You can choose to believe this story, or ignore it, but I do have witnesses.
I do contend that learning all about the sales can give you valuable handicapping insights.
Saturday at Belmont I was waiting to play the mandatory pick-6 payout, and had decided to skip the early pick 5 which had two horses that were going to be 2-5. Five minutes before race #3 I was glancing through the entries of a 3-yr old, 7f, MSW on the turf, and saw an interesting horse. She was a daughter of Lemon Drop Kid owned by Woodford Racing. I love LDK’s as they mature later, and I knew Woodford had been buying interesting horses at the Keeneland sale (they had bought the most expensive Midnight Storm at the sale for $280,000). None of the other maidens had run within 5 points of the Beyer par for the race. It was a good race to pick a long shot.
So I leaned over and told my friend, “I think the #6 has a chance to be in there”. She was 67-1 on the board. The pace was pretty quick, and the #6 picked up the pieces, and won at final odds of 97-1. I was too lazy to stand up and make a win bet, so it just ends up a cute story that not many will believe.
Owner handicapping is an important skill. Knowing the difference between the smart guys, and the folks just playing for fun, can be a good long shot angle.
Buying A Race Horse 