There may be no hotter ticket in Central Kentucky than a spot in the first book of mares for 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline, and Castleton Lyons ensured its place on the right side of the velvet rope when the operation purchased Brooke Marie at the 2021 Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age Sale.
When the daughter of Lemon Drop Kid went through the ring in April 2021, she had a pair of wins on her record, along with a stakes-placing. After the hammer fell to Castleton Lyons for $210,000, Brooke Marie went on to become a Grade 2 winner and eventually secure that coveted spot in Flightline's first book during the 2023 breeding season.
Bred in Kentucky by Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Moss and David Ingordo, Brooke Marie initially raced for Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister and was trained by Christophe Clement.
She competed in turf races in New York and New Jersey, breaking her maiden in her third career start at Belmont Park as a 2-year-old, then notching an allowance win at Monmouth Park at three. She finished her sophomore campaign with a runner-up effort in the listed Christiecat Stakes at Belmont Park, leading in the stretch but getting caught at the wire to miss by a neck.
Brooke Marie was sidelined for 17 months after the Christiecat, and she returned to make two starts for Bakke and Isbister before being entered in the 2021 Keeneland April sale; finishing fourth in her return at Turfway Park and winning a one-turn turf allowance at Keeneland. She was consigned in the April sale by Elite, agent.
Trainer Eddie Kenneally spotted Brooke Marie in the catalog as Hip 48, and when her physical inspection impressed him as much as her pedigree and race record, he was sold.
“She was one of the fillies in that particular sale that had recent form, and she was on the way up,” Kenneally said. “She was relatively lightly-raced. She was a perfect horse to pull out of that sale.”
Brooke Marie is out of the unraced Giant's Causeway mare Mamasez, from the family of Grade 1 winner Marylebone and Grade 2 winner Alpha Kitten.
With Castleton Lyons being a high-level breeding operation, Brooke Marie's residual value as a broodmare was certainly a factor in her appeal in the Keeneland April catalog. Broodmare value is not a unique factor to racing-age sales, compared to shopping at a yearling or 2-year-old sale, but the potential to act upon it is often much more immediate.
Comparing the process of shopping a racing-age sale to buying yearlings, Kenneally said there is a bit less mystery in what you have with an older horse, but that does not necessarily dictate what a horse could be under a new shedrow.
“The biggest difference is you've got past performances to look at,” he said. “That's what you go on, for the most part. You look at horses that have run and run well, horses that you think are maturing or improving. You have that guideline, and that really helps you, whereas, when you're looking at yearlings, none of them have obviously done anything, so you're going on conformation alone. Conformation is a part of the horses in training sales, but the main thing is pedigree, and probably number one is past performances.”
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.Brooke Marie returned to Keeneland for her first start under her new connections, and she led at every point of call to win a 5 1/2-furlong turf allowance by a half-length. She followed that effort with her first career stakes victory in the Pan Zareta Stakes at the Fair Grounds, where she closed hard in the stretch and got up to win by a head.
After a third in the Frederick P. Aime Memorial Stakes at the Fair Grounds in her ensuing start, Kenneally shipped his mare west to run in the Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes at Santa Anita Park.
The Monrovia would be the site of Brooke Marie's biggest career victory. Throughout the trip down Santa Anita's downhill turf course, she did battle with Alice Marble, with each briefly conceding the lead to the other until jockey Juan Hernandez gained the advantage aboard Brooke Marie as the wire approached, and they finished with a half-length victory.
“She was a big, imposing filly,” Kenneally said about Brooke Marie. “A ton of class and quality. We liked her from the beginning. She won a listed stakes for us, and then she won the Monrovia, which was icing on the cake. Putting races like that on a filly's resume, a big, beautiful filly that's bred like her, she warrants a trip to Flightline.”
Brooke Marie retired with six wins in 20 starts for earnings of $480,647. She more than earned back her purchase price for Castleton Lyons on the racetrack, and after a visit to one of the most exciting incoming stallions in recent memory, Brooke Marie stands to continue rewarding her connections for their faith at the Keeneland April sale.
This year's Keeneland April Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale takes place Sunday, April 30.
Watch Brooke Marie's G2 Monrovia Stakes win below:
The post Keeneland’s April All-Stars: Brooke Marie’s Flightpath From Sales Ring To Graded Success appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
