[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by freddymo

Let's recap, I haven't suggested anything on placement other then to state the obvious which is DU is a Lanes End Stallion and hence if Farish calls in a fav or two it will get done.
Perhaps now you can take your spin and adjust it according to the overall market instead of isolating it from reality. The Book 1 results were off 36%, are we to suggest this years DU's shouldn't have suffered an equal decline in average price?.. Since DU performance was fair from the first crops it makes sense that the quality of mares has been in decline. It makes sense that less are in this years books 1,2. More importantly your Simon"10 helmet yearling of the book" would have been just another stunning horse from a stallion that had never produced a strong GRADE 1 racehorse. So regardless of how many Stars, Helmets, or A+'s you assigned this adonis, the horse would have still had to overcome his sires lack of production. Consider that this "Super Simon" eclipsed last years top seller by 25% in a market that was in step decline suggesting that it was on looks and not the recent success of Gone Astray and Just Whistle really is suspect. You have people buying Birdstones for 400k now perhap those are gorgeous horses as well?

The best advice I ever heard about buying yearlings was from Jerry Evilsizer..Said to me " It doesn't matter what flaws they have, it only matters if the flaws they have can stop them from being great, it aint a beauty contest." Which brings me to my next point, regardless of how special she looked unless DU had produced a potentially great horse last week, your queen would have just been another smokin gal.

In all fairness, I would never doubt your abilty to spot a wonderfully made horse, nor would I ever doubt your understanding of pedigree. Moreover I respect it highly as I am sure you work your butt off as a pro to make educated decisions for you and your clients.

You have to consider human nature, they all want a M'doro because they want to own the next Rachel. It's no different with these DU's last week they came of age after 5 years and at once. The filly won on a grand stage in real serious fashion..Hence DU's became in fashion, its a market, the highs are too high and the lows are to low and none of it ever needs to make sense.

The filly would have brought that price or more regardless of year. Perhaps if you recognized that many consignors and sellers actually prefer to be in book 2 to book 1 you would not make such a big deal of it. The fact is that she brought the price she did based far more on her physical makeup than any sucess that DU has had recently. Otherwise she would have been a typical $150k DU yearling. I think that the results from this year show that there is no great run on DU yearlings at this year sale despite his recent success. The DU market this year isnt any better than its been with the exception of only this filly.