Chris Beaver’s bargain buy led him to Hambletonian joy, then heartbreak

by Murray Brown

The first question I asked of Chris Beaver when I spoke with him on Tuesday (Aug. 11) was “How’s the horse?” The horse, of course, was Endurance, one of the three pre-race favorites in last Saturday’s (Aug. 8) Hambletonian at The Meadowlands. Although I had been planning prior to the race to ask Chris to be the subject of this profile, I had reservations after the colt broke a coffin bone in the race, resulting in the end of his season and possibly his racing career.

How, after such a terrible happening, could I bother him with a request for an interview? He was bound to still be upset. How would he respond? I mulled it over and decided that the worst he could do was say no. I contacted him and he couldn’t have been more gracious. “I’d love to talk about Endurance,” he said. So, we talked.

How’s the horse?

“He’s actually doing as well as could be expected. He seems to be reasonably happy. He’s eating well. He’s due to be operated on tomorrow. (He was actually operated on by Dr. Patty Hogan on Wednesday. All went well). The operation is relatively minor. It involves a screw being inserted in the coffin bone. It should take no more than a half hour. The prognosis appears to be very good. But at this point, rather than continue racing him, if I had my druthers, I’d prefer that we find him a good place to stand at stud. But there still is some time to make that decision.”

You and his entire team must have been devastated.

“We were. The first 24 hours or so I was in a daze. I’ve had a lot of good horses before, but Endurance is by far the best that I’ve ever been around. I sincerely believe that he is at least the equal of both Apex and Big Ranger. I thought that he had a good chance of winning the race. I knew that when he made the break that something was seriously wrong. He had never before made a break either in racing or even in training. He was perfect.

“I put everything I could possibly do into the colt. I was even his groom for a great deal of the time. Can you imagine that? Here I was training a stable of 35 horses and I was also helping in grooming this colt.

“I was thankful that his vet Barry Carter and his New Jersey vet Steve Dye were with me at the race. They quickly diagnosed what had happened and advised me that they believed it wasn’t life threatening. That was a great relief. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Noel Daley and his staff as well. We were stabled at Noel’s place in the time leading up to the Hambletonian and we’ve been there since. Horsepeople are so kind. They reach out to help when that help is needed.”

I’ve always looked upon you as being much like your father Charlie, a person who isn’t looking to buy the high-priced yearling. I look at you as being a guy who shops for value. Am I correct?

“That is true for the majority of the time, although, I’ve occasionally, but somewhat rarely, dipped my toe into the higher priced category. I believe, through the years, I’ve bought three $100,000 yearlings. In each case we didn’t get hurt, but overall, we’ve done better shopping at a lower price level.”

You bought Endurance at the Harrisburg sale for only $14,000, the same sale and in the same session where Apex brought $525,000. Actually, the closeness of Apex and Endurance goes further than that. Both were raised together at Hunterton Farm in Kentucky.

“That is something isn’t it? But circumstances like those sometimes happen at a horse sale. When they do and I am aware of them, I try to take advantage of the situation. Why did Endurance bring only $14,000, and what drew me to him? I’ll answer the second part of that question first. Anytime his maternal family is to be found at a horse sale, I’ll be interested in looking at the horse. Simply put, I’ve done very well with the family. It’s the immediate family of Triumphant Caviar, a horse I had and with which I’d done particularly well, firstly on the racetrack where he earned $796,794 and then in the stud through purchasing his yearlings. Offhand I’d guess that I’ve trained over 25 horses who earned $100,000 by him.

“As to, why he brought the price that he did. He was selling in the most select session of that sale. In my opinion, at the time, he was not a select session yearling. Thus, it was quite possible that he would be overlooked by people shopping in that price area. Why? His pedigree certainly warranted it. His dam had sold two previous yearlings: one brought $170,000 and the other $110,000. But neither of them did anything much on the racetrack. The colt had been sick just a short time before the sale and he lacked the spit and polish that people like to see when shopping for yearlings. Lastly, his video was okay, but just okay. I believe that if he had been positioned in the second day of the sale, or even the third, he might have brought more, perhaps considerably more than $14,000.”

Endurance isn’t the only reasonably priced yearling that you’ve bought and done quite well with, is he?

“As mentioned before, I like to shop for value. I look first at pedigrees. If the page in the book is acceptable, I will look further. I want at the very least, a decent individual without any serious conformation faults. I will go with minor conformation faults, of course depending on the price. I find that nicks and bruises in areas that should not harm the horse’s racing career will almost always, sometimes seriously affect its price. I will look at videos. I like a good video where I can visualize what the horse will look like when hooked up to a jog cart. But I don’t require a great video. Some of the better yearlings I’ve bought did not have great videos. I like to rank videos from one to five. I find that a three or above is acceptable, again depending on the price.”

Let’s speak to some of the better basement buys you’ve made.

“The first one was the very first yearling I bought at public auction. Her name was Raging Samantha. I paid $9,000 for her. She earned $488,788. Then we sold her to Europe for $500,000.

“Off the top of my head, there was Beer Budget. I bought him as a weanling for all of $1,700. He earned $484,623. Then there was Custom Cantab. She cost $6,000. She earned $1,031,193. We also sold her very well.

“We bought Moonshiner Hanover for $27,000. He earned $624,162. Then of course Triumphant Caviar who brought $13,000 as a yearling, earned $796,794 and is still producing dividends in the stud. Others that come to mind are Winning Ticket. I bought him for $2,000. He earned $782,3355. In his case, he might have been aided by the fact that he didn’t have a video. The Mighty Hall cost $23,000. He made $497,705. Il Sogno Dream brought $40,000. He earned $1,128,533. Fraser Ridge brought $29,000. He made $522,579. Smokinmombo cost $15,000. He made $421,587 and Pure Chance cost $9,000 and earned $649,312.”

What does the future hold for you?

“I’d like to scale down somewhat. Last year at Spring Garden Ranch, we had 55 head on the go. I think I’d like to reduce that number to somewhere around the 35 we have racing today.

“If things work out, I’d like to get a little more quality and diversity. Endurance allowed me to experience life at the higher levels of the Grand Circuit. I found that I quite enjoyed it. If the future allows it, I’ll still be shopping at Lexington and Harrisburg as well as in Ohio, with perhaps a little less focus on low prices.”