OH!!! I almost forgot my very best anecdote!!! And I swear this is true, every word.
ABout 10-12 years ago someone I knew and worked for hired an agent who had a rather peculiar way of "defining" which yearlings were going to be good horses.
I will not tell you the method as it would give away the man's identity if you know the business at all(and if one of you guesses, please don't make the guess here, this is steve's site and we can't be having any lawsuits).
In any case, at a particular sale my friend came home and said he had bought the "best horse in the sale". This horse was purchased for about 50 grand. I looked excitedly at the pedigree and was astonished to see that the horse was by nobody out of an absolutely nobody mare. The man with the methods had told him this was the best one.
Wanna know who had bred the horse and had it consigned? The man's brother!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gee, do you think that helped determine him as the best horse in the sale somewhat?
The horse raced on the track two years later and finally won a maiden 2500-4000 race at Penn National.