Mid-year releases are announced!

 Good news, readers! The mid-year releases for 2025 were announced today. Huzzah! We finally get to see the SCO and Moody ASB that we've been wondering about all year:

That Saddlebred is beautiful. I love him! His pattern is a nice approximation of an Appaloosa. 

Nice color on the SCO as well! 

I'm kind of surprised how many mid-year releases there actually are this year. Seems like usually there's only two or three? This year we're getting three Traditionals, three Classics, a Stablemate set and a Mane Beauty set. Here's the other Traditional:

Ooh, this polo Smarty is making me regret selling off my other Smartys. 

Here's one of the Classics - it was hinted at in last month's Collector Club newsletter:

So he isn't Halloween-themed! He's mint chocolate chip ice cream! An underrated flavor, in my opinion. I'll have to get my hands on one at some point! 

Lastly for today, here's the new Stablemate set! 

They're inspired by sea glass! What a neat idea. I hope the KHP gets these in soon so I can snag them! 

Featured Model - 5/1/2022, Prism Smarty Jones

 Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model I don't own but has an interesting story behind it, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...the Prism Smarty Jones auction model! 

This model was one of the lots in the Breyerfest 2006 Live Auction. He was produced on the Smarty Jones mold sculpted by Sue Sifton. 

I wanted to talk about this model because he's one of the first (maybe only?) examples of a Breyer factory OF holographic paint job. After the holographic Uffington was released last year, I remember seeing a Facebook post from Karen Williams (former prototype designer for Breyer) saying that she remembered producing this holographic prototype for Breyer when she worked for them, but they could only make one because the paint was too expensive. Of course I can't find that post now, but I swear it was there at some point. So I wonder if we'll see other holographic models in the future? The cost of the paint must have come down some (presumably) if they were able to produce 200 of them for Breyerfest. Something to hope for in the future, I guess. 

Smarty Jones has been a fairly popular mold since his release in 2004, with many releases over the years. His most recent release was the glossy 70th Anniversary chase piece as part of the Collector Club Appreciation event last year, but he's had a lot of releases over the years, so it's anyone's guess where he'll show up next. He hasn't had a web special release for a while, so maybe as part of the Birds of a Feather series, as a really fast bird or something? Falcons are pretty fast - I suggest a Gyrfalcon. He'd also make a decent Holiday Horse, but they seem to be using newer molds for that nowadays, so probably not. 

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket...

 Exciting news today, readers! My Collector Appreciation orders came today! Huzzah! My first order consisted of two shirts, the Fireheart throw blanket and an ill-fated Beautiful Breeds Belgian ornament (more on that later). I love me some throw blankets, so the Fireheart one was an acceptable purchase, and I can always use more shirts. But...on with the reveal! Here's the glossy from my first order:

Whoo, glossy chase piece! Though, truth be told, I was hoping to get a glossy Andalusian, because the Smarty Jones models in my collection are probably going to get sold off next year due to lack of shelf space...but getting this glossy chase piece is threatening to make me change my mind. Glossy black pinto...how can I refuse? 

My second order was pretty simple...enough 70th Anniversary blind bags to add up to $150. I was hoping to get a chrome Brishen, and while that didn't happen (out of 31 of those danged things, only two of them were even Brishens to start with), the glossy I got with this order totally made up for that! 

That's right - the glossy palomino Hamilton, my first choice! Joy! 

Oddly, on inspection after removing him from the box, it doesn't look like they glossed his mane or tail for some reason. Just...seems a bit of a strange choice. Are they all like that? I mean, he has the pearly effect on there already, but I never say no to more gloss, so...it just seems odd. 

Also, it appears that these glossy models were made specially for the Collector Club Appreciation event, because they have VINs from this year and the boxes show the 8224 product number rather than having a UPC sticker slapped over the original one like in past years. Interesting...and might explain why the glossies didn't sell out, if they made a ton of them for this. Which means there will probably be leftover CCA glossies in the NPOD at Breyerfest this year. Just one more thing to look for, I guess! 

In other news, my VIP apology pin came today as well:

I haven't yet managed to find a decorator Seven Arts for my herd yet, so it's nice to (kind of) have a smaller one in my possession. Now if my dratted pin board would ever show up...

And in other other news, my Zugspitze came yesterday! Behold the awesomeness! 

What a chonk! 

New silver sparkleponies never disappoint. 

