re: Quite an Upgrade - By Eric Mitchell

an ole railbird — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:31:13 GMT

i once heard a owner say" for ever self made owner that you find in the club house eating caviar. you will find 100 @ the hot dog stand, eating hot dogs. and for every 100 @ the hot dog stand, if you will look, you will find 1000, who cant afford the hot dog stand.

i thought that was rather humuros.

have a nice day ."an ole railbird"

re: Quite an Upgrade - By Eric Mitchell

Brown brother — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 22:18:04 GMT

I love this story and thoroughbred racing, of which I have been a fan for almost 40 years, but permit me to present the much more common story of the small owner-breeder. I was convinced in the late 1990s that Spend a Buck, who was then standing in Louisiana, was a vastly underrated sure and broodmare sire. I bought a yearling Spend a Buck Louisiana bred filly for $7500 and she broke her maiden first out in state-bred company. She ran third once in open company at fg but developed a knee problem and had to be retired. I felt somewhat vindicated by Einstein and Hard Buck and the dam of Stopshoppingmaria, all late era Spend a Buck progeny. I have bred my mare five times to the best matched stallions I can afford and given the two foals of racing age to competent people, ultimately trained by the great Billy Turner in NY. While the mare's first foal broke his maiden and the other is training well, I am out approximately $100,000 in the whole venture. It has not dimmed my enthusiasm for the sport at all, and I have grown to love my horses--always a bad business move-- but for every success like Anderson there are probably 1000s like me.