Select Sale · Finding Bargains

After securing Breeze Red Dog 2021, Zhang Jun completed the paperwork with the auction staff with Luo Yong's help, then entrusted Breeze Red Dog 2021 to Jianzhou Ranch.

Luo Yong gave Zhang Jun a steep discount. Stabling, training, and feed combined only cost him a little over a thousand. At another ranch, stabling and feed alone would have cost that much.

Zhang Jun had originally planned to return straight to Jian'an. After all, the horses at the select sale started at three hundred thousand, with prices easily exceeding five hundred thousand. That was far too expensive for him, but Luo Yong persuaded him to stay.

This was what he said: "Ajun, how about you come to the select sale with me and do me a favor? Use your intuition to help me 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. Come with me and take a look on-site, see if there are any horses you feel especially good about."

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Thinking of all the help the Luo Family had given him after his father's death—Uncle Luo Fei helping handle the funeral and inheritance, the notebook they gave him after learning that he planned to open a ranch, and all the experience Luo Yong had taught him—Zhang Jun readily agreed to stay.

The select sale followed the same process as an ordinary auction. The horses had to arrive a day in advance so buyers could inspect them, then the auction would be held the following day.

Some of the horses had also come from other provinces to participate. Ranches in Min Province would occasionally buy these horses at auction to improve the overly concentrated bloodlines in their own stock.

Jianzhou Ranch was targeting these horses from other provinces as well. The same applied at other auctions, such as broodmare and retired racehorse sales. Their main goal was to increase the diversity of the ranch's bloodlines.

Zhang Jun followed behind Luo Yong as they walked inside. He listened to Luo Yong introduce the horses Jianzhou Ranch intended to buy at this auction while using the system to inspect the attributes of every horse being sold.

Though Zhang Jun probably could not afford the horses at this auction, every auction had horses that failed to sell. If he spotted one with good attributes at a price he could afford, he could buy it.

It had to be said that the horses at the select sale were of much higher quality than those at ordinary auctions. Zhang Jun had barely entered the stables when he found that six out of the first ten horses had C-rank racing attributes. Two even had speed attributes above E-rank, though most of their breeding potential was still mediocre.

"Southern Fairy 2021. We're here. Ajun, take a look. What do you think?"

Hearing Luo Yong's voice, Zhang Jun walked up to the stall. Inside stood a golden chestnut colt with a broad white blaze on its forehead.

[Horse Name: Southern Fairy 2021

Sex and Age: One-year-old colt

Coat Color: Golden chestnut

Racing Attributes:

Speed: D

Strength: ?

Stamina: ?

Acceleration: B

Fighting Spirit: ?

Mentality: ?

Intelligence: ?

Flexibility: ?

Health: ?

Track Adaptability: ?

Running Style: ?

Distance: ?

Growth Type: Early-maturing.

Breeding Attributes:

Offspring: 5

Genetic Traits: ?.]

Zhang Jun was a little surprised. D-rank speed was already on the same level as the two-year-old Shadow Hunter. Although this was an early-maturing horse, it was only one year old. Even the earliest-maturing horses still had another year to develop, so reaching D+ speed would not be a problem.

More importantly, this horse had B-rank acceleration, meaning it could reach top speed in a short period of time. That was extremely important in Min Province, where British short-distance races were the main event.

Its ability to produce offspring was also decent, at five points, within the normal range for a stallion. If it could win one or two important races before declining, it might become another heavily promoted stallion at Jianzhou Ranch.

Zhang Jun pretended to ponder for a few seconds before telling Luo Yong, "I don't know how it'll perform when it runs, but I feel like this kid may only be a little weaker than Shadow Hunter in terms of speed. And its breeding ability might be good too? It may be a little early-maturing... though that's not certain."

Luo Yong raised his brows. He knew how Zhang Jun felt about Shadow Hunter; Zhang Jun regarded Shadow Hunter as the younger brother his father had left behind. For him to give such an evaluation was enough to show how good this horse felt to him.

As for the breeding evaluation, it would take a long time to verify. Even if it never raced and went straight into stud service, they would have to wait until it was three years old, then wait for its offspring to achieve results. At the very least, that would take six or seven years.

As for whether Zhang Jun might be wrong, Luo Yong did not think it mattered.

This had been a spur-of-the-moment attempt to bring Zhang Jun along and let him give it a try anyway. The horses they were looking at had already been selected in advance. At most, they would adjust the order in which they prioritized their purchases.

Besides, this auction was only meant as an additional supplement. The ranch's main targets had already been acquired during the previous two select sales.

Even if they failed this time, it would only mean that the horses bought this year might perform 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 never lived up to expectations.

But success 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 financial resources, he definitely would not be able to start buying at select sales so soon after opening a ranch and club.

