I was fairly vocal in my disappointment with the auction this year.
There was a huge number of veteran (4+) horses for sale and 99% of them were unfit to be racers. It was the most untalented, over-the-hill bunch I've seen in all my years at Photo-Finish. In fact, the vast majority of the 3yo's were below average as well.
There were just 25 2yo's for sale and since I personally have become highly suspicious of nonraced 2yo horses who have been cast-off by their breeders, I decided to pass on them entirely. My feelings are the same for yearlings, but to a lesser degree because their availability can possibly be attributed to impatience by the owner rather than a perceived lack of talent.
So, I was prepared to sit this one out.
That is....until I saw a pretty little filly that was bred by Woodbury Stables by the name of Sazerac. The unique name comes from a very old New Orleans cocktail which is a combination of Cognac and bitters.
To be honest, it was her name that struck my fancy at first. I've gone on the record many times saying that I've made buy/sell decisions based on name alone. Call it a gut feeling or some kind of intuition, but the name caught my eye for some reason.
I decided to take a look at her parentage. Her sire, Sendintheclowns, was no superstar, but he won over $1,000,000 and had above average speed. The dam Seattle Halo, did not race, but has had reasonable success as a broodmare and is the dam of recently acquired Otsego broodmare, False Demon. Plus Seattle Halo is by Seattle Slew. Nuff said. Sazerac passed muster.
I particularly liked the fact that she is an unraced 3yo. I didn't see this as a dump-off because I figured Martin of Woodbury wouldn't have held onto her for her entire 2yo season if he thought she was hopeless. Plus, she was acquired for the very reasonable price of $41,000. That modest amount won't even be missed.
So, Otsego Farms is the proud owner of Sazerac. And in her honor, I've sent one of my staff for a bottle of Remy Martin, and some bitters and orange peel to mix up a couple drinks.
Skál!
There was a huge number of veteran (4+) horses for sale and 99% of them were unfit to be racers. It was the most untalented, over-the-hill bunch I've seen in all my years at Photo-Finish. In fact, the vast majority of the 3yo's were below average as well.
There were just 25 2yo's for sale and since I personally have become highly suspicious of nonraced 2yo horses who have been cast-off by their breeders, I decided to pass on them entirely. My feelings are the same for yearlings, but to a lesser degree because their availability can possibly be attributed to impatience by the owner rather than a perceived lack of talent.
So, I was prepared to sit this one out.
That is....until I saw a pretty little filly that was bred by Woodbury Stables by the name of Sazerac. The unique name comes from a very old New Orleans cocktail which is a combination of Cognac and bitters.
To be honest, it was her name that struck my fancy at first. I've gone on the record many times saying that I've made buy/sell decisions based on name alone. Call it a gut feeling or some kind of intuition, but the name caught my eye for some reason.
I decided to take a look at her parentage. Her sire, Sendintheclowns, was no superstar, but he won over $1,000,000 and had above average speed. The dam Seattle Halo, did not race, but has had reasonable success as a broodmare and is the dam of recently acquired Otsego broodmare, False Demon. Plus Seattle Halo is by Seattle Slew. Nuff said. Sazerac passed muster.
I particularly liked the fact that she is an unraced 3yo. I didn't see this as a dump-off because I figured Martin of Woodbury wouldn't have held onto her for her entire 2yo season if he thought she was hopeless. Plus, she was acquired for the very reasonable price of $41,000. That modest amount won't even be missed.
So, Otsego Farms is the proud owner of Sazerac. And in her honor, I've sent one of my staff for a bottle of Remy Martin, and some bitters and orange peel to mix up a couple drinks.
Skál!
6 comments:
I agree with you 100% Weaver. My first couple auctions I had little cash and there was a ton of talent. This year I have a ton of $ and there was no talent. Just another reason I've lost interest in this game.
Hang in there Mike. I know the long off-season is awfully tough to swallow, but I'd sure like you to stay involved.
As someone said on the forum ( cant remember who ) no big stables have been deleted this season therefore no well bred horses are up for sale unless there is summin iffy about the AR
I put Mack Truck up for sale not because his AR sucked just i have a better turf sprinter in Undertaker ... Saying that Mack Truck has Excellent speed and should do betta as a 3yo so maybe i have just sold 1 of those horses we dread selling ... I doubt it but whoever brough him is going to def going to make a nice profit
Foxie
I didn't notice that Mack Truck was yours Foxie. I hardly looked at the younger horses. It doesn't surprise me that you'd sell him though. You have had a track record of selling GOOD horses, unlike others who would only dump an unraced horse if they thought it was a dud.
i also like sazerac jim i was away on the weekend hence missed the auction but that was one horse i was going too buy. i have one of only 3 sendintheclowns progeny the other 2 are with martin(now 1 with you) and she is a a decent filly very consistent 9-1-4-1 as a 2yr old but based on her breeding she will fly this season as her mum(spendthrift) won 5 group 1's as a 3yr old. as you said 41k is nothing she will win it back in her 1st start astute buy jim and good luck with the breeding plans buddy. its a long haul wait as i know and i went thru quite a few lean seasons early on in my pf career until the production line hit racing age but im glad i swung that way now as i have bred 2 ecli0pse winners and dont nned too waste millions on crap cast-offs can waste it on extra stalls at 10% each in order too breed more!!! good luck champ and go luck with that RMR X NOVA foal should be a cracker!!
Thanks Mate. I agree on RMR x N. How can that match possibly go wrong?
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