A breeder explains how he felt forced to pay ‘luck money’ to an agent at the sales

LAST autumn I was selling a yearling at a major sale. My consignor told me he had an interested party and asked would I “take care of him”.

I asked what he meant and my consignor suggested “give him a case of wine or something similar”. I said I would be delighted to do that, as I regularly buy wine for successful buyers of our stock as a token of goodwill.

The buyer, a bloodstock agent, later invoiced me, asking for 5% of the purchase price, which was not my understanding of “taking care of him”.

I paid the amount but added a note outlining my expectation that this payment was a discount on the sale price which would be shared with the actual buyer of the yearling.

To be fair, I don’t believe the sales company had any knowledge of this incident but I suspect it is a widespread practice and it will drive people out of the game or frighten off new entrants.

The new Bloodstock Code is welcome. It looks as if it will put a stop to invoicing as the paper trail should be incriminating. My concerns would be that making a complaint may get whistleblowers blacklisted by other agents, and new and more innovative ways of keeping malpractice going will be found.

We will need to see it working. I would hope that if the BHA finds against an individual, the sales companies would reciprocate the penalty.

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