After an amazing 9 months on the Sunline Scholarship, it’s time to head home. Looking back on my time I can’t believe how quickly it has gone but I’m also looking forward to implementing the lessons I’ve learnt back home.
The whole trip has been an absolute blast and the final 6 weeks has not been any different. The weeks leading up to the Keeneland September sale were extremely busy with parades most days. It was clear to me that the management that goes behind the massive amount of horses we had on the farm at one time is top class.
Leading into the September sale I didn’t really know what to expect, and was only going off what people had told me. Throughout Book 1, I was a groom and everyday throughout that book we didn’t stop, I called it, organised chaos. I’ve never seen anything like it but there were systems in place to get the horses out and shown and it was very well managed from shipping horses in, to showing and then selling. The whole process was as professional as it gets. From Book 2 to Book 6, I was on the sales team. This was a great experience as I had the opportunity to meet plenty of different people from all parts of the world and do something a little different to what I’ve done in the past at sales.
A bit of stats behind the sale to show how successful and dominating Taylor Made Sales are in the industry. There were a total of 4,538 horses catalogued in the sale and Taylor Made Sales was the biggest consigner with 414 horses going through the ring. For the fourth consecutive year and 20th time since 1988, Taylor Made Sales Agency was the September Sale’s leading consignor. Taylor Made sold 300 horses for $47,317,400, among them three seven-figure sales topped by the Medaglia d’Oro colt sold to Phoenix Thoroughbreds for $2.1 million. At the end of Book 3 Taylormade host a “RNA Party” at the farm which is for all the horses that havent sold throughout Book 1,2 and 3 bought back to the farm and clients have the opportunity to view the horses again with a party like atmosphere. A great concept that gives Taylor Made Sales Agency every chance to sell their horses.
Away from the horses, I managed to meet some great people and make some great friendships that I’ll keep forever. I was able to get 3 games in for the Lexington Rugby team which was great fun with a great group of lads. Also, a highlight was seeing a College football game and it was just luck that University of Kentucky are undefeated this season and their best start to a season in 40 years. This resulted in a packed out 70,000 capacity stadium and an atmosphere I’ve never seen before, it was crazy!
Saying goodbye to the Taylor Made family was one of the hardest of the trip, and would like to thank everyone there for an awesome experience. I’m even able to order my food at a Mexican restaurant in Spanish. I wish them all the best with their European endeavours into that market starting in the next couple of months.
Also a big thanks to the NZTBA Sunline Trust who made this possible, this is a great concept that has been a trip of a lifetime. I would recommend anyone that has even had a thought about applying for the course to do so, you will not regret it.
Hope you all enjoyed my blogs and thanks for reading. - David Morris
