It was obviously a phenomenal horse sale. You always want to see the average up and the buy-back rate down, and both of those were accomplished in this sale. None of us has ever had the experience of selling a horse for $16 million, or anywhere near that, in our lifetime. That was fantastic; that was wonderful; and that was extraordinary. But even without that, it was still a great horse sale. That was kind of the icing on the cake. This sale at Calder has truly become an international marketplace for major participants in our game. |
It's beautiful when two titans hook up. None of us have ever had the experience of selling a horse for $16 million or anywhere near that in our lifetime. That was fantastic, that was wonderful, and that was extraordinary. |
The beauty of the auction process is that magical things can happen when the right players get involved and the money is not an issue for them. It's all about the horse for them - and the quest to have the best. |
The two major buyers in the world got hooked up in an emotional bidding situation, and sometimes logic doesn't prevail. |
There is certainly significant quality in our book both in terms of the quality of the horses at the end of the shank and in their racetrack performance. We had a bunch of horses that worked well during our first under tack show, they looked good doing it, and they look good when you go to the barn. In the 2-year-old sales, you've got to pass all three tests, and we had a number of horses that I thought passed all three tests with flying colors in the first preview. They have good conformation, they looked good on the video, and they worked within a reasonable timeframe in terms of demonstrating some level of athletic ability. |
There were very high expectations. He's a beautiful horse, and he withstood the scrutiny of all the major buyers all week long. |
You don't expect to sell a $16 million horse. |
You don't expect to sell a $16 million horse. I don't know if it will happen again in my lifetime. |