Early this year, I complained that sales companies are well behind the times in their catalog technologies (Revelations of the Catalog Page -- The Thoroughbred Industry's Techno Failure). I suggested that newly-revitalized Fasig-Tipton would be the right one to try out newer technologies, such as sending out catalogs on an electronic reader. One of the benefits, I argued, was that catalog updates could be kept current and easily-accessible.
Well, I haven't heard any gossip about Kindles being sent out to top buyers, but I did notice a neat new feature has been incorporated on the FasigTipton.com Web site. When you're looking at the PDF edition of the Kentucky Selected November Mixed sale, you'll see more color than the normally black-and-white page. Can it be? Yes -- catalog updates, in print and (relatively) easy to access!
Take a look, for example, at hip #46, Always Awesome. Scroll down the page a bit and you'll see red type showing information updates (and green arrows to the left to make sure you don't miss any of them!). Always Awesome is out of a half-sister to the dam of Urban Sea, whose son Sea the Stars went from eight to nine wins since the catalog was printed originally. Nice to know. Especially the part where his Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I) win brought his earnings up from $2+ million to $6+ million. And Always Awesome's own son, the 3-year-old gelding Bear Always, went from five to six figures in earnings.
Of course, I chose a mare with significant updates (<-- that's an understatement!) to use as an example -- but if you page through the full PDF catalog, you'll see updates on most pages.
It's a small step but a good one, and kudos to Fasig-Tipton for leading the way.
As for Always Awesome... anyone want to chip in to bid on this mare?!? Look at that pedigree and then notice she's in foal to Medaglia d'Oro (SRO), the hottest sire of 2009. What greatness might come from such a pairing!
