AWOL

Let’s see now, where were we? One disgruntled patron said he was sick of reading about Palsy Walsy. Other members of my entourage were less gentle in demanding some more product. Oh well, if you think this is easy, try it sometime. I can handle the literary, grammar and spelling departments but the damnable technology required is often more than I can bear. Taj Mahal sang about his face in a ” permanent frown” which he cured with a “cakewalk into town”. Me, I’m just plain grumpy. Maybe it’s because I have the only teenagers in town who can’t solve my tech woes in a matter of seconds.

Breeders’ Cup week seems a likely place to resume. First, though, let me shamelessly tout the upcoming sales.

Weanlings has never been my game in a big way but I am compelled to tell your that the last three freshmen I purchased earned $l.2 million after being acquired for $5l,500.

Bernie Madoff should hang up such numbers! A horse named Paradise Dancer led the way, earning some $600,000 from a $l0,000 purchase at Keeneland. And he’s still

winning down in Florida.

Fourth Floor was another overachiever, raking in $341,000 while plying the Chicago circuit. He was a son of the rather obscure California sire Robannier which is why we were able to buy him for a paltry $3,700.

Buy the individual, not the page, has long been our motto. Cat’s Career disappointed in the main, showing once again that even a speedy son of Mr. Prospector is vulnerable to the vagaries of the stallion business. His daughter Galatea Cat was so good looking that I just had to have her. Methinks it was the Storm Cat dam Sambra who supplied the competitive zeal as Galatea Cat won some $280,000 on a $38,000 buy in.

Oh yeah, both Galatea Cat and Fourth Floor were raced in partnership with a Chicago outfit named Bank-Katz Stable. The Katz partner paid his bills on time but Sandy Bank still owes me a healthy amount. Beware if you happen to meet this lowlife.

Now I’m grumpy again. The Breeders’ Cup stuff will have to wait.

FOUR STAR TO SHINE

FOUR STAR TO SHINE

Four Star Sales launches its 2009 selling season with a strong consignment at Keeneland’s January Sale.

Multiple stakes-producer Double Park leads the way. What a package this French-bred mare offers! She is dam of three stakes-winners, including Grade 3 winner Cactus Ridge and graded placed SWs Harriett Lane and Sebastian County.

She is in foal on an early cover to celebrated Distorted Humor. Double Park figures to be one of the more sought after items when she sells Tuesday as Hip 782.

I will be available to find the right horse to buy in this topsy-turvy market. Our reputation has been secured over the years by finding quality up and down the economic scale.

For instance, the last three weanlings which I purchased for myself and clients were Paradise Dancer (bought for $10,000, earned some $600,000 to date); Galatea Cat (bought for $38,000, earned $280,000) and Fourth Floor (bought for $3,700, earned $299,000). Let me find a short yearling for you while prices are modest.

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.