FROM WEANLINGS TO "WINLINGS"

Autumn weanling sales take the stage in a few days. Buying young horses for resale a year later is a specialized skill. Now and then I give it a go and have a pretty good track record from small numbers.

In each of the years l998-2000 I bought only one weanling. Two of them were bought with a racing career in mind. The third was earmarked for a pinhook. The results were wildly successful, to say the least.

In l999 I purchased a filly by Cat’s Career for $38,000 at Keeneland. She was out of a mare by leading sire Storm Cat. She earned $280,000 at the races as Galatea Cat..

The next year I spent a measly $3500 to acquire Fourth Floor. I knew the family intimately, having for a brief period owned his half-sister, eventual Gr. 1 winner Lazy Slusan. Fourth Floor was a running machine who earned over $340,000 before being claimed.

Class of 2000 found us procuring a son of Langfuhr named Paradise Dancer for $l0,000.
He failed to grow and we took it on the chin when we sold for only $7,000. He has made almost $600,000 and is still campaigning in stakes company.

Still, you can hardly do better than buy three horses for $5l,500 and see them go on to earn $l.2 million.

Self interest forces me to persuade you to have me try to do the same for you. There is a huge supply to choose from and all expectations point to a buyer’s market. The climate for resale next September seems likely to be more optimistic than the current chaos in the financial markets.