Went to the Chus, which means she’ll probably end up in Baffert’s barn. 
I am wondering if MRH is purchasing under a different name or an agent to avoid showing up on sales reports.
Why would you think that MRH would engage in criminal behavior? They answer to the SEC.
Sales are required to know the identity of the buyer of a horse.
MRH doesn’t buy horses at every sale. There is nothing nefarious about that.
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you are implying that that is what I was saying in my post. that is not the case at all
They can buy through an agent and it not be disclosed as such on the sale report. Example: Lani buying the 1mil Pharoah for Chu’s. It was only disclosed in interviews who the horse was purchased for. Many times; they do not disclose in interviews either. The sale can and will know who the transaction is done for but the agent handles the dealings.
I never implied that MRH buys at every sale. But they typically show up at these sales to restock age groups that are in training and ready to hit the track in the coming months. Perhaps they are waiting for the Keeneland Sale.
What “sales reports” do you think they want to avoid showing up on by using an Agent or a “different name”? Why would they want to try to hide their purchases? (I’m sure they know that they can’t. It’s easy to find the identity of a buyer, even when they use an agent.)
I do–but I don’t buy at 2yo sales (except for one time.) The difference between 9.4 and 10.1 is less than the blink of an eye, but buyers love speed and they love MORE SPEED even more–so sellers give them what they want.
As for your second question, generally speaking, no, not from a talent point of view. But horses that breeze fast, sell well, which usually means they end up with a talented trainer and an owner who can afford the best of care. So they’re already set up to succeed. And that correlation matters a lot.
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Thanks for the explanation. I would take from that, there are some very nice horses that can be had for less than top dollar because they worked 10.2 or breezed 21.1 at the under tack part of the sale. There looked to be quite a few of those at this sale, that’s why I was wondering.
I’m glad your homebred landed in a good place.
Thanks, me too.
Another colt we bred sold in this sale 2 years ago. He breezed 10.1 and sold for 75K. The following year he was G1 placed, earned just under 300k in his first 5 starts, and qualified to run in the KY Derby. (His owners opted instead for the G2 Pat Day Mile where he was 2nd by a nose to Eclipse champion Jackie’s Warrior.) So yes, there are nice horses in this sale that don’t bring top dollar. 
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Looks as if the Arrogate filly went to Mike Maker. 
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My friend who does both show horses and race horses compared it to getting your show horse all prepped and ready to go to the horse show, taking him up to the schooling area, schooling as if you were going to show in the Olympics, and then taking him back to the barn. Lol.
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I think it’s like the 2-3yo stallion approvals or auctions where they free jump young horses 1.3m+. It gives you an idea of the horse’s scope/technique, but it is not always correlated to a successful grand prix competitor. However it gets buyers and breeders excited!
2yo breezes are similar. I put more credit on how the horse moves, and how hard he tried to achieve that breeze time. A choppy, short strided QH type running his guts out may go in 9.4 and look terrible… or you have a big striding, smooth Into Mischief colt cruise down the lane in 9.4 and it doesn’t seem to be much effort…that’s the 1M horse. Will it be a graded stakes winner? Maybe not. But as Laurie said, it will go to a Big Name Trainer and have a good chance. Compared to a Big Beast colt worked in 11, sells to a no-name and runs in 5k claimers at Tampa, or goes to PR.
I haven’t done extensive research on times vs price vs success, but a few years ago I looked up the Slow Ones (10.4+) from four or five sales that sold for “sport horse prices.” Out of about 15, only 1 was successful earning 6-figures. Several didn’t even start. Most ran a handful of times and earned under 20k. It wasn’t what I expected; I thought there would be some randomness, perhaps a bell-curve type of result. But it was decidedly skewed to the unsuccessful end. Whether it was because the horses were lesser pedigree, lesser quality overall, or purchased by lesser connections, I’m not sure. But there was a correlation between slow/cheap 2yo and a poor racing career.
I think we discussed it here a few seasons ago, but I remember there was one consignor who purposely wasn’t hanging his 2yo sales horses on the fence. They were working, but the trials were more of a breeze; the riders weren’t instructed to set them down. He maintained, and I agree, that a horseman with a good eye only really needs to see a horse’s action and that an eighth of a mile at speed doesn’t reveal anything meaningful.
Obviously that viewpoint never went viral.
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Well… ya can’t say I don’t have good taste. LOL Or at least expensive taste.
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I’m not sure if you factored this in, but at these breeze sales the 2yos that sell for “sport horse prices” are very often ones that came out of their breezes with chips, bows, bone bruising, etc which is one of the reasons why they’re much less likely to start than those who came through unscathed,
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You may be thinking of Kip Elser and his “Gulfstream Gallop” horses. He didn’t have any 2yos in this sale but I would expect to see a consignment from him later in the season. Many of his horses have sold well–although not for massive prices. Even more impressive, a large percentage of them have gone on to become black type horses.
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That’s the man I was thinking of! Glad to know his business model is producing successful results.
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I remember that. I thought his viewpoint made a lot of sense. I didn’t remember who said it though.
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It said in the BloodHorse article that she’s going to Baffert.
I hope they are fine with not running her at any of Churchill Downs Inc. tracks, and quite likely missing the Saratoga meet.
Missing the Saratoga meet would be quite a blow for some of the owners of very expensive horses.
The social scene there is a great favorite for so many, along with the racing. If the NYRA bans Baffert he’ll lose some business because of not being welcome at Saratoga, for sure.
Traditionally Baffert hasn’t run many horses at Saratoga. Upstate NY is a long way from SoCal (especially with Tex Sutton currently out of business.) It’s one thing to maybe ship in a stakes horse, but he doesn’t maintain a barn of day-to-day runners there.
Don’t forget, the prestigious Del Mar meet runs concurrently with Saratoga. And most CA owners would rather race and socialize there.
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