Month: November 2022

Saxon Warrior Leads The Way At Goffs November Foal Sale 

Helped in no small part by the success of Victoria Road (Ire) at the Breeders' Cup and Auguste Rodin's (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) emergence as a leading Classic contender from the same sire line, the progeny of Saxon Warrior (Jpn) played a starring role on day one of the November Foal Sale at Goffs.

Not only did Saxon Warrior top the session when Ballyhimikin Stud signed for a colt [lot 231] drafted by Kildallan Farm for €88,000, but he was also responsible for three of the top four foals on the day. 

The Monday session-topper is out of an unraced sister to black-type performer Impendor (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and led home a cracking days's trade for the Coolmore-based stallion who, off the back of an excellent debut season with his two-year-olds, had his 2023 fee increased to €35,000.

The second most expensive Saxon Warrior through the ring on the day was a colt [lot 78] from  Collegelands Stud who was knocked down to KCS Bloodstock for €65,000. 

He is out of an unraced New Approach (Ire) mare who has produced two winners from two runners; El C Wells (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}) and Wohileh (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}).

Ciara Carty of KCS Bloodstock said, “He's a nice colt and stood out today. He's got plenty going for him, he's from a nice pedigree and he's by a sire who has done well and is going to have global appeal going forward. This colt will be back for sale next autumn.” 

Rochestown Lodge Stud's colt [lot 135] by the sire sold for €62,000 and will chart a similar path with the yearling sales next autumn the ultimate aim. 

Marie McCartan of Ballyphillip said of the big-walking chestnut out of the dual winner Zagharit (Ire) (Sir Percy {GB}), “We're delighted to get him. He's a really nice horse and will come back to the sale next year. Saxon Warrior having the Breeders' Cup winner was a big help.”

Four colts by Saxon Warrior sold for an aggregate of €260,000 at an average of €65,000 at Goffs on Monday.

The overall trade was also strong. The aggregate was up 3% to €3,529,000 and the average also rose 6% to €20,399 while the median fell by 3% to €15,000. 

Stauffenberg A Dandy Man Fan

Philipp Stauffenberg signed up to the Dandy Man (Ire) fan club by snapping up a filly and a colt by the Ballyhane-based stallion as well as an Advertise (GB) filly on the day. 

But it was the lot 162, the Dandy Man filly out of Astonished (Ire), a dual winner by Sea The Stars (Ire), who led the way for the leading pinhooker at €85,000. 

On that purchase, he said, “She was one of the best physicals of the day. Joe Foley bought the half-sister by Night Of Thunder (Ire) for €160,000, so there's every chance that there will be an update there.”

Forenaghts Stud brought a small, but select draft to Goffs this week and manager Caoimhe Doherty revealed that the whole team was over the moon with the sale of the Dandy Man filly. 

She said, “We are thrilled. We thought she'd sell well but we didn't think she'd sell as well as she did. She was bought by a brilliant judge and underbid by another top judge in Joe Foley. 

“For her to make €85,000 is really beyond what we could have hoped for. We brought two very nice foals to Goffs this week so we're thrilled with how the week has begun.”

 

 

 

The second foal to sell under the Forenaghts Stud banner is a Starspangledbanner (Aus) [lot 710] who goes through the ring on Wednesday.

The Dandy Man colt was consigned by Kellsgrange Stud and sold for €55,000. Out of an unraced daughter of Camacho (GB), he hailed from a good family, with his granddam Miss Philllyjinks (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) producing G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Tiger Tanaka (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}).

It has been a memorable year for Stauffenberg with his pinhooks. At Book 1 at Tattersalls alone, Stauffenberg Bloodstock sold five yearlings for 2,345,000gns, including a 550,000gns Night Of Thunder filly who was knocked down to Godolphin. 

Asked how he was planning on reinvesting at Goffs this week, he joked, “Hopefully wisely! We will know next year if it was wise or not.”

On buying the Advertise filly [lot 62] out of a dual-winning Dark Angel (Ire) mare [Prying Pandora (Fr)] earlier on in the day, he added, “The Advertise filly was lovely as well. She was a little bit light on the page but she was a very nice physical and we are hoping that Advertise will do something next year. I think we got one of the best physicals by Advertise.”

Doyle Delighted With King Of Change Colt

Ross Doyle paid a handsome tribute to King Of Change (GB), a horse the leading bloodstock agent knows well–given he won the G1 QEII on British Champions Day for Richard Hannon–after he secured a colt [lot 102] by the first-season sire for €50,000. 

King Of Change recently made the move to Micheál Orlandi's Starfield Stud in County Westmeath and Doyle described himself as being impressed with the first foals he has seen by the stallion. 

On lot 102, he said, “Peter [Doyle, the agent's partner and father] and Flash Conroy bought him and the plan will be to resell him as a yearling. He was as nice a foal as we saw here at Goffs today–a good physical with a very good walk.”

Doyle added, “Richard Hannon held King Of Change in very high regard, which is a big help. We have seen some nice foals by the sire. They are very nice types.”

