Gold Muzzle Auction A Raging Success

Exceptional. That was the word used to describe the inaugural Gold Muzzle Auction at Richmond on Sunday, as 103 greyhounds went through the sale ring.

Exceptional. That was the word used to describe the outcome of the inaugural Gold Muzzle Auction day at Richmond Racetrack on Sunday, as 103 greyhounds went through the sale ring.

The impressive gross figures for the day were in excess of $600,000, with an average of just over $5,900. As expected, and as all the pre-sale hype indicated, the top-priced lot was a Fernando Bale-Chica Destacada, white and blue dog, which went for $32,000.

The eight-month-old pup is the result of a repeat mating of Chica Destacada to Fernando Bale, the first litter producing Poco Dorado, Veloce Nero, Two Times Twice and Blue Moon Rising, that quartet having recently passed $1 million in earnings between them.

Chica Destacada's second litter – to leading sire Barcia Bale – have already been on the track, with six of them qualifying for the Magic Maiden Final at Wentworth Park back in April, the Kerry Drynan-trained Timeless Moment winning that event.

Three pups were offered out of the litter, and the three topped the sale. A brindle bitch went for $31,000, while her sister a dark brindle, went for $30,000. All three were bought back by their owners the Dee & Pee Syndicate.

"People talk about buybacks and why should there be buybacks, well my analogy to that is simple: If you've got a house on the market for $1 million and someone wants to offer you $800,000 are you going to sell it? Of course not. So everyone is entitled to buy their own dog back, but we had a large percentage of sales today as opposed to buybacks and again the average of $5,900 tells the story," Gold Muzzle Auctions Managing Director, Mark Duclossaid.

"It was an exceptional day. A crowd of 400-500 were on hand. We have learned a few things from the day obviously which is what it's all about when you run something like this for the first time. But I spoke to so many people, and when you look at the figures, the average sale price of $5,900, the highest of any auction in recent years, and we had just over 103 lots and to me that's perfect, a small number is better, it's all about quality rather than quantity and we grossed over $600,000.

"But personally, the thing I got the most enjoyment and most satisfaction out of is that a number of these people who have bought greyhounds today at the auction are first time buyers and they are people who are entering the greyhound racing industry ownership sphere and that can only spell great years for us moving forward.

"We were so intent on making sure we got the message out there for the last 8-10 weeks. We did a stack of advertising, a stack of social media, Sunday Telegraph editorials, social steams through our website, we had more than 13,000 individual visitors to our website in a tick under six weeks, so that tell us we were getting cut through in the marketplace. I think we saw the results of that today in that we have got these new people who have never bought a greyhound before, and they are now going to find out how affordable it is to race a winner."

Pups sold on Sunday at Richmond are now eligible for the 2020 Ladbrokes Golden Muzzle Race Series which has more than $100,000 in projected total prizemoney, with a $40,000 to the winner event at Wentworth Park in October 20, the highlight.

The Gold Muzzle Auction was only launched in March, so organisers had to be impressed with the results considering the short time frame.

"The future does look bright," Duclos said. "You look at some of the pups we sold. Ray and Sharon Webster with the Fernando Bale-Lagoon Jazzy pup that went for $17,000. Shayne Stiff and Charmaine Roberts, they brought six pups down from Dubbo. They are recognised as one of our best breeders and best rearers. There were ecstatic with their results."

Asked whether the inaugural Gold Muzzle Auction had exceeded his expectations, Duclos replied: "Yes and no".

"There is always so much apprehension. I'd like to think we ticked every box in the lead up to it, we were fairly scrupulous in the way we went about our marketing and advertising activities and at the end of the day that's what it's all about. If you don't get your message out there, if you don't give people the opportunity to know that you're putting an event on … well don't expect them to come.

"I think we ticked all those boxes. At the end of the day to achieve the results we have achieved today … yeah I'm extremely satisfied. We couldn't be happier."

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