art (GB) foal to the genius Paul McCartan on a Wednesday. He gave 22,000gns for him and I thought we got well paid, until he made 170,000gns the following year.”

As well as recommending value in Wednesday's foals, Paul has other highlights in the draft, “We have three by Showcasing (GB), a couple by Acclamation (GB), a lovely Shalaa (Ire), a great filly by Adaay (Ire), and another lovely one by Kodiac (GB). I have six foals by Twilight Son (GB) and after seeing them three weeks ago, they're the foals who have improved the most, which is a very good sign for them as yearlings.”

Evident in Paul's selection is the continued importance of sire power, something he's well aware of. “The stallion has become the most important line on the pedigree page,” he says. “We are a terrific industry for putting a horse on a pedestal and then throwing stones at them. The first horses by Kodiac and Showcasing had a slow start in the sales ring and they have become brilliant stallions. I think the market has already been a bit hard on some first-crop foals at Goffs.”

Mastercraftsman (Ire) has been basking in well-deserved limelight this year and lot 1191 is a filly whose family has previous form with the Coolmore sire. “We also sold her full-sister, Santa Monica (GB), and this foal has the same athleticism and quality as she did. We're very pleased to be consigning a full-sister to a Grade II winner, who was beaten just a length in the GI EP Taylor S. last month,” says Thorman.

Another grey stallion, though with less obvious commercial appeal is Hellvelyn (GB), sire of the fairytale filly Mrs Danvers, whose half-sister Trickledown offer as lot 1045. Thorman had a part to play in the story of Mrs Danvers (GB), as he explains, “I own quite a lot of the stallion Hellvelyn and I advised the owners to send their mare to him. Mark and Connie Burton bred Mrs Danvers on a shoestring and she was phenomenal, unbeaten at two. The Burtons are the type of people we need; the type who dream for years and then achieve what we're all hoping to. If we could get a touch with the Iffraaj (GB) foal, it would be phenomenal.”

The fairytale takes another direction with lot 1048. “Andrew Wardall owns this colt, who is a half-brother to three black-type horses, all of whom Trickledown sold,” Thorman explains. “Andrew rescued the mare from the polo field and she's been seriously good, breeding three or four very good horses by cheaper stallions. He's now bitten the bullet and sent her to Muhaarar (GB), which would be a big spend for him, and he's got a cracking colt. It would be a real buzz if it all worked out.”

It's clear in the way Thorman speaks about his clients and their foals that he develops a strong relationship with them and a sense of responsibility for their success. Another foal whose family he's very familiar with is lot 742, a Kodiac half-sister to G3 Sweet Solera S. winner Nations Alexander (Ire), both bred by Ann and Ned Kearney.

He says, “This filly's half-sister by Acclamation was our stand-out foal last year and we expected her to make 100,000gns, but she sold for 200,000gns. She just did everything right. She vetted well, was well behaved and showed beautifully for over 200 shows.”

Thorman is very cheerful discussing these foals and said he is very much looking forward to the week ahead. “There is a real buzz consigning nice horses, once you are getting lookers. The December Sale is the most electric week of the year.”

When some consignors might be hoping to hit the headlines and dreaming of six- or seven-figure sales, Thorman's hopes are for his clients, “For Sara and I, the sale with the greatest significance is selling for a smaller owner. We sold George Washington (Ire) for 1,150,000gns, but the owner was a millionaire, so it felt a bit hollow. Whereas, if we sell a horse for 60,000gns or 70,000gns, when the owner was expecting 30,000gns, that's a real buzz seeing them become speechless. We've seen owners who were considering giving up turn around after a sale like that and they're back chomping on the bit again. That's hugely satisfying.”

There had been talk that Trickledown would be winding down, something Paul Thorman is very keen to clarify, “The farm we have rented for over 20 years has planning permission for housing and so, this was our last spring foaling mares and our last year prepping stock. However, there are many excellent satellite prep yards in England, which we've been very lucky working with in the past and you can still get horses prepped to a very high standard. We plan to keep consigning, but naturally, the number will reduce because of the situation, plus three of our owners are giving up.”

Thorman admits he can see why one would be tempted to step back, and notes that a growing number of British consignors are, indeed, 'closing shop.'

“We've been hugely lucky to have two brilliant full-time members of the team; one has been with us 26 years and the other nine years, and they are the backbone of our operation. But everybody else I speak to is having issues sourcing staff. Two of our owners have given up because they were sick of doing all the work themselves.”

That's not the only challenge consignors are up against, as Thorman explains, “The other issue facing British consignors is that the older vendors haven't got the successors that the Irish seem to have. It's sad to see so few young people–after Ed Harper and Ed Player, you begin to run out of UK consignors to name.”

Thorman is, however, quick to praise the newer additions to the consigning ranks, “There are some taking up the slack, though. Charlie Vigors is one, while Barton Stud's Tom Blaine has stepped up big time. Tim Lane has brought a desire back to the National Stud and they're doing things properly, with bigger numbers. Rob Sharp has also increased the numbers at Houghton Bloodstock–they've got huge numbers now. How anyone sells 16 yearlings at Book 4 is beyond me.”

With all this talk of selling, the subject of the current market cannot be avoided, but Thorman offers an original and very sensible view on the situation. “Of course, overproduction is part of the current problem, but when it happened before, it was the sole problem. The other factor now is labour–I don't think people realise how significant this is.”

He continues, “The BHA is missing a big trick, too. Novice races are a joke. You get one horse rated 90, another two that cost 400,000gns, leaving everyone else forced to stay as far as possible from them. Auction maidens and median auction races would give small trainers races to run in and win.”

Of course, Thorman has vast experience with buyers to back these thoughts up, “This year, I had 60 yearlings to sell and the smaller trainers told me they don't buy the cheaper horses any more, as they can't compete on the track. Also, they find it makes more sense to buy a horse in training. That way, they don't have to mess about handicapping them and they're easier to ride than 2-year-olds. Historically, the trainers telling me this would have bought three or four yearlings at up to 30,000gns each. Now, they have no-one to ride them, no races to run them in, and then if they do win, it's only £2,000 in prize-money.”

So, what is the solution? “The BHA is diverting funds from prize-money to the proposed Plus 10 Bonus, but if you still can't beat those 200,000gns horses on the track, it's just going straight to the bigger players. I also don't know how they came up with this stayers' series worth £1-million. This only encourages Willie Mullins to run his French hurdler on the Flat, or attracts Galileo number 15. Why not put on 20 races worth £50,000? That way, it encourages and benefits more people.”

Thorman is the type of person who looks at the bigger picture, and the long-term plan, something which is much appreciated by his team. “Last December, we had 26 people working for us and at the end of the week, 16 of those signed up for 2018. I'm always proud and slightly amazed at the pride Team Trickledown have. They've been very good to us; some have worked the sales for us for 14 or 15 years. Some even had babies and came back. It would be impossible without the staff.”