Quality-wise, all of these models are pretty nice - I didn't see anything wrong with any of them. Maybe Breyer's putting a little more effort into their QC? Who knows. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of assuming my Belgian ornament's ribbon ends were tied together when picking it up (you'd expect them to be tied, right?), so he promptly slid off the untied end and fell on the floor, breaking off both his ears and cracking two legs (turns out they're wire-reinforced). So that was a waste of $18. Still steamed about that one. 

Anyway, I'm still waiting on my Chalice (and the last PC release of the year and the mini Fireheart), so I definitely have more things to look forward to, hopefully this month! Let's hope they come out soon! 

My 70th Anniversary models arrived!

Greetings, readers! Exciting news - my 70th Anniversary Collection purchases have arrived! They're the only 2020 releases I've purchased so far, though I'm sure more will find their way here eventually (part of me is grumbling about the unicorn mystery foal sets not being on Breyer's website yet). So, without further ado...let's take a look at the palomino Hamilton! Here's the back of his box:



Sorry in advance for the horrible photos. It's certainly an interesting and informative box! I know you all want to see the model, though, so I won't delay any longer.

He's...he's...so beautiful...just like the calendar photo indicated he would be. I still can't believe he's a regular run! I thought he would be a raffle model or limited edition for sure.

My hasty cell phone photos don't do him justice at all. He's stunning...and I really hope Breyer doesn't end up glossing some of these for the collector club appreciation event at the end of the year. They usually save the glossing for stuff that doesn't sell as well, though, so this guy probably won't show up there, if recent sales history has been anything to judge.

Next, let's take a look at the Andalusian!

Another fun box! But let's see the model.

At first I was a little disgruntled that the Moody Andalusian was being done in gray again, after two of the colors he was used for at Breyerfest were also gray, but on closer inspection I don't mind it so much, because he's so drastically different from other gray editions. I've always had a soft spot for grays with the really dark mane and tail - in a real horse, it means he's still fairly young and still has a long ways to go before he completely grays out. And he's beautiful!

He's not as yellow-looking as the photos make him look.

And, last but not least...the chase piece! Yes, I was able to get one!

There's his box. But let's see the real thing!

What a handsome boy! I wish Breyer would do black and white pintos more often.



It may be hard to see in the photos, but he does have two blue eyes, and they're actually pretty nicely done. His eyes are a nice pastel blue, instead of being really stark like Isadora-Cruce or similar.

I did find it interesting that a lot of people are pooh-poohing this release because he's "boring," when last year's Breyerfest Best Customs prize model, Leap of Faith, was basically the same color and everyone loved him. Undoubtedly part of that is because Bristol is the new hot item and Smarty Jones is old news, but I still found it a little funny.

Quality-wise, these guys were all excellent - I didn't see any issues with any of them. I suppose Breyer probably wanted these to be really nice because they're part of a special collection. Well, they're definitely welcome here! Now let me go back to hoping one of us gets drawn to go to the Seattle Soiree next week (no luck again today)...

Sampson and Hakan are here!

Okay, so I originally was just going to wait until our local Tractor Supply got its Breyer display set up, but...well, the new models are so pretty...and ship-to-store is free...and I'd have to wait until September to get them the normal way...and then the next thing I knew they were in my cart and I was paying for them.

But anyway, Sampson and Hakan are here! Let's look at Sampson first.



He's not as green as I thought he'd be, but he's not as "buttermilky" as I thought, either. Not that that's a bad thing.



Oh man, he would have looked AMAZING with some frosting. Missed opportunity there! I do like his shading, though. Check out his face!



His star looks really nice, and I love his facial shading. A bit more of that would have been divine!



All in all, a worthy addition to the herd - and I forgot how heavy this mold is. He'd definitely make a good paperweight - sheesh!

Next, let's look at Hakan:



Whoever said he was a budget version of C'est la Vie was right. He's a beauty!



Buckskin definitely looks good on both Brishen and Smarty Jones. And that blanket on Hakan is so snappy! I love it.



Look at that face! He has some nice shading too. From this angle he looks a lot like Ruffian - unsurprising, since they were sculpted by the same person. But now I'm wondering what Ruffian would look like in this paint job. Gah!

Quality-wise, both of these guys were pretty nice - Sampson has a couple of pinpoint black marks, but nothing major, and I didn't see anything wrong with Hakan. Another success story for Breyer!

