Tips on choosing racehorses to buy:
- Figure out how much you can afford to spend on a horse. (A general guideline would be no more than 30% of your current budget.)
- Search for horses who have won no more than twice that amount.
– To do this, go to the Search Horses page, and select “Is Not” for the Owner list, and enter in Final Furlong for the owner box. (You may select any other option(s) you wish, but horses not owned by Final Furlong is the main step.) - Contact the owners via e-mail, PM, or a post here to ask about whether the horse would be for sale. You will likely be more successful if you actually offer a price for the horse, even if it is a bit on the low side (recommended offer/sale price is 50% of the horse’s race earnings).
Horses that you should NOT ask for:
- 2-year olds, especially any that have earned money
- Fillies with very good bloodlines (i.e. 1/2 sisters to SWs)
- Stakes winning/stakes placed horses.
– You can try and ask for these horses, but the chances of the owner being willing to sell are very small.
Buying other horses:
- Babies (weanlings/yearlings) are generally fairly easy to come by, especially if they are from a young sire or an unproven mare.
- Broodmares are easiest to get from an auction. Once they have been bred, very few owners are willing to sell them.
- Stallions are easiest to get from an auction, but are likely to be pretty expensive unless they are unproven. Another option is to race a stakes-quality colt and then retire him to stud.