Temperament can defined as “an aspect of an individual’s general make-up characterized by dispositions towards particular patterns of emotional reactions, mood shifts and levels of sensitivity resulting from stimulation” (Reber, 1995: 788). How an animal handles or reacts to a novel object or scenario, that is, the amount of reactivity it shows, is often regarded as an important factor in the assessment of their temperament, though the scenarios tested with horses tend to involve situations that the animal may never again encounter, for example, a maze or a falling, open umbrella (eg. Visser, et al, 2003). Slabbert and Odendaal (1999) developed a test, based on measuring behavioural responses of untrained pups to stimuli of the kind they would encounter as part of their work as adult police dogs, that was found to reliably identify which puppies would later go on to be successfully trained for the job. Many Thoroughbreds will go through the auction ring as foals and/or as yearlings. As the auction ring bears a striking resemblance to the parade ring at most racetracks, this particular scenario may be a potentially valuable one for the purpose of predicting future behaviour. Horses are often quick learners of associations (eg. Kiley-Worthington, 1997: 175) and so a positive or negative first experience in the auction ring could later affect how the animal behaves in the parade ring before a race. Should a horse show signs of distress at the racetrack, it often expends energy, or may gallop too quickly rather than canter steadily on the way to the start, using up energy that could have been used in the race. This analysis investigated whether factors such as age, gender or coat colour are associated with differences in behaviour in the auction ring that could be predictive of a Thoroughbred’s future behaviour. Data were also analysed to see if there was any evidence that the sire of the animals might have influence.