A member of the Bin Laden family reportedly made seven purchases at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale this week.
Month: October 2023
Wonder Wheel, Who Took the Greens on the Ride of a Lifetime, To Sell at Fasig November
When Lois Green was a young girl, her family would take her once a year to Coney Island, where she thought the most exhilarating ride was the Wonder Wheel. So when the family bought a yearling by Into Mischief out of the multiple stakes winner and multiple Grade I stakes-placed Wonder Gal at auction, the name was a natural for the DJ Stable matriarch.
Wonder Wheel would go on to become Into Mischief's first juvenile champion, winning two Grade Is including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and four of five starts at 2, taking the family on the kind of exhilarating ride Lois remembered. Lois Green passed away May 31, not long after seeing her juvenile champion compete in the Grade I Kentucky Oaks, and when the family sells Wonder Wheel Tuesday night, Nov. 7 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, her son, Jon, the General Manager of DJ Stable, admits it will be “bittersweet.”
“Normally, we like to say we're very businesslike, but in this case, we're not,” said Green. “In this case, she really added so much happiness to us as a family and to watch her go to the ring, even though I know she's going to sell really well, is going to be difficult for my dad and for me–to watch her go through the sales ring and ultimately be out of our family at that point.”
Jon and his father Len are offering Wonder Wheel as a broodmare prospect, selling as hip 200, where she is expected to be one of the most sought-after offerings on the night.
“You can really summarize her potential very simply,” said Fasig-Tipton's president and CEO Boyd Browning. “She's by Into Mischief. She's a two-year-old champion with good looks and a brilliant pedigree. It's a complete package.”
Wonder Wheel will sell with Taylor Made Sales, adding another chapter to a long relationship between the Taylors and the Greens. Taylor Made's President and CEO Mark Taylor said that she was a rare filly who looked like she could be a Classic winner, but who was also an early, exceptional two-year-old.
“I think her two-year-old speed, precocity, and professionalism show a combination of physical and mental ability,” said Taylor. “And pedigree comes in to that precocity, too. Into Mischief is a very good two-year-old sire. Her broodmare sire, Tiz Wonderful, was a good two-year-old himself, but she physically looks like a two-turn Oaks filly. So this filly did all these great things at two. But really, if I would have looked at her as a yearling, I would have said she's going to be a three-year-old. So that just shows her talent, that she was able to have this big classic kind of frame, but yet be quick enough, early enough, and mentally good enough to handle a brilliant two-year-old campaign.”
Wonder Wheel surprised her connections by progressing forwardly enough to make her first start at two June 3 at Churchill, winning a maiden special weight by 2 1/4-lengths. One month later, she took the Debutante at Churchill by 6 3/4-lengths, before shipping to Saratoga to finish second in the Grade I Spinaway.
“When I got her up to Saratoga, I told the Greens this may be the best two-year-old I'd had since Classic Empire,” said Mark Casse, Wonder Wheel's trainer. “They said, `what does that mean?' I said, `I think she can win the Breeders' Cup.'”
“She got beat in the Spinaway,” said Casse. “But I really wasn't overly concerned with that because I had given her a little bit of a break. She came back and then she won the (GI Darley) Alcibiades and I thought she ran well, but I knew she was going to have to come with a better game in the Breeders' Cup. And oh boy, she did. Her win in the Breeders' Cup was amazing because she got away a little slow, got shuffled back, and the move she made from the half-mile pole to the wire? I've been doing this for 40 some years, and it was one of the more impressive victories that I've ever had.”
Wonder Wheel at Taylor Made | Sara Gordon photo
But before the race, Casse's prediction of a Breeders' Cup win caused him more than a little stress, as he had more or less guaranteed it.
“I was very attached to Lois, and she was there at the Breeders' Cup,” said “I had told them early on that we were going to win the Breeders' Cup, so it was a little nerve-wracking. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have done it. But to have Lois there and to be part of it was very special. We all miss her.”
Like the Greens, Casse said he would also miss Wonder Wheel.
“She has a wonderful personality couldn't give a hoot about anything,” said Casse. “She would go into the paddock and look around and say, `So this is my competition?' She was just a pleasure to train and never missed a beat. She loved what she's doing and she's one of the best horses I've ever trained. She has a lot more leg than most Into Mischiefs. She's got some stretch to her, and I've had great luck with that type of Into Mischief. It's what I look for.”
Casse said he expected a smooth transition into her next career.
“She's going to be a wonderful broodmare for a lot of reasons,” he said. “One, she's very sound. Even though she's big and tall, she was fast. Good broodmares, in my opinion, need some speed.
She had that. But she was able to carry it. And she had just a wonderful personality. If she passes her personality her traits on to her foals, there will be a lot of good ones. I'm sure she's going to make a super broodmare for someone.”
