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….that I think a two-million guinea yearling failing to make the frame on its belated racecourse debut in a December floodlit Kempton Park AW Novice Stakes is hilarious?
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Whenever expensive horses flop, I always recall John Dunlop’s words about the $10,000,000 Snaafi Dancer: “Rather a sweet little horse actually. But unfortunately no bloody good.”
He fired mostly blanks at stud as well.
Funnily enough snaafi dancer popped into my head around this story. Money no guarantee of anything though means you can buy a few horses and maybe one will succeed. And yes it is a rib tickler.🤣
Seattle Dancer was a $13.1 million yearling back in 1985 (so a heck of a lot more in today’s money) but at least he managed a couple group stakes wins.
The only really expensive yearlings I recall who remotely lived up to their promise were Ajdal and Royal Academy.
At least Seattle Dancer turned out to be a decent sire.
Here are a few other flops, the largest being The Green Monkey. $16 million and never won a race. Although he did sire a Fillies Triple Crown winner – in Panama.
4 million Guineas at Tatts 2017 for Danks filly Gloam renamed Maria Danilova seems expensive now , never raced out the Gosden yard and can find no records of her having any foals yet .
Just piles of cash burnt on these horses , I’d guess tax write offs aplenty though .Just a reminder of how for all the careful and meticulous planning that goes into chosing the right dam/sire combination to breed from it still isn’t an exact science and having the best and breeding to the best won’t always work out for the best.
A piece in the Racing Post by James Stevens recently highlighted a few more expensive yearlings that failed to live up to their star billing, here are a few named:
Al Naamah
Cost: 5,000,000gns (2013)
Career earnings: £44,399A sister to that year’s Oaks winner Was, Al Naamah fetched a huge price in the 2012 ring but failed to live up to her mighty reputation, only recording one win from seven starts.
Trained by Andre Fabre and owned by Al Shaqab Racing, her sole success came on her debut at Chantilly in June before she disappointed at short odds next time out at Group 3 level.
While she went close at that grade and Listed level she was beaten a total of 40 lengths on her two attempts at Group 1 level and January is the only one of her progeny to have won a race.
Darain
Cost: 3,500,000gns (2018)
Career earnings: £39,296From the highly successful broodmare and Group 1 winner Dar Re Mi, Darain was bought in the hope he could prove as good as the likes of Too Dar Hot and So Di Mar.
Qatar Racing’s purchase looked to be on course to fulfil expectations when recording back-to-back novice wins in his three-year-old season, but he disappointed behind Pyledriver when stepped up in class in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at York and was sold to the US after finishing down the field in the Darley Stakes at Newmarket.
He finished second and third for Brad Cox, winning a three-runner allowance race at Fair Grounds, but was well held when tried at Grade 1 level and has not been seen since.
Noble Dynasty
Cost: 3,600,000gns (2019)
Career earnings: £58,176A half-brother to Godolphin’s high-class miler Barney Roy, Noble Dynasty cost big money but failed to reach the level anticipated.
He won five races from ten starts, progressing through handicaps to win a conditions race at Lingfield last November but never fired on the big day. He was fancied for the 2022 Royal Hunt Cup but got balloted out and disappointed when a beaten favourite in the Golden Mile at Glorious Goodwood.
I guess Godolphin better hope that the world’s most expensive yearling of 2022, the 2.8 million guineas Kalidasa (from the family of Too Darn Hot and who was actually due to run in the second division of that Kempton maiden) will do a hell of a lot better when he does finally grace the track.
I presume there are equally bad investmnets in the NH field, tho at a different price level. I remember a 9-yr-old hunter, something like Mossy Moore (can’t recall the exact name), being bought for 180K, don’t know if he ever ran afterwards.
Good shout befair, you’re thinking of Mossey Joe. A third in the Aintree Foxhunters was the best he achieved after being bought for £160k aged 11.
Well, JP McManus was at his usual best when paying 530,000gns to The Million in Mind Partnership to buy Garde Champetre. Not bad for a horse who won just a total of six X-Country races at Cheltenham…..
Agree ERL, Garde Champetre is another very good example for a thread about exorbitant purchases who underperformed. That said, I don’t think he ended up being a particularly bad buy!
JP must have realised that he was unlikely to make a profit from the purchase, and it appeared to me as being a very rich man indulging in his hobby.
Where the horse ended up having a very long and successful career in his own way, I suspect the pleasure he gave connections was worth that initial outlay.
You’re right, Marlingford. It’s all about his hobby and landing the odd punt. He can buy every horse he wants to as long as he has the cash for it. The move to run him in X-Country surely paid some other form of dividends.
Thanks Marlingford; I’m sure that there are plenty of examples of bumper/pt-to-pt horses bought for exorbitant prices who turn out to be flops. Jessica Harrington had one a few yrs ago, again the name escapes me.
But 160k for an 11-yr-old hunter!!!!Wasn’t PN trying to buy Garde Champetre for one of his owners but ended up having to buy Kauto Star for him instead? Or is my memory playing tricks with me again?
Oh yes moehat, well remembered (I’d forgotten!).
It was indeed Clive Smith who then bought Kauto instead.
Jonbon will hit profit zone on 570k sale price this weekend if he wins , and a win in a Cheltenham tune up race in new year will give JP a free favored runner in Championship race at Festival all costs in , impressive effort by the horse in just couple seasons .
Dlauro gave owners a bath 410k , earnt 5 k and bled in last three of five runs .
There was that horse cost a lot Henderson got frpm Northern trainer , owner had spent up large on a few i think , done nothing but name escapes me .
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