The Gallop Out

E Z Warrior wins the San Miguel Stakes on Jan. 7, 2007 at Santa Anita Park.

Hey, didja hear!? No, you probably didn't, because none of the major media outlets reported it. Graded stakes winner E Z Warrior sold to George Krikorian for a paltry $5,700 at the Jan. 24 Barretts January Mixed Sale . This is the same sales ring where, in 2006, he sold for $1.2 million in the March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training. Last year, the seven-year-old son of Exploit out of Carson Jen stood his first season at stud at Applebite Farms in French Camp, Calif. for a fee of $2,500. He retired from racing in 2009 with a record of 15-3-2-2 and $238,468 in earnings. All of his siblings are winners, including grade 1 winner A Z Warrior and multiple stakes winner J Z Warrior.

Applebite Farms closed this winter and dispersed all of its stock at the sale. They sold E Z Warrior on behalf of his owner, Ahmed Zayat (Zayat Stables, LLC), who encountered bankruptcy trouble last year. Do these two things explain how a horse like that could sell for so little?

I was a fan of this horse when he was racing, in part because of his black color. That trait prompted me to make a drawing of him. He also caught the eye of Julie Ziek, who photographed him at Monday's sale.

He's not the first successful horse to drop so far, and won't be the last. I only hope that wherever he's going he'll be happy and treated well, as he deserves.