PHEW. Time to take a deep breath, and for many sales company executives and staff members this weekend will be a first opportunity for quite some time to get a little piece of well-earned rest.

Consignors, buyers, bloodstock agents and others have been on what seems to be a constant bandwagon of sales since early autumn. I know a little of what it is like to be a team member in a sales company, and the pressures on staff to ensure all is well for vendors. Not only that, many stables are used twice and more, heaping additional burdens on staff, many of whom work with little recognition for their labour.

To all of the backroom teams a heartfelt well done to you all for your efforts. In every business, organisation and walk of life, it is those at the coalface who ensure that the wheels keep turning, and they too often do this with little or no thanks.

Superlatives

Sales company chiefs have run out of superlatives this year to describe trade at their auction houses. This week I report on the most recent, and very different, sales, those held at Arqana and in Goffs.

With the exception of a few online sales yet to happen this week, physical sales have now ended for 2022, and what a year it has been. Record, after record, after record has been broken, and sometimes smashed.

The headline acts have done just that, stolen the headlines, and this has always been so. Nothing is perfect, and there will have been stories of losses, disappointments and even hardship for some. As an industry, which is essentially an enlarged family of people with common goals, we should not forget those who may not have ridden the wave of success this year.

Recalibrate

For a few weeks at least, this will be a time for people to recalibrate their lives, reconnect with family and friends, and start to plan forward. Mating plans have to be decided, foalings will be anticipated, and some will even be starting sales preparation for the early sales of 2023.

Then the whole circus begins again.

January will have a number of highlights, not least of which will be the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Stallion Trail and the ITBA’s national awards, not to mention the countdown to a meeting in March that starts with the letter C. Take a deep breath.