Look at this one:
They paid $125,000 for it -- gave it to Bob Baffert (who charges what -- $120 a day?) and ultimately, the horse finished 8th in a $3,500 maiden claiming race at Beulah Park.
The purse for that race at Beulah was just $3,800 -- so a win would have returned a lot less than 2K after the jockey and trainer is paid off. A win in that race might have paid for about 10 days in the Baffert barn or the cost to ship across country ... which they did twice with this horse.
Baffert obviously had the horse for several months before it eventually debuted.