Name of 8.5 million colt

ef · Postby ef » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:31 am

He's not dead! He's currently training in California with Baffert. He'll be officially named right before he's entered.

austique · Postby **austique** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 1:06 pm

He's not dead. I was just kidding

It is a little odd he hasn't started yet because there were pretty regular press releases on him last year and then bupkus and its even odder that he hasn't been named. I have the feeling he's going to go the way of other expensive yearlings :wink:

sunday_silence · Postby **sunday_silence** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 3:00 pm

A couple of people who've seen him in person, both as a yearling and now at 3, said they weren't impressed with him then and are even less so now. He's a blueblood for sure, and will probably find a stud gig regardless of his racing career, but it sure is weird he's never run. Apparently he got loose at Del Mar during the meet and almost made it out to the highway.

Heidilady · Postby **Heidilady** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 5:36 pm

sunday_silence wrote:A couple of people who've seen him in person, both as a yearling and now at 3, said they weren't impressed with him then and are even less so now. He's a blueblood for sure, and will probably find a stud gig regardless of his racing career, but it sure is weird he's never run. Apparently he got loose at Del Mar during the meet and almost made it out to the highway.

*snort* Wow can you imagine being there when he got loose? "Well, there goes $8 million...' I bet his handlers about had a heart attack. "Mr. Sekiguchi....you know that colt you paid the GDP of a small country for....er...he--well...you know it's funny.."

So he doesn't look so hot? Is it possible that Baffert's trying to get him ready as gently as possible, get him the highest level of race he could sneak into getting, and then send him to stud? Like maybe not try a G1 but find a G3 that came up really empty somehow due to injury or something flukish and he can try to get so it'll make Sekiguchi not feel silly. Or maybe Baffert doesn't think he can do much if anything and wants to take it easy on the poor horse til they can just go 'hey we tried.'

sunday_silence · Postby **sunday_silence** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 6:34 pm

Yeah, an $8 million horse running free would be enough to make them break out in hives. I've been trying to figure out why they would wait so long to race him and I guess there are a lot of possible reasons. They've been awfully secretive about him since his purchase. He hasn't exactly been hidden, but his profile has been rather low.

Maybe he's been late to mature or had other physical problems that have delayed his first start? Maybe they're sitting on a monster? It's a curious situation, though.

Here's a picture of him selling at Keeneland:

I think he looks like a decent colt (although I don't think his looks were the primary reason for his price), but that was a year and a half ago. I haven't seen a recent photo.

Lucy · Postby **Lucy** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:06 pm

Kari wrote:
sunday_silence wrote:Sekiguchi announced on a Japanese show that he would be named Mister Sekiguchi. Or Mr.--not sure which? It's apparently not official, but he said that is what he intends to name the colt.

I can think of 'way too many ways that could go wrong for the owner. He must have a boatload of confidence in that colt.

In a sense, doesn't he name all his horses after himself? They're all 'Fusaichi' somethingorother....derived from his first name Fusao and the Japanese word for 'number one'. :roll:

I'd say confidence isn't a problem for this gentleman. :wink:

Kari · Postby **Kari** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:13 pm

Thanks, Lucy. I had no idea that's what "Fusaichi" meant. Always wondered why it popped up everywhere...

LSB · Postby **LSB** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 9:27 pm

I also saw him at the sale when he sold. Usually the special ones have a certain air about them. This colt seemed ordinary and his incredible price came as a bit of a surprise.

Nerd · Postby **Nerd** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:35 pm

he is triple crown nominated, listed as "unnamed"

Nerd · Postby **Nerd** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 10:44 pm

These photos are a bit old

http://www.horsephotos.com/watermark.jsp?photoID=22809

http://www.horsephotos.com/watermark.jsp?photoID=20939

sunday_silence · Postby **sunday_silence** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:00 pm

Wow. If he'd been by just about any other stallion, he wouldn't have brought a quarter of what he did, even if his dam is 1/2 to AP Indy. Sekiguchi has plenty of money to burn, I guess. Maybe he thinks he'll recoup it in the stud deal :wink:

I wonder how often a horse is nominated to the TC as "Unnamed."

Sam · Postby **Sam** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:21 pm

Nerd wrote:he is triple crown nominated, listed as "unnamed"

That's ambitious.

I was looking for the nominations earlier, do you have a link?

sunday_silence · Postby **sunday_silence** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:35 pm

http://tcm.bloodhorse.com/nominations.asp

Sam · Postby **Sam** » Sat Feb 04, 2006 11:54 pm

sunday_silence wrote:http://tcm.bloodhorse.com/nominations.asp

Thanks much.

Heidilady · Postby **Heidilady** » Sun Feb 05, 2006 12:30 am

That is odd. I mean why the secrecy? Are they trying to sneak around on work tabs or something? Does he not want the bad press if the clockers all think he's a stinker? I don't know any other reason why anyone would care what it's named. (Although we clearly do heh..I want what I can't have apparently)

Interesting side note that the only 2 fillies nominated are Folklore and Wild Fit. Also Life's Magic has a colt in there named Simon Pure.