# Gearing up for the big sale :)



## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Well.. in the thoroughbred horse business... the largest yearling sale in the world starts Sunday. The 'select' yearlings should already be on the sales ground, but I won't be able to get over there until Saturday. Frustrating? YES. But it's not a place for my 4yo 

I am working on sorting through the pictures I still have on my computers. I still have pictures from last year's sale on my desktop - pics that have never been touched!!! AHHH! I know!

I'm not working for the same website that I worked for last year  But it's more laid back for me this year - get what I can get basically, but during the first two days of the sale I need to be inside getting pics of all the big horses that go through in case the website I am working for can use the pics in sales ads, etc. But mostly I do it because well...I love to do it  
over 200 horses represent the first book this year, some of the nicest pedigrees you could ask for. Should be interesting....but the economy really has hurt the sales.

Anyway, just because I like to ramble, I thought I'd share some pics from last years top of the class yearlings from the first catalog.

BTW, it's not always easy to get pics at the sale....you really have to get a feel for it.
































































Hall of fame trainer inspects a yearling...




































My VERY favorite filly out of the entire sale was the next one. 
ARIENZA
Her sire is Ghostzapper, and her dam is Azeri <I LOVE AZERI>. AZERI was horse of the year in 2003 and the horse that got me back into racing. Ghostzapper was Horse of the Year in 2004.



















In a good economy...she would have doubled her price...









My second favorite filly from the sale out of a champion mare named Spain, she sold for $300,000.









Another favorite..


















Anyone don't mean to bore anyone, I just thought I'd share. As soon as I can share pics from the sale I will post them here.


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## peggy (Aug 11, 2010)

Wow, those are really some beautiful horses......thanks for sharing and they weren't boring at all. Great photography......


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## Allipoe (Sep 8, 2010)

I am trying to imagine what kind of breeding that chestnut...filly it looks like?...has. Going for that kind of money. I know they can go for more, but wooooweee. Being from Maryland I have a healthy respect (and cautious one too) about our horse racing industry. I have no illusions about it, trust me. I used to work for a farm that raced and did steeplechase. But I have to admire those powerful creatures...on tinytiny spindly delicate legs! Hehe


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Beautiful..... :thumb:


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Allipoe said:


> I am trying to imagine what kind of breeding that chestnut...filly it looks like?...has. Going for that kind of money. I know they can go for more, but wooooweee. Being from Maryland I have a healthy respect (and cautious one too) about our horse racing industry. I have no illusions about it, trust me. I used to work for a farm that raced and did steeplechase. But I have to admire those powerful creatures...on tinytiny spindly delicate legs! Hehe


Believe it or not, I've never been to the Standardbred races! They have a track locally, but I've never been  I grew up in Indiana, no racetracks, BUT they did have harness racing. Never got to go!

The filly hip #23 is by a stallion named Lion Heart out of a Seattle Slew mare. Lion Heart was a nice racehorse, he raced against Smarty Jones - you might have heard of him ?  Unfortunately Lion Heart hasn't been the kind of stallion his owners wanted, and they sold him this past fall -overseas-. 
Seattle Slew was the 1977 Triple Crown winner.....There have only been 11 triple crown winners...last one was in 1978!

For some of the best pedigrees, your going to find: Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Mr. Prospector in the line somewhere. Secretariat wasn't a great sire of racehorses, BUT, his offspring have really dominated by passing on quality genes. 
This year's Kentucky Derby winner -- Super Saver --- has all 3 in his blood line. All 3 on his dam's side! 2 were his grandsire, and Secretariat is the sire of Seattle Slew's dam 

I am definitely no pedigree expert, but it's so much fun to watch these horses, and when the sales catalogs come, you sort through them, and make a list of the horses you think will sell well based on pedigree.

My 'short' list of a little over 200 horses is 30. Based on horses I used to watch and love when they raced, successful broodmares, and then throw in the mix of who those mares were bred too.
Bernardini is a top young stallion, and Sheikh Mohammed is sure to support him at the sale since he owns the stallion. So I can see Sheikh Mo' buying his yearlings and unless the economy is really 'sick' in the horse industry, some of these horses should go over $1,000,000. BTW, Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum is the ruler of Dubai --- he has 3 farms in KY that I know of, and some of the best horses you can find 
The other 'big dogs' used to be Coolmore -Irish- from Ashford Stud. They used to get into bidding wars with Sheik Mo', and it made things very, very interesting, not to mention that it made the horses very costly.

