Written 2011
(Tongue Tie Firmly On)
PHOTOGRAPHS
Every effective advertisement should be accompanied by a photograph.
Location
If possible, take a photo of your horse while out in a paddock.
Being dirty and unbrushed demonstrates that you feel you have nothing to hide and that your horse is hardened to the elements.
Similarly, showing that your horse is intelligent enough to survive in a barbed wire fenced paddock littered with other objects is a good strategy.
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Angles
Many trainers and breeders take a lot of stock in the horse’s ‘eye’. So accentuate the head – take the photo from the front so that the head looks abnormally important.
PEDIGREE
Highlight the best parts of the horse’s pedigree, no matter how remote.
“Closely Related to Denman” only means ‘from the same female family’ to those boring pedigree purists. If the horse’s grandsire is Denman’s grandsire Octagonal, that’s a close relation isn’t it?
“Black Type Mare” strictly speaking refers to whether she has actually won black type races herself. But if her sire won a Listed race for instance, surely that’s close enough?
These type of ad titles will get the potential buyer to at least look at the pedigree and if that fails to impress, the photos should get it over the line (see above).
PERFORMANCE
Don’t be negative. If your racehorse is an ambulance hazard / won’t go in the barriers / bolts / bucks / hangs / ties up / jars up – whatever, there’s a track and owner out there to suit. Be honest, but come up with constructive suggestions such as ‘suit manual start’ or ‘suit creative trainer’.
SPELL CHECK
Take a leaf out of the book of some of the leading brand names such as Kleenheat, SupaCenta and Kwik Copy by mis-spelling words for additional impact. I’ve seen clever horse sellers advertising their “Broadmare”, “Well Bread Filly”, “Throughbreed”, “Mare by Gold Carrot” or a Proven Wet Tracer”, no doubt hoping to catch the eye of weary scrollers.
If all these rules are too complicated, it’s probably best to get Pedigree Dynamics to do it all for you!
