Why

[Senator L]

If you bought a yearling for 225k, he's still a colt race him in a 20k claimer???
Horse was Johnny Strong winner Sunday DelMar R9
and why wouldn't he get claimed?

[BaroqueAgain1]

   Hard to guess why the Union Rags colt was dropped in for $20,000. Maybe he didn't get claimed because potential owners were also wondering 'Why are they dropping him in this low? What's wrong with this horse?'
   If he wasn't claimed, that allowed Gary Stute and his owner to get a win AND slip him past this claiming condition. I believe the colt will now be able to run in allowance conditions for a while (the amount of time varies from state to state, I think).

[stark]

Not just once, but twice!

[Senator L]

  I thought I was missing something  :chickendance:

[curtis]

 
I think the key is the trainer. Maybe I'm off and Stute found the horse for Hughes as a yearling but my guess is that wasn't the case. Then, again just a guess, the horse had trouble making it to the races and wasn't looking like much in early training so instead of the horse being with Mandella, it's with Stute. The Stute's—at least from the Mel tree—have this particular method of training. I call it push, push, push, push, go find another. So that's why no one was making a beeline to the claim box, again just a guess. I did notice a 685k purchase was in for 25k in the first, ran up the track and was claimed by Matt Chew (the eternal answer to the sound one makes when exposed to too much dust and hay on the backside, but I digress) off of Simon Callaghan. That horse, Aquila—also a Union Rags albeit sans some equipment, looked promising enough when he broke his maiden but might as well have been wearing a neon For Sale (as is) sign. Good luck to Team Chew.

[Senator L]

Thanks for your thoughts Curtis

[stark]

And speaking of Mel Stute......Happy Birthday #91 today!

[Raven]

And speaking of Mel Stute......Happy Birthday #91 today!

Happy Birthday and many many more!

[curtis]

Happy Birthday and many many more!

Indeed, synthetics pretty much put him out of business. I thought that maybe when dirt tracks came back, so would he. The current tracks are so deep though, they may as well be synthetic. There was a bar at dear, old Hollywood Park named for Mel Stute. The only thing more perfect would it have been at Fairplex, he owned that place.