NEWS
Sales catalogs to denote foreign earnings
Posted: Friday, May 16, 2008 3:31 PM
North American sales catalogs will begin denoting foreign earnings from major racing nations beginning with the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. June sale of two-year-olds in training and horses of racing age.
The decision was made by North American members of the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA) on Friday. Earnings will be noted in native currency followed by total earnings converted to United States dollars.
In the past, catalogs often did not include earnings from many foreign countries. The new method will convert the earnings by using historic exchange rates on the day of the race.
Trainer Norman Casse said the new catalogs will give people a better idea of the quality of foreign races.
"Say a horse won a graded race in Argentina, do you know what the purse was? There's a couple races in Argentina worth a lot of money, but most of them aren't worth much,” Casse said. “If a horse won a $100,000 race in Argentina, you can bet it was probably a pretty good race. If it was worth $20,000, there could be a big difference in the opposition he faced."
The change applies to earnings from countries assigned “Part I” status in the International Catalogue Standards book that The Jockey Club has detailed start-by-start information in those countries, which includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates.
