The Indian horse breeding industry has been making rapid progress in recent years. What used to be a nascent enterprise a decade ago has ultimately flowered into a proper business venture. It has become a regular feature for most stud farms to have their agents at international "sales", and it is not uncommon for these agents to be striking deals for broodmares and stallions on behalf of their Indian clients. The quality of bloodstock being imported into our country has improved and that has automatically resulted in top-class youngsters being produced at our numerous stud farms. It is reasonable to deduce that because of the large sums of money being spent on the imports, the breeders are demanding their pound of flesh and have raised the prices to unbelievable levels. One was spellbound when it was learnt that a recent runner on the Mumbai race track called Phenomenale had been valued at Rs 1 Crore. This could possibly be an aberration, but the fact remains that race horses are no longer inexpensive. There were many owners in India who used to claim that they were able to sustain their racing activities by the stake monies earned by their runners. In other words, they never gambled on their horses. They said that they could recover their investment on the purchase of a horse by running him and picking up the available stakes. It may have been possible in rare and extreme cases, but the available data points to the fact that this is generally not true. It is easy to work out that the total stake money available at all race clubs across the country is just a little more than what is spent to take care of the training and feeding of the horses collectively stationed at those centres. How can an owner recover the cost of a horse in such a scenario? In spite of such well-known facts, the chase to buy yearlings is fast turning into a stampede. In the years gone by, it was common for the dust to settle down after 2-year olds were delivered by the stud farms to the respective owners at the time of the February sales at Pune. It used to be a quiet period of six months before prospective buyers used to once again begin visiting the various farms. The yearlings would have had grown a fair bit by that time and deals were struck on the basis of their pedigrees and conformations. The big buyers had the first pick and obviously walked away with the better horses. The smaller and newer owners got the left-over. With the advent of sponsorships, big celebrations and live telecasts, we have reached a point where big corporate houses and big time businessmen have started showing interest in the sport. Additional hype has been created by the exploits of Indian horses while winning on foreign soil. These people, who have been successful in other walks of life, are determined to do well in this new found arena. They have sought the services of experienced professionals and are talking about buying in large numbers. Some are said to be keen on setting up their own breeding facilities. In short, they are entering this sport with big bucks. The stud farms are suddenly buzzing with activity in March and April. Buyers have started landing up at their doorsteps with an intention to finalize deals. The yearlings are just about twelve months old and have a long way to go. They still have a lot of scope to grow and furnish, but this new set of big time buyers are not ready to wait. They feel that they may miss the opportunity to pick up well-bred horses. They are ready to take a risk of an odd horse not growing to its full potential. The odd rumour about the production at stud farms being below expectations this year has not helped the situation. The breeders are having a great time. Many large farms have reportedly sold more than half their produce. Serious money has changed hands. The breeders on their part have promised to take care of these babies for the next ten months and deliver them in sound condition at the time of the RWITC sales at Pune in February 2009. There are instances of buyers asking for a discount and immediately shifting these horses to their own premises. The terms of payment are different in each case but are almost standard when a number of horses are bought in a package. In such cases, the buyer pays 25% value of the package deal at the time of finalization and the rest in three equal instalments, payable every three months. This is bound to have a cascading effect, the result of which shall be felt at the time of the official sales. At that point in time, there will be almost nothing available for the small owners.