Mall I remember that post and you were right on the money with Smarty and Co. The economics simply do not work out.

I think Stronach decided to take some money off the table with Ghostzapper. He currently stands Ghostzappers Stallion (Awesome Again) and I said last year after the Breeders Cup it may make sense to continue to race Ghostzapper because if he was immediately retired there would be some cannibalization of his own sire, that being Awesome Again. He promply bumped the Stud Fee on Awesome Again and briefly raced Ghostzapper. Who knows maybe he was able to get enough of a premium off that one race to justify the loss of a years Stud Fees. When confronted with a similar proposition Stronach's new partner probably insisted on he wanted no part of Race Horse he has just sunk $20-30M in. The nuclear scan Ghostzapper was given may have had more to do with a vetting process for a Sale than it had to do with any unsoundness he was suddenly suffering from.

Now I am hearing a lot of the same retoric from Trainer Ritchie. "He was worth $20M before the Belmont whats he worth now". "The owners are committed to keep racing this horse thru his four year old season". All comments that could be percieved as attempts to get the price up. And if thats the case then he would only be doing his job, while filling his own bank account at the same time.

Call it poker of different brand and when somebody throws $30M worth of chips in your corner of the table, its hard to image the next thing someone says is "I'm All In". I know I sure as hell wouldn't.

How much a Nothern Afleet/Afleet/Mr Prospector is worth, who knows. We went thru the same thing last year with the Elusive Quality/Gone West/ Mr Prospector line. Don't be surprised if you see history repeat itself.