COUNTRY LIFE FARM

Learning Exercise

Understanding a Sales Catalog

This activity is designed to help you understand a typical Sales Catalog page, although the exact format may vary depending on the sales company.

Even if you only scratch the surface of the Thoroughbred business, you will most likely attend a public auction.

Perhaps you may want to buy a broodmare to begin your breeding business. You might plan to purchase a yearling or two-year-old to step into the racing game. You may decide to sell a weanling.
You may simply want to learn a more about this fascinating segment of the industry.

Understanding a sales catalog is an essential skill in the Thoroughbred industry.

Note 1: The term "Black Type" is a common one in the business. It comes from the method sales catalogs use to denote the names of stakes-winning and stakes-placed horses.
Such horses appear in bold type. Stakes winners are listed in ALL CAPS BOLD TYPE and stakes-placed horses in lower case bold print. Graded stakes races are reflected by [G1], [G2], and [G3].
(Many of the references herein are links to explanations. They may show up on the screen as blue, or whatever color your browser assigns. Thus, black type may appear as blue type.)

Note 2: It is important to realize that a sales catalog is produced by the sales company. The pedigree pages are actually advertisements, designed to maximize the most attractive aspects of the horse being offered.