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Polo ponies are generally sold in private transactions where
the prospective purchaser tries out the pony by riding it and
playing it in a polo game. It typically takes 2 years of
training before a pony is ready for sale. Petitioner and
Atkinson believed that the best strategy for selling a polo pony
is to show a horse's abilities either by allowing a prospective
purchaser to ride the horse during a polo game, or by playing a
horse in a highly visible tournament where purchasers pay high
stakes for horses that play well. Atkinson encouraged S.K.
Johnston to play BPS' horses in matches to show potential
purchasers that the horses were not only good for professional
players, but for amateurs as well. With respect to advertising,
the plan was to play the higher level tournaments to make a name
for the company and establish its credibility; the idea was that
the exposure in the higher level tournaments would eventually pay
off. During the years in issue, a top quality polo pony would
sell for $30,000 or $40,000, and an average polo pony would sell
for around $10,000. The higher the tournament played, however,
the higher the costs.
To get ready for the winter selling season in December, BPS'
schedule began in October. Atkinson, along with the required
number of grooms, traveled with the horses to Florida where most
of the elite polo clubs are located. The sale season lasted from
the end of December until the beginning of April. In April, they
would return to Bendabout or Flying H, to allow the horses that
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