As I feared before the sale the scratches did little to help matters. Neither did the vet reports. All in all our list (which had started off looking quite healthy) quickly dwindled and it was very hard to find the right horses at the right price. Some of the scratches were farcical ( see my first 'blog' and something must be done by the Sales Company to address this problem

 

Still here we are a week or so later, and I am pleased with the 6 horses we ended up buying. Peter Miller came over for the first time, was very ably looked after by my son Alexander . Unfortunately he did not have the best of luck , came close a couple of times , but was thwarted. Also in attendance was Jim Cassidy and it is to his barn that the acquisitions will go when they ship out of here in mid November.

Top of the horses we bought was SURREY STAR a Graded Stakes placed horse. A very useful sort and all being well he will run 'off the plane' in the Generous Stakes at Hollywood Park. He was bought for Class Racing Stables for whom we also bought a really nice prospect in EASY TICKET. I expect him to improve a great deal once he gets to the USA. The other quartet were made up of DR GREEN a lovely colt who looked high class before an injury put him on the sidelines for a while, ( he will race for Fontana Racing Stables)  FIFTH DIMENSION who is probably a lot better than he seems as he is still rather weak and backward, FIFTH AVE a filly who has run 13 times but6 seems to be growing and filling out in a nice way and last but not least LATIN LASHES , a US bred filly who will improve and might be suited by the new surface at Santa Anita

 

We missed out on a few nice fillies who just made that little bit too much as well as a couple of older horses who were slightly questionable on vet examination

 

As usual it was a very tiring week. It's the very long days, the nervous energy and the sheer distance one walks that sap one's strength