Fort Knox

People have some serious fuck-you money to spend in this business on horses.

Saratoga today is a pretty good window into that particular brand of insanity—wrapped in tax breaks and tied off with a neat little red bow.

In just a handful of races, there is approximately $16.925 million worth of horseflesh bought at auction entered on the card for more than a million dollars at the Spa. Its Fort Knox day at Saratoga.

I am on record as saying auction prices are 'fubar' as a handicapping tool, and I haven't changed my mind.

A horse costing $5 million isn't automatically better than one costing $500,000 or even $50K. The horse doesn't know the purchase price, and the stopwatch certainly doesn't give a shit.

Still, it is hard not to notice that some people equate money spent with success.

First, there is the tax write-off. Skirting taxes through write-offs is as old as dirt. Second, these people aren't necessarily trying to buy a racehorse. They're trying to buy a stallion and hit the fucking home run.

And that is the key.

What money buys is quantity, not quality.

Buy enough horses, and eventually you might get the good one. Maybe you get the very good one. Maybe you get the horse that turns into the stallion everybody was hoping to find when they started throwing seven figures around.

That's the game.

And today at Saratoga, you get a pretty good look at the players.

Race 3

• Highlands Way — $1,350,000 — Todd Pletcher — 4yo gelding

Race 7

• Mischief Time — $1,500,000 — Todd Pletcher — 2yo colt

• Pops Novo — $1,350,000 — Whitworth Beckman — 2yo colt

• Electro — $1,600,000 — Todd Pletcher — 2yo colt

Race 8

• Stock Rising — $1,500,000 — Todd Pletcher — 2yo colt

• Framer — $1,000,000 — Todd Pletcher — 2yo colt. -- scratched

Race 10

• Courting — $5,000,000 — Todd Pletcher — 3yo ridgling

• Lion Justice — $1,100,000 — Brad Cox — 4yo colt

• Preside — $1,500,000 — Steve Asmussen — 3yo colt

Race 11

• Life Changing — $1,025,000 — Todd Pletcher — 2yo filly

That's $16,925,000 worth of million-dollar babies.

And of that total, $12,975,000 is sitting in Todd Pletcher's barn.

Only one of the ten is entered in a stakes race.

That's the part I find interesting.

There is an entire cult that follows these horses around because of the number on the sales ticket. Just like ambulance chasers, there are plenty of million-dollar horse chasers.

The logic seems to be: They paid that much, somebody must know something.

Maybe.

Or maybe somebody just had a really big checkbook.

Because when the gates open, that $5 million horse is still a horse.

Four legs.

A tail.

Two ears.

And, unless I missed something, none of them have wings.

The million-dollar price tag doesn't make them run any faster.

That's still up to the horse, he cant read and has no idea what Fort Knox is.

What will be the O/U for these silver spoon fed purchases, how many races will they win?

Combined coming into today's races they have collectivery won 6 races.

That is approximately worth $2,820,833.33 per win

Ouch!