It is with great sadness that Coolmore's Ashford Stud announces the death of Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus who was euthanized at the farm Tuesday due to the infirmities of old age.
Bred by Arthur Hancock and Bob and Janice McNair of Stonerside farm, 'Fu Peg' as he was affectionately known, was a $4-million yearling when purchased by Fusao Sekiguchi at the 1998 Keeneland July sale. Trained by Neil Drysdale, Fusaichi Pegasus took the Grrade 2 San Felipe Stakes and the G2 Wood Memorial before winning the 2000 Kentucky Derby as the favorite and finishing second in the Preakness Stakes.
A year on from his legendary sire Mr. Prospector passing away, a heated bidding war involving most farms in Lexington for Fusaichi Pegasus ensued, and he retired to Ashford Stud at the end of 2000 for a then record breaking sum.
Fusaichi Pegasus went on to sire six champions worldwide and Grade 1 winners including Roman Ruler, Champ Pegasus, Haradasun and Bandini, while Southern Hemisphere stints at Haras Don Alberto and Haras Philipson yielded Horse Of The Year Bronzo and champion miler Telamon. He was also broodmare sire of 2023 Chilean Triple Crown winner Fortino.
Fusaichi Pegasus was pensioned from stud duties in 2020 and had been living out his retirement at Ashford.
“Fu Peg was a fantastic racehorse and a colorful character,” commented Ashford Stud general manager Dermot Ryan, “I would like to thank Richard Barry and all of his team, past and present, for providing the highest level of care for him throughout his time at Ashford.”
The family that produced the 2023 Preakness Stakes winner National Treasure has been owned by breeder Peter Blum since Moses was wearing diapers.
Over the past seven generations of this family, from sixth dam Mono (by Better Self) to breeding and selling the Preakness winner through the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale consignment of Bridie Harrison, whose family farm operation foaled and raised the colt, Blum has concentrated on quality. Quality and classic athleticism.
But the mare that began this saga and that Peter Blum acquired a while back was the Better Self mare Mono, out of Sin Iqual. Mono was a good-looking mare, and this is a family with good looks and attractive physicality. Broad and thick-bodied, Mono wasn't the very best racing type, not being especially tall and scopey, but she was much better than average as a producer, and her family continues on to the present with such as this year's Preakness winner.
Bred in Kentucky by King Ranch, Mono proved a winner and was six times second or third from 14 starts, earning $3,752. Judged surplus to requirements for King Ranch, Mono went on to produce three stakes winners, including Rare Performer (by Mr. Prospector) for Blum, and the bay son of Mr. Prospector went to stud in Kentucky at Murty Farm, then moved to Prestonwood Farm (now WinStar) in the late 1980s.
Rare Performer was a fast son of Mr. Prospector who sired a powerful, chunky type in the mold of this family. And Blum bred a full sister to Rare Performer whose physique followed the family type (just a bit chubby) but whose racing success was limited.
Like her dam, Mine Only proved a winner on the racetrack but a dazzling success as a broodmare. That has been the common thread among the broodmares of this line that Blum has retained. Only one has done more than win a maiden, National Treasure's second dam Proposal (Mt. Livermore), who won at two and four and placed in a stakes.
Retired to stud, Proposal produced four stakes winners. Each of the dams tracing backward, even beyond the ownership of Blum, show a perplexing laxity on the point of racing performance, but they are dynamite broodmares.
Each has produced at least one stakes winner; most went for multiples.
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Another facet to the breeding story of National Treasure is the repeated addition of classic quality to these rugged, fast, strong mares. In particular, the sire and broodmare sire of National Treasure, Quality Road and Medaglia d'Oro, are dominant for adding scope and classic stamina to pedigrees; their addition to this fast, sturdy family resulted in National Treasure. Last season, the bay colt could fairly have been called the third-best juvenile after a second-place finish to Cave Rock (Arrogate) in the American Pharoah and then a third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile behind Forte (Violence) and Cave Rock again.
Thus, the step forward to compete in the classics was not a long one from National Treasure's standing at two, although his level of success was a major elevation for his dam, the Medaglia d'Oro mare Treasure. She placed six times from seven starts, earning $63,180, and the Preakness winner is her fourth foal.
