[Merlinsky]

Just looked at her auction history and whoa. She was a $19,000 RNA at the Fasig Tipton July yearling sale. She sold for $7,000 at Fasig Tipton's October KY fall yearling sale. Cut to the 2yo OBS April sale for $190,000.

I know horses develop but did they feed her Wheaties over the winter or something? I assume she had a crazy fast under tack time--well, fast enough to overcome their lack of interest in her conformation or pedigree prior. Tiz Wonderful deserved more respect that he was getting, but I assume no matter what, if she'd looked that good she'd have gone for more than $7,000.

We play that game of 'you could've had the Derby winner for ___' to encourage people to consider getting a piece of a horse because you never know, bargains can win the big one. Unless someone else can beat it, Rayya might the biggest value turn around this year for Oaks/Derby weekend. All the more interesting given her credible finish behind a $3 mil colt in Mendelssohn. Good Magic was $1 mil (but kinda not because Stonestreet wanted to stay in so he wasn't really). $7,000 gets you an Oaks filly.