Chelsey Flower. First time after she was purchased from Tony Margotta.

When I said Butchered I was refering to DWL. As far as underacheivers Id count DWL whole barn. Except all the M.L. Whitney crows.

The days of the $5 million horses are over. Id bet you couldnt find a handfull of horses in BB or NZ barn that went thru he ring under $300k-$500k.

And winning a N2X with a $500k horse is not exactly a success story.

As trainers, like them or don't, that's a different issue. As far as buying power, I can't speak to the Baffert aspect specifically, but by his own admittance he lost a lot of buying power between Lewis, Sanan and Zayat (to whatever extent you would consider that). Lukas hasn't had carte blanche for quite some time. Does he still have power to buy a big ticket horse? Two? Sure. But that is far from carte blanche, say for example, like Pletcher had the last X number of years. At this point, I think Lukas may get more "homebred" babies than purchases, and in that world -- you play the cards your dealt.

Zito is another story. For many years his buying power was mostly in the $300k and below range. He was also getting "homebreds" -- like the Whintey horses. There would always be the odd expensive buyback from LaPenta, or an odd expensive purchase from Live Oak, but they were very few and far between. His purchasing power in recent years has increased, and LaPenta is playing the game in a bigger way, and he has bought back more horses (and more expensive ones); but for years Zito produced without having anywhere near carte blanche.

Don't get me wrong -- there's no doubt these guys have strong buying power. Being able to buy just one million dollar baby is more than 99% of the trainers in the game, so they start out with big dollars.

I think Pletcher had a run where he had carte blanche.

Eric

War Pass......$180K

Cool Coal Man.....$200K

Da' Tara........$175K

Coal Play.......$280K

Anak Nakal.......homebred

Actually, that is very untrue about Zito. I can't speak to Baffert.

Eric

Sorry, I got the breakage wrong.

Whoa -- now there's a trivia question! I couldn't have guessed that in a million years, but I remember it so well. Tony Margotta, does that bring back memories.

How about the breakfasts at the Margotta barn at the Spa?

Eric

I miss the director's chairs with the owners' names on them.

Here's more trivia.....who trained Chelsey Flower when she broke her maiden first time out as a 2YO at Saratoga on the turf?

Why do I remember her running second at the Spa? Was that after she broke her maiden, or later on, maybe as a 3yo? Anyway, you got me there.

Eric

I think Carlos Martin trained her when she won her turf debut. I was wrong though....she did not win as a first time starter.

Jose Martin? I think Santos was up.

Heres one: who rode her to a 3rd place finish in a G2 at Hialeah?

It may have been Jose and not Carlos. I do remember Robert Brennan putting about 40 dimes on her through the windows on the second floor of the clubhouse.

So he cashed for about $450k?? WOW!!

I seem to remember him betting exactas which came buck, unsurprisingly, cheap.

What year did she break her maiden? As you said, it might more likely be Jose Martin, not Carlos. For some strange reason, I remember he running 2nd at the Spa, maybe Jean-Luc winning the race on a big price horse, ???

I do not know who rode her to a 3rd place finish in a G2 at Hialeah. Far too detailed for me, LOL.

Eric

1993

and here i always thought i had a good memory.