In addition to the current Preakness winner, this is the family line of the 1946 Preakness (and Triple Crown) winner Assault (Bold Venture), and National Treasure's seventh dam is Sin Igual (Bold Venture), a full sister to Assault foaled in 1952. They are both out of the unraced Equipoise mare Igual.
As a mate for Bold Venture, Igual delivered for King Ranch, getting a Triple Crown winner and other talented racers. Bold Venture, whom King Ranch had acquired after his racing career was finished, proved a mixed blessing for the breeding operation. The 1936 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner sired a Triple Crown winner for them, plus Middleground, who won the 1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
In the loss column, however, Bold Venture wasn't the most fertile stallion, and his sons were somewhat worse. Assault was effectively sterile, and Middleground was noted as a “patchy foal-getter.”
That doesn't seem to have been a problem with the fillies in the family, however, and the line continued on.
Nor are Assault and his sire the only other Preakness winners related to this distinguished family. Igual's dam is the Chicle mare Incandescent, bred in Kentucky by C.V. Whitney and a minor stakes winner out of the Fair Play mare Masda. The latter is the elder full sister to 1920 Preakness winner Man o' War.
If you breed to real quality, it keeps coming back.
It was easy to understand why Hip 245 of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training sale would have attracted attention.
The daughter of Mendelssohn was a striking shade of gray, harkening back to her near-white broodmare sire, the champion Hansen, and she stood out around the barns in a sea of dark bay juveniles. However, buyers paid attention to her for how she traveled over the track, and when Speedway Stable landed her for $800,000, she got attention for topping Monday's opening session.
Success is a team effort at a 2-year-old sale, and the team that got the Mendelssohn filly to Maryland with consignor Paul Sharp prominently featured riders Daniel Garcia and Skylar Munden.
Garcia, a native of Guerrero, Mexico, breezed the filly during last week's under-tack show, where she clocked an eighth of a mile in :10 1/5 seconds, tying for the second-fastest time at the distance.
“She's nice, she's easy,” Garcia said. “This filly had class. She did a good job in the work.”
Taking a horse through a breeze at an under-tack show is essentially the pinnacle of speed in the Thoroughbred world. There is practically no scenario where a Thoroughbred would be tasked with covering a furlong in 10 seconds or less in an actual race.
Asking a young horse to achieve those speeds requires a certain degree of expertise in the saddle, to not only urge the horse to give all of themselves in a way that appeals to buyers, but also to hang on for the ride.
Garcia had never ridden a horse before arriving in Central Florida, where he joins brothers Jose and Gio working for Sharp's operation. He was the only one of the brothers with a rider's frame, so when he first arrived at Classic Mile Park Training Center in Ocala, Fla., before working for Sharp, he took lessons aboard a friend's horse and picked up the skills with relative ease.
“I saw everything, and I wanted to ride the horses, so when I had the opportunity, I tried it and liked it,” he said.
Hip 245, 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2 Y-O-in Training Sale
Riding was already in Munden's system by the time she joined Sharp's barn a decade ago at age 15.
A native of Williston, Fla., Munden didn't come from a family with ties to horses, but nonetheless, she first got in the saddle at age five riding jumpers. She took a break from the saddle after breaking her leg at age 12, but when it healed, she decided to shift her focus from jumping to going fast.
“My mom would take me to work every morning, and I would get on two, three, five horses before I had to get off and my friend would take me to school every day,” Munden said. “When I turned 16, I got into the work program where I could work instead of going to school, and I took advantage of it. I loved being at work much more than I enjoyed being at school. After I graduated, this is all there was. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.
“It's the thrill,” she continued. “It's something like no other to have an animal that can do anything at once, but you just go together.”
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Compared to Garcia, Munden had only just been introduced to the Mendelssohn filly. She returned to work three weeks ago after having a baby, and her first time aboard the filly came on the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, where she helped make final preparations for her under-tack show performance.
“By the time I got on her, she was strong and ready to go, so I had the pleasure of just sitting there, thank goodness,” Munden said. “I didn't have to go through the hard work everyone else had to, so I got the best parts of her, I think.”
