Wednesday, April 08, 2009

My Other Car is a Bentley (this one's just a Rolls Royce): Is the horse industry really on the skids?

Okay, so did Bob Baffert and Keeneland not get the memo or what? While the advocates of expanded gambling are queuing up the violin music for the impoverished horse industry, which they propose to subsidize with money from video slots at suffering tracks, Keeneland is sending out press releases about record-breaking horse sales.

That's what you call being "off message":

Don’t tell trainer Bob Baffert the economy is in a recession.

Baffert Monday night placed the winning bid of $1.9 million for a colt during the opening night of Keeneland’s April Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in Lexington.

...Keeneland on Monday sold 31 horses for $6.9 million, down 3.4 percent from 2008, when 34 horses sold for a total of $7.1 million.

That's right: while everyone else in this down economy is suffering a double-digit downturn, one of Kentucky's premier horse tracks is down only 3.4 percent and is celebrating a record price for a colt.

So if you were thinking about donating some caviar to some Bluegrass soup kitchen, you might just want to hold off.
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