November, 2020 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Grade 1 Winner Vekoma Retired To Spendthrift Farm For 2021

Multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Vekoma has been retired from racing and arrived at B. Wayne Hughes' Spendthrift Farm, where the 4-year-old son of Candy Ride will take up stud duty in 2021. His fee has been set at $20,000 S&N.

This year's impressive winner of the Grade 1 Carter Handicap and G1 Met Mile, Vekoma was scratched as the morning-line favorite in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Sprint after spiking a fever upon arrival at Keeneland. He will be given a few days to settle in at Spendthrift before being available for inspection.

“Precocious, brilliantly fast, carried his speed around two turns – you name it, Vekoma could do it. On top of that, he is a Grade 1 winner by a Grade 1 winner and out of a Grade 1 winner, so he's truly a rare package in the breeding world. You won't find a more brilliant or better-bred son of Candy Ride. We are extremely excited about his future at stud and look forward to showing him off to breeders after he's been allowed a few days to settle in here,” said Ned Toffey, Spendthrift general manager. “Any time a horse as good and as deserving as Vekoma does not get the opportunity to run in the Breeders' Cup, you are obviously disappointed for the horse and for the connections. There's so much hard work that gets put in. Ultimately, you have to credit George Weaver and his team for having an incredible season and always doing right by Vekoma through some hard luck at the end.”

Trained by George Weaver for owners R. A. Hill Stable and Gatsas Stables, Vekoma was one of the top racehorses in his crop, capturing graded stakes wins at two, three and four. After breaking his maiden at first asking in 1:08 4/5 at Belmont, the talented chestnut stretched out to win the one-mile G3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct to complete an undefeated juvenile campaign.

At three, Vekoma jumped onto the Triple Crown trail, finishing third to Code of Honor in the G2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream in his seasonal debut. He went on to score a dominant 3 1/2-length win in the 1 1/8-mile G2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, earning a berth into the Kentucky Derby.

This year, Vekoma was perfect with wins at three different racetracks, kicking off his 4-year-old season with a 3 3/4-length victory in Gulfstream's Sir Shackleton Stakes in March. Vekoma earned his first Grade 1 triumph in the form of a dazzling 7 1/4-length win in the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct, earning a career-high 110 Beyer Speed Figure. He validated his Carter performance with a front-running win in the prestigious Met Mile, defeating Grade 1 winners Code of Honor and McKinzie, among others, while stopping the clock in 1:32 4/5 – just .15 seconds off the stakes record for the 129-year-old fixture in New York.

An earner of $1,245,525, Vekoma was bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables. He is out of the Speightstown mare Mona de Momma who scored her biggest win as a racehorse in the G1 Humana Distaff on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill. Vekoma's second dam, Society Gal, is a half-sister to successful sire Mr. Greeley.

Vekoma becomes the third Met Mile winner in the last four years to take up stud duty at Spendthrift. Mor Spirit, the 2017 winner, and Mitole, the 2019 winner, both stand at the historic Lexington-based farm.

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Authentic Earns $1M BetMakers Bonus With Classic Win

With his victory in Saturday’s GI Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Authentic (Into Mischief) earned a $1-million bonus for his connections from Australian-based racing technology group BetMakers. In conjunction with Monmouth Park’s Dennis Drazin, BetMakers created the ‘BetMakers Bonanza’ for any horse that could win the 2020 renewals of the GI Haskell Invitational, the GI Kentucky Derby and then finish it off with the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Authentic went wire to wire to score in the 10-furlong test by 2 1/4 lengths.

“With all the winners of the majors competing in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Authentic proving he is an absolute superstar was very exciting,” BetMakers CEO Todd Buckingham said. “Initiatives like the BetMakers Bonanza are a great way to get the best horses competing against each other and what a great way to finish off with a race like we had.”

BetMakers and Darby Development LLC, owner and operator of Monmouth Park, signed an agreement earlier in the year with the aim to facilitate fixed-odds betting on horse racing in the state of New Jersey, with legislation recently introduced to do so in the New Jersey state legislature.

The ‘BetMakers Bonanza’ will continue for at least the next two years but with a different pathway. This year’s COVID-19 adjusted racing schedule saw the middle leg being the Derby and with the expected return to a regular calendar next year, the Haskell and Breeders’ Cup Classic will again ‘book-end’ the Bonanza with the middle leg to be determined.

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Keeneland November Sale Starts Monday

LEXINGTON, KY – The action moves from the racetrack to the sales ring at Keeneland Monday with the first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. The 10-day auction kicks off with a single select Book 1 section that begins at noon and continues through Nov. 18 with subsequent sessions beginning at 10 a.m.

“I think the sale will be good,” Marshall Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency said on an unseasonably warm November morning at the Keeneland sales grounds Sunday. “We have a lot of good horses and there are a lot of good horses on the sales grounds this year. I am hoping the momentum from the September sale and the yearling sales will carry over into November and things will keep getting better.”

Keeneland played host to the two-day Breeders’ Cup championships for the second time over the weekend and Taylor agreed the championship meet provided extra excitement heading into the sale.

“You can almost get that magical feeling where all of these stars are coming right across the road from the racehorse barns into the sales barn,” Taylor said. “It brings a whole vibe to it that you don’t get when the Breeders’ Cup is out of state.”

While the September yearling sales were conducted largely without on-site participation of foreign buyers due to the global pandemic, international shoppers were out in force at the sales grounds Sunday.

“I have seen a lot of foreign buyers,” Taylor said. “I’ve seen a lot of Europeans and a lot of Japanese. In September, I didn’t feel like there were as many Japanese buyers as there are here at the November sale. So it seems like there are a lot of foreign buyers here, which is great.”

