Steve Davis excels in the theatre of the auditorium, he’s an entertainer with a ready wit and turn of phrase that has built up a special rapport with his audience, but all fun aside, he’s exceptionally good at what he does – getting optimum value for each lot paraded in front of him.
Whether it be a $1 million sale or $10,000, it’s all about putting forward a compelling argument to buyers to strive to fulfil each and every lots’ maximum financial potential.
“I’ve always said I sell dreams, that’s all I sell. I don’t sell horses, just dreams,” Davis said.
New Zealand Bloodstock’s hugely successful Ready to Run Sale at Karaka provided further testament to his persistence as John Bell can testify to after the Cambridge trainer went to NZ$525,000 on Davis’ watch for an Exceed And Excel colt offered by Lyndhurst Farm.
“If it had of been any other auctioneer than Steve Davis I would have got him for NZ$75,000 to NZ$100,000 cheaper – he’s a hell of an auctioneer,” Bell said with a smile at the close of bidding.
Lot 169 - Exceed And Excel x Chateau d’Yquem (NZ) (colt)
Davis’ first introduction to the world of the thoroughbred came as a youngster growing up in Hawke’s Bay.
“My father was a little 50 cent punter and he would get up on a Saturday morning and read the Friday Flash and do his form and go off and have a few bets at the TAB,” he said.
“We went to the races and he was a member of the Hawke’s Bay Jockey Club. He didn’t own horses, but that’s where it first came from.”
Teaching career
While maintaining that interest, Davis initially had another career path in mind on finishing his High School education.
“I was going to be a teacher. I went to Teachers’ College in Auckland, which is probably where the demise of me came down,” he said.
“I went to Massey University for a year and then went to Auckland Teachers’ College and was living in Epsom and went down to the track at Alexandra Park when they had the Sunday work-outs.
“I listened to the commentator and thought, gee maybe I could have a crack at that because I used to push matchbox toys around doing (commentators) Peter Kelly and Reg Clapp impressions.
“I asked them for a go and called a couple of heats and then the bloke running the work-outs came and asked who I was and what I was doing and asked if I wanted to keep doing it.”
Subsequently, another chance approach resulted in a change of direction.
“Ken Cramer-Roberts was involved in the bloodstock business with Dalgetys at the time I think and he also involved in an auction business and he asked me if I’d ever done any auctioneering,” Davis said.
“I used to joke with my father about having a job like Peter Kelly and getting paid to go to the races. Ken suggested I go and get some experience.
“I used to joke with my father about having a job like Peter Kelly and getting paid to go to the races.” – Steve Davis
“I went off that year and put the suit on to see Michael Floyd, who was Head of Bloodstock at Wrightsons, but there were no opportunities. There were only 27 people working for them then and if there was ever an opportunity it would come from Wrightson NMA, which was the agricultural side of things.
“I went down to the next floor to see John Hudson, who was head of NMA, and had a brief discussion with him which extended out to half an hour with Terry Shaw as well.
“The rest, as they say, is history and they turned around and offered me a job a week later. I said I’ll wait until December to finish my teachers’ college year with a view to using it as a summer job before going back to teaching.
Davis admits he had 'no idea' when he first began his job with Wrightson NMA
“However, the Board of Trustees decided I should pursue another line of employment anyway and not teaching, so my summer job became my full-time job.
“To be honest, at that time I thought a heifer and a steer were a breed of cattle, I had no idea being a city boy. Anyway, I did my stock and station certificate and was a stock clerk and then moved into commercial auctions.”
“To be honest, at that time I thought a heifer and a steer were a breed of cattle, I had no idea being a city boy.” – Steve Davis
It was during this period that Davis worked under a gentleman who was to become a major influence on his career.
“I rate Kevin O’Connor as the best general auctioneer I’ve ever worked with. He was outstanding and taught me a hell of a lot, not that he would sit you down as such in that regard,” he said.
“Just by clerking next to him over the years as I did, you picked up different facets of the business and he was a huge influence early on.”
Davis later expanded his auctioneering experience as Wrightsons expanded.