What's cool with people like the Sheikh though is, he walks around looking just as normal as anyone else. He looks so....plain...haha. His wife Princess Haya usually accompanies him, as she is a horse person too, and the day before and the first day of the sale they are typically present to inspect horses along with their entourage of security, bloodstock agent, and trainer. It's quite a process when it comes to buying these horses.

Here's the Sheikh in the back of the sales pavillion where the horses wait their turn to go into the sales pavillion. First, he NEVER goes into the actual pavillion where the seats are at, they stand in the back, and do all their bidding back there..









His trainer, Saeed Bin Suroor --- super super nice man









This picture cracks me up to this day! 
I was standing with a friend, and we saw trainer, Bob Baffert looking at a horse, so we stopped to take a random picture of him. Suddenly, he looks over his shoulder with a frown like something horrible had just happened, and walked off. BTW, he one of the best trainers in the country.

Well, I didn't realize until I got home looking at the picture...just exactly why he was so upset. Sheikh Mohammed was walking up behind him reading, and clearly interested in the same horse that Baffert was interested in! Look how ordinary the Sheikh is, you'd just never pick him out of a crowd...unless you knew he would be there.









Those are from the 2008 sale, first time I ever got real serious about the sales, before I always just went got what I could for my own use.

In 2008 there were a lot of yearlings who sold for over $1,000,000.
If you've ever heard of the great racemare named Zenyatta, this would be her 3 year old brother - he just won his first race a few days ago.

Zenyatta is the top racehorse in the country right now IMO























































In my first post, I posted AZERI's filly - well the next one is her first colt who sold in 2008. Actually.... he didn't sell, they were asking $8,000,000 and bidding stopped at $7,700,000. MORONS did NOT take the $$....you'd totally not believe what he sold for at the 2 year old sale in April of 2009.
Not even $2,000,000......!!!! Yep they were MORONS for not letting him go for less at that sale!








And yeah, he never put his ears up....I don't believe he learned how to put his ears forward until he was a 2yo....LOL!!!


















A horse I like named, Harken Up. Not a big name racehorse...









Winning a race at our local track this past spring - our local track is also the one that holds this sale.









Ice Box, finished an impressive 2nd place in this years Kentucky Derby









It can be very dangerous handling them at the sales, high strung already, this is all new and very scary...


















Mostly they just rear, buck, or bulk, but this one was trying to strike the handler! Got him under control thankfully...









The Coolmore <Irish> big shots I mentioned earlier









I call this one 'Royal Butts' LOL Sheikh Mohammed and Princess Haya and their entourage going off to look at more horses after a purchase









I could go on and on. The sales are a fun challenge. They become quite addicting.

My husband is quite bummed because he isn't working the sale...yet. I think the farm offered him a few days. When my husband works the sales he is a handler, so he is the one who would show a particular horse to clients. You have to get the horse to stand correctly, and get them to walk as straight and smoothly as possible. It's very hard work, BUT, most farms pay very good at the sales <$2,000 a week plus meals and some offer bonuses at the end of the sale>.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, but I think it's going to be an on and off rainy day. I am meeting up with my friend that I typically work the sales with, and we'll just see who we can see, have some fun, and hang out.


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## Polarhug (Jul 1, 2010)

...Mega Drool


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## Mon Reve Farm (Jun 25, 2010)

I love  your pictures!!! So beautiful - never boring.

Wish you were closer and could come take pictures of my girl Sage!!


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

not boring at all

hope your hubby gets to work the sales as he wishes


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## Allipoe (Sep 8, 2010)

Seattle Slew kicks butt. *nodnod* And I once got to have a ride on a grand-daughter of Secretariat. That was exciting...even though she was totally well mannered lol. Steeplechase is different from the Standardbred races. The steeplechase is where they go over hill and dale doing jumps at breakneck speed, water obstacles, brush fences. Its a bit hair raising, but very big and historical here in Maryland. As you can imagine, it takes quite a bit of skill to do...I certainly would never try it. Because break-neck speed is called that for a reason. O.O


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Beautiful!!!