In addition to the international buyers on the grounds, foreign interests are expected to continue to make their presence felt with on-line and phone bidding.

“I am very pleased with the traffic here so far,” James Keogh said in front of his Grovendale consignment Sunday morning. “There is a strong domestic influence right now, but we’ve been receiving overseas calls and people asking questions and for photos, especially from Japan. I expect they will very likely be bidding on-line.”

The Breeders’ Cup championships provided several updates to horses in the Keeneland catalogue and Keogh is hoping to take advantage of Into Mischief’s two wins at Keeneland Saturday.

“We are feeling very fortunate because we have a very nice mare in foal to Into Mischief (hip 10) with a real family behind her. So that was very exciting.”

Other Breeders’ Cup updates in Book 1 include a half-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Turf runner-up Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in foal to Catholic Boy (hip 99); a full-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up C Z Rocket (City Zip), in foal to Distorted Humor (hip 244E); as well as the dam of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), in foal to Into Mischief (hip 32). A weanling half-sister to GII Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Cowan (Kantharos) will be offered as hip 146 and Veronique (Mizzen Mast), the dam of track-record setting Nashville (Speightstown) will be offered as hip 244D.

During the recently concluded yearling sales season, demand remained for the perceived quality offerings, but interest fell off markedly from there. Expectations are for that trend to continue at the November sale.

“If they were on your horse, you got good money, maybe even a little more than you thought you’d get,” said Hidden Brook’s Sergio de Sousa. “I don’t see anyone saying it was a healthy market. When the median was $15,000, that doesn’t pay your board bill for the most part.”

Expectations are for that polarization to continue into the November sale.

“You’ve got to be optimistic about it, especially for Book 1, but you also have to be realistic about the market,” said de Sousa. “The market has shown this year to be down between 20% and 30%. So you have to be aware of that. But as a breeder, we are dreamers and you always hope for the best in this business. So it will be interesting to see what happens. It was a fantastic two days with the Breeders’ Cup and a lot of excitement. People are starting to come and look at the mares and foals more now, so we have to see what the traffic is going to be.”

De Sousa thinks there will be bargains to be found by astute buyers.

“There will be a lot of mares sold who are bubble mares,” de Sousa said. “I think this time next year there will be a lot of mares who will have 3- or 4-year-olds running now who sold for not a lot of money at this sale and they will be producing nice horses. I think that creates opportunities. I think if you have cash, it is a buyer’s market.”

Last year’s November sale was topped by the $3.2-million Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway). The mare was one of 14 to sell for seven figures. Larry Best’s OXO Equine paid top price for a weanling, going to $775,000 for a daughter of Curlin.

In all, 2,671 head sold for $200,135,200 at the 2019 sale. The average was $74,929 and the median was $25,000.

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Baffert: ‘Down Deep, I Knew I Was Going To Win It With One Of Them’

As he did five years earlier with American Pharoah following his Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic triumph at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert brought his newest winner, Authentic, out of the barn Sunday morning for an impromptu photo session.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions there were only about a dozen people on hand to see Baffert's fourth Classic winner. Baffert was every bit as upbeat, though, as he talked about his chestnut Kentucky Derby winner, who broke American Pharoah's track record with a time of 1:59.19.

In front from gate to wire under jockey John Velazquez, Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables and Starlight Racing's Authentic led the alphabetical finish of Baffert's three Classic runners. Improbable, the 4-year-old co-owned by WinStar Farm, CHC Inc. and SF Racing, was second, 2 1/4 lengths behind his stablemate, while Gary and Mary West, Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael Tabor's 4-year-old Maximum Security checked in fifth in the 10-horse field.

It was the first time that a trainer had saddled the first two finishers in the Classic. Authentic was 4-1 in the wagering and paid $10.40 for the win.

Baffert said he is not sure whether Authentic will be retired to stud for 2021 at Spendthrift. He declined an opportunity to lobby for the colt, a lock to be the 3-year-old champion male, as the Horse of the Year, but said he belongs in the conversation.

“I think the way he ran in the Derby he vindicated himself after his beat – but he still ran a great race – in the Preakness,” Baffert said. “He's just getting better, he's maturing. I could just tell with the way he was training that he has caught up with these older horses. He's just so quick. He's fast. Johnny said he felt better than he ever has and he had trouble pulling him up. He came back like it was nothing. He's a great horse. He's filling out.”

Improbable and Maximum Security made their final starts Saturday and headed into retirement: Improbable to WinStar Farm and Maximum Security to Ashford Stud.

Baffert said Maximum Security – previously trained by Jason Servis, who has been indicted in a federal probe into doping of racehorses – had been unable to regain the top form that made him a five-time Grade 1 winner but said that Improbable had turned in a terrific performance.

“I was proud of the way they ran,” he said. “They were training well. Down deep I knew I was going to win it with one of them. I wasn't sure (which one), when you come in loaded like that. It would have been nice to run 1-2-3 and it would have been horrible not to win with the three. I was thinking about that all the time.”

Authentic delivered for Baffert, just as he had in the Derby and was able to grab an unpressured early lead. Chastened by the runner-up finish to Swiss Skydiver in the Preakness on Oct. 3, Velazquez rode more aggressively and kept the quirky colt busy on the front end.

“That Authentic is serious. He's a great horse,” Baffert said. “What he did yesterday – that was a great field – and he just ran away from that field. Improbable is a really good horse. Turning for home, I thought that Improbable was going to kick in there and that Authentic caught another gear and he was gone.”

Overall, Baffert has won the Breeders' Cup Classic four times, all with 3-year-olds. In addition to Authentic and Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, he won the race with Bayern in 2014 and Arrogate in 2016.

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