Yet another question…I seem to see the same handlers in photos in Bloodhorse every year. Do these handlers make their living handling, or do they have other jobs within the racing industry most of the time? I notice one particular gentleman alot, and usually with a high dollar horse. Do they have special training in sales presentation and handling the young horse??
In regards to hip 111 http://apps.keeneland.com/sales/Sep12/pdfs/111.pdf RNA at $975
I would bet my bottom dollar the breeders were hoping for a filly. I know I would have. Buyers of expensive colts are not only looking for a horse that can win at the highest level but also a horse that will have stallion appeal at the highest level. A well bred colt doesn’t have to win it’s purchase price back on the race track it has to win at least respected Grade 2 races and hopefully a Grade 1.
For the record I did not see this horse. I’ll just assume he was a nice horse but probably not exceptional. He certainly has a good pedigree but IMO not one to “drool” over. IMO it is not a top “potential stallion” pedigree. Yes he is a full sib to the now deceased stallion Master Commander who looked promising. We have a very nice 2 year old colt by him here that we are preparing to go to the race track. He won a lot of money but nothing IMO important. Statistically full siblings rarely pan out. If I had the time and inclination I could site numerous examples. The stallions that are in the pedigree were moderate at best. Yes, the 2 full sisters did perform and are closely related being by Pulpit, and Pulpit is by A P Indy. There is just not enough in the pedigree that would make me feel “lucky” certainly not for $1,000,000. In this day and age a stallion prospect has to tick more boxes then ever to get breeders attention. The 3rd dam Priceless Gem is the dam of the great French race filly Allez France of the early 70’s. Unfortunately she did not do much in the breeding shed. A daughter of Priceless Gem did produce the very good 2 year old colt Ordway (sp?)by the moderate stallion Salt Lake. Who also was a very moderate stallion. No disrespect to the breeders or the horse but the buying teams I have been on would consider this a “suckers” pedigree. Again if it had been a really nice filly IMO they would have got the money and more. If he was a “post sale” the purchase price will be listed in the Keeneland’s “RNA to Sale” result page when it is put up.
[QUOTE=tradewind;6561058]
Yet another question…I seem to see the same handlers in photos in Bloodhorse every year. Do these handlers make their living handling, or do they have other jobs within the racing industry most of the time? I notice one particular gentleman alot, and usually with a high dollar horse. Do they have special training in sales presentation and handling the young horse??[/QUOTE]
I assume you are talking about the handlers in the auction ring.? Yes, you will see the same people year in year out. They are employed by the auction company and work exclusively for Keeneland. There are several of them so as to get breaks. They are very good at their job not an easy task. They are usually shorter in stature so as not to make the smaller horses look even smaller. The selling horse is brought up to the back of ring by the consignors handler and then given to Keeneland’s ring handler.
Sadly a few years ago Keeneland’s top ring handler of many years who’s name escapes me now was kicked and died while on the job.
I would assume they have other jobs possibly with Keeneland in other capacities.
[QUOTE=gumtree;6561019]
No disrespect but I beg to differ and I am not going to nit pick over exact numbers. Each year is different. I have known Walt for more then 30 years he was hired by my Father as an auctioneer for Fasig Tipton. Geoffrey, my contemporary I have known since he got of the plane from Ireland. Also hired by my father and John Finney. Having grown up in the auction business I have a pretty intimate knowledge of the process. I have “sat in” and or have been part of the selection process with Fasig Tipton at one time. It is not much different now then it was then. Though computers/data bases and specific proprietary software/algorithms have become cost effective. I am not bragging only qualifying my posts. I also breed and sell with both sales companies. Book 1 the “select session” came about with the demise of the famous Keeneland July sale more then 10 years ago. The selection teams for both sales companies do have to travel and that is expensive. There are people that nominate with a bit of naivety for the select sales of either company. But unless they have the “goods” they will be turned down without being personally inspected by either companies “main team”. Both sales companies retain “regional” inspectors to “check out” the odd horses that maybe of interest. Though the majority of select quality yearlings reside in KY many others in the Mid-Atlantic regions including NY. I am fully aware of the consignors and or breeders feelings on the “Select session” this is and has been in discussion for several years now. Anything that is read is old news to those of us who do this for a living. Yes, there maybe more the a few hundred inspected but certainly not thousands as you have stated. I don’t have to know the exact number logic dictates. There just are not thousands of mares who’s pedigree, produce and or race records are worthy of being bred to the top stallions. That being said there are many mares being bred to expensive stallions who’s pedigrees, produce and race records do not warrant the exercise. But hope springs eternal as they say. And some do catch lightning in a bottle. Most loose money. The fact is just because one breeds their idea of a top mare to a top stallion they are not guaranteed of getting a horse that will meet the conformational high standard of select buyers that the sales companies want to cater to and the buyers expect. The fact is a lot of expensively bred horses are a total bust especially colts.
Select yearling sales like Saratoga, Fasig July, Keeneland September Books especially books 1 & 2 if not 3 & 4 also these days are “orchestrated”. In other words each session is loaded with horses/pedigrees that hopefully will end up with the desired average and gross the sales company has set for each day. In the smaller select sales all horses that make the pedigree cut will be inspected. Given the number of entries that the Keeneland September gets inspecting the majority of entries would be costly and not necessary. Instead the sales company relies on the consignors expertise to place their horses appropriately. It would not be in the best interest of the consignors client to put a well bred horse with “issues” in Book 2 just because it qualifies on paper. Most likely it will not sell. If it does most likely well below the sales companies desired average for the day. Which drags down the days average much to the chagrin of the sales company. The buyers for those books are not interested in horses with “dents” no matter how well bred it is. However that same horse’s page in Book 5 will have a much better chance of getting sold because it will be a stand out page and buyers will try and make a case for it because it will most likely fall into their more modest budget. There is far more to setting up an auction then just cataloging horses. Some of the details I have tried to explain.[/QUOTE]
Without reading thru all the babble, can you explain exactly what you are disagreeing with? I hope its not the inspection process, because the Keeneland team came around earlier this year (I wish I could remember exactly when it was, but time flies so fast, I know it was months ago) to inspect yearlings. Im in Florida. The gal at Keeneland called me to set up a day and time, and they are very precise when they show up. They are generally within a half an hour of when the appointment time, which I consider pretty good, considering they are looking at dozens of horses each day, plus driving from farm to farm.
No, we werent showing them horses by Truck out of Rodeo, but neither were we showing them horses that were for Book 1. Our horses ended up scattered throughout the sale. Just from the numbers they looked at down here, and I can imagine what they looked at in KY, Id be willing to bet they inspected over 1/3 of the horses in the sale. When you figure that “Book 1 sires” probably breed over 3,000 mares a year, Im sure the sales company doesnt want to overlook too many. If not book one horses, they can be Book 2, and as the averages have shown this year, theres a lot of money to be made there.
Tradewind, are you referring to pictures of the horses in the auction ring? The people handling the horses while in the ring work for Keeneland. The consignor has a handler walk the horse all the way up to the door, hand it off, then pick the horse up at the other door after the horse has hammered down.
Yes, I was referring to those in the auction ring. This thread has just been so helpful to me…Learned all kinds of new things…Thanks again everybody.
FWIW here’s video of 111 so you can judge for yourself.
Thanks, Pronzini. What a big guy. He moves just like the AP Indy son we had.
I would be quite content to gaze on him any day…Of course I am not a racehorse breeder, trainer or owner…Ah for a wining mega lottery ticket!
