The X-Ray Files, Season 2: Brian Graves

The X-Ray Files, now in its second year and presented in cooperation with the Consignors and Breeders' Association, uses conversations with buyers and sellers to contribute to the dialogue on the sales and training process.

In his role as general manager at Gainesway, Brian Graves is preparing for a busy season of selling world-class yearlings, while also casting an eye ahead to entries for the November breeding stock sales. The yearling sales season–which opened with the Fasig-Tipton July sale, continues in upstate New York with next week's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and includes stops at Keeneland in September and back at Fasig-Tipton in October– completes a year-long cycle for Graves, who has also built a reputation as one of the leading weanling-to-yearling pinhookers in the country.

Graves took a few minutes away from the hectic schedule to discuss everything from his strategy for picking out foals, to observations on the yearling market and lessons he learned from his late father, Bill.

Graves's pinhooking success at the yearling sales–which includes a $1.2-million Saratoga yearling purchased for $500,000 in 2017–starts with his search for the right weanling prospects.

“I just look for quality–what I have come to recognize as perceived quality,” Graves said of his foal shopping. “I like balance, I like a horse with a long neck, a horse with a sloping withers and deep girth. I like a horse with a good strong hip and I like a horse that has action, that moves and can show some action and athleticism. I think those quality type horses, honestly, do come in all shapes and sizes. They have those similar attributes, but they can be taller and they can be shorter and they can be by any sire in the world, really.”

He continued, “If you have been burned a few hundred times, you start to recognize what it is you like and what you've had success with. And you gravitate towards it. That's not to say that there aren't a lot of horses in that sale that you miss and that somebody else does really well with. I just think it's natural for people to gravitate to what they have done well with.”

Graves admitted the vet report can sometimes take a backseat to the individual in his buying decisions.

“It's been my experience that most of the issues that you buy a foal with are not the issues that they have when you sell them,” he said with a chuckle. “So, I am pretty forgiving.”

And what about buyers the following year? Do they have that same attitude about the vet reports?

“What I have found is that when I find something that I think is a really nice foal with sire power and all those attributes that we like, and they vet perfectly, you really stick your neck out to obtain them,” Graves explained. “And little things that pop up can really hurt you. Conversely, if you are willing to take a chance on some of those foals that don't vet perfectly, but they grow through it, then you can find yourself in a position to do fairly well. You get a square deal. You don't have to pay quite as much.”

The weanling market has been particularly strong in recent year and Graves has found plenty of competition from fellow pinhookers, like Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo's AAA Thoroughbreds, which was the leading buyer of foals at last year's Keeneland November sale. The demand from both end-users and pinhookers continues to push the prices of those “perceived quality” weanlings higher.

“I think it's at an all-time high, really,” Graves said of the weanling market. “I think that's just a reflection of where the market and the U.S. economy and stock market are in general. All of them are at an all-time high. It just makes it tough because everybody has a lot of disposable income and the horses bring a lot of money. Sometimes over the last few years, you're just finding that the returns aren't as easy to make. But usually the best cure for that is a good recession. And then things level out again.”

On the selling side of the equation, the Beck family's Gainesway is coming off a strong showing in 2023. The historic nursery was the leading consignor at the bellwether Keeneland September sale where it sold nine seven-figure yearlings.

Preparation for the fall auctions begins earlier than you might expect, according to Graves.

“We focus on the health of the horse early in the year,” he said. “Even in the winter time, the best thing you can do in advance of preparation is insuring the health of the horse. You can tell it in the health of the coat even as early as late winter when they start to shed out. If a horse is good and healthy on the inside, it's going to gleam on the outside. I think a lot of people make the mistake of starting late where they just do the same thing for every horse and think it will all come right in the last 60 to 90 days. If you focus on the health of the horse right up to that point, and you have them gleaming in their coats before you start, you are in much better shape.”

The yearling market continued on at record or near-record levels in 2023, but polarization between demand at the top and results in the middle to lower markets continued to be an issue last fall.

“I think a lot of things are heading the right way, honestly,” Graves said of the yearling market. “You can't really complain too much about where the market is in general. It would be nice to see more participation and perhaps maybe less polarization and the money spread out a little bit more across the entire population of horses.”

Of the increasing presence of partnerships as major players in the yearling market, Graves added, “I think it's great for the market–the more participants the better. The SF and various other partnerships have become an interesting way for people to get involved in the business on a large scale with a diversified approach and be part of big horses and big stallion deals. It's been a big lift for everybody. I would love to see more of it.”

Graves's success in the industry has a strong foundation thanks to his father, longtime Fasig-Tipton official Bill Graves, who died in 2018.

“I think about my dad every day really,” Graves said. “He was a stickler for details. If I took something from my dad, it was that, from day to day, week to week, I look at a horse and I reevaluate. I say, 'What's he doing this week and what can I do to make him better?' That's because every time my dad would come out, he would criticize something else. It's almost like he is sitting on my shoulder, saying, 'Geesh, Brian. Don't you think that horse has a little too much belly?' or 'Geesh, Brian do you think we should give him a five-day panacur? He's not quite shining like the other ones?' or, 'Do you think we should use this supplement or that supplement?' and, 'How can we make this better?' I will probably never lose that.”

Graves continued, “And my dad was a stickler for work ethic. You didn't get lazy around him. So I try to do that and pass that along to my children as well.”

Of his three children, Graves said his oldest son, Will, is already following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

“My oldest son has signed on for sure,” he said. “He's going to work for Eddie Woods after the September sale. He's graduated from college and he's carrying it on. The other two are yet to be determined.”

Asked if he was happy to see the third generation set to tackle the racing and breeding industry, Graves said, “If you had asked me a year and a half or two years ago, I was scared to death and I would have said no. And here in the past six months, as I have seen a lot fewer breakdowns and a lot of things that I thought were detrimental to the sport changing, I am more optimistic.”

To check out other installments in the series, click here.