The phone call came soon after Tabby’s latest
triumph.
“We’d like to make an offer on your horse, Tabby Lane.”
This doesn’t happen a whole lot to a claiming owner. If a potential buyer wants your horse, they
drop a slip. The price was an attractive
one for sure. It wasn’t over inflated
but more than made everyone whole – and with what we had in the bank, and then
some. The decision making process was
excruciating.
One the one hand, should the sale go through between
earnings and the sale proceeds we would have earned about 20% on the two-year “investment”
(sorry, but when you talk about purchasing racehorses you HAVE to put
investment in quotations). There are other horses out there (including a half-sister
to Tabby, though she wouldn't race at Canterbury - but that's another post) should we
want to keep going. The other side of that coin, she's racing well and may not
be more than what she is now, but she wins and is sound. Another consideration
was that while she is a 10x winner and earner of over $100,000, I’m not in the
breeding business so retirement provisions would need to be made that may or
may not include an offer as good as the one received.
It was a heart-wrenching weekend. Last summer I spent a lot of time with this
mare and she is as sweet dispositioned as you can imagine. While I personally fell in love with her, you
have to work hard to set aside those feelings and stay focused on the business
end of things. Reluctantly we agreed to
the sale. It wasn’t easy and while there
were some who were really against it while others were really for it, the
majority opinion started with, “Taking emotion out of it…”
Ultimately, the vet check that was promised never came
and Tabby remains in the Rhone barn. I
have to admit, a part of me is relieved.
She’s racing well and even though she’s spends a bit more time recovering
than she did at four; she’s still doing really well and certainly has races
left in her. Her attitude around the
barn has been good so all in all we continue onward looking for her next
spot. With a couple of wins in the bank
we can afford to be a bit selective in her next spot and give her additional
rest. She’ll probably step up a bit to
qualify for the Tampa turf, but there’s also a nice starter allowance that’ll
be run at the end of the month. We have
options and that’s a nice problem to have.
1 comment:
That's a tough decision as no one makes an off track bid for a horse that they don't see promise in.
We were offered $100k for Pursue in 2010 (paid $17.5k 18 months earlier) and went on to win a stakes race at Remington which was the highlight for our group but never earned enough to make up that amount.
Financially we would have been better off but when you're a small time player those big wins are priceless.
Good luck!
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