Irish firm helps horse buyers decide at Oz sale
On the equinomesales.com website, bloodstock buyers can purchase genetic profile information of horses offered for auction.
Last year’s Magic Millions sale of yearlings grossed €48.5m, averaging €92,000 for the 527 which were sold. This year, 650 horses were entered, and genetic information for 225 of the yearlings, from 18 vendors, was available on the new website.
There is no cost to vendors, who can submit blood/hair samples or arrange for an Equinome representative to come to their farm, with Equinome bearing all testing costs.
But potential horse buyers pay to view the genetic information online.
Prices are €190 (excluding Vat) per horse for the Equinome speed gene test, which identifies optimum race distance and the average age at which a horse is expected to win; €275 for the Equinome elite performance test, which identifies the genetic potential of a horse to perform at an elite level based on the profile of genes related to sprint, mid-distance, and staying ability; and €35 for the Equinome projected height test, which predicts the mature height at the withers (to within 2.54 cm or one inch, with a 70% success rate).
Equinome, a world-leading genomics company headquartered at NovaUCD, is a spin-out from University College Dublin and has been providing genetic tests to the global bloodstock industry since its launch in 2010.
In 2012, it opened its first overseas sales office in Australia to support growing demand for its services across that country and New Zealand.
Donal Ryan, Equinome’s managing director, said: “We are delighted that the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in Queensland is the first auction to have this information available. Australia has been at the forefront in the adoption of Equinome’s technologies in the past four years and we were delighted by the response of so many breeders and purchasers when we first proposed this idea earlier this year.”
He concluded: “We will continue to add the genetic profiles of horses in advance of other upcoming auctions in Australia and Europe, including Ireland.”