Of course, I still have to get my hands on a Stella. I wonder if they're leaving her off the website to entice people to come into the store? You'd think they'd have done that with all three models if that were the case, but who knows. Hopefully they get her on the website soon so I can secure one!

Tractor Supply special runs are revealed!

Good news, everyone! This year's special runs for Tractor Supply have been revealed! Say hello to Sampson...

...and Hakan!


There's also a black pinto Bluegrass Bandit named Stella, but I don't have a good photo of her yet. In any case, it looks like I'll have to buy all three of them! Someone on Blab pointed out that Hakan looks like a more affordable C'est la Vie, and I agree! He's beautiful. I'm a little leery of the Sampson - he looks like he could end up being greenish. Hopefully that's not the case! I'm glad we're getting a new Brishen, though. As for Stella, I kind of wish she was a different color since we already have Lady C, plus Bear and the warehouse find. Enough black already! Oh well.

I'm hoping to stop at one of our local Tractor Supply stores tomorrow, so maybe I'll find something exciting. I don't expect these special runs to make their way onto shelves for a few more weeks, but maybe they'll have some unicorn blind bags or something! One can only hope.

Finally, some auction models!

With Breyerfest barely more than three weeks away, I've been wondering when Breyer was going to show us some auction models. Well, now I don't have to wonder anymore - the first four were posted on the Breyerfest Blog yesterday! Here's the first, on Emerson:

That's a really nice color on him, and I love the mapping! The description says he's chalky, but I don't see it, myself. Maybe on closeup inspection? I like the model, and I want to like Emerson, but that angle isn't doing anything for me. Maybe my Emerson will be for sale at Breyerfest after all...

Well, anyway, on to the next model!

The blog describes this Bobby Jo as a "Flaxen Liver Chestnut Roan." Kind of an odd-looking color, but I could get behind it on some other molds. Bristol, perhaps? Or Brishen? Or Ashquar? Ooh, that would be really nice.

The blog says this is a test for last year's Dark Horse Surprise set, but it looks more like a test for the raffle model Jackpot if you ask me. He's even glossy! Sadly, I like this color better on this Smarty Jones than I did on Bristol for some reason.

This Marwari is definitely my favorite of the four. That glossy dark bay is to die for! I wonder what outrageous price he'll sell for at the auction. Marwari auction models tend to sell on the low end of the spectrum, but I suspect that might not be the case this year. 

Featured Model - 6/8/2019, Riley

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Riley!



This handsome guy, item #712018, was a web special back in November 2008. He was a run of 400 (200 matte, 200 glossy) on the Smarty Jones mold sculpted by Sue Sifton.

This guy is a really nice color! I especially like his tail. Unfortunately, he wasn't very popular for some reason (possibly due to the US brand on his left shoulder), and I remember it took until late 2010 for the run to finally sell out (he was available on Breyer's Shopatron site, but didn't sell out until whatever was left were finally put on clearance along with a bunch of leftover WEG models).

Since then, the only other time Smarty Jones has been issued in gray was the Santiago release back in 2015. I hope we get another gray sometime - maybe a nice fleabitten gray like Silver  Charm? Or even a completely-grayed-out like Tapit? There are certainly plenty of gray Thoroughbreds to draw inspiration from!

I don't anticipate that we'll see Smarty used again for a while though, since he was finally the surprise model at last year's Breyerfest. He hasn't been a Holiday Horse yet - maybe next year? He's certainly had his share of Breyerfest auction models, including this one from 2014 that almost looks good enough to eat. Whatever his next release is, I hope it's something I can get my hands on!

Featured Model - 10/20/2018, Tempest

Hello and welcome to another edition of Featured Model, the weekly blog event where I pick a model from my collection, give some stats on it and provide commentary about it. This week's model is...Tempest!



Tempest was a Connoisseur release in 2005. He's item #90131, and 350 models were produced. He was issued on the Smarty Jones mold sculpted by Sue Sifton.

This guy's color is definitely different! He's a snowflake Appaloosa, which is one of those Appaloosa variants I haven't seen a lot of in real life. I love his bay base color, and the little spots of color all over his body make the Tempest name very fitting for him. And I think the clear base is a nice touch - until this year's Dark Horse Surprise, this was the only time he'd been issued with a clear base.

