 Broodmares Yearlings Weanlings
 "Many of the ingredients which go into yearling purchases also factor into the purchase of a weanling. However, the "crystal ball" plays an even bigger role since age and maturity are such a key factor. For pinhooking purposes you have to try and anticipate the hot stallions in 10 months, but you still need the athlete." |
This November '06 we bought five weanlings. We zoned in on a couple of sires which we believe in. One who has impressed us a lot is Harlan's Holiday. All of his yearlings, even the ones which might not be classified as top-notch, because of crookedness or another issue, all possess a great balance and athleticism. Therefore we bought a colt and a filly by him. The colt is out of Seven Grand and the filly is out of Starz Street. They both possess good bone and scope, with a great walk. The walk is very important to us as in our minds, it indicates the level of athletic ability. We also feel that Yes it's True is on the upswing and found a quality filly with a beautiful profile out of an aptly named mare called That Look. We had to beat off a lot of the big guns for her and were very excited to get her. Smoke Glacken is another sire who can throw a number of good horses and we found another smooth moving colt out of Graded stake winner Circle of Gold with a moderate production record for a reasonable price. Finally we took a punt on a malnourished, underdeveloped weanling by Mineshaft for a bargain basement $20,000. He has a good pedigree, good x-rays and had improvement written all over him. We think it's a good investment for our partners depending on his level of development over the winter.
For the most part, the weanlings have done well the past six months in their maturation process. We have determined where they are going to sell with the Harlans Holiday colt for Fasig Tipton July, the Yes Its True filly for Saratoga and the remaining for September: Smoke Glacken colt, Mineshaft colt and Harlans Holiday filly.
Even though we are uncertain what is in store for the market, we are confident that we have enough athletes between our crop that some will be appreciated more than others and able to carry the ball for the team.
Since 1987, Nicoma has bought 30 weanlings with the intention of reselling, for a combined purchase price of $2,455,000. We have successfully sold these for $4,840,500, a gross profit of nearly 100%. Many of these were successful racehorses such as 1994 champion and G1 winner MUHTARRAM, purchased privately in a package with his dam for $150,000 and sold as a yearling for $650,000. Other examples are the talented FLEMENSFIRTH (G1), WANDERING STAR (G2), and NORTHERN AFLEET(G2) who is turning out to be a very successful young sire here in the U.S.A. Over 15% of our purchases have won Group or Stake races from horses pinhooked.
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