The Green Monkey
June 24th 2008 07:35
Coolmore usually manage to get process and outcome correct. Witness again their success with English and Irish classic wins this season, and a stunning effort at the recently completed Royal Ascot carnival.
But even the best can make errors of judgement. And these errors can be as emphatic as their successes.
in 2006 at the Fasig-Tipton Florida select sale of 2-year-olds in training, a bidding war erupted between Coolmore and Sheikh Mohammed. If going through a yearling catalogue the pedigree of the much wanted horse would not attract undue attention. He was a son of Forestry, out of a mare with little success in producing horses of a racing proposition.
He had in fact previously been purchased by Randy Hartley and Dean De Renzo at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July Select Yearling Sale for $425,000.
Hartley and De Renzo would later consign him for sale into the 2006 Fasig - Tipton Florida Select Sale for 2-year-olds in training. This time however pedigree was not as important as the speed and impression created as the 2 year olds breezed over a furlong. And how he did breeze! The (later to be named) The Green Monkey covered the distance in a blazing 9.80 seconds. And there followed the bidding war between the two of the deepest pockets in racing, as Coolmore went head-to-head (bid by bid) with the resources of Sheikh Mohammed.
The Sheikh blinked first. Coolmore won. Then parted with a record $16 million for the colt.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, The Green Monkey would retire as a maiden with his best result a 3rd placing (racing against fellow maiden performers) and lifetime earnings of $10,440.
There were excuses made after The Green Monkey suffered a series of minor injuries - pulled muscles and neck strains. His best was already behind him before even a trial, before even a race start: a brilliant breeze-up his pinnacle of performance.
The Green Monkey is to stand at Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds in Ocala beginning in 2009 at a fee not yet disclosed, but anticipated to be around $5,000. The original owners (Hartley and De Renzo) bought back into the horse, and although this figure is not disclosed, it is definitely far less than the purchase price paid by Coolmore.
Might their gamble pay off a second time?
The second highest price for a thoroughbred is that of $13.1 million paid for Seattle Dancer. He would go on to win Group races (trained by Vincent O’Brien), and as a half-brother to Seattle Slew, his stud potential was seemingly assured. He did have modest success, but a low fertility saw him shipped from stud to stud, finally ending his days in Germany and managing to only impregnate one mare in his final year.
The residual value of a poorly performed stallion from an ordinary bloodline is problematic. Success in this second phase of life is most unlikely for The Green Monkey.
A video of The Green Monkey racing at Belmont Park. Note the racecaller’s sarcasm:
But even the best can make errors of judgement. And these errors can be as emphatic as their successes.
in 2006 at the Fasig-Tipton Florida select sale of 2-year-olds in training, a bidding war erupted between Coolmore and Sheikh Mohammed. If going through a yearling catalogue the pedigree of the much wanted horse would not attract undue attention. He was a son of Forestry, out of a mare with little success in producing horses of a racing proposition.
The Green Monkey
He had in fact previously been purchased by Randy Hartley and Dean De Renzo at the 2005 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July Select Yearling Sale for $425,000.
Hartley and De Renzo would later consign him for sale into the 2006 Fasig - Tipton Florida Select Sale for 2-year-olds in training. This time however pedigree was not as important as the speed and impression created as the 2 year olds breezed over a furlong. And how he did breeze! The (later to be named) The Green Monkey covered the distance in a blazing 9.80 seconds. And there followed the bidding war between the two of the deepest pockets in racing, as Coolmore went head-to-head (bid by bid) with the resources of Sheikh Mohammed.
The Sheikh blinked first. Coolmore won. Then parted with a record $16 million for the colt.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, The Green Monkey would retire as a maiden with his best result a 3rd placing (racing against fellow maiden performers) and lifetime earnings of $10,440.
There were excuses made after The Green Monkey suffered a series of minor injuries - pulled muscles and neck strains. His best was already behind him before even a trial, before even a race start: a brilliant breeze-up his pinnacle of performance.
The Green Monkey is to stand at Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds in Ocala beginning in 2009 at a fee not yet disclosed, but anticipated to be around $5,000. The original owners (Hartley and De Renzo) bought back into the horse, and although this figure is not disclosed, it is definitely far less than the purchase price paid by Coolmore.
Might their gamble pay off a second time?
The second highest price for a thoroughbred is that of $13.1 million paid for Seattle Dancer. He would go on to win Group races (trained by Vincent O’Brien), and as a half-brother to Seattle Slew, his stud potential was seemingly assured. He did have modest success, but a low fertility saw him shipped from stud to stud, finally ending his days in Germany and managing to only impregnate one mare in his final year.
The residual value of a poorly performed stallion from an ordinary bloodline is problematic. Success in this second phase of life is most unlikely for The Green Monkey.
A video of The Green Monkey racing at Belmont Park. Note the racecaller’s sarcasm:
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