Although Smarty isn't my favorite mold, he's definitely handsome, and I like his pose. He's pretty close to my favorite phase of the gallop (the middle horse in this photo). Unfortunately, that phase would require the model to float in midair if someone tried to reproduce it, so I'll probably have to be satisfied with Smarty the way he is.

Since this mold got five (well, 10 if you count the glossy finishes) releases this year at Breyerfest, I wouldn't expect him to pop up anywhere else, but you never know. Maybe he'll get a new regular run release as Winx or something.

Either way, I hope we see him in a fun color soon - who knows, maybe next year he'll be a web special. We'll have to wait and see!

New Arrivals: Glossy Dark Horse Decorator, One-Day Man o' War

Hello everyone! Today I'll be covering the last of my new arrivals - the glossy decorator Dark Horse Surprise and the One-Day Stablemate Man o' War. Let's start with the decorator!



This guy is just as nice as his matte counterpart, but glossy! I like how the gloss makes his mane and tail look like gummy bears. ...Now I'm hungry. Anyway, his color pops quite a bit more in gloss, although I'm a little perturbed by his red eyes. Not sure what color I'd have painted them instead, but the red just seems a little weird. Maybe red eyes make him go even faster?

Next, the One-Day Stablemate Man o' War!



I still haven't gotten a picture of them together, but I'm pretty sure this guy and Straight Bet are the same color, and they're even both glossy! It's a nice color, though; a very rich red chestnut that looks postively luscious with gloss! I love him. Edit: I can't remember if I've mentioned how happy I am that Breyer dropped the McPie Stablemate boxes they've been using the last couple of years and gave these guys actual pouches this year, but I'm definitely happy with that!

This guy got the dubious honor of being part of my costume contest entry. It was certainly fun trying to devise a way to attach him to my hat in a removable manner, but I figured it out eventually.

An odd thing I noticed about this year's Single-Day Stablemates was that the Silver Charm one isn't glossy. I'd thought it would be, since the other three are, but something got missed along the way, I guess.

So those are all of this year's Breyerfest models I was able to acquire. Hopefully someday I can get a matte and/or glossy Dark Horse, but I suspect it'll be a while before the prices come down on those. Keep checking the blog for more Breyerfest updates - I still have a lot of Breyerfest Closeups to post!

New Arrivals: Matte Appy Dark Horse, Chestnut Dead Heat and Matte Bay Pinto Dark Horse

Hello, everyone! I have more new arrivals to talk about, so let's get right to it! Firstly, the matte Appaloosa Dark Horse Surprise:



I hate to say it, but of the five different Dark Horse Surprise colors, this one was my least favorite. I guess maybe I'm just not into leopard Appaloosas? I liked Pay N Go well enough back in the day, I guess, but since then the leopards just tend to fall to the bottom of my lists.

I'm also wondering why his base color is bay, when we also had the matte bay pinto as one of the surprise colors? I don't know, make him a chestnut or gray or something. Gray leopard could have been really interesting! Oh well.

Next, we have the chestnut Dead Heat!



I really like this model - just not quite as much as I like the palomino one. The color looks really nice on Ruffian, though the short tail still looks a little odd to me. I love his shading, and I love the little snip on his nose! I always like to see a little white on a horse's face, so that really appeals to me. Also, this one's name is now officially "Dead Hat" in my records, to set it apart from the palomino "Dead Heat." Heh heh.

Lastly, let's look at the bay pinto Dark Horse Surprise!



I'd probably rank this guy just above the leopard Appy, but not because I don't like him - he's just overshadowed by the black, decorator and palomino splash. He has a nice pattern, and the color looks really good on him. I like his two-toned mane and tail - I bet the glossy version of him is really nice! Hopefully I can get my hands on him somewhere down the road. In the meantime, this guy is a worthy addition to the collection!

Quality-wise, these models were really nice - again, I've seen few quality issues with this year's Breyerfest models. Either I got lucky, or Breyer stepped up their quality game. Either way, I'm happy with it!

New Arrivals: Matte Deco Dark Horse, Palomino Dead Heat and By a Nose

Hello, everyone! In my continuing coverage of new models acquired at Breyerfest, today I'll be showcasing the matte decorator Dark Horse Surprise, the palomino Dead Heat and By a Nose. Let's get started with the decorator Dark Horse!



I love this model. He's a combination of "it goes faster because it's red" and "the flames make it go faster" and I love it! And I love the transition from solid on his body to clear on his mane and tail. The only way to make this model would be to gloss it...and guess what, they did! I'll talk about him later, but I definitely think this guy is one of the coolest surprise models Breyer has ever done.

