Yearlings As A Lottery: Imps Trainer Considers Old Story of High Priced Youngsters.; Instances of High Priced Failures and Cheap Successes on the Turf., Daily Racing Form, 1919-04-05

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YEARLINGS AS A LOTTERY Imps Trainer Considers Old Story of High Priced Youngsters Instances of High Priced Failures Failuresand and Cheap Successes on onthe the Turf BY CHARLES E BROSSMAN The element of chance is so large a factor in the purchasing of yearlings that prospective buyers should contemplate all phases of the subject before expending enormous sums in securing the best looking ones at the sale There is nothing more de ¬ ceptive or anything harder to appraise than the iu irinsic value of a large highly formed fat glossy wellbred yearling Evidence is not wanting that once in a while as in the case of Sceptre in Eng ¬ land or Yankee in this country where the highest priced yearling of the year made good and was i fortunate and profitable investment On the other hand there are more instances where the cheaper ones the ones that no one Deemed to want proved to be racing stars of the first magnitude when it came to carrying the racing colors the next year Eternal Dunlioyne Routledge Pen Rose Dot ¬ tle Vandiver Madam Hyng Legal and other good twoyearolds out last season were all moderate priced or cheap yearlings in 1917 and each won its purchase price many times over in its first season on the turf While The Wanderer Tapagenr Star Hampton and War Loan each cost approximate ¬ ly 10000 and all four of these high priced ones together did not win the price of one It oneIt however only illustrntes whaj Jias happened year after year There has been inoreTnoneylosf in paying fabulous prices for full brothers or sisters to some great nice horse than in almost any other department of the thoroughbred business There is a fasclnatibn that attaches to the near kinship to some great horse around whose name clusters remarkable racing achievements and pleasant remi ¬ niscences that is hard to dispel There is nothing more beautiful in the animal kingdom than a fine well grown sleek perfect thoroughbred yearling which will usually bring all it is worth on its looks while others not so carefully sroomed will fail to attract the attention they deserve Purchasers will buy on looks and often what appears to be the best looking colt in the sale is nothing more than a stall fed hot house product that lias had little exercise and is in no condition to be put into train ¬ ing for months overlooking entirely the rougher coated rugged substantial yearlings that have not been so tenderly cared for forTHE THE SAME OLD STORY REPEATED REPEATEDIt It is no different now than it always lias been Many of the best race horses each year escai e the critical eye of the scientific expert Numerous horses that have made turf history have brought small prices in the sale ring from the time the auc ¬ tion sales were held No group of men can claim infallible judgment for any generation Kingfislwr Harry Itnsset Wanderer Tom Ochiltree Parole Ferida Ilootjack Foxhall Luke Ulackburn Glen more Ripple Morello May Hempstead and many more excellent horses right up to the present time have sold for small prices in the sale ring Pur ¬ chase the son of Ormondale and Cherryola was not considered a promising prospect as a yearling but the indications now are that he will prove a stumbling block to many of the higher priced ones in the valuable stake races for threeyearolds to bo run this year At any rate so shrewd an owner and trainer as Sam Hildroth has a high estimate of this colts capabilities and lias refused to sell him himThe The fastest twoyearold shown in Kentucky thus far this year is Sam Friedman a bay colt by the French horse Petaud his dam the stake winner Fempsole by Sir Dixon Sam Friedman was bought from J E Madden by Carr Piatt for 3 0 He is now priced up in the thousands after being de ¬ veloped and his extreme speed shown This is just mother instance where a cheap colt develops into a valuable race horse Therefore would it not lie advisable to buy a number of wellbred yearlings that were rugged and sound at moderate prices rather than to put an enormous sum in one or two What is the fashion and high priced one season miiy be out of date the next for there is always much excellency discovered in the sires and dams that produce recent winners The fact that the Ilement of chance so largely prevails in the pur ¬ chase and worth of yearlings and that the highest priced ones are by no means the best race horses or the best investments as shown by numerous cases should have its influence upon the owners of the smaller stables stablesIt It is often remarked hat there is no chance for a man of moderate means to secure a good colt at public auction for it is thought that the wealthy will outbid and buy all of the wilts of merit in the catalog As demonstrated by history nothing could be farther from the fact Nothing changes in value so radically as the nassage of the thoroughbred from it yearling to his twoyearold or threeyearold form Happily this element of chance will always continue to prevail for it puts the rich and the poor the wise and the unlearned on an almost final basis when it comes to selecting the best race lio es in a bunch of wellbred yearlings It is a fascinating lottery


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800