Three of the four foals by King Of Change sold for an aggregate of €85,000 and averaged at €28,333. 

Arizona Off To A Solid Start

Some of the first foals by Arizona (Ire) were well-received with Peter Nolan snapping up a colt [lot 201] by the 2019 G2 Coventry S. winner for €60,000.

The Castlebridge Consignment also sold a colt by the stallion earlier in the day for €35,000 to Paula Flannery which went some way to cementing a rock-solid trade for the newbie, with six foals selling for an average of €25,500.

Nolan's purchase is a half-brother to the speedy Eldrickjones (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), who reached a rating of 104 in his juvenile year, and the plan will be to re-offer the colt as a yearling. 

He said, “We just thought that the mare had produced two good ones by Pride Of Dubai (Aus) [three-time winner Moddy Puddle (Ire)] and Cotai Glory. He's a big, fine, good-looking colt and the stock looks good by the sire. They're nice. He'll be for re-sale.”

 

 

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Trailblazer Jessica Paquette Set to Debut as Parx Announcer

Jessica Paquette never imagined that she would become the full-time announcer at a major racetrack. Neither did anyone else. The job, for as long as the sport has been around, has been a profession that largely excluded women. But when the field loads into the gate at Parx Racing for Tuesday's first race, Paquette will be high atop the grandstand, nervous but excited, and ready to make history.

“The best thing we can all hope for in this sport is to leave the game a little bit better than it was when we found it,” she said. “I hope to set a good example and make the road easier for the generation coming behind us. If I can inspire one little girl who thinks this is possible for her and then comes and does it better than me then I'd be thrilled.”

Examples of females calling races are few and far between. Angela Hermann briefly held the job at Golden Gate Fields in 2016 after Michael Wrona left but was eventually replaced by Matt Dinerman. In the early sixties, Ann Elliott served as the announcer at Jefferson Downs in New Orleans for about four years. Nearly sixty years after Elliott's time at Jefferson, no other female had been hired as the full-time announcer at a U.S. track.

Paquette got into this by accident. In 2014, she was working in the marketing and publicity departments at Suffolk Down when regular announcer and TDN contributor T.D. Thornton couldn't get to the track because he was delayed by, of all things, a tornado. She was called upon to fill in. Thornton eventually made it to the track and Paquette went back to her other duties, which included serving as the track's simulcast host and paddock analyst.

She remained at Suffolk until 2019 when the track closed its doors for good. She felt lost.

“When Suffolk closed it was a huge existential crisis for me,” Paquette said. “Working in racing isn't just something I do, it is who I am. I didn't know what the future was going to look like.”

Paquette didn't mind traveling and would catch on as the simulcast analyst at Colonial Downs and Sam Houston.  At Sam Houston last summer, management allowed her to call some of the Quarter-Horse races. She estimates that she has called 50 races total.

“When I called the Quarter Horses at Sam Houston this past summer I had such a good time,” she said. “By the third day I started to feel less like I was filling in and more like it was something I really wanted to do. I was open to trying to find an announcing position somewhere. When it turned out that Chris was moving on my name came up and I said 'Why not? Let's talk.'”

She had the backing of Griffin, who has also been hired as the announcer at Monmouth Park.

“She knows what this means and it means a lot to many people,” Griffin said. “I'm looking forward to her getting into the booth and excited for her to make her debut Tuesday. We have a tremendous team at Parx and she will fit right in. It's great to see. It's time for some new voices in this sport. She is a professional through and through and can handle this. I'm very excited that she is getting this chance and like everyone else I am looking forward to it.”

Paquette said Griffin is among a group of male announcers who have taken her under their wing and encouraged her to seek an announcing job.

“Some of my closest friends in the industry are announcers,” she said. “Jason Beem is one of my best friends. Chris Griffin and I have become very close. They both were really encouraging. Of course, coming up through Suffolk Downs we have Larry Collmus and T.D. Thornton and they set the bar high. Frank Mirahmadi has been extremely encouraging and offered such helpful criticism since I got my feet wet with the Quarter Horses.”

Having had relatively little experience as an announcer, Paquette said she has been preparing by practicing calling races over television.

“It's not the same when it's not real because you don't get that stomach-throbbing sense of brief terror as the gates are about to open,” she said. “That's something you can't recreate.”

Will that “sense of brief terror” go away on Tuesday?

“I hope it doesn't because it's all about the excitement and the adrenaline involved with being part of the sport we love,” she said. “My standard anxiety level is probably a 7 ½ on a scale of 1 to 10. So I'm going to be excited and nervous. But that's a good thing.”

She looks back to that final day at Suffolk Downs and says she watched the last race ever run at the East Boston track from the roof and was crying. Never did she imagine what was to come.

“I've been very fortunate that horses and horse racing have brought me to places I never thought possible in life,” Paquette said. “For me this at this point in my career, I've had lot of fun in the paddock, talking about handicapping and racing. But this, the announcing job, is an opportunity do something where I get to be the only one. It's a real honor.”

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