If Zhang Jun's intuition also worked in breeding, that would be even better for the ranch. After all, for breeders, the most important thing was whether they could produce excellent horses from their own breeding program.

We were saying we'd have to support Ajun more once he opened his own ranch. If his intuition really works for breeding too, then we'll be the ones clinging to Ajun's thigh. Still, we should wait until the second half of next year to verify how accurate his intuition is in racing.

Thinking this, Luo Yong made a few marks on the list, raised Southern Fairy 2021's priority, and pulled Zhang Jun toward the next horse.

Yesterday, Zhang Jun and Luo Yong had inspected every horse Jianzhou Ranch had selected at the select sale. Jianzhou Ranch truly deserved its reputation as an old and powerful ranch in Min Province. Its assessments of the horses' abilities were mostly within a small margin of error, with only a few slight mistakes.

Zhang Jun had also made some marks on the list, mostly for horses with poor bloodlines that might fail to sell at the select sale. He planned to see if he could pick up any bargains.

Just like at the previous auction, the organizers recited their past achievements and handed out several commendations before the auction officially began.

Because the horses at the select sale had all been carefully chosen, the total number was relatively small. Since this was also the third and final sale, only one hundred and twenty horses were up for auction.

Furthermore, the owners attending the select sale were all wealthy, so prices rose quickly. In just a minute or two, the first horse, with a starting price of six hundred thousand, had already surged past one million.

Zhang Jun could not help clicking his tongue. Good thing he was only here to watch the excitement.

Soon, Southern Fairy 2021, horse number nine, entered the ring. After several minutes of bidding, Luo Yong bought it for seven hundred and fifty thousand. Zhang Jun sucked in a breath.

Shadow Hunter had been a slot his father reserved before his death. The advance payment back then had only been two hundred thousand. After Zhang Jun selected it, Luo Fei had sold it to him at the friendly price of one hundred and eighty thousand, and the remaining twenty thousand had even been used to cover Shadow Hunter's expenses for the past two months.

Hearing him inhale, Luo Yong glanced at Zhang Jun. "Don't be surprised. This price is normal for a select sale."

Zhang Jun silently nodded, gratitude filling his heart.

As time passed and the auction reached horse number one hundred, several horses had also failed to sell. 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 number one hundred and eight, Urgent Telegram 2021. Filly, dark bay, foaled on May 21st. Sired by Swift as Thunder, out of Urgent Telegram, who once won a CN3 race..."

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 the staff tried to soothe her, her back remained tense, and her tail was tucked between her legs. She looked extremely timid.

Whispers rose from the surrounding owners, most of them saying that the filly did not seem suited to becoming a racehorse.

Zhang Jun slightly lowered his gaze toward the list in his hand. Urgent Telegram 2021's name had been marked with a star.

When he inspected the horses yesterday, Zhang Jun had already marked Urgent Telegram 2021 down.

Though she was timid, the attributes revealed by Zhang Jun's inspection were pretty good. Her acceleration was B+, her health was a full A-rank, and her turf adaptability was ◎.

Most importantly, her genetic factor was Golden Pony's health, representing a health factor that had a high chance of being passed down to her offspring.

As long as he could acquire this filly, his future ranch would gain an iron-legged maternal line. Whether she could race or not did not matter. Zhang Jun settled himself and waited for the auctioneer's announcement.

"Her dam won the Jian'an Stakes, a CN3 race, during her active 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 unfortunately, horse number one hundred and eight..."

"Here!" Zhang Jun raised his paddle.

Everyone in the room turned to look at Zhang Jun. Luo Yong was somewhat surprised and lowered his voice to ask, "You think this filly can run?"

"I just feel like the offspring she produces will have exceptionally strong bodies, so I'm planning to buy her as a child bride for Shadow Hunter. It doesn't matter whether she can race."

Zhang Jun replied. Luo Yong nodded in relief. When Luo Yong had previously asked Zhang Jun about horses, Zhang Jun often gave evaluations such as a horse not seeming able to produce offspring well, or its offspring possibly being especially good in some respect. This time was surely the same.

The auctioneer called out a few more times, but no one responded. He brought down the gavel. "Three hundred thousand! Thank you to guest number forty-nine for your bid!"

With experience now, Zhang Jun smoothly handled the transfer procedures together with Luo Yong. However, while Zhang Jun only needed to handle the paperwork for one horse, Luo Yong was much busier, processing the paperwork for nearly ten horses at once.

Zhang Jun still chose to leave Urgent Telegram 2021 at Jianzhou Ranch. They were all family, their relationship was good, and he trusted them. Of course, most importantly, keeping the filly at Jianzhou Ranch was much cheaper than at other ranches.