Auction Thoughts

Keeneland has very decent last three days of the catalog particularly 3rd to last and second to last day.  I worry more about buying cheap at Keeneland from past viewings that show, unlike Fasig Tipton Oct., that many  horses there are culls instead of legit sells. My experience at auction and thus significant worry is to get a horse with a wind problem.  Estimate about 1/3 of my auction purchases have had wind problems making them useless horses.  When ur buy is  "all or nothing' in the budget wind problems are the #1 concern.  They do put such horses in the sales.  Kenneth McPeek sold me one once.  I asked his seemingly nice father about the nice Danzig Connection horse I bought for $12,000 in 1998 if the horse had any faults. "No".  McPeeks are forever on my list.  That was also the horse that wound up kicking me in the throat, through my fault instead of the horse's. I leaned down with the bill of my cap blocking my view.  A hard, expensive lesson.

We have the cash to buy.  And so, what now except to wait and educate urself. I tend to try to leave no stone unturned.  However, note to myself, unlike with Rollin' Rodney where I suckered for an unraced mare because she was out of a then (2007) untouted broodmare sire name Arch, at auction stick to the mares with a race record.  I was prescient of course about Arch.  When u study breeding u recognize the overlooked one's and Arch was obviously spectacular.  Nevertheless, I wound up with Rodney and his peculiar wind problem.  Never seen anything like it.  The horse getting into his gallops could never get any air at all for the first 10 strides.  Made him difficult and overly jumpy, and more than anything else caused him to be unraced.

I have considered instead of auction calling the farms. I fear we'd pay too much that way, but it is a thought. Buying a horse off a farm u could trot the little fellow for wind problems before buying.  Might be worth a couple of thousand more.