After acquiring Breezy Red Hound 2021, Zhang Jun completed the procedures with the auction staff with Luo Yong's help and entrusted Breezy Red Hound 2021 to Jianzhou Ranch.
Luo Yong gave Zhang Jun a heavily discounted rate. The stable, training, and feed together only cost a little over a thousand. At another ranch, the stable and feed alone would have cost that much.
Zhang Jun had originally planned to head straight back to Jian'an. After all, the horses at the Elite Sale started at three hundred thousand, often going beyond five hundred thousand. That was far too expensive for Zhang Jun, but Luo Yong talked him into staying.
He put it this way: "Ajun, how about coming with me to the Elite Sale and helping me out? Use your intuition to see whether there are any good horses there, and help me screen them.
"You don't need to inspect every horse. I've already picked out some in advance. Just come with me and take a look at them on-site to see whether any give you a particularly good feeling."
After thinking of all the help the Luo Family had given him since his father's death—whether it was Uncle Luo Fei helping handle the funeral and inheritance, the notebook they gave him after learning he planned to open a ranch, or the various experiences Luo Yong had taught him—Zhang Jun readily chose to stay.
The Elite Sale followed the same process as ordinary auctions. The horses had to arrive a day early so owners could inspect them, and the auction would take place the following day.
Some horses from other provinces also came to participate. Ranches in Min Province would occasionally buy those horses at auction to improve the overly concentrated bloodlines at their own ranches.
Jianzhou Ranch was targeting those horses from other provinces as well. This was also true at other auctions, such as broodmare and retired horse sales. The main purpose was to increase the diversity of the ranch's bloodlines.
Zhang Jun followed behind Luo Yong as they walked inside. While listening to Luo Yong introduce the horses Jianzhou Ranch intended to purchase at this auction, he used the system to inspect the attributes of every horse participating.
Although Zhang Jun most likely could not afford the horses at this auction, every auction had unsold horses. If he spotted one with good attributes and a price within his means, he could buy it.
It had to be said that the horses at the Elite Sale were of much higher quality than those at ordinary auctions. Zhang Jun had barely entered the stables when he found that six of the first ten horses had C-rank racing attributes. Two even had speed attributes above E-rank, though most of their breeding ability was still nothing special.
"Southern Fairy 2021, we're here. Ajun, come take a look. What do you think?"
Hearing Luo Yong's voice, Zhang Jun stepped up to the stall. Inside stood a palomino colt with a large white blaze on his forehead.
[Horse Name: Southern Fairy 2021 Sex and Age: One-year-old colt Coat Color: Palomino Racing Attributes: Speed: D Strength: ? Endurance: ? Burst: B Fighting Spirit: ? Mentality: ? Intelligence: ? Flexibility: ? Health: ? Track Aptitude: ? Running Style: ? Distance: ? Growth Type: Early Maturing. Breeding Attributes: Foals: 5 Genetic Traits: ?.]
Zhang Jun was a little surprised. A D-rank speed attribute was already on the same level as two-year-old Shadow Hunter. Although he was an early-maturing horse, he was still only one year old. Even the earliest-maturing horse would have another year to develop, so reaching D+ speed would not be a problem.
More importantly, this horse had B-rank burst, which meant he could raise his speed to its maximum in a short period of time. That was extremely important in Min Province, where British sprint races were the mainstay.
His ability to sire foals was also decent, at five points. That fell within the normal range for a breeding stallion. If he could win one or two important races before declining, he might become another major stallion promoted by Jianzhou Ranch.
Zhang Jun pretended to ponder for a few seconds before telling Luo Yong, "I don't know how he'll perform when he runs, but I feel like this kid might only be a little weaker than Shadow Hunter in terms of speed. And he might be pretty good at producing foals too? Though he may be a little early-maturing... but maybe not."
Luo Yong raised an eyebrow. He knew how Zhang Jun felt about Shadow Hunter. Zhang Jun regarded him as the younger brother his father had left behind, so for him to give such an assessment was enough to show how good a feeling this horse had given him.
As for the breeding assessment, it would take a long time to verify. Even if the horse never raced and was sent directly to stud, they would have to wait until he was three. Then they would have to wait for his offspring to produce results, which would take at least six or seven years.
As for whether Zhang Jun might be wrong, Luo Yong did not think it mattered.
This had originally just been a spur-of-the-moment attempt to bring Zhang Jun along. They were only looking at target horses that had already been selected. At most, they would adjust the purchase priority of those targets.
Besides, this auction was only for additional purchases. The ranch's primary targets had already been secured at the first two Elite Sales.
Even if they failed this time, it would only mean that the horses purchased this year performed poorly after debuting. Horse racing was simply like that. There were plenty of cases where horses bought for millions failed to run well. Jianzhou Ranch itself had quite a few expensive auction purchases that had never delivered.
But if it worked out, things would be different. Even if Zhang Jun opened his own ranch and club later, he would not be able to buy every good horse. Jianzhou Ranch could follow behind him and pick up some outstanding horses that might have been misjudged.
Not to mention that, with Zhang Jun's finances, he definitely would not be able to start bidding at Elite Sales so soon after opening a ranch and club.