My sister has a TB mare that was retired after a trailer accident caused issues with her hind legs...Cris' Tigress is a dark colored girl and had been used as a brood mare after the accident. She had 3 TB foals with the breeder and now we have an "oops" foal too..not knowing she was PG when she was rescued a year ago.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I am soooooooooooooo tired, I can barely keep my eyes open. Saturday was an on and off rainy day, but it got quite humid, which made it a little bit uncomfortable. I met up with a couple of friends and we went around to get pics, then left and visited a few stallions, and then came back to the sale for a little while longer.
I was up until 4am, sorting and editing pictures which includes writing file information for all of the pics <descriptions, photographer info for the website, dates, places, renaming file folders a certain way/image names>, it's time consuming!
Got up, did as much as I could around here, took care of the goats, made dinner, worked on laundry, and I was back out at the sale around 3pm. Had a few horses pulled out for me, but it was windy and lousy for pictures! It was a pretty day though, sunny, and much more comfortable --no humidity.
Things got real quiet around 5pm, so I went up to the sales pavillion and got something to eat. They always have something good.
I went back out walked the barns, and looked at a couple more horses, then back to the sales pavillion ---- lots and lots of walking.
Then from 7pm-10:30pm the sale was going on. 
It was fun, saw and spoke with other photographers I've come to know over the last couple of years. The pavillion was full, the horses were selling decently. 
I didn't go to bed until 4am...again! And waking up at 6:30am to get my kids up for school...Well let's just say, I can barely keep my eyes open right now!
Back to bed after the bus comes, and then I'll sort some more pics. I don't have any up for sharing yet, I had to do all the editing last night for the higher priced yearlings for the website I work for.

Tonight is the 2nd and last night of the 'select' part of the yearling sale. Not sure I'll go anymore after that? But we'll see. The sale ends on Sept 26th.

There were some fun bidding wars.... the 'big boys' were there, but it was new players who were making it interesting! Gotta love the fact there are new people getting into the game


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

its always nice when new people enter the game for sure. Love it in the show world of goats too.

sounds like a crazy past couple days - hope you can get your nap. Looking forward to pictures :drool:


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## Bellafire Farm (Jan 5, 2010)

Oh my goodness...such GORGEOUS pictures!! And what an incredible opportunity you have to be around such incredible animals! I remember rooting for Seattle Slew, one of my alltime favorites!

My favorite is the little sorrel/chestnut filly ARIENZA (I believe thats the name)...she's got an incredibly beautiful, feminine face, including the ears, eyes (WOW - those eyes!), and muzzle...just gorgeous! And I don't even like sorrels, so that says a lot from me!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks so much. The horse industry desperately needs the new players. With the way the economy has affected it, the farms are all hurting, and creates less jobs for everyone. So getting a boost would be great. Just 2 years ago I believe the first day of the sale they sold over 200 horses with about 11 going for more than $1,000,000. 
Last night, only one broke the $1,000,000 mark!

I'm heading back to the sale in about an hour and a half. For some reason some of my pics were blurry...bleh! It happens though, because your standing so far away, handheld <my camera/lens together weigh about 8-10lbs>, with very low settings because of dim lighting. It's very very tricky getting good images inside. Sometimes the lens needs to be taken off and put back on, so I'll do that, as it seems to have slipped a little. It happens. I haven't taken the lens off since July. I got something of the big horses though...whew.
The 'BIG' horse was amazing, and i'll share about him as soon as I can--- when I can share pictures too. He was very exciting. He's been the talk of the horseracing forums all day 

Seattle Slew was an amazing horse wasn't he? I saw him once, and I tell you what, he definitely passed his 'eyes' on to his best sons! Capote, Slew City Slew, Slew O'Gold, etc. all had those deep, intimidating brown eyes.
Slew's pedigree can be found in all the great modern day racehorses. 
In fact the sale topper last night is by A.P. Indy <one of the best stallions in the market right now>, A.P. Indy is by Seattle Slew. 
Seattle Slew's Dam is by the great Secretariat.
But the dam comes from a very different bloodline, and the dam is also a half sister to the great racemare, ZENYATTA, who is currently 18 for 18, and could become the Horse of the Year if she can pull off a win in the Breeders Cup Classic in a couple of months!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I'm heading to bed but thought before I did I'd post just a few pics from the sale.

Ghostzapper - Azeri filly --- this is a yearling sibling to the filly I posted in my original post <ARIENZA> She's really cute 



















Here she is in the sales ring


















The sale topper was definitely the most stand out of the colts. 
He sold as hip #14.
A.P. Indy out of a mare named, Balance. Anyone who currently follows racing...Balance is a sister to the great current racemare, Zenyatta who is 18 for 18! 



























