Brave new world: Asia holds its first online sale of horse embryos in Hong Kong

An auction of embryos might read a little like something from the pages of science fiction but this brave new world of equine breeding was played out right here and right now on the sidelines of Longines Masters of Hong Kong on Friday.

Asia’s first online sale of horse embryos – suitably labelled The Auction by Arqana - attracted bids of up to 41,000 euro (HK$367,770) for the 16 lots of still unborn progeny from a collection of the show jumping world’s best breeders.

“The business of embryos is new here but it is a strong movement,” explained Eric Hoyeau, president of French auction house Arqana. “It is a way to learn about breeding, to discover the possibilities of this world, and an opportunity to buy high level genetics that the breeders themselves would not have previously put on the market.”

The event came complete with a revealing animated short that explains the process involved in producing these embryos – word of warning there for the feint-hearted or those not used to witnessing the realities of the breeding world, it must be said.

The sale was organised by Christophe Ameeuw, and Arqana which is based in Deauville, France, breeding ground of the likes of Hong Kong thoroughbred champion Pakistan Star.

As well as online bids from around the world, spirited offers came flooding in from the crowd at AsiaWorld-Expo, from an auction house in Deauville, and via global telephone links.

The hope is that the sale has shown a path to the future of the equestrian breeding industry in terms of ownership and investment from Hong Kong and beyond.

“There are real investors here, and we can mix them with people all over the world,” said Hoyeau, whose auction brought the second edition of the Asia Horse Week industry gathering to a close.

“They can also join this market which is so well-established in Europe.”

The unborn horses on offer on Friday are currently developing inside surrogates in Europe, a development which allows their famous mothers to continue to compete at the highest levels or to produce more embryos.

There was a link with Hong Kong history on Friday, too, for those who dug deep into the form guide.

That highest price was paid for Lot 2 was by stallion Eldorado Van De Zeshoek out of the mare Coriana van Klapscheut, once owned by Canada’s Eric Lamaze – famed in these parts as winner of the individual show jumping gold at the 2008 Olympics, when the equestrian events were staged in Penfold Park, Sha Tin. The embryo was sold to a Canadian phone bidder and fetched €41,000.

While the equestrian world first started exploring embryo auctions around 2005, it’s only been in the past five years that the sales have gone online – making the process accessible to those across the globe with an interest in the breeding, and those looking simply for a new way to invest their money.

“We want to see people thinking of this like buying art,” said Michael Dorigo, EEM’s development program manager. “We’re trying to change the rules of trading. You become an owner and a breeder.”

The connection with the digital world means owners from land-starved cities such as Hong Kong could almost develop a sort of “virtual” stable from behind a desk in their apartments, buying the embryos online, logging on to see them raised and educated in places such as the lush fields of Normandy, France, before selling them or using in partnership with one of the world’s leading riders. The very highest level of show jumping – events such as this weekend’s Longines Masters of Hong Kong – on average offer prize money ranging from between HK$300,000 to HK$1,000,000 according to FEI.

And the breeding business is already exploding, with FEI – equestrian sport’s ruling body – reporting there were 49, 157 horses registered internationally in 2018, a 97 per cent rise in numbers since 2009.

“The way equestrian sports are expanding one day we could see these horses raised in the New Territories or in China,” said Dorigo. “But for the moment there is Normandy … and of course the opportunity to go and visit France.”