OK, this is what I have been taught. Remember we cannot judge the skin quality or the depth of color from photo’s. So this is mostly about conformation, pattern, and perceived color when judging from photo’s
Looking at these baby photos I would rank these koi in order A, B, C, D for future potential. C & D are weaker from a conformation perspective(skinny tail joints) already have strongly finished black and red. Additionally D has too much sumi and it is poorly distributed. Koi C has a very nice three step kohaku pattern but sumi is already finished and very heavy on it’s right side and also heavy towards the rear. From the photo’s I would guess C& D are males.
Koi B appears to have too much break between 1st and 2nd steps.
Koi A has fantastic conformation for a baby koi but not so great a hi pattern. Red seems to be fairly consistent in color. Nice nose and tail stop. Sumi placement seems pretty good.
OK now let’s jump ahead two years to the photo’s of these koi at three year olds. If these koi were in a show on the day of the photos I would rank them B, A, D, C.
Koi C is last because of the yellowed and somewhat messy looking face and pattern
Koi B is first because confirmation is good and all three colors are really pretty nice. Pattern is not that great but somehow the sumi camouflages the large mid body break and based on the competition on the day of the photo it manages to finish 1st.
Koi A has incredible conformation. Look at the body shape and tail joint I would say at least a 9 of of 10 for it’s size. This is where the female body starts to dominate. White is fantastic. Sumi and hi remain unfinished. Could it be this koi has grown so much that it’s hi and sumi have not been able to catch up to this point. Only looking at the color depth and dimension very closely in person can you hope to determine if this is still a koi with a future or forever a want to be....