Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Don McDougall — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:30:35 GMT

I would appreciate someone explaining the "buyback" in an auction. I understand the reserve price issue, but if there are bids or a horse is bought back, does the consignor pay a full commission on the highest bid? Partial commission? Is there any cost at all to a "buyback"?

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

newsline2 — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 11:21:27 GMT

Why wouldn't a person bid on the Paulson horses if offered? People race their horses to win, who knows, they may be the lucky bid.

It seems though that Paulson loves those horses maybe more because of their connection to his father. The businessman in him says they must go, but maybe his heart cannot accept it. That's a good thing. If he has to sell, he needs to sell them privately where he can stay connected. He has a baseline value in today's market for them. Hand pick the buyer(s). If her colt is a contender, watch her price go up higher. Better Than Honor sold for $14 million last fall as a proven producer of extraordinary off-spring.

Color, I read where White Prince's brother just won so that makes most of the colt's dam's off-spring winners. Likely this colt will be a winner too, given opportunity.

As to the $6,000 vs $60,000 nonsense--that sounds like a lame excuse unless that $60,000 bid was the only bid placed by Whitman. What about the competing bidders? What happened to them?

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Dreamer's Mom — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 02:58:49 GMT

Our horses get a little jumpy seeing Paints-can't even imagine what they would think of Palomino and White!

There were solid mares to be had in this sale. There were also mares that should be lawn ornaments. I do not know the "requirements" for getting in to this sale, other than being a Thoroughbred, but it seems that some of these mares and their resulting off-spring should NOT have been in the sale.

We breed to race, not to sell. Our mares may not be "commercial", but they produce usable foals. Maybe some of these foals on the sale will be usable, but it sure seems as though they bred these "common" mares to "uncommon" stallions because they had the money to do so. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Gigi Nutter — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:14:03 GMT

Well, owning one of the foundation palomino stallions, Glitter Please, I am quite please to see these colored horses being presented. I hope I am alive to watch the first palomino or cremello go past the finish line. History will make a mark.

If these colored horses take the lead, I bet the others maybe a bit apprehensive to pass!

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Abbie Knowles — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:07:08 GMT

Very thougt provoking article. Thanks.

The Tetrarch and Mumtaz Mahal were very unusual colours and it did not stop them being very fast and having a great influence on the breed over here in the UK! So who knows what The White Prince and Splash of Vanilla may or may not achieve. Whether they achieve much or little they had every right to be at the sale!

As for Azeri and Valenzerri well it is hard to be confident that you would be allowed to buy them isn't it? I doubt that Allen Paulson would have been behaving like this!!!!! Either Michael Paulson wants to sell them or he does not. He wants to make his mind up. From all i read of his comments vaccillating is the word!!!! I would not want to sell either of them so can sympathise with him, but it is unfair to offer them for sale and then snatch them back so to speak!

God Bless

Best Wishes

Abbie

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

goodtimes — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 20:18:50 GMT

Candy Spots was "spotted" and he won the Preakness stakes!!!!I don't think his spots hindered his racing ability.

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

aspradling — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:56:18 GMT

The big farms and companies can say and complain all they want. If an operations sees something they like, then they should go get it for the reasons they want.

That is the beauty of this sport. Not everyone is in it purely for dollars, people actually like novelties and the life style, thus buy horses for bread and butter races, not just the graded stakes.

I bet the company that purchased the palomino will now receive a lot of fan support, free advertising by being mentioned with a horse who has a unique trait, and we will see how well the horse runs...because it is going to race.

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

jay nehf — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:54:10 GMT

As an owner/trainer, I'm delighted to see my competing buyers dazzled into bidding on a novelty. It's just that much less money I have to work against. I don't know of any statistical research that has been able to correlate color with performance, so I don't consider it in my appraisals. The saga of Azeri is but another "colorful" chapter in the history of thoroughbred racing. The horse's management may well bear justified cricism, but the wealthy patrons of the turf can make decisiions that the rest of never could, and I wouldn't want to change that. Do you really want to see the racing business become a cold, emotionless series of transactions?

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Wanda — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:35:09 GMT

I agree with you on the buy-back of Azeri. I'm not sure what he thinks she's worth, I guess it's more than 4.4 mil. It will be quite a circus with the 2 yr old. Shades of The Green Monkey?

As far as the "horse of a different color" they are TB's in a TB sale so why not? There's lots of junk out there so if someone wants to pay more than they are worth,who's to say they are not worth that? Bottom line is the guy signing the sales ticket thought so.

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

DONNA — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:34:37 GMT

I would think that the White Prince and Splash of Vanilla would be a novilty attraction as you indicated. Who knows maybe they can make it at the races only time will tell. At least they gave the people at the auction something different to look at.

As for Azeri and her son Paulson and his banks need to realize that they are not going to get the kind of money for those horses they would have gotten a year or more ago. Azeri is one of a kind and definitely worth a huge price. In todays economy she's not going to bring it. So keep her. As for Vellenzeri he needs to race and prove he can rate with the best of the two year olds. Just because he has pedigree doesn't mean he can run. Just look at the Green Monkey, who would want to take a chance for huge bucs and get something like that.

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Thor — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:11:54 GMT

You would love to sell a white or palomino horse for the prices that were paid for rather weak pedigrees. You keep hearing that this sale was a buyers dream but I could not believe the amount of mares that were just not commercial quality. For example, one mare had 6 foals, two to race, no winners, not mated with a feed tub by water bucket pedigree. No Bid!! Just give her away if she can be a riding horse. Deidre, this sale is almost as bad as the Fasig-Tipton Maryland sale in December. The key question is what to do with these unwanted mares, some in foal, and why are these horses still being bred?

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

JA — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:07:26 GMT

I'm not a fan of breeding for color but the market determines the value of the horse.

I agree with you completely regarding Azeri and her offspring regarding announced reserves. They're going to be a hard sell now!

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Tiznowbaby — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:04:47 GMT

Do breeder's complain when a very athletic looking horse with weaker bloodlines sells for a good price? Who cares if people buy for color. It's their money. If the colorful horses weren't there, that doesn't mean they would have spent their money on other horses. Really, they're registered thoroughbreds selling at a thoroughbred auction, so get over it. Just my opinion.

re: Keeneland January: Final Thoughts

Abbey — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:03:27 GMT

I think that unusual horses are a good thing. They are not an everyday occurance in racing. I think in some ways this is a good way for colored breeders to break into the racing scene, as most of them breed breed for show prospects. Also this way you're not only buying for the pedigree itself. Pedigree is important but it doesn't make a racehorse. Look at Seabiscuit, they thought he was a blue-collared boy and he won some huge races, even won against a tripe crown winner. Selling Azeri is just a publicity stunt I feel. If he really wanted to get rid of the horse, he would have sold her.