In the select Book 1 of the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Spendthrift Farm's Omaha Beach had 11 yearlings cataloged from his debut crop, and no other rookie stallion had more than four.
With such a large presence among the heavy-hitters of the commercial stallion ranks, expectations were high for the son of War Front with his first yearlings, and it's tough to argue that he did anything less than answer the call.
Omaha Beach finished the two-week auction as the leading first-year sire by gross ($12,667,000) and average sale price ($214,695), and he was responsible for the most expensive offering by a debuting sire at this year's sale.
As a multiple Grade 1 winner by a popular commercial sire, Omaha Beach had no shortage of hopeful partners for his debut book at stud in 2020.
Mark Toothaker, Spendthrift Farm's stallion sales manager, said results like the ones Omaha Beach showed during this year's September sale took root over a series of negotiations in late 2019 and early 2020; not between the farm and the breeders, but amongst the sales team itself.
“We sat down at the conference table and went through all the mares, and we had, like, 600 mares that had applied, wanting to breed to Omaha Beach,” Toothaker said. “Each one of us, Des (Dempsey), Brian (Lyle), and I could have filled the horse up ourselves, but you've only got so many spots, so we sat there and literally played 'trump card' with each other. We'd say, 'I've got a Grade 2 winner right here that's eight years old,' and someone else would throw one out there, 'Well, I've got a Grade 1-placed horse here.' We basically went back and forth on each one and came up with about 200 mares to get him started.
“We normally don't sit there and do that, but there are horses that you've got to do it because you have no other choice, because you're overrun with applications,” he continued. “You've got to make it fair for everybody.”
Omaha Beach has 173 foals in his debut crop, and roughly a third of them (59) changed hands during this year's Keeneland September sale. That tied for the sixth-most offered by any stallion during this year's renewal.
His gross sales ranked ninth overall among all Keeneland September sires, while his average ranked 21st.
Toothaker said that he and the breeders have learned a lot about which mares work best with Omaha Beach since the first foals hit the ground and matured into yearlings.
“What we have seen from them is decent-sized horses with good hips on them, and plenty of bone,” he said. “I think the one thing we've found is he's a War Front, and he's 16.2 hands. I have seen some that you wish were a little leggier, but they were bred to very small mares. He's not a horse that I feel like a breeder could breed a small mare to and get the real commercial horse. Even though he's 16.2, out of a good female family with size, I still feel like you need to breed him to medium-sized mares to bigger mares.
“With him, I tell everybody you need to breed a mare with a good, strong hip and a hind leg,” Toothaker continued. “If you do, you've got a really good chance of getting what you want.”
At the top of the market, Omaha Beach had eight yearlings sell for $400,000 or more, which was by far the most of any rookie stallion in this year's sale.
Leading the way among that group was Hip 336, a colt out of the Grade 1-placed stakes-winning Lookin at Lucky mare Maybellene, who sold to Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables for $900,000.
The colt hails from the family of top sire Elusive Quality, champion juvenile Anees, and Gold and Ivory, who was a champion in Germany and Italy.
Omaha Beach's top yearling was offered as property of Fred Mitchell's Clarkland Farm.
“He just always comes up with them,” Toothaker said, noting the farm's history of producing successful runners and sale horses. “They do such a great job over there, and I'm so happy for Marty (Buckner) and Fred, and all that crew. Clarkland raises a great horse, and he got into great hands, so we'll just see what happens.”
The post Omaha Beach Paces First-Year Stallions By Keeneland September Returns appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
