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Observer
11-19-2003, 10:00 PM
Purchased from the Barretts March 2000 sale of 2-year-olds in training for $2 million after blazing through a furlong in a record 10 seconds, Gotham City has been retired after going unplaced in 2 starts and will command a hefty fee of $1,500 at the prestigious Applebite Farms in California.
:eek:

Here's the official story on Blood-Horse:
Gotham City (http://breeding.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=19245)

kenwoodallpromos
11-20-2003, 03:13 AM
2 starts? Must be another reason the owner was so impatient. Have to see the charts or see when last start was. Something must have come up is my guess.

Observer
11-20-2003, 09:26 PM
Impatient?? The horse is now 5 years old .. he was 2 when he was purchased in 2000. He didn't make his first start until Sep. 1, 2001 at Del Mar .. where he ran last of 11 - beaten 28 1/2 lengths. He didn't race again until Mar. 23, 2002 at Santa Anita .. where he finished fourth of eight - beaten 9 1/2 lengths. His last workout, according to BRIS, was in February of this year.

I would imagine this horse had problems, and they felt they had given him enough time, and a career on the track just wasn't going to work out .. I don't think they were being impatient.

VetScratch
11-21-2003, 04:55 PM
Kenwoodall,

Aynone paying more than $60,000 for a yearling or 2YO in training has a very slim chance of running out enough in purses to cover original cost and ensuing maintnenance.

Right now, the market is glutted with cheap studs, so it would behoove Applebite Farms to hand out freebies to proven mares (or unproven mares with fashionable pedigrees) with a wish and a prayer that Gotham City throws some graded stakes winners.

Unless that happens, the progeny from a $1,500 stud will have very little value in future auctions.

Maybe Gotham City should be standing at OwnerBitten Farms! :)

Suff
11-21-2003, 06:10 PM
Originally posted by Observer

:eek:

Here's the official story on Blood-Horse:
Gotham City (http://breeding.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=19245)

Without knowing the ailment it's even harder to forecast any chance as a successful stalllion. St Ballado's one of the Hottest Stallions now. If Gotham city throws anything from his first crop...they may get lucky and make a little back/

VetScratch
11-21-2003, 07:08 PM
The more owners pay, the more reluctant they are to give up on a hopeless cause.

A world-record one-furlong time would prompt most horsemen to criss-cross a catalog page with black magic marker... it was either a showcasing fairy tale or the sign of ruinously dangerous training tactics.

However, for agents who are advising/spending for someone else, it's often just part of the "game" not to reveal the First Commandment of 2YO sales preparation: "Fast Works Fill Holes."

Stories like this always suggest to me that whoever advised/assisted the owner at the auction was earning two slices of the pie. One on the buy side, and one one the sell side.