Calico Cat

Arkwright said:
Jeez,just looked at the dams other progeny that have raced.
Whatever possessed them to spend 100k on the horse in the first place?
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If memory serves, the only winner was one which landed a couple of poor Southwell races for David Barron, who could train a Blackpool donkey to win on fibresand. I made this point somewhere before Teacher's debut, having been gobsmacked by the sales price. If I was a member of the syndicate, I'd be launching petrol bombs at John Warren's pied-a-terre (figuratively speaking of course)*.




















* not really.
 
Don't worry too much about the Highclere mob Rory - they're offering affordable syndication so the 100k that John Warren forked out for the great Teacher will no doubt have been small change to those involved.

Maybe he's just one of those horses who's yet to come to himself and will be better with time?

Wishful thinking I know and he's destined for the annuls of sub-40 ratedness, surprised that he went for as much as 3k really as short of trying hurdling/flapping (he'd be an expensive flapper) there's not a lot they can do with him, 43-45 rated horses are regularly going for much less at Ascot as they're unlikely to get a run unless their marks are bumped up considerably somehow.

Martin
 
Always makes me laugh when Highclere is referred to a syndicate when the cost for a 1/20th share is probably greater than most people pay for a full horse over the course of a year.
Give me my ickle share of a modest horse over one of their expensive blue bloods any day.

Who gives a monkeys about the 'z' list celebrities they attract anyway?
 
I wouldn't say I was shrewd Dante. I've been quite lucky with some horses. The way I look at the horses is simple, it might cost the same to have a good one and a bad one in full training, but you are better off finding reliable experienced handicappers which maybe have served their time to current connections and pick them up cheaply and know that they will continue to pay their way at a level that suits.

That said the decision to sell Calico Cat was never really mine, and boy do I miss him. I loved the horse to bits and the only reason he sold is quite simply he doesn't have great legs. It would be the same reason I got him so cheap. He hasn't had problems since we had him but a lot of trainers probably would have never run him as he has clear signs of previous tendon and suspensory injuries and there's never any knowing if they will ever come back. He is very fragile and whilst we had good offers pre Ascot, the reality is, he would never pass a vet.

He sold about fair given everything really but he still yielded a profit. Sadly the other owners decided that all these figures pre sales (which would have been the case had he been a horse with no problems) needed to be cashed in on, although I warned them that I didn't think he would make a fraction of that cause vetting would be tough and when people took a closer look at him they would probably run a mile.

£40,000 was probably fair, although losing your best horse is often tough and hard to swallow. I won't deny I've been really depressed this past few days and thoroughly upset as he was more than just a horse to me.

The one thing I have been doing is analysing my stock and I've realised that despite having some nice fun horses, I do have a lot of dead wood, and probably got 8 or 9 that I will be looking to move on. Better to have 20 that can win, then 35 of which 15 can't.
 
Flame, you didn't have Calico Cat for long. What was the syndicate arrangement that pushed him to the sales? Do the owners plan to go again? We've been offered a lot of money for various syndicate horses and not taken the offers. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I'd now always be a seller.
 
Cantoris said:
Flame, you didn't have Calico Cat for long. What was the syndicate arrangement that pushed him to the sales? Do the owners plan to go again? We've been offered a lot of money for various syndicate horses and not taken the offers. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I'd now always be a seller.
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I bought him a year ago and everyone was in for 12 months, so 4 of the guys knowing of the problems he had and that decided they wanted out, and I didn't wanna carry the can for 20k upwards.

one owner will, the other three I'm not sure. They might in some capacity but probably won't put in 4k so to speak.

I wouldn't normally be a seller either, but in this case it made sense.
 
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