I'm down in Ocala for the February two-year-old sale, which is Tuesday.
After watching videos and walking the barns today I've come away with a not-so-short list of 47! There are some nice horses in here this year. I have to get those 47 down to 10 for my short list that will run in the Thoroughbred Times TODAY newsletter on sale day.
The times were blazing on the OBS synthetic SafeTrack. Twenty-one horses worked one furlong in less than ten seconds! click here for the under-tack times and here for the videos
The synthetic tracks seem to make most horses look like good movers. And with this year's fast times (probably a click faster than last year) the gap between the fastest horse and the slowest horse has shortened.
This means less horses can be crossed off on the basis of the workout alone, so buyers are going to the barns to look at more horses than ever before. Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan told me he is essentially approaching it like a yearling sale.
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6 comments:
Do you get to manually inspect the horses?
Warren
I start with the workout videos, then I inspect a smaller group at the barns.
As for manual inspection, I look but don't touch.
Have you seen any 2-year-olds that have swayed you one way or the other when it comes to the freshman sires?
It is far from the total picture, but based on this breeze show alone, I'd put an arrow going up next to Purge and Consolidator. I'll have a new post up shortly that highlight a few of the videos.
Twenty-one horses worked one furlong in less than ten seconds!
I suppose it was too much to hope this nonsense would stop with the downturn in the market.
I still feel this borders on abuse. It's FEBRUARY. There is no logical reason to work 2yos that fast this early, especially not for a sale. While I'm not one who believes the breed as a whole is more unsound than horses who actually raced as 2yos in February like 60+ years ago, I also feel this particular practice is counter-productive. Horses have a finite number of races in them, why burn them in flashy workouts, especially as a (barely) 2yo?
Out of curiosity (since I never bothered to get the OBS book this month), how many of that 21 are truly 2yos and how many of them are from the same consigners?
When was the last time someone did a comprehensive study of 2yo-I/T sales and found out what became of the fastest workers, most notably, those who broke the 10 second mark?
How many of them raced/raced at 2?
How many of them broke down/broke down at 2?
What was their highest/final racing level (IOW, how many of them wound up with guys like Baffert who got an early win out of them and immediately jumped them to stakes level rather than run through their conditions, only to watch them slide back into obscurity)?
What was their ultimate fate post-racing career?
I'm thinking there are more Green Monkeys/Mr. Sekiguchis than we realise.
As for manual inspection, I look but don't touch
You really should put things on a T like that, Pete. ;^)
~~Sam
Sam-
Thoroughbred Times Editorial Director Don Clippinger is undertaking just such a study, and he will publishing it in an upcoming issue in his Viewpoint column.
I'd be happy to mail you a copy or reprint it here on the blog.
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