Keeneland Sept

Another nice Outwork filly.

I’ve always thought that Mildly Offensive is a clever name for a daughter of Sharp Humor and It’s Personal. :slight_smile:

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Well, @Laurie B , you called it. There seem to be some nice horses that aren’t getting good bids and we’re only in book 3.

It’s good to know that some of them will become good race horses, but that doesn’t help the breeder now.

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The Runhappys are doing well.
The C.C.s for the most part are not.
Frosted is doing OK.
Nyquists are RNA so far.

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the same couldn’t be said for the Green Monkey. that was a pissing match, not a business decision. Both of their operations have more money than they know what to do with. He was 425,000 pinhook for Derenzo who turned around and sold him for 16mil after a bidding ware between sheikh Mohammed and Coolmore ensued. He retired after 3 starts, never breaking his maiden. Does anyone honestly think The Green Monkey was worth 16 million? It was a pissing match, that’s what it was.

Yep, a horse is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Now lets see how many of this high dollar book 1 horses actually turn out. History says basically none of them. Its a game for the ultra rich to go spend money on a massive wasted money operations/very expensive hobby. Coolmore and Godolphin are highly respected, top class operations with many nice horses coming from their programs. But if you think they are making money on their horse-hobby business; time for a reality check. Their stallions are often covering their purchase prices and a little bit more; but that’s about it.

The industry is very lucky to have entities like these 2 gents in the business to spend obscene amounts of money, make the headlines, and keep the breeders and grooms and trainers employed. There is a reason why people flock to the sale when the Sheikh arrives; he isn’t there to spend pennies. He’s there to drop coin and make the media take note.

The Green Monkey was 12 years ago, before the recession. It was a different time. Yes, there certainly was feuding between Coolmore and Darley. Actually, the way I heard it, neither believed TGM was worth 16M; they were playing a game of hot potato and Coolmore was running up the bid trying to stick it to Darley…but Darley got the last laugh and backed out. After the economy tanked, no one could really afford to play those games, and the price of horses dropped. After Sheik Mo bought Fasig, he rarely shopped at Keeneland, so there was no “pissing match” there. He also basically boycott Coolmore stallions for a while. That ended, and the two entities are still rivals, but it’s a healthy business/sport rivalry and not really a “pissing match” today.

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There is so much wrong with this post I can’t begin to respond to it.

You really have no idea what you are talking about. :slight_smile:

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Once again the turnout of the sale yearlings is impressive. That’s a lot of work, and it shows. :yes:

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It truly is. There’s a lot of pride and love that goes into those yearlings-- taking a filly I foaled, raised, prepped, and showed up to the ring was much the same as sending a horse into the arena at Rolex, when I was a full time event groom. Except harder, because you have to say goodbye when it’s all over.

It is a real thrill holding a Big horse, and the grooms behind the scenes put a lot of care into every horse they send out. It may be a business from the account books, but to the people working hands-on, it’s very much still a labor of love.

This is Daisy Devine, the first foal I helped pull from a mare when I worked at Athens Woods Farm. I did all the prep on her, and took her to the ring at Keeneland in 2009. She sold for $5500 and went on to earn over $1M. Wish I had a better photo, but things are busy back in the barn when you come back from the ring and I was lucky to get this image. I called her “Daisy” as a baby, and her racing owner Jim Miller kept it when they named her officially.

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What a lovely filly! Do you remember her breeding?

I always took a lot of pride in my horses’ turnout, not just in the horses that I showed, but in the ones I had at home as well.

I can only imagine how difficult it is to let them go.

I’ve noticed a few of the handlers in the sale ring looking very pleased when their charges are bringing high bids. It’s so sweet.

@EventerAJ , I remember Daisy Devine! In fact, we raced against her with Shriek in a 2yo filly MSW at Keeneland (I think that would have been 2006) when both fillies were just starting out. Daisy Devine was a wonderful racemare and I love the picture. :slight_smile:

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It’s taking me awhile to get used to the announcer saying “here’s a son (or daughter) of Violence!”

She is by Kafwain (Cherokee Run) out of Devil’s Dispute (Devil’s Bag). Her dam was a quirky old mare, and Daisy was a bit “fragile” minded. I give a ton of credit to her trainer Andrew McKeever for bringing her along with tact and success.

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Thanks! I got to watch her at the Oaks in 2011 (gifted box seats!), though she finished 12th it was just a thrill to be there. My favorite foal from the '08 crop was born an hour after Daisy, and she actually sold to the same owner Jim Miller. A Jumpstart filly named Maude S (I called her “Lilly” as she was born around Easter), she was G3 placed and earned about $250k. He paid $8500 for her. Later both mares were retired and sold at KeeNov, Daisy brought $1.3M and Maude S sold for $170k. That’s what the racing game is all about!

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Well, it certainly was a lot of success. Don’t underestimate the effect that your care and handling had on her while you’re at it. :yes:

How fun that LaurieB’s Shriek, and Daisy, raced together. :slight_smile:

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LOL, another coincidence! I was looking at the name Maude S all spring. Our 2yo filly Saxony was doing her early training at Margaux Farm and the filly in the stall next to her was by Into Mischief x Maude S. The two of them galloped together for several months. Then Sax went to the track and shortly after that the filly now named Mischievous Maude followed.

This is pretty funny. Do we have any more mares in common? :wink:

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I noticed some of the grooms taking pictures of the board when their yearlings were in the ring and they were waiting to pick them up after the bidding.

I am always impressed with the manes. Perfect length, lying flat, so elegant. (I own a Thelwell mane, which is why I am so impressed.)

Those manes have been worked on since spring. Even before they were pulled to sales length, you could see the yearlings in the field with their manes perfectly smooth and detangled, and lying flat on the correct side.

Wild manes are braided for a few days before the sale. Nearly all manes are “topped off” (brushed with water to make them damp and flat) before the horse goes out to be shown, multiple times a day.

Fun fact: some consignors Do Not want manes pulled or faces clipped at the farm before shipping to the sales. They would rather pull and shave on arrival, where a couple very skilled grooms can do every horse in the book at once, so each mane is the same length and the horses look uniform. Horses may prep on a dozen different farms, and if each farm pulls a little too short, too long, or unevenly, it does not look as good. You’ll notice long manes on a few Thorostride videos that were taken on the farm; those horses will have their manes done on ship in day at Keeneland.

Is strapping still done? I learned how to do it from my first employer but that was a long time ago. Two of my employers considered it part of proper grooming and they were both TB people. The people that bred Arabians didn’t do it.