“I went into the car auction business when Wrightsons decided to take on Turners and they were going to give it to Kevin, but he said no as he was doing five or six auctions a week,” he said.
“They gave young Steve Davis a go and I started doing that and managed the car auction business and one auction night Michael Floyd came out.
“I thought he was there to buy a car and he listened for half an hour and went away and not long after said I was going into bloodstock.
“What happened was Peter Kelly had had a heart attack and they didn’t have a succession plan and there wasn’t anybody coming through. I was just the right person at the right time.
“I did my first ever bloodstock sale in December of 1984. I left in 1997 and worked with Magic Millions, who had a couple of sales here for a couple of years and then went back to selling with New Zealand Bloodstock in 2001 and have been there ever since.”
Overseas offer
Davis also subsequently took up an auctioneering offer from Bloodstock South Africa. “I’ve been doing the three countries for 20 years now,” he said.
“You watch and learn all the time in this business from the likes of Peter Kelly and Joe Walls. Internationally, I’ve also sold with Nick Nugent, Henry Beeby and Andrew Miller, who I still sell with in South Africa.”
Davis’ engaging style has developed over the years and adapted to serve different venues.
“In terms of the theatre, I do sell differently here to the Gold Coast and that’s auditorium-related because the auditorium at the Gold Coast is so big I inter-play with bid-spotters more than here,” he said.
“At Karaka, I can almost see every buyer because of the wonderful amphitheatre that it is. At the Gold Coast you’re dealing with basically a big barn and people you can’t see so you’re relying on bid-spotters as an extension of yourself.
The New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka sale ring
“I’ve always been of the opinion if somebody is going to spend $100,000 or whatever, you want to retain people in the auditorium. Entertain is one word, but you want to keep people involved and not only the buyers, the other people who are at the sale.
“Some of the sales can be life-changing and we saw that at the Ready to Run Sale where a couple of horses made significant money, not the highest money, but significant and it can be life-changing for those involved.
“A vendor can tell you they’ve got a reserve of $10,000 and it makes $100,000. It’s exciting and you can turn around and the vendor is crying and the buyer is jumping up and down.
“The beautiful thing about the game is that they don’t come out with stamps on their forehead. You can buy a horse for $5000 and have as much chance as one for $500,000 to some extent.
“The beautiful thing about the game is that they don’t come out with stamps on their forehead.” – Steve Davis
“One of the advantages I have is that I sell throughout Australia and New Zealand and obviously you’re running into the same purchasers at all those sales.
“I get to auction between 1500 and 2000 yearlings a year, leaving aside any other horses, and I go and look at every horse I sell so there’s a fair bit of work involved."
A pair of subsequent multiple Group 1 winners to go through the Karaka ring are among two of Davis’ many highlights on the podium.
“I still remember selling Octagonal for $210,000 and that’s certainly one of the most memorable and I sold So You Think,” he said.
While acknowledging it can be hard to switch off, Davis does like to get away from it all whenever possible.
“We’ve got a little place at Lake Taupo and I quite enjoy a bit of trout fishing, I don’t mind a bit of gardening either and the odd game of golf. You do tend to find in this industry that it’s hard to get away from it all,” he said.
Market responds
Despite the dark shadow of the coronavirus, the New Zealand industry had showed its resilience.
“I have been pleasantly surprised how the market has held up and the 2-year-old Sale we had at Karaka was probably as strong, if not the strongest, as we’ve had for a few years.
“When most people might have been thinking how bad will it be, it ended up very strong so that was a real positive. There is still a desire given the stake-money in Australia, in particular, to buy good horses.”
Davis also spent two decades as a Trackside TV presenter before the 2020 restructure of its services and ensuing job losses, his role among them, and that has contributed to a challenging period, both on personal and professional levels.
“I’ve had a terrible year losing my brother and my mother and 66 per cent of my work. It’s certainly been a soul-searching year for me to look in the mirror and say where am I going and where do I want to be in 12 months’ time or where could I be.
“What is the normal - I suppose everybody’s asking the same question,” he said.
