awesome of course

mightyhijames · Postby **mightyhijames** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 6:21 pm

a friend of mine keeps talking about the awesome of course runners so i took at look at him on the bloodhorse site. he only stands 15.1, what kind of size is he throwing?

Fireslam · Postby **Fireslam** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 5:27 am

He is little.

I keep looking at him too, and what keeps me from pulling the trigger on him is that his stakes winners are out of really good mares.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:51 am

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/ ... -headlines

Fireslam · Postby **Fireslam** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 8:48 am

Nice article, as usually, from Avalyn, tho I would take exception to the fact that he probably did get more mares, tho Im not sure if they were better mares.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:35 am

You know I've not looked at AWESOME OF COURSE, but he has a very nice tail-female. I went to his stallion page and took a closer look. He is not doing to bad for a young stallion. Couldn't believe he started out in the midwest. Was it Tulsa, OK? I started out shoeing horses near Tulsa. Standing in OK, that's normally the curse of doom unless you've got QH or Paint. (This curse of doom is not connected to Phalaris in that "other PQ thread," of course.) :lol:

He is small, but as I recall so was BOLD RULER and NORTHERN DANCER and if memory serves me correctly, so is Malibu Moon, though I've not seen him personally. Size seems to be heavy draw at the auctions, but look at AFLEET ALEX or MIND THAT BIRD.

Zahrah · Postby **Zahrah** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:55 am

Shammy Davis wrote:He is small, but as I recall so was BOLD RULER and NORTHERN DANCER and if memory serves me correctly, so is Malibu Moon, though I've not seen him personally. Size seems to be heavy draw at the auctions, but look at AFLEET ALEX or MIND THAT BIRD.

Malibu Moon is a big, massive bodied thing. And I don't recall Afleet Alex as being "small" either.

Fireslam · Postby **Fireslam** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:45 pm

Bold Ruler was 16.1.

I dont think Awesome of Course started in the Midwest, I think we went to OK for a year, and that was the year Awesome Feather had her great 2 year old year, so they brought him back to FL.

Tappiano · Postby **Tappiano** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:46 pm

Afleet Alex is not small, Birdstone is. We know that Birdstone's foals are not all small because Summer Bird is not. If you have a mare that always throws to her chances are you would get that with Birdstone.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Sun Oct 02, 2011 7:12 pm

I'll have to take everyone's word on the size of these stallions. As I stated, I've not personally seen any of them so I appreciate the input. I should have kept my mouth shut, but now I know that Malibu Moon has good size. I was right about NORTHERN DANCER, so I got one right. AWESOME OF COURSE is 15.1, I checked.

I remember many years ago, I was negotiating the purchase of a horse in New England that had won at Suffolk Downs and Rockingham. I recall on the telephone the owner insisting over and over again that the horse was 16.2 although I knew its sire was a runt by a tail-male line of runts. I liked the pedigree and I had seen conformation pictures and I had no reason to doubt the owner, so I hooked up the trailer and headed north anticipating that I would buy the horse. After about sixteen hours on the road, I arrived to find that the horse was actually 15.1 when I put a stick to him. I took a deep breath, held my temper, bit my tongue for fear of acting my normal impolite in the face of misinformation, gulped down a cup of coffee as I looked over the horse to see that all other points were suitable, paid cash because he was a nice horse and I felt he was worth more, and brought him home.

I've suffered a few other experiences just like the above since. You'd think I would have learned my lesson after the above experience and know when to keep my mouth shut.

After 40 years around horses, I've come to the conclusion that the size of a horse, absent a measuring stick, is all in the eyes of the owner.

Thank you for getting me straight on the size of these stallions.

madelyn · Postby **madelyn** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 4:55 am

Shammy, that has happened to me more times than I can count. A gal bought a really nice sporthorse from me back in July and was just all over the fact that he really, truly, was 16.2h tall (as advertised). She had made countless trips of wasted time and gas on supposedly big horses to get there and find they were really cobs and just too small. I don't know WHY sellers do this - perhaps they think you will buy the horse anyway, having driven All The Way There - or that you will just love it and have to have it anyhow - or they are really So Ignorant that they don't understand what a really pernicious lie it is that they are telling.

There are times when height Really Matters - in a sales yearling, in a dressage horse, an eventer, a jumper, a foxhunter, etc. For racing, it wasn't important to English Channel or Jazil.. but I think it was to Zenyatta. The racehorse is an athlete and so the overall animal must be considered. I bought a filly at Fasig Tipton October once who wasn't very big but sure put together - I paid the upset ($1,000). I sold her off the farm a few months later for a really nice profit and she went on to win $110K.

The issue with a really small stallion, like Awesome of Course, English Channel, etc., is the chance of getting a really small yearling. If you are breeding to race that is of much less concern, well except that your two year old won't be very big either..

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 8:38 pm

Madelyn: Like both of us know, when you've been around horses long enough, what goes around comes around. If you think the above was funny, you should hear some of my farrier stories. Better yet, my story about a poor lady who called me to float her horse's teeth, only to find out that the poor fellow was absent all his grinders from both the upper and lower arcades. His incisors were well worn also and his Galvayne groove was history. The hoot was he still had his wolf teeth. :shock:

He was pretty old horse I was sure, but I would have thought the VET would have broken the news to the owner. (I knew the VET. She didn't like to bring up issues with her clients that might be confrontational or emotional. I personally thought she was more suited for being a small animal vet at pachyderm farm. :lol:

) Unfortunately, I was the one who had to break the news to the owner about her horse's lack of occlusion from the wolf teeth back. The poor lady went into shock. "How does he eat?" She asked. I shrugged and told her that I wasn't sure, but the good news was that he was still standing. Didn't have the heart to charge her for a service call. Recommended Equine Senior and a couple of cups of corn oil with each feeding and also told her I didn't think the old guy would need another dental exam for some time. Then I suggested she have a honest heart to heart with her VET. With that I then put on my NASCAR ball cap, threw my floats in the back of the truck, turned up the volume on my Roy Orbison tape playing "Pretty Woman," thanked the good lord I didn't have to drive very far for this call, put the pedal to medal, smiled as I waved goodbye, and I headed for the hills. I sometimes don't know whether it more fun to be around the horses or to be around the owners. They both are so full of surprises.