“She offers a ton of options for top breeders from around the world to match her up with the best stallions here, in Japan or Europe or anywhere else,” Taylor agreed, pointing out the appeal of a multiple-Grade I winning champion daughter of Into Mischief with an impressive female family, but who is still only three. “Wonder Wheel's Dam is Wonder Gal and she herself was a brilliant two-year-old. She was a stakes winner. She was second in the Frizette and then she was third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. So, you know, by any other filly standards, that would be a really good benchmark to set. But then she produces this daughter in Wonder Wheel who just goes one better. These type of opportunities are really what I love most about my job. All the possibilities down the line and what she could produce, it's really energizing.”
The post Wonder Wheel, Who Took the Greens on the Ride of a Lifetime, To Sell at Fasig November appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Daniel Toffey Joins Stallion Sales Team At Spendthrift Farm
Daniel Toffey has joined the stallion sales team at Spendthrift as the leading stallion farm readies for the 2024 breeding season.
“Tammy and I are happy Daniel has decided to come back home to work at Spendthrift,” said Spendthrift owner Eric Gustavson. “He's a hardworking, energetic young man with a wide range of skills, and we know he will be a great fit here.”
Born and raised in Lexington, Daniel's passion for horses began early on, spending countless hours around Thoroughbreds with his father, Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey. He first started at Spendthrift upon graduating from high school, working with both the broodmare and yearling divisions. Daniel went on to gain valuable experience at the racing level, going to work for trainer Al Stall.
Most recently, Daniel worked for Woodford Thoroughbreds in Ocala, breaking and training horses. He quickly rose through the ranks to become assistant trainer at Woodford and is now transitioning back to the breeding side of the industry to work with breeders in stallion season sales.
“I've had a passion for horses my entire life and it's a bond I've shared with my father,” he said. “I really fell in love with the competitive nature of the horse industry. I enjoyed training and will miss it, but I am very excited to work with our breeders from all over the world. I look forward to helping ensure that the farm and our breeders continue to have success in all aspects of the industry.”
The post Daniel Toffey Joins Stallion Sales Team At Spendthrift Farm appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Letter to the Editor
If there are two sports whose paths have mirrored each other historically, it would be baseball and horse racing in America.
Both are tradition-driven and both enjoyed prominence for decades. And both recently have dealt with challenges, scandals and declining interest.
One sport though has chosen to embrace innovation.
Baseball has developed multiple changes over several years as they fought to gain fan, media and sponsor revenue. To our credit, racing has innovated in several spaces, specifically health and safety, but not so much in product presentation.
The last major product innovation in racing happened four decades ago with the creation of the Breeders' Cup.
Major League Baseball announced this week that they enjoyed their biggest year-over-year attendance increase since 1993. Because they listened. And they changed.
The energy is back in baseball. Media attention is back. And the fans are back in the ballpark and watching games on a bevy of media options.
Can we say the same of racing? Unfortunately, no.
But fortunately, it is not too late. As long as racing will step up to the plate right now and embrace meaningful innovation.
Need one example? There is a 100% chance that realigning the Triple Crown on a better schedule would result in more media attention, more wagering and a stronger safety message.
Earlier this year, leaders within the sport–Churchill Downs, Stronach, top breeders and others cried out for increased cooperation and collaboration.
There is no question that much of this was due to our safety crisis, but clearly the safety issue is only one of many that should–and must be addressed by a broad coalition of our industry.
That is if we want to remain relevant and follow a proven path, like our friends in baseball just showed us.
It took bold thinking and a never-give-up attitude by John Gaines to create the Breeders' Cup. And equally as important, it took thinking of the greater good by breeders and racetracks.
The evolution of racetrack ownership should make innovation much, much more possible than ever. You can count on one hand the entities that control the sport.
Throw in the Breeders' Cup and The Jockey Club and representatives from those seven could fit around a small dining room table!
There are 30 club owners in MLB involved in the decision-making process. Not to mention the Players' Association and others.
Undoubtedly, a Commissioner-led model greatly facilitates changes to baseball, but with so few involved to create meaningful innovation in racing, we can still change without requiring a Commissioner.
Want to truly pay homage to the 40-year anniversary of the Breeders' Cup? Create a “Gaines Commission” to study and implement strategic changes within racing.
Outside professional support would moderate our “think tank” project, at first with only representatives from the racing entities mentioned above.
As the commission begins to develop and agree on potential action, others (deservedly so) will be brought into the process. But for now, one step at a time.
Just as baseball went to a pitch clock, the Gaines Commission would be on the clock as well, directed to finalize their recommendations long before Breeders' Cup 2024.
Baseball changed and has been rewarded. Racing can do the same. Our changes will be different. Our changes won't be as easy.
But we don't have another 40 years to wait.
Kip Cornett is a Thoroughbred owner, bettor and sports marketer.
The post Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Letter to the Editor appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