But if Zhang Jun's intuition also worked for breeding, that would be even better for the ranch. After all, for breeders, whether they could produce outstanding horses of their own breeding was the most important thing.
We originally said we'd need to support Ajun more after he opens his own ranch. If his intuition really works for breeding, then we'll be the ones clinging to Ajun's leg in the future. But for now, we should wait until the second half of next year to verify how accurate his intuition is when it comes to racing.
Luo Yong thought as he made a few marks on the list, raising Southern Fairy 2021's priority before pulling Zhang Jun along to inspect the next horse.
Yesterday, Zhang Jun and Luo Yong had inspected every horse Jianzhou Ranch had selected from the Elite Sale. It had to be said that Jianzhou Ranch truly deserved its reputation as an old, powerful ranch in Min Province. Its judgments of the horses' abilities were mostly within a small margin of error, with only a few horses being slightly misjudged.
Zhang Jun also made some marks on the list. Most were horses with poor bloodlines at the Elite Sale that might go unsold. He planned to see whether he could pick up any bargains.
Just like at the previous auction, after the organizers recited their past achievements and handed out some awards, the auction officially began.
Since the horses at the Elite Sale had all been carefully selected, their number was relatively small. And since this was already the third and final sale, only one hundred and twenty horses were up for auction.
Furthermore, the owners attending the Elite Sale were all wealthy, so prices rose quickly. In just a minute or two, Horse No. 1, which had started at six hundred thousand, had already soared past one million.
Zhang Jun could not help clicking his tongue. Good thing he was only here to watch the excitement.
Before long, Southern Fairy 2021, Horse No. 9, entered the ring. After several minutes of bidding, Luo Yong bought him for seven hundred and fifty thousand. Zhang Jun sucked in a sharp breath.
Shadow Hunter had been a slot his father reserved while he was still alive. The advance payment back then had only been two hundred thousand. After Zhang Jun chose him, Luo Fei sold him for the friendly price of one hundred and eighty thousand, and the remaining twenty thousand was even used to cover Shadow Hunter's expenses for the past two months.
Hearing him gasp, Luo Yong glanced at Zhang Jun. "Don't be surprised. This price is normal for an Elite Sale."
Zhang Jun silently nodded, feeling grateful.
As time passed and the auction moved past Horse No. 100, several horses went unsold. Unfortunately, their starting prices were too high, with reserve prices of at least four hundred thousand. Zhang Jun could not afford them.
"Next up is Horse No. 108, Urgent Lightning Colt 2021. Filly, dark bay, foaled on May 21. Her sire is Swift as Thunder, and her dam, Urgent Lightning Colt, won a CN3 title..."
As the auctioneer introduced her, a timid dark bay filly was led into the auction ring by a stablehand.
She was a petite filly. Though staff tried to soothe her, her back remained tense, and her tail hung tucked between her hind legs. She looked extremely timid.
Whispers rose from the other owners around them, most saying that this filly did not seem suitable to become a racehorse.
Zhang Jun slightly raised his eyes and looked at the list in his hand. A star had been drawn beside Urgent Lightning Colt 2021's name.
When they inspected the horses yesterday, Zhang Jun had already marked down Urgent Lightning Colt 2021.
Although she was rather timid, the attributes revealed by Zhang Jun's inspection were good. Her burst was B+, her health was a full A-rank, and her turf aptitude was ◎.
Most importantly, her genetic factor was Golden Pony's health, representing a health factor that had a high chance of being inherited by her offspring.
As long as he could acquire her, the ranch he opened in the future would gain a broodmare line with iron legs. As for whether she could race, that did not matter. Zhang Jun calmed himself and waited for the auctioneer's announcement.
"Her mother won the Jian'an Stakes at CN3 level during her racing career. Only three hundred thousand. What do you think? Just three hundred thousand, three hundred thousand..."
Several minutes passed without anyone bidding. The auctioneer sighed. "Then, regrettably, Horse No. 108..."
"Here!" Zhang Jun raised his paddle.
Everyone in the venue looked toward Zhang Jun. Luo Yong was somewhat surprised and asked in a lowered voice, "You think this kid can run?"
"I just feel like her offspring will have exceptionally strong bodies, so I plan to buy her back as Shadow Hunter's child bride. It doesn't matter whether she can race."
Zhang Jun replied. Luo Yong nodded in understanding. When he had asked Zhang Jun about horses before, Zhang Jun often gave assessments like a horse did not seem likely to produce foals, or that its offspring might be especially good in a certain aspect. This time was presumably the same.
The auctioneer called out a few more times. When no one responded, he brought down the gavel. "Three hundred thousand! Thank you to Guest No. 49 for the bid!"
With experience from the previous time, Zhang Jun smoothly completed the handover procedures with Luo Yong. However, while Zhang Jun only had to handle the paperwork for one horse, Luo Yong was much busier, processing the procedures for nearly ten horses at once.
Zhang Jun still chose to leave Urgent Lightning Colt 2021 with Jianzhou Ranch. They were all his own people, and he had a good relationship with them, so he could rest easy. Of course, most importantly, keeping the filly at Jianzhou Ranch was quite a bit cheaper than at other ranches.