Sanke appreciation

[estanque_koi]

Hello,
I'm attaching a couple of pictures showing 4 Sanke for comparison and comments, if you wish.
There are two females and two males in the first picture. Sizes range from around 35 to almost 50 cm in lenght (13.8 to 19.7 inches).
In the second picture you can see the same 4 Koi plus an additional female in the right side of the photo. Better forget this last female.
Your opinion about these four Sanke?
Diego

[MikeM]

Diego: Are these from your breeding? If so, you have done very well, indeed.

The one with heavy Shiro appears to me to have weak or fading Hi. The redheaded one does not appeal to me. The remaining two are very attractive. You need to tell us their age and size.

[dick benbow]

These are decent koi. The biggest problem I always have with sanke irregardless of parents is getting the last red tail stop to be there. sanke is hard!

[ChrisC]

My favorite sanke so far. Bred by Sakai of Hiroshima, I have coveted her for a couple of years, but alas she is now 27 inches long and out of my current league.....the head pattern reminds me of a seahorse.

[dick benbow]

This sanke goes against the current trends of lots of black. Matsunosuke bloodline it ain't! I do think that will be the way the show pendulum swings back to. Funny how we look for things like seahorses in the pattern that remind us of something.

[estanque_koi]

These Sanke are not from my breeding. Well, some of them were the parents of my last year breeding.
The point is that the Sanke that is second in the first photo, and is in the middle of the second picture, is a recent purchase: a Momotaro female tosai born in april 2004 that measures 36 cm. I couldn't appreciate in the dealer's pictures (all taken from the other angle) the heavy sumi mark going all the way down. Anyway, I like her and most important her bloodline.
Apart from size, I can see differences in shape and proportions, as well as in skin quality and colour depth (the latest are not easily seen in the pictures).
For instance, I'm quite astonished realizing how her head size in relation to body length compares with that of the smaller male (is just behind her in the first picture, and is the second from the left side in the second picture).
Best,
Diego