Skylar Munden with Hip 245, 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2 Y-O-in Training Sale
Munden described Sharp's Central Florida training center as an especially quiet setting, which was a stark contrast to the sometimes-hectic atmosphere that an auction can bring. She also noted the differences between the surfaces at Sharp's training track and the oval in Timonium.
“Here, it's not as deep,” she said. “At the farm, it's natural and deep. Here, it's a little bit harder, but it's much easier for them to get across here, because they don't have to work as hard.”
As someone that had been on the Mendelssohn filly on the farm and at the track, Garcia agreed that the faster-paced nature of the sale requires some adjustments as a rider, compared to on their home turf when they can control more aspects of working with the horses.
“The horse sales is more preparation, so it's a little more work,” he said, “and the farm is more relaxed.”
A million-dollar Arrogate filly topped the final session of the 2023 Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training held Tuesday evening in Timonium, Md., marking the eighth consecutive year that a seven-figure horse has been sold at this sale.
Kerri Radcliffe, agent, purchased the session- and sale-topping Arrogate filly (Hip 552) for $1 million from the consignment of Hartley/de Renzo Thoroughbreds, agent (video).
The chestnut filly worked an eighth in :10 flat during the Thursday session of last week's under tack show. Out of the winning Mutakddim mare Twixy, Hip 552 is a half-sister to four winners, including multiple stakes winner Twixy Roll (Roll Hennessy Roll). Her dam is herself a half-sister to the dam of multiple Grade 1 winning millionaire and Breeders' Cup champion Caleb's Posse.
A filly from the first returning U.S. crop of Take Charge Indy (Hip 361) commanded the day's second-highest price when sold for $510,000 to Jeff Mackor, agent for Gus King, from the consignment of De Meric Sales, agent.
The dark bay or brown filly worked an eighth in :10 flat during the Wednesday session of the under tack show. Hip 361 is a full or half-sister to eight winners out of the stakes placed Songandaprayer mare Perfect Paula, who produced Take Charge Indy's graded stakes winning filly Take Charge Paula.
Rounding out the session's top five prices were:
– A filly by Gun Runner (Hip 406), sold for $450,000 to Flurry Racing Stables from the consignment of De Meric Sales, agent. The dark bay or brown filly is the first foal out of the multiple stakes winning Rock Slide mare Rocky Policy. Now a three-time Fasig-Tipton sales graduate, Hip 406 was bred in New York by Barry R. Ostrager.
– A colt by Justify (Hip 322), sold for $400,000 to Tom Durant from the consignment of Hartley/de Renzo Thoroughbreds, agent. The bay colt is a half-brother to three winners and a placed 3-year-old out of the winning Elusive Quality mare My Fast One, from the immediate family of multiple Grade 1 winner Wekiva Springs.
– A filly from the first crop of champion Vino Rosso (Hip 379), sold for $385,000 to Team Hanley and 30 Year Farm from the consignment of Tom McCrocklin, agent. The bay filly is out of the Malibu Moon mare Qualkris, from the immediate family of Grade 1 winner Faiza and Grade 2 winners Thousand Words and Pomeroys Pistol.
Over the course of two days of selling, 373 juveniles changed hands for $34,751,500. The gross was the second highest in this sale's history behind last year's record-setting gross of $37,297,700 for 291 sold. The average was $93,168, third highest in sale history behind last year's record of $95,391 and 2021's then-record watermark of $94,391. The median was $50,000, tied for a sale record with the median in 2021, and up 6.4 percent over the median of $47,000 in 2022. The RNA rate was just 14.6 percent, second lowest in sale history behind the record RNA rate of 12.5 percent set in 2010.
This marked the eighth consecutive year that a seven-figure juvenile has sold at the Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training sale.
The first such sale in 2015 – a $1.25-million Smart Strike filly – was a record for both the sale and for a Thoroughbred sold at public auction in the state of Maryland at the time. The Maryland-state record is now $3.55 million, the price of last year's sale-topping Bernardini colt.
The most prominent of the run of expensive juveniles is 2019 sale topper Gamine ($1.8 million), who would go on to be named Eclipse champion Female Sprinter in 2020 after capturing that year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, one of her five Grade 1 scores and seven graded stakes victories.