Next, palomino Dead Heat!



It was funny how when Breyer posted the Dead Heat numbers on the blog last week, they bothered to say, "You had an equal chance to get the palomino or the chestnut." Apparently nobody noticed the guy handing them out in the special run line was asking people what their color preference was. Not that I'm complaining, because I was expecting to spend the whole weekend trying to get one color or the other, but I still thought it was...if not eyeroll-worthy, then sigh-worthy.

Anyway, the palomino Dead Heat turned out just how I thought he would - a nicely shaded palomino with a beautiful pearly mane and tail! I definitely like him a lot, so I'm not really sure how these two releases flopped so hard. As far as I know, they're still available in the leftovers on the Breyer website. Ruffian is a reasonably popular mold, and it's not like either color was badly done, so it's confusing to me. Maybe a combination of too many made, plus they probably would have sold better if it really had been a random draw like Breyer said it would be? Who knows.

Next, let's take a look at By a Nose!



This girl (yes, she's female! Zenyatta strikes again!) was definitely the hot item at this year's Breyerfest. So hot that she repeatedly sold out even before the Dark Horse Surprises. It took us until Sunday to get our hands on one, because we kept getting poor ticket draws.

Like I said in the past, I love this type of paint job; it looks like tasty, tasty candy! And I love the pinking in various areas. Better than yellow legs, am I right? Still scratching my head over that one.

Anyway, this one was definitely one of the more popular special runs Breyerfest has ever had, but I'm glad I ended up buying two of them, because the first one I got had a lot of small flaws that wouldn't have been so bad, but all of them together made it a really mediocre model. It was definitely the worst-quality model I saw this year; all in all, I thought the quality was really good this year.

That's it for now, but I'll be posting more Breyerfest content into August! Stay tuned!

New Arrivals: Brass Hat, Churchill and Palomino Splash Dark Horse

Good evening, readers! I have more new arrivals to go over, and I finally got a chance to put them into my photo tent! Today I'll be covering Brass Hat (Celebration model), Churchill (Volunteer model) and the Palomino Splash Pinto Dark Horse Surprise. Let's start with Brass Hat!

I was pleasantly surprised with this year's crop of Celebration Models. After last year's Nazruddin trainwreck, I was prepared to find flaws with all 9 of my Brass Hats, but fortunately I didn't really find problems with any of them. Maybe if I took them out of their boxes and went over them with a fine-tooth comb I'd find flaws, but the quality this year was a huge improvement over last year.

One of the things I noticed about the Brass Hats is that they have a hint of a blue shimmer to their color, which is certainly interesting. I wouldn't describe the real Brass Hat as having a bluish look to him, but maybe Breyer was trying to make him look ~special~. In any case, he certainly stands out. I'm still sore about not winning a glossy one, though.

Moving on, let's take a look at Churchill!

My greatest fear, since returning to the hobby in 2010, has been that Othello would be the volunteer model in a year I wasn't volunteering, since there's no way I would want or be able to pay the asking prices for him. So I feel very fortunate that I was asked to volunteer last-minute this year, because after seeing his secondary market prices...yikes! It wasn't just a stroll through the park to earn him, though - this year was definitely the hardest I've ever had to work for a volunteer model. He's mine, he's beautiful, and soon he'll be able to take his place on the shelf next to his brothers.

Some readers may recall that it took us until Saturday to find out the volunteer model this year, when we usually find out on Friday after they're distributed to live show volunteers. The story from Breyer is that they forgot the volunteer models in Jersey (!) and had to have them overnighted to Kentucky. Oops! I bet that little oversight cost them a few arms and/or legs. These guys were definitely worth the wait, though.

Lastly, here's the Palomino Splash Dark Horse Surprise!



This guy is definitely one of my favorite of this year's surprise colors, possibly because of his slightly-pearly mane and tail. I love his darker shading and his pinto pattern - I don't think splash has been used for a surprise model before. One nitpick I did have is that his dapples are evenly distributed all over his body, including over his topline, which just looks weird. I think it's because the dapples are so identical to each other - the chicken-wire effect strikes again. Better luck next time, I guess!

I'll stop here for today, but tune in next time for more new arrivals!

