Preferred Equine’s David Reid on what goes into choosing Harrisburg over Lexington, or vice-versa, for his clients.

by Dave Briggs

David Reid of Preferred Equine Marketing said his company has a wide variety of yearlings to sell over the next three days at Standardbred Horse Sales Company’s auction beginning today at noon at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, PA.

“I have very nice horses overall, top to bottom,” he said Sunday of the some 112 yearlings Preferred will sell. “Opening day horses, I’ve got some nice Always Be Mikis, I’ve got nice Captains, I’ve got nice Muscle Hills, so I’m excited about that. I think they look the part and they’ve got pedigrees to match, so I’m excited about selling them,” Reid said.

“I think the rest of the week, Tuesday and Wednesday, Preferred represents a lot of breeders and we have something for everybody. We have a nice group of horses overall and we’re looking forward to getting them shown and getting them moved on, for sure.”

At the Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, Preferred led all consignors with record gross earnings of $9,731,000. At last year’s Harrisburg sale, Preferred was third in gross sales with $3,474,000. So, how does Reid decide which yearlings should be sold at which sale?

“Operationally, geographically, some people may want to sell here, some may want to sell at Lexington. Some of those guys, our customers, have their own personal preferences. Some of the customers do ask for your opinion and you try to balance the marketplace, try to balance… look at your competitors and see what they may be offering. You don’t know what they are going to be offering, but you can speculate on what they are going to be offering, such as Hanover Shoe Farms, because you know they are a big consignor here,” Reid said.

“Sometimes when they zig, we zag and sometimes they zag when we zig. It really depends on a year-to-year basis and you try to advise your clients to fit the overall population of yearlings by sire, by jurisdictions, and you just try to make a good guess, because you’re making these decisions back in January, February or March. It’s a little tricky.

“We’ve been doing it a long time and we have a good relationship with all our clients. As long as we’re right more than we’re wrong, we’re in good shape there.”

Overall, Reid said he has a vibe about this year’s Harrisburg yearling sale.

“The economy is good. It’s the last sale of the year, the last chance and I really don’t see any reason why the market shouldn’t be good. I just hope that things stay stable. If it’s a stable market, we’re going to be happy,” he said.

As busy as Preferred will be selling yearlings, it will be even busier selling some 300 horses/stallion shares during Thursday and Friday’s mixed sale sessions in Harrisburg.