Deal or No Deal

By Jude T. Feld

I don’t know if it was the two-week turn-around from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness that left me “written out” or the fact that I didn’t want to take Maggie Wolfendale’s photo off the homepage, but it has been over a week since I posted anything new here.

Maybe it was a combination of the two.

For me, all the talk of Big Brown’s quarter cracks has been a combination of a downer and not really newsworthy, since his foot problems are legendary and well documented. I wish everyone would let it rest. Ian McKinley is the best there is at repairing horse’s hooves and Rick Dutrow hasn’t made any mistakes with Big Brown so far, so I am content to let those two fellas handle the horsemenship while I prepare to cover the Belmont Stakes.

There was an interesting story this week however, one that you will probably not find on the Blood-Horse or Thoroughbred Times websites.

Ready Or Not won a maiden special weight race by 14 ¾ lengths at Penn National on Wednesday, May 21, traveling six furlongs in 1:11.42. The son of More Than Ready was a $6,000 Fasig-Tipton Maryland October Sale yearling.

Riveting, right?

Thursday morning, my phone rings.

A Lexington-based bloodstock agent calls the race to my attention and tells me that IEAH Stable, the principal owner of Big Brown, has offered six figures for Ready Or Not and their offer has been turned down. Do I know anyone who would want to add this budding star to their stable?

“I’ll pull up his pedigree and past performance chart and get back to you,” I tell him.

The colt’s pedigree is sneaky good with both Private Account and Seattle Slew on the bottom side and the third dam having produced Broad Brush. His one-line pp shows the big win earned an 89 Brisnet speed figure against a field of pedestrian Penn National maidens – hence the huge winning margin.

I make a couple calls to guys I think might be interested. One is in the air, returning from Preakness and the Maryland Two-Year-Old in Training Sale. The other is on vacation in Montana but I reach him anyway and he is mildly interested.

“Do some more investigating and see what you can find out.”

Friday morning, I have an e-mail from a friend in Great Britain.

“Can you check out a horse for me? Ready Or Not made a winning debut in the 4th at Penn National on May 21st. He looks as if he beat donkeys but I have a good figure for him, not exceptional but I wouldn’t expect to at Penn. A friend (not a client) is interested in buying him, can you give me an idea what price you would put on him? Also what do you know about the trainer? Would be grateful for any opinion or info asap.”

Ten minutes after opening the e-mail, my phone rings. It is the Lexington bloodstock agent.

“I don’t know if it will sway the deal,” he says. “But the horse is a gelding.”

I call the UK with the gelding update.

“Are you sure? My friend from Macau wants to race him in New Zealand and then make a stud out of him.”

“Not a great plan with a gelding.”

“Evidently not. Can you confirm and call me back?”

“Sure.”

I call the bloodstock agent again.

“Yes, I am sure he is a gelding. It might be a moot point however as there is a guy from Macau who is interested in him.”

“He’s not going to buy him,” I reply. “He wants to stand him at stud. I was kind of enquiring on his behalf.”

“You know the guy in Macau?”

“No. I know his friend.”

“Talk about a small world.”

I am laughing when I reach the UK again.

“What’s so funny?”

“I was just thinking how ludicrous it is that four tremendously busy guys are spending so much time on a maiden winner from Penn National. Ready Or Not might be the third most famous horse in the world behind Curlin and Big Brown.”

“You’re right mate. At least three continents are on him.”

It’s been a week since Ready Or Not has won and his name hasn’t darkened the door of my inbox since the weekend, so I called the bloodstock agent to see if he had been sold.

“He’s still available. I don’t know if it’ll be a deal breaker, but he is a cribber.”

Somebody ought to buy this nutless wonder who sucks air all day and into the night. At least he doesn’t have any quarter cracks.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Featured Articles. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.