New Arrivals: Straight Bet, Lonesome Glory Reissue and Bay Leopard Dark Horse Surprise!

Up next in our list of new arrivals are Straight Bet, the Lonesome Glory reissue and the bay leopard Dark Horse Surprise! Let's start with Straight Bet:

I was very happy with this model. I actually ended up with two of them because I feared finding issues with the gloss, but they were both pretty nice. The "heart surgery scar" seam on the chest has been fixed (at least on those two), and I didn't see anything else wrong with them. Also, did anyone else notice he's pretty much the same color as the single-day Man o' War? I haven't gotten a photo of them together yet, but the similarity is uncanny. The MOW is almost a mini-me of Straight Bet!

Anyway, I love Straight Bet's shading and color, and I can't wait to get him onto the shelf next to Duende. (All of my recent purchases are hanging out on our entertainment center until we get a new shelf built.)

Next, let's look at the Lonesome Glory reissue!

I photographed the new LG with my original LG (in back). I've seen a lot of posts about this release on social media, usually complaints about how the reissue is a mare. This is most likely because Zenyatta is still in production, so Breyer pulled the whiteware for this run from the Zenyatta production line. I'd like to point out that the original Lonesome Glory is a stallion, while the real LG accomplished all his feats after being gelded, so clearly adherence to gender isn't high on Breyer's priority list. That and adding/subtracting parts on small runs isn't economically feasible, unlike with regular runs (see: adding a sheath to Wixom for Kong, or to Rejoice for All Glory, which was a larger production run).

Anyway, the new LG is in fact quite different from the original, as you can see. The markings are the same, though masked better on the reissue (duh), and the reissue is darker and semigloss rather than matte. Personally, I would have preferred that it be glossy to set it off from the original release even more, but there's enough difference between the two that it's not that big of a deal.

I also heard the QC on these models was iffy, but it didn't take me too long to find one that was acceptable to me, so I can't really comment on how bad they were. Well, that and after the third or fourth model I get bored and want to pick one so I can move along.

Lastly, here's the bay leopard Dark Horse!



Historically, leopard isn't my favorite Appaloosa color, so I'd have to say this one is my least favorite of all five colors. Fortunately, I don't find him completely ugly, unlike some past leopard Appys, so I don't have a problem with keeping him in the herd. It's interesting that all of the non-decorator colors had matching green (i.e. turf) bases. Maybe they figured green would be an interesting color, and if they were all the same they wouldn't have as many issues with pairing the right base with the right color. Dirt racing is dominant in North America, though, so I'd have thought they'd all be dirt-colored.

This guy brings me to a close for today, but tune in next time for more new arrivals (hopefully with better photos)!

Featured Model - 5/5/2018, Secretariat

Happy Derby Day, everyone! I'm rooting for Good Magic - we'll see who wins the Run for the Roses this year! In honor of the Kentucky Derby, this week's Featured Model is about my favorite Derby winner of all - Secretariat!



Secretariat is a legend in the sport, and won the Kentucky Derby in a record time that still stands. I was never the greatest fan of the original Secretariat sculpt, the last one Chris Hess did for Breyer (although it is a decent likeness of the photo of Secretariat it was sculpted from). So, like many fans, I was thrilled to see the updated Secretariat on the Smarty Jones mold sculpted by Sue Sifton! He's item #1345 and made his debut all the way back in 2009! These days, most regular runs don't last much longer than a couple of years, so he must be a pretty big seller if he's still being produced 9 years later. That's practically an eternity!

Secretariat had already been in the regular line for a year when I came back to the hobby in 2010, but I have to confess it took me until 2012 to buy one. At the time I wasn't sure if I wanted to collect Smarty Jones...but when I was looking at the Breyer lineup in a local store and found an especially metallic-looking Secretariat, I was hooked! He came home with me that day. Now he's my cheering partner whenever a Triple Crown is on the line!

As for Smarty Jones, we've been speculating for at least the last two years that he'll show up as the Breyerfest surprise model, but it hasn't happened yet. Will this year be the year? He seems a little too obvious a choice this year to actually be the surprise (way to go, Breyer), but I suppose there's always hope. As always, though, if he shows up as an auction model, he's out of the running. We'll have to wait and see! This year's auction countdown will begin in mid-June, so we don't have that much longer to wait. 

And if Smarty does turn out to be the surprise model, at least I won't be the only one in a mad scramble to try to get all 8 of the surprise models!