Key points
- A reserve price is the confidential minimum a seller agrees to accept before a horse goes into the auction ring; it's not announced to bidders.
- RNA stands for "Reserve Not Attained," meaning the top bid fell short of that minimum and the horse did not sell.
- An RNA'd horse remains the seller's property and typically goes home with the consignor, a result also called a buyback or no-sale 1.
- RNA is functionally the same outcome as "no-sale" or "passed out," just different auction-house terminology for the same result 3 6.
- A high RNA rate at a sale often signals a gap between what consignors expect and what buyers are willing to bid 2.
- An RNA doesn't necessarily end the conversation: private, post-auction negotiation between buyer and seller can still happen once the horse leaves the ring.
Quick Answer: Reserve Price and RNA Defined
A reserve price is the minimum amount a seller (or consignor) agrees to accept for a horse before it's offered at auction. The number is set privately in advance and isn't shared with bidders during the sale. If bidding stalls below that number, the horse is marked RNA, short for "Reserve Not Attained" 3 4. In plain terms: the horse didn't sell because nobody bid high enough to meet the seller's floor.
How a Reserve Price Works at a Horse Auction
Before a horse ever walks into the sale ring, the consignor and the auction house agree on a reserve, essentially a walk-away number below which the seller won't part with the horse. This protects consignors from selling a well-bred or well-performing horse for far less than its perceived value just because the room happened to be quiet that day.
Here's a simplified example of how it plays out:
- A consignor sets a private reserve of $50,000 on a yearling.
- Bidding opens and climbs steadily, but stalls at $42,000.
- Because $42,000 is below the $50,000 reserve, the auctioneer doesn't hammer the horse down as sold.
- The horse is marked RNA in the sale results, and ownership doesn't change hands.
The reserve amount itself is confidential. Bidders in the room have no way of knowing exactly what number they need to clear, they're simply bidding against the market and, invisibly, against the seller's floor 3.
What Does RNA Mean? (Reserve Not Attained)
RNA is the official notation used in sale catalogs and results sheets to flag horses that didn't meet their reserve. You'll see it listed right alongside the final bid amount in published results: a hip number, a final bid, and "RNA" instead of a buyer's name.
Some sales and publications use different phrasing for the same underlying event. You might see "no-sale" or "passed out" used interchangeably with RNA 3 6. Regardless of the label, the meaning is identical: the auction ended without a completed sale because the top bid came up short of the seller's minimum.
What Happens After a Horse Is RNA'd
An RNA result doesn't erase the horse's market activity, it just means the transaction didn't close in the ring. A few things commonly happen next:
- The horse goes home with the consignor. Ownership never transferred, so the horse leaves the sale grounds with whoever brought it 1.
- Private negotiation can pick up where the auction left off. It's common for the underbidder (the person who placed the highest bid before the reserve stopped things) to approach the consignor afterward and negotiate a private sale, sometimes at or near that final bid amount.
- The horse may re-enter the sale pipeline later. Some RNA'd horses are re-consigned to a future sale, sometimes with an adjusted reserve, or listed for private sale through other channels.
- Sale results still get recorded. The RNA and the final bid amount typically remain part of the public sale record, which matters for pedigree and market research even though no sale technically occurred.
RNA vs. Related Auction Terms
These terms get used loosely and often get confused with each other:
- Hammer price: The final bid amount when the auctioneer's hammer falls, indicating a completed sale. An RNA'd horse never has a true hammer price in the "sold" sense, even though a final bid number is recorded for reference.
- No-sale: A general term for any horse that didn't sell, RNA is the specific reason (reserve not met), no-sale is the broader outcome.
- Passed in / passed out: Auction-house terminology, more common outside North America, describing the same result as RNA: bidding didn't reach the seller's floor, so the horse was passed over without a sale 6.
- Buyback: Refers to the horse effectively being "bought back" by its own seller since it didn't sell to a new owner. Some sale companies also charge consignors a reduced buyback commission on RNA'd horses, since the auction house still did the work of marketing and presenting the horse 2.
Why Sellers Set a Reserve Price: Benefits and Drawbacks
Benefits:
- Protects against selling a horse for well below its perceived or pedigree-based value in a slow market
- Gives consignors leverage and a floor to negotiate around, even if the horse doesn't sell in the ring
- Signals confidence in the horse's quality to serious buyers
Drawbacks:
- A reserve set too high can lead to a high RNA rate, which some in the industry view as a sign of a disconnected or overheated market 2
- Buyers can be wary of auctions with heavy RNA activity, since it suggests sellers and buyers aren't finding common ground
- Every RNA still typically comes with some cost to the consignor, from sale prep to reduced commissions on unsold horses
Do Bidders Know the Reserve Price?
No. The exact reserve figure is confidential and isn't announced or published before or during the sale 3 4. Bidders are simply bidding against the room, without visibility into the specific number they need to clear. That said, some buyers and agents will informally ask around about a reserve before the sale, though sale staff generally won't confirm specifics.
Should a Consignor Set a Reserve Price?
It depends on the horse, the market, and the consignor's tolerance for risk. A reserve makes sense when a consignor has a strong sense of the horse's floor value and wants protection against an off day in the ring. It's riskier when set unrealistically high relative to what the market is actually paying, which raises the odds of an RNA and the costs that come with it, without guaranteeing a better outcome down the road 2.
FAQs About Reserve Prices and RNA
What does RNA mean at a horse sale? RNA stands for "Reserve Not Attained." It means the highest bid on a horse in the auction ring didn't reach the seller's confidential minimum price, so the horse did not sell 3.
What happens to a horse that is RNA'd? The horse remains the seller's property and goes home with the consignor rather than a new buyer 1. It may be sold privately afterward, re-consigned to a future sale, or kept.
Is RNA the same as no-sale? Functionally, yes. RNA is the specific reason (the reserve wasn't met), while "no-sale" and "passed in/out" are broader or regional terms used for the same result: no completed transaction 3 6.
Can a horse still sell after being RNA'd? Yes. It's common for a private negotiation to happen between the consignor and the underbidder after the auction, sometimes resulting in a sale close to or at the final bid amount, just outside the auction ring.
Related Terms
If you're researching a horse's sale history as part of pedigree or handicapping research, you'll often run into these related terms alongside RNA: hammer price, no-sale, passed in, and buyback commission. Understanding sale results, including RNAs, can add useful context when researching a horse's background, alongside metrics like Genetic Strength Rating (GSR®) that EquinEdge uses to evaluate pedigree strength for handicapping purposes.