Pleasant Tap: why no love at the sales?

[Laurierace]

As many of you know I have a lovely Pleasant Tap yearling colt. I turned down $100,000 for him when he was three days old, but the offer may or may not have been legit. The guy was a bit of a whack job, but I digress.
With all the success of Pleasant Tap's runners, especially the males in the past couple of years why are they not bringing any money at the sales? My colt isn't for sale, so it really doesn't matter to me, I am just curious. The Lion Hearted's (5k fee) here in MD are bringing way more money at the sales and none of them are hitting the board in the breeder's cup or getting beat at the wire in the world cup. Is it just the slow maturing thing you think?

[wallinga]

I'd take it as a positive. At least people are getting value horses that can run

[HR LLC]

wow...you turned down 100k for a pleasant tap...

[Heidilady]

Can you remind us of his dam Laurie? Is his conformation just that good or something? I know that guy sounds like a nutjob but you've got a colt that looks that nice, that's pretty great just to know for yourself even if you are getting offers from crazy people.

[Laurierace]

His Mom is Quite An Evening. The guy who offered to buy him said he had been studying his conformation with a magnifying glass every day from a picture on the internet (like the picture was going to change?) and that his conformation was the best he had ever seen in a foal that young. I can't find anything to fault about him but unless its obvious I have trouble seeing it.
Again, he is not for sale, so it doesn't matter to me what they are bringing. I was just surprised they weren't bringing more, many of them are barely covering the stud fee. I know his stats are skewed by one big horse but he is the 4th leading sire in the country, I thought that would count for something.
Talk about having your stats skewed, Mom is now in foal to Slew City Slew. I think 90% of his earnings are Lava Man....

[geowarrior]

I also don't understand why Pleasant Tap is so undervalued both in terms of stud fee and at the sales. He produces horses that are durable, can run at the Classic distances, and if Laurie's foal is anything to go by, well conformed. It must be something to do with fashion..and I never was very fashionable.

[Denise]

I'm a huge fan of PT, and his half-brother Go for Gin, to whom no one breeds, except maybe the hunter/jumper and steeplechase folks. I've written about this before, but these inexpensive, unfashionable (by the current bloodstock industry standards for precocious speedball siring stallions) sires have the knock of getting late bloomers who can actually cover a route of ground. Imagine that: a thoroughbred with good bone that can run long. Doesn't sell for $16 million as a yearling, does it? Further, sires like PT, GFG and Albert the Great are my hope to keep alive the fast disappearing tail-male line from the great (and nuttier than a Snickers) *Ribot, one of the single best stamina influences on the planet.
The bloodstock business is upside down and disconnected from the actual business of racing, and until the pinhookers keep some actual skin in the game beyond six months, it will stay that way.
Good luck with your PT and your future SLS, whom I also think is a wildly underrated, undervalued sire of good, hard-knocking racehorses.

[casallc]

It is another one of life's great mysteries. There is no reason for PT to be disregarded and lesser sires and certainly less runners be so hot. He is a pretty decent individual, his tail-set is a little low for my liking but otherwise better than most. His pedigree indicates he can run a marathon but some might like a little more speed influence since there are so few races over a mile and a quarter. If I had one, I'd have to try it. I guess Pleasant Tap could be called the Rodney Dangerfield of horses.

[geowarrior]

If I had a bit of money I'd be looking for some hard knocking mares by Thirty Six Red to breed to Pleasant Tap, while there are still some around. Thirty Six Red although he had a short stud career, turned out to be a pretty good broodmare sire, and he is Premium Tap's bms.

[Morningside]

i recommend you sell it! 100k is a lot of money for a PT, let alone a 3day old PT
why not, especially if you still have the dam, you can breed her to PT again...

[majxmom]

wow...you turned down 100k for a pleasant tap...

I've had that sort of thing happen to me before, and to owners of horses I foaled out, although never for that amount of money. I know what Laurierace means about it possibly being a kook. It has happened to me several times that people seem to get overwhelmed when they see a baby. You know the old saying about how no one ever committed suicide with two yearlings in the barn. Well, a newborn foal represents an unlimited amount of hope. Also (and this is possibly the major reason), I think some contrary people just have to test you, to see if your hopes are for sale. I always tell people I'm going to grab their arm and not let them get away before they write me a check. This always results in a good laugh and never a serious committment.

[angelsprite]

Laurie,
I have a lot of respect for Pleasant Tap. Bloodstock agents have their own way of looking at things and they sometimes just don't have any respect for a horse, no matter what his babies do. Who can say what starts some strange idea that isn't born out by the numbers? It's one of those opportunities to get nice horses for reasonable prices and even possibly beat some of the million dollar horses, so it's all good.

[Worksoplad]

I'm with you Laurie. My Theatrical Mare, Variety, dropped a huge, gorgeous colt on March 21, 2007 by Pleasant Tap, and I don't care what they say about PT, I am keeping this foal to race. I deliberately picked PT precisely because he gets tough, hard knocking horses and seems to cross very well with Northern Dancer line mares.

The farm owner in Ky said this is the finest looking foal he has ever seen born at his farm!

[Laurierace]

It is another one of life's great mysteries. There is no reason for PT to be disregarded and lesser sires and certainly less runners be so hot. He is a pretty decent individual, his tail-set is a little low for my liking but otherwise better than most. His pedigree indicates he can run a marathon but some might like a little more speed influence since there are so few races over a mile and a quarter. If I had one, I'd have to try it. I guess Pleasant Tap could be called the Rodney Dangerfield of horses.

My mare broke her maiden at two and her best distance was 7 furlongs, hopefully that will add a little speed and precocity to the mix.

[griff]

Pleasant tap is the sire of Tiago and go for gin is the sireof Albert the Great who is the sire of Nobiz Like Shobiz.

maybe Ribot line stallions will get a little more respect after today's Derby

griff