Moroney and partner Catheryne Bruggeman are currently in Melbourne after cutting short a New Zealand trip to ensure they could get home to follow the self-isolation procedures in good time to attend the sale.
“I went back to New Zealand for the Oaks and was going to stay for a fortnight and go to my youngest nephew’s 21st and we went to the Wairarapa to stay at Little Avondale for two or three nights and do some wine trials around the areas,” Moroney said.
“We got there on the Sunday night and did one vineyard and on the way back (brother) Mike rang and said I think you’re in a bit of trouble, they’re closing the borders in New Zealand and in Australia and making a 14-day self-isolation rule.
“For us to have got to Sydney Easter by April 1 to start inspections Catheryn and I had to change our flights back. We’ve done seven days in isolation and on the 31st we’re free to travel again.”
Moroney said they would be doing their utmost to complete inspections and report to clients.
“There’s still going to be 450 odd horses going through and there’s two of us so we can split up. It will still take two and a-half days to get through that amount of horses, and that’s only doing one inspection.
“There’s still going to be 450 odd horses going through and there’s two of us so we can split up.” – Paul Moroney
“If the worst comes to the worst and we only get to have one look at them and perhaps a second look between us that would be suffice for us to have enough knowledge and assessed them well enough to confidently put them out to clients and get them vetted.
“We were hoping to have a couple of extra days up our sleeve because we wanted to provide those who couldn’t get to the sale with the ability for us to video them from many different angles and send that through. You can only do as much as you can do.
Moroney had been kept busy in isolation by reaching out to as many potential buyers as possible and emphasising the opportunities on offer.
Paul Moroney signs for a purchased Lot
“We’ve spent our time ringing around many people and offering our services and we’ll be available to evaluate horses on their behalf. We’ve had positive reactions and some mixed reactions and there’s definitely doubt in people’s minds about the sale,” he said.
“We’ve impressed upon people that we believe there’ll be great value. We’re convinced there will be, especially for breeders who wish to restock with well-bred fillies.
“This is normally the best sale of the year for fillies with those types of pedigrees. It’s a supply and demand thing and there’ll probably be less demand and the supply is still the same.
“We’ve impressed upon people that we believe there’ll be great value.” – Paul Moroney
“There will be come value to buy pedigrees at much lesser value than there would have been at a normal Easter Sale, I think it would have been a bonanza for vendors.
“The market has been affected everywhere, the sharemarkets and business closing. I’ve heard of major racing people who have major businesses who have had to lay off hundreds of staff outside of the racing industry.”
In such unprecedented circumstances, flexibility has been a key factor in the sale lead-up.
Inspections at last year's Inglis Easter Sale
“We’re prepared to get up there and put the hard yards in. It’s a pity for us and we made the call to go back to New Zealand for a couple of reasons,” Moroney said.
“We could have gone on the tour with the William Inglis group up the Hunter and we would have seen 400 yearlings ahead and most of the catalogue by now.
“We had a runner in the Oaks and I caught up with my kids for a while in Wellington and as I said, it was my youngest nephew’s 21st so it was the last 21st for our family.
“We thought we’d stay and go to that too, but we had to quickly change plans once the self-isolation rules came in so we abandoned our original plans and jumped on a plane. We got back here so we would be available to go to the sale.
Help at hand
He said they were prepared to offer as much assistance as possible to anyone who can’t attend the sale.
Paul and Catheryne are prepared to offer as much assistance as possible to anyone who can’t attend the sale
“All I can say is Paul Moroney Bloodstock has been one of the most successful buyers of yearlings anywhere over the last three decades and we’ll be there for people to avail of our services.
“We’re going to be helping out as much as we can. We understand the predicament most people find themselves in and we’re certainly not rushing out there to fill our coffers, it’s to help other people who can’t be at the sale.
“We won’t be pedantic about commission rates and things like that, we want to help people out and ensure the vendors get a fair go and the potential buyers get a fair go as well.”
