What the injured jockeys' fund, an organisation that was represented in a parade for the fun lovin' Queen Mum's 100th birthday celebrations, could have done with some of the loot splashed out at the Keeneland July Sales this week.
The Sanans, Ann and Satish, paid out $15,390,000 for 13 yearlings, while Coolmore Stud hit the $10,525,000 mark for just 10 lots. Third place in the buying stakes went to the Godolphin outfit, which paid out $9,945,000 for 11 horses.
The most expensive sale was for lot 185, a daughter of the late Mr Prospector. The filly cost the Sanans a mere $3,600,000 and could very well turn out to be completely useless as a runner.
Still, the Sanan family say that they are in the business for the long haul. The sales were a chance to restate their commitment to racing which had been tested last year. Poor Mr Sanan faced a dip in fortunes in his US Computer business and was forced into a part disposal of stock in the very same Keeneland auditorium in which he bought Mr Prospector's offspring.
Nice turn around.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)