Yes, I took quite a few of him..we knew he'd be at the top of the list...sadly I wasn't a big fan of these pics 









There were always groups of people looking at him



























Can you guess what he brought????










Yep...just pocket change for some folks...heh. Actually, he had all the big peeps going after him, from the Irish to the Sheikh's, but in the end, an unknown who has been more low key in the business stepped up <from Cuba>. Nice when these people come out of the shadows! But also very cool that there have been quite a few newcomers.
BTW, this colt is going to a known trainer, here in the US.

This one is nice, he sold for $450,000









Sister to a current stakes winner who ran in the Kentucky Derby named General Quarters. She looks soooo much like him too!









General Quarters as a 3yo <last year Kentucky Derby>









One of my favorites that wasn't a big seller, was this filly. She has a nice pedigree...
here she was as a weanling last November



























I don't have a 'final sale' pic of her up, but she sold for $390,000. So the seller made $140,000 off of her, minus whatever her upkeep has been.

I think she has matured into a beautiful young filly 


















Well I am off to bed, I will post more tomorrow night! I wasn't at the sale on Tues, but heading out on Wed to photograph a bunch of horses for someone, and hopefully get a few that could be the potential high sellers for the day. fun fun!


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

very nice!


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## GoldenSeal (Sep 14, 2010)

Those are beautiful horses. I've wanted horses for a long time now but haven't gotten them from lack of knowledge. Plus, I don't think I could afford them (the upkeep), lol. I have always admired them though. Thanks for the picture show.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks so much. And yes, horses are VERY expensive. Just basic backyard horses are expensive. I'd love to own them too, but we don't have land for a horse right now. Good thing is my husband works with them and knows a lot, so that's a relief. I took care of horses, but I am not as knowledgeable as he is.

I was out at the sale for about 3 1/2 hours today. I photographed 20 horses or more. It was kinda crazy. There are over 40 barns at the sale, but book 2 horses take up barns 7-29. Well the horses I photographed sold/sell today. So I was rushing around trying to get pics BEFORE they go into the sale pavillion. Well, that meant running from barn to barn to get the first several before they went for the pavillion. I packed a weeks worth of walking into just a few short hours...LOL But hopefully I can pick up more work with this bloodstock agency, and hopefully I can get a days notice, so I can have the horses photographed/finished the night before they sell.

More pics to come


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

Love the pics-keep em coming!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Well, I finally got most of the pics edited from the first night of the sale. My goal now is to get them edited, upload, and start burning things to dvd so I can free up the space on my laptop.

Figured I'd share a few more...

I took my backup camera and shorter lens with me, but I never used them until the 2nd night just thought I'd take a pic to show how far away we have to stand in order to get the pics...








I use my 70-200mm f2.8IS lens indoors, BUT I can only shoot the horses with the sale sign vertically <turning the camera sideways>, otherwise even if I am completely zoomed out, I can't get it all in the pic. I love being able to zoom in for the headshots. It can be real tricky because you have to work with the lighting that's there <no flash>, and hold still so you don't get too much blur, but it definitely happens.

BTW, I do lighten my pics up/take out contrast when I upload - it's the way editorial likes them. When I go to print pics I add everything in, so it's 'pertyful' haha!









Just some randoms...









A friend's yearling... It was windy and very hot/sunny so his patience was thin, though he tried to stand up properly for the pic.









Being shown to a potential buyer...









Pretty face on this filly...









A full sister to Proud Spell - a champion 3yo filly of 2008.









A friend waiting to show a colt who went on to sell for $700,000









same friend showing another horse when it started raining...









Anyway I could post and post... here is a link to my pics if anyone is interested in seeing them. I plan on having more up tonight. Around 100 more horses to edit, then I have some from a later day I'll add as well. 
Not sure I am going back to the sale, if I work for this one individual it will be later next week. I might print out some pics to take to some people tomorrow, gives me an excuse to be out there! 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] ... 27/detail/


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Wow.... that is way far back ... :shocked: ....you have an excellent camera there...and excellent work to.... I may add.... :thumb: :greengrin: :hi5:


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

Absolutely. You take GRRREEAT pics, really!


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## SDK (Jun 26, 2008)

first of all.. LOVE it.. 'm a closet horserace fan... after barbaro and eight belles accidents i didnt watch for awhile so i've been out of the loop, do you mind if i use some images to play with sketching ect?


