If you can find 300 grand that I ever made buying a horse at a markup, you can keep 298 grand of it and just give me two grand to play the Belmont card tomorrow.
Private buying agents probably work as hard as anyone you ever met in the whole industry. Honing skills to determine what talent is, then having someone teach you residual value(thank you Mr Fox, the guy on Steves radio show lately is the guy who taught me when I was younger), then having to make a thousand phone calls that almost always end with no sale.
Then you have to work hard to find clients who trust you and trainers who trust you.
All for 5-10% of a deal.
I see guys wearing suits at saratoga who are nothing more than guys who are guessing at pedigree getting into Limos and heading to the windows with wads of bills that would choke a horse to make bets. Must be nice.
By the way, I have made offers for someone who is being accused on this thread many times. Hes had me make offers in the multimillions, multiple times, and hes never ONCE asked me to do anything wrong. Never ONCE has he asked me to pad a deal, and when i asked him if I should split a commission from a possible sale with him the first time I made an offer for him, he said no, thats your money if you get it, you earn it. Hes aces in my book. And I can only judge people based on how they have acted towards me and with me in dealings.
I think all sides of the story need to be heard here before anyone judges anyone.