“She was special because she dealt with a problem that I knew she was thinking about and I knew was on her mind, but she had the class and the style and the substance to fight through the issue,” said Terry Finley, whose West Point Thoroughbreds campaigned the filly along with Mercedes Stables, Scott Dilworth, David and Dorothy Ingordo and Steve Mooney. “She was very special to all the racing fans and all the people in the business out on the West Coast and especially to John Shirreffs and his barn. There was a lot of goodness around her career and I think she really drove home the things that cause us all to love this great business.”

After a three-year campaign marked by wins in the GI La Brea S. and GII Santa Monica S. and placings in four additional graded stakes races at Santa Anita, Hard Not to Love will be offered this week at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

“She's sure appropriately-named,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “Everybody cheered for her and you wanted to see her get to the winner's circle. To watch her grow and develop and to see her accomplishments on the racetrack was pretty remarkable and I would say that her offspring are going to be hard not to love also. She combines all the elements of what you look for in a brilliant broodmare prospect and she provides a world of opportunities.”

Bred by Anderson Farms, Hard Not to Love was picked out by David Ingordo at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale.

“She came out and was just a queen-looking physical,” Ingordo recalled of the moment he first saw the daughter of Hard Spun. “She was very correct in front and was a very strong filly behind.”

On the day of her $400,000 purchase, the filly's pedigree listed just one stakes-winning half-brother as offspring of her Saratoga allowance-winning dam Loving Vindication (Vindication). But later that afternoon, the yearling's 2-year-old half-sister placed in a Grade I. The filly, named Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d'Oro), would become a multiple graded stakes winner and 2018 Horse of the Year in Canada.

“Since then, there have been other different family members that have popped up, so the family just became explosive and all at Grade I levels,” Ingordo said.

Hard Not to Love as a yearling at the Keeneland September Sale. | Louise Reinagel

Hard Not to Love was sent to McKathan Brothers Training in Ocala and had just turned two when Ingordo received a call about a paddock accident. The filly's eye had to be removed surgically.

“She was broken into training, from saddling to breezing, without ever having the benefit of that eye,” Ingordo said.”But we had a group of six fillies in the partnership and she was the star from day one.”

“You get really excited when [you have a horse with] John Shirreffs and you can start to hear it in his voice,” Finley said. “He said, 'It will probably take me a little while to get this filly to the races, but she's a good one.' So everybody was really excited and John was right on with this filly; she was a runner from the start.”

Early in her 3-year-old season, Hard Not to Love debuted with a front-running, three-length win at Santa Anita to earn the 'TDN Rising Star' nod.

After two more trips to the winner's circle over allowance company, she stepped up to Grade I company in the GI La Brea S. Up against a quality field that included MGSW Bellafina (Quality Road) and GIISW Bell's the One (Majesticperfection), Hard Not to Love rallied from the back of the field to win be over two lengths and earn a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.

“It was a good group of fillies, but I thought from the feel I got around the barn that she was sitting on a big effort,” Finley recalled. “I knew going into the far turn that they were going to have a difficult time trying to contain her. She ran by a couple of fillies that turned out to be exceptional and she did it with style and grace and with a flourish. I think that's been her calling card is the ability to finish with a flourish.”

The accomplished bay kicked off her 4-