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

Thanks so much  And yeah, it's fun getting good, crisp, clear shots in the pavillion. and I think I am the only one that tries to get something of every single horse. BUT, how often do those big price horses outrun those lower priced horses? Let's just say the big prices seldom earn what their purchase price was. So I have respect for those cheap priced horses  Of course steadying a nearly 10lb. camera/lens for 3-4 hours/over 100 horses can be tiring. I guess I am addicted to doing it LOL



SDK said:


> first of all.. LOVE it.. 'm a closet horserace fan... after barbaro and eight belles accidents i didnt watch for awhile so i've been out of the loop, do you mind if i use some images to play with sketching ect?


That's fine if you want to use them for sketching  If you get anything you would like to share I'd love to see!

I am soooo with you. Both horses you mentioned were my favorites in their years. Barbaro was amazing, just amazing. He spent a few weeks before the Kentucky Derby at our local track <Keeneland racecourse>, and I followed him around a few mornings, and was just in awe. He was instantly my Derby pick.
The year he raced was one very hard year. I was having marital problems, pregnant, and my mother passed away exactly a week before Barbaro's breakdown in the Preakness stakes. I had hoped Barbaro's race would uplift me, but it didn't.
What was so miraculous is the fact, they fixed that leg! Even though it was hard, and very trying, the actually did it. Bad thing is, laminitis set in on the other legs & that's what did him in 

Eight Belles.... OMG.... my heart still breaks every day for her. I am a fan of her owner on his website/forum, and so we were all in love with her before she made a name for herself. 
I befriended her trainer/his wife, and got to hang out with her at the barn. I spent the entire morning of the Bluegrass stakes in the barn watching her, and her stablemates. It was a morning I'll never forget.
I could never get out early enough to see her work though, I had to get my kids off to school before I could leave the house. 
One morning, I got up there as early as I could, and to my surprise, I had MADE IT. Simply because, with God's help <I do believe this>, there had been a water main break on the track, and so everyone was 30 minutes behind on going out to work/exercise. 
Thank God for that morning. I was able to get pics of her.










She had what we call the 'Look of Eagles' in her eyes, and most champs have this 'look'








I was very honored, because the picture above was used in the announcement of her memorial service at the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs - it was enlarged and on display in the museum! They also used my pics for other things too. Out of all the pics they coudl have used of her...
Here are more of her:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] ... 84/detail/

As for the sales, here is a new edit I did yesterday that I love...I don't know why...something about the mood of it. Calmness of the horse. Plus I know the handler, he's great, and I'll print up some including this one for him 
Nothing great, but i like it 









Time to take the goats out for their afternoon of grazing out front  I'll post more later!


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## logansmommy7 (Nov 11, 2009)

SOOOO cool...that you got those pictures. I remember the day she ran that race-and I thought she was great before she ran it. I thought-YOU GO GIRL! And she did...only it didn't end as well as it was supposed to. What a pretty girl she was.


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

logansmommy7 said:


> SOOOO cool...that you got those pictures. I remember the day she ran that race-and I thought she was great before she ran it. I thought-YOU GO GIRL! And she did...only it didn't end as well as it was supposed to. What a pretty girl she was.


She sure ran her heart out in that race didn't she? SHe was a tough girl, it takes a lot for a filly to beat the boys, and she beat 18 boys that day! 
If you loved her on tv, you would have loved her in person, she was just wonderful. Her trainer and his wife absolutley adored her, the horses under their care were much like their children.
I was sick for a week after she passed, I sat around the house, was depressed, and just couldn't believe it had happened. I was also drawn into some of the forums that bashed her trainer and his wife. They were wonderful people, and he wasn't one that would drug a horse up and run it into the ground. SOme trainers push the drugs, but nope, not Larry Jones, he was as honest as they come. 
It's basically a fact that Unbridled's Song offspring are horses running on ticking time bombs. Most of the good ones always get career, or sadly, life threatning injuries because of soundness issues, or just the weak bones he passes on.
Eight Belles was as fit and sound as they come. She took a bad step that day, and shifted all that weight ackwardly onto the other foot, causing that ankle to go as well. 
We were having a big birthday party the day this happened, and it was hard to get through the party without breaking down....I cried all night long after the kids went to bed.


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## Trace (Dec 29, 2008)

Pretty pretty babies!!!!!

I am starting to appreciate TB's more than I used to now than I have an appendix QH.

Thanks for sharing.


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