When you are buying, or trying to buy Thoroughbred yearlings, and you take a break, grab a sandwich, look to your neighbor at the next lunchroom table, it’s pretty easy to stoke up the con

When you are buying, or trying to buy Thoroughbred yearlings, and you take a break, grab a sandwich, look to your neighbor at the next lunchroom table, it’s pretty easy to stoke up the conversation:

“What day are you working on?,” is the conversation starter so many of us reach for as a warm greeting.

If you want to stay halfway sane at this “is it over yet” marathon of a sale, you really need to be several days ahead of what’s taking place in the auction ring at that moment.

For West Point’s purposes, we’re already winnowing down the catalog of Saturday offerings so that we can poke and prod them when they arrive mid-week. We’ve finished with a short list that the internal team, trainers, biomechanic analysts and vets can now take their swings at before solidifying our ultimate short list. That takes time, and all stakeholders have our prospective horses to evaluate before Thursday morning arrives.

For the record as of Wednesday morning, we’ve got somewhere between 15 and 20 colts that make the first several cuts for Thursday.

And Thursday is already in the rear-view mirror until it’s Thursday. In the meantime, I’m living today as if it were Saturday.