Month: January 2024

C2 Racing Stable Sells An Interest In White Abarrio To HRH Prince Faisal Of Saudi Arabia

Brothers Mark and Clint Cornett, who race under the name of C2 Racing Stable, have taken on HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia as a partner in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day). The 5-year-old will make his next in the Feb. 24 running of the G1 Saudi Cup. Mark Cornett said that C2 remains the majority owner, but declined to say how big of a percentage was sold.

The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Mike Welsch.

Prince Faisal is the owner who lured trainer Jimmy Jerkens to Saudi Arabia to train a string of his horses.

“Winning the Saudi Cup is very important to them,” Mark Cornett said. “It's in his backyard and he'll be representing his country in an international race. You're going to have four or five Japanese horses, horses from all over the world. It's very important to them that they represent the Saudi people.”

Cornett said the deal has been in the works for about four weeks.

“We've been working on this for about a month,” he said. “They've flown over a couple of times to watch the horse breeze. Their vet has come over twice from France to do his due diligence. They ended up pulling the trigger on it and we consummated the deal this week. They're going to be great partners for us and we will be great partners to them. We look forward to doing additional things with them in the future.”

White Abarrio | Benoit

White Abarrio has remained at Santa Anita since winning the Breeders' Cup Classic there. Cornett said the gray will board a plane from LAX to Miami Feb. 13. From there, he will be joined by South Florida-based horses who will also be running on the Saudi Cup card before heading straight to Riyadh.

Though the owners have not committed to any races beyond the Saudi Cup, Cornett said the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 30 is definitely a possibility.

“The Dubai World Cup is definitely on our list of races,” he said. “He'll have to run the right way in the Saudi Cup and come out the race the right way. All the stars are going to have to line up. If that happens, we'll go in the Dubai World Cup. If not, we'll bring him back to New York and take a look at the Met Mile.”

White Abarrio worked four furlongs (:47.60, 6/73) on Friday morning at Santa Anita.

“The horse is doing better than he's ever done,” Cornett said. “I talked to (trainer) Rick (Dutrow) this morning. He breezed a half in :47 3/5 as good as he ever has and came out of the work great. The horse is definitely on his game.”

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Taylor Made’s Foaling Season Starts with Flightline’s First Foal

Foaling season is off to a flying start at Taylor Made Farm as they're already up to nearly a dozen foals on the ground. Everything has gone smoothly so far, but a real showstopper came early when they welcomed the first foal by Horse of the Year Flightline. A star-faced bay filly with a bit of chrome on her hind legs, the new arrival is also the first foal out of Grade I winner Juju's Map (Liam's Map).

“It's really a blessing to have such a well-bred horse here,” said Frank Taylor. “She's got a great attitude and she is strong and healthy. Everything is going great so far. The mare is by Liam's Map, who is a half-brother to Not This Time. Those are two of the best horses we ever raised, so it's really exciting to have this filly on the farm.”

Bred by Fred W. Hertrich III, Juju's Map was a $300,000 Keeneland September purchase for the Albaugh family. She broke her maiden in her second start for Brad Cox and went on to claim the 2021 GI Darley Alcibiades S. and run second to Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. A winner and three times graded stakes placed at three, Juju's Map was sent through the ring at the Keeneland November Sale in 2022, but she RNA'd for $1.9 million and stayed with the Albaugh family.

Taylor said the mating of Flightline and Juju's Map produced a good blend of both Grade I-caliber horses.

“The filly has the looks of Flightline, but she also has some of the mare,” he explained. “The mating matches up well physically and pedigree-wise, and you're just breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best.”

Taylor added that Juju's Map will visit Curlin in 2024.

Sara Gordon

As for the foal, Taylor hypothesized that for now, it's a coin toss as to whether the youngster would one day see the sales ring or race in the Albaugh silks. The filly's broodmare sire and his family carry a well-known story on just that subject.

“We had Liam's Map here as a yearling and the Albaughs really never sold many of their horses,” Taylor recalled. “He was by Unbridled's Song and he was the best yearling on the farm, so we talked them into selling him. He brought $800,000 and we were all very excited about the way he sold until he won the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and they syndicated him for a lot more than $800,000. Then fast forward and Mr. Albaugh was back here and we were showing him the Giant's Causeway colt out of same mare and we said, 'Man, this one could bring maybe $1 million or $2 million.' His response was,' Not this time.'”

Not This Time, who was runner-up in the 2016 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile for Dennis Albaugh and his family, stands for $150,000 this year as a fifth-crop sire at Taylor Made and is now embarking on a career as a sire of sires with 3-year-old champion Epicenter beginning his second year at Ashford Stud and MGISW Up to the Mark debuting at Lane's End.

Plenty of superbly bred horses will hit the ground at Taylor Made in the coming weeks, but Taylor said there is no denying that having the first foal by a horse like the undefeated Flightline–who stood for $200,000 and covered 152 mares in his debut season–is a special honor.

“You dream about these horses become great racehorses and this filly is really bred to go a distance, so maybe someday we'll see her in the Oaks,” he said. “That'd be a dream come true.”

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Classic Winner Mo Donegal Celebrates A Colt As His First Foal

Spendthrift Farm's Mo Donegal, the classic-winning son of Uncle Mo, sired his first reported foal this week when a colt was born at WinStar Farm in Versailles, the stallion's farm said in a release Friday afternoon.

Bred by Alfredo Gastaneta, the bay colt is out of the Declaration of War mare Andavete, a half-sister to 2020 GI Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Mr. Big News (Giant's Causeway) and hailing from the immediate family of champion sire Saint Ballado.

“This is a good size colt with good bone and leg underneath him,” said Fernando Macchiavello, agent for Alfredo Gastaneta. “He looks like an Uncle Mo, with that hip and balance and long legs. He has that look to him.”

Mo Donegal joined Nyquist as classic-winning sons of leading sire Uncle Mo when he captured his biggest win in the 2022 GI Belmont S. Campaigned by trainer Todd Pletcher and owners Repole Stable and Donegal Racing, Mo Donegal also won the GII Remsen S. at Aqueduct, defeating Grade I winner Zandon (Upstart), and the GII Wood Memorial S. over classic winner Early Voting (Gun Runner).

Mo Donegal retired to Spendthrift with earnings of $1,511,800. He bred 186 mares in his first book in 2023 and is set to stand his second season for a fee of $15,000 S&N.

For more information about Mo Donegal, please contact Des, Mark, Brian or Daniel at 859-294-0030, or click here.

The post Classic Winner Mo Donegal Celebrates A Colt As His First Foal appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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