Which (if any) 3-yr-olds will run next year?

[horseofcourse]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

GR, Funny Cide had a lot of fans for sure but he was also the poster child of why people retire horses while they are on top. Dual classic winner to 3rd tier NY bred stakes loser. Lots of demand for one, not so much for the other. If you owned a dual classic winner that you could get $25 million for would you risk almost all of it to run him another year fearing a Funny Cide scenario?

You are correct. I am of the opinion Funny Cide never races past 3 if he wasn't a gelding. He was still legit at age 4 usually on the board in grade 1s with an occasional win thrown in...but after that...not so much. So in all actuality, I think he would have maintained most of his value if retired after his 4 year old year...it was age 5-6-7 where his decline was obviously apparent. But yeah, you look at results...speed figures through the Belmont Stakes of their career there is virtually nothing separating, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Curlin, Street Sense, Hard Spun etc. So yeah, why run any of them...when as you said we have our poster boy of what happens...and through spring of their 3 yr old years...FC was as good as any of those mentioned above and if not as good...certainly in their ball park. They are all individuals so there are a few here or there that may continue to get better and become megastars, but I think the majority would track like FC and become nothing extraordinary and with the money out there...why chance it at all when the guarantee is right in front of you not running??

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by horseofcourse

You are correct. I am of the opinion Funny Cide never races past 3 if he wasn't a gelding. He was still legit at age 4 usually on the board in grade 1s with an occasional win thrown in...but after that...not so much. So in all actuality, I think he would have maintained most of his value if retired after his 4 year old year...it was age 5-6-7 where his decline was obviously apparent. But yeah, you look at results...speed figures through the Belmont Stakes of their career there is virtually nothing separating, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex, Curlin, Street Sense, Hard Spun etc. So yeah, why run any of them...when as you said we have our poster boy of what happens...and through spring of their 3 yr old years...FC was as good as any of those mentioned above and if not as good...certainly in their ball park. They are all individuals so there are a few here or there that may continue to get better and become megastars, but I think the majority would track like FC and become nothing extraordinary and with the money out there...why chance it at all when the guarantee is right in front of you not running??

Though it is easy for us to throw numbers around the amounts of money being paid for stallion prospects is staggering. 25 to 50 million dollars is real money even to rich people. Dont forget that alot of these rich owners believe that the sport is who makes the most money like in their other businesses. I am not saying it is wrong or right but it is how they think.

[Danzig]

well, there's another scenario that could happen...
let's say you have a buyer. he contacts an agent to do his buying for him. let's say the agent id's a horse. let's say he knows his buyer will pay X for a horse. let's say that maybe he finds someone to buy said horse privately (perhaps he provides the money to buy it?), and then he will bid up the next day, in the neighborhood of X. then could he and the private buyer (who no one knew about at the time) possibly benefit??

wonder if that has ever happened? goodness knows that all kinds of funny business could go on. just like the cases where someone bid and then a commission was split between the agent and the seller. who is taking care of the buyer? how many naive owners get taken? how many leave a game they would love to be in because they get taken by an unscrupulous agent?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Though it is easy for us to throw numbers around the amounts of money being paid for stallion prospects is staggering. 25 to 50 million dollars is real money even to rich people. Dont forget that alot of these rich owners believe that the sport is who makes the most money like in their other businesses. I am not saying it is wrong or right but it is how they think.

i think the competition has veered from who can breed the best horse to who can get the best bottom line. a shame too.