Beyond the Budget

The second day after arriving in Ireland, Saturday afternoon.

5:40 PM before the auction began.

At Goffs Club, just outside Kil City and only a two-minute walk from the auction house.

Sixty-one horses.

Excluding the two that had withdrawn at the last minute, sixty-one horses were due to appear at today's auction—a somewhat thin number even for the Select Sale.

Yet the targets they had identified beforehand from the online pedigrees and livestream presentations alone already numbered more than twenty.

European buyers had always seemed to place greater importance on future breeding income than prize money, and what they sought at auctions were horses that could debut as early as possible and looked capable of running strongly.

Of course—

Just as at every auction they had attended before, the level of physical maturity visible to the naked eye during the auction was most likely not proportional to the horse's actual training progress, and held almost no reference value for its bidding price...

Even so, buyers in every country instinctively favored horses with clearly defined musculature.

"Rain again."

Taniguchi began the conversation like that in the elevator downstairs.

Ireland's rainy season seemed to be concentrated between August and January of the following year.

However, from what they had personally experienced on several occasions, clear weather could only be called rare.

"Then the presentations will be affected too, won't they?"

Wada, who was flipping through the physical auction catalog, looked up and spoke with a worried expression.

"No, there won't be a presentation session today."

Unlike the traditional format of European auctions, the presentation and breeze portions of this Goffs Classic Two-Year-Old Select Sale had been scheduled much farther ahead of the formal auction.

For buyers, while two-year-olds offered a clearer outlook, auctions like this still depended heavily on one's eye for