study hall

The Fasig-Tipton Eastern Fall Yearling sale at Timonium, MD is coming up next week, so rather than just flip to random catalog pages and start bidding, I've been trying to sort through the offerings over these past few weeks. It's sort of like studying for midterms back at college, only I actually look at the pages now as I turn them. All in all, it's a deep book with some things to like. It's always interesting to see how they hold up in the flesh, but there are certainly some solid pedigrees with which to work. We've bought a number out of this sale (Nautical Agent, Mass Romantic, Veiled Reference, Secretly Taken), so we're hopeful that something strikes the team's fancy and falls in our wheelhouse.

Things are still to the good otherwise. Veiled Reference and Mass Romantic are both coming up on final works leading up to a start. Mass Romantic is probably a little bit closer, but her stablemate isn't too far behind. It seems she'll just need a bit more work at the gate before we can send her out. No sense in spotting the field five lengths right from the bell, you know? We'll probably target a few dates in October once they've knocked off their respective breezes this week.

Have to get on to Doug re: Nautical Agent. No news is usually good news, but we're due to kick around a spot for her. I've got an idea or two; if she's bounced back in good form, we'll shoot to run her back relatively soon.

Headline at bloodhorse.com indicates the push for slots in MD has started up again. Mass Romantic and Veiled Reference are by MD stallions, so that sounds good to me. I recall reading an article in the Ledger recently that reported NJ is really in bad shape financially, as well, (shocking, I know) so let's go for machines at the Big M, too. My bet is that you'll have them up north within three years, if not sooner. Will have to give NJ-breds in that catalog a good look...