Friday, September 14, 2007

The Green Monkey



A year and a half since becoming the most expensive horse ever purchased at public auction, The Green Monkey is set to make his career debut on Saturday at Belmont Park.
Jockey John Velazquez will ride The Green Monkey for trainer Todd Pletcher and owners Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, and Susan Magnier, who bought the Florida-bred colt for $16-million from consignor Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds in the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Calder selected sale of two-year-olds in training.
Due to the long time and many setbacks in getting this horse race ready, he has become a bit of a joke among the horse community. Many speculated that he would never start. It will be interesting to see how he does in his debut and what type of career he will have. Saturday, the questions will be answered.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Guess I haven't forgotten all my track knowledge - Big Horse in a Maiden Special Weight for Three Year Olds and Up - will bring out humor on the track every time.

Nora said...

with $16 million as the punchline!

Kara said...

That is mind boggling! Could a horse even earn that back? What is the highest earnings ever for a racehorse? Even the breeding career would have to be pretty impressive to get to those numbers, right?

Nora said...

for North America, Cigar was the highest money earner last time I checked. He earned just shy of $10 million. The real money is in being syndicated to stud duty. (I think Cigar was syndicated for $60 million) It's very unlikely that a horse will ever win $16 million by racing alone.

Melanie said...

Random thought: imagine what $16 million could buy you.

Kara said...

A very expensive, unraced horse, apparently.