172 SIDELINES MARCH 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Lauren R. Giannini
H
ow do you know where to shop
when you’re looking to buy
a show horse or pony? Two
family-run auction companies approach
this question from similar yet different
perspectives and locations: Flashpoint
Bloodstock LLC and SVS Horse Sales.
Tim and Cathy Jennings bring
extensive
Quarter
Horse
and
Thoroughbred expertise to Sport
Horse Auctions, which they’re re-
branding as Flashpoint Bloodstock
LLC. Their services include consulting,
marketing, appraisals and clinics by
Cathy, CHA-certified instructor. Tim’s
resume includes 35 years of hands-on
experience with Professional Auction
Services (1978-2012, founded with his
brother Mike) selling 60,000-plus horses
for $170,000,000 in 360 live auctions
and 19 years as producer of the Pony
Finals Auction.
Flashpoint Bloodstock is already
recognized as a pioneer, exploring the
vast opportunities of online Internet
sales. “There have been three significant
market corrections in the past 35 years,”
Tim said. “The most significant change
has been spurred by the Internet. It has
changed the way horses are sold.”
In 2007, the Jennings noticed that
it was more difficult to recruit for live
auctions and harder yet the next year
when the economy tanked. By 2011,
live auctions catalogued 1,760 horses,
compared to 3,116 in 2006. “Although
people were motivated, even desperate
to sell, they were looking for more cost-
effective ways to sell their horses and
ponies,” Tim said. “We figured out that
they were going to the Internet. We
have been in the auction business so
long it just seemed a natural fit. I love
the excitement of being behind the
microphone at a live auction, but things
change. The Internet provides a more
efficient way to buy and sell horses.”
Flashpoint Bloodstock held its first
online auction in January 2012. “That
September we managed the best online
auction for horses ever held, for the U.S.
Marshals Service,” Tim said. “We sold
81 horses online for $1.7 million. High
Seller was $245,000. This proved that
the potential for online auctions produced
by auction professionals was almost
limitless.”
Flashpoint Bloodstock’s Tim Jennings,
microphone in hand, loves to spur on the
excitement of live auctions, helped by bid
spotters throughout the crowd.
Photo by L. A. Brown Photography
Tim Jennings has produced the Pony Finals Auction for 19 years, more recently under the umbrella of Flashpoint Bloodstock LLC.
A packed house watches a chestnut pony being presented to buyers in the Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2012.
Photo by L. A. Brown Photography
“Going, Going, Gone!”
Sport Horse & Pony Auctions: Live & Online
e
The Sidelines Scoop
Continued on page 174
