Top of the list is Desert Prince, bought on behalf of Edward St George's Lucayan Stud for 62,000gns. As a three-year-old (in 1998) Desert Prince won three Group One races and amassed £510,000 in prize money. He was then sold to stud for £3.25 million, having earned his owners a tidy sum of £3,698,000, and boosting Gordon-Watson's credentials in the process.
Another impressive Gordon-Watson buy was Queen's Logic, champion two-year-old filly in Europe in 2001 unbeaten in five races, purchased for approximately £100,000.
The dual Ascot Gold Cup winner, Royal Rebel, and King's Best, winner of the 2,000 Guineas in 2000, are also Gordon-Watson purchases.
It's really the expertise and experience the likes of Delahooke and Gordon-Watson have to offer that explain why a top bloodstock agent can be so invaluable. "A top agent will look at hundreds of horses every year, year after year, and form opinions on what type of horses develop well," says Andrew Mead, secretary general of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents. "Someone like Charlie generally inspects maybe thousands of horses a year. So he's refining his expertise every time he looks at another horse, and that's what the client is paying for."

The Federation of Bloodstock Agents publishes a code of ethics by which all its members must abide. Mead suggests it's a worthwhile safeguard for the new owner to know the bloodstock agent he chooses is affiliated to the trade body. While it cannot guarantee its members will never indulge in bad practice, it only takes on agents who have a proven track record and an excellent reputation in the bloodstock industry.

"We are the only trade body for bloodstock agents in Britain, and have around 50 members," says Mead. "If you ask me why I'd recommend one of our members, I think a prospective owner is better off to use someone who's interested enough in their reputation to say they will abide by our code of ethics."

Buying a racehorse is still an inexact science but an agent at least takes some of the guesswork out of the sale. Not only does he have an expert knowledge of pedigrees, and an ability to judge a horse's conformation, but an agent should have the ability to predict how a horse is likely to mature.

With horses born between January and June and an agent buying the horse the following year, is purchasing the horse at about 16 months old. Trying to work out how a weak and immature yearling is going to strengthen up is not easy.

"You have to visualise what they're going to be. Not what they are," says Delahooke.
Gordon-Watson is wise enough to know that the horse doesn't always turn out the way he thought. "Some horses you can get badly wrong. It's nature that beats you," he says. Some suggest that a competent trainer should be able to handle the job of buying horses for clients, but Delahooke begs to differ. "Training is such a high pressure occupation at the moment and the sales are so huge there's no way a leading trainer can cover the sales thoroughly," he says. "They haven't got the time. You need a specialist. Added to which a lot of trainers are extremely poor judges of horse flesh.”

The agent must also weigh up where the owner's ambitions lie. Is the owner, for example, willing to be patient and perhaps invest in a big, backward type bred to get middle distances, and who may not even see a racecourse until its three-year-old season? Or does the owner want a sharp, forward yearling, who is likely to make up into a good two-year-old.

A first time owner often neglects the fact that training a racehorse for one season might typically cost around £20,000, with a horse's career encompassing two- and three-year-old campaigns. So the agent must take into account an owner's budget. Delahooke says he always likes to sit down with a prospective owner and discuss the worst-case scenario, so they're aware of the potential downside should the horse lack ability.

" What I do is have to balance the pedigree, the conformation and the budget, and try and divide it equally so you're getting the maximum for your money," is how Gordon-Watson puts it. "Some people compromise on pedigree and go for better conformation, some on lesser conformation and better pedigree. Ideally I like to balance the three."

Not only does an agent take all the hassle and aggravation out of buying horses, but also often puts the owner in touch with the right trainer. Gordon-Watson has four Newmarket trainers he mainly buys for - Sir Mark Prescott, Ed Dunlop, Michael Stoute and Jeremy Noseda.

An agent's clients might range from the rich and famous to the enthusiast looking to get involved in ownership on a smaller scale. Gordon-Watson does work for the Maktoum family and the former king of Malaysia.

"I have owners who are purchasing yearlings as part of syndicates for £15,000, up to owners who buy for half a million. Taxi drivers to Royal families. That's the fun of it," he says.

He introduced Manchester United football manager Sir Alex Ferguson to racehorse ownership, purchasing Queensland Star on his behalf. The colt cost £17,000gns and went on to win two races. Ferguson's ownership has since blossomed. Last season he part-owned the Aidan O'Brien trained Rock Of Gibraltar who won six consecutive Group One races.

An agent earns the bulk of his living from the five per cent of the sale price he receives as commission. Considering the going rate for a well-conformed, blue blooded yearling is probably around £100,000 these days, it wouldn't take too many purchases before it becomes a valuable day's work for the agent. Mead stresses the expenses of the job make it less lucrative than it first appears.

Delahooke and Gordon-Watson put on some pretty impressive mileage during the autumn sales season heading to Deauville in August, Keeneland's September sale, the two big Newmarket sales - the Houghton, also in September, and Tattersalls in October - just about having enough time to fit in the Goffs sale in Ireland somewhere in between. "The autumn is always frantic and gets more so every year because of the excessive number of horses that are currently being bred," says Delahooke.

Jetting round the world, rubbing shoulders with aristocracy, and banking five figure cheques in the process...sure, it's a tough job but someone's got to do it. No doubt the leading bloodstock agents live a champagne lifestyle, but taking into account the uncertainty that haunts every yearling buy, and the rare talent they bring to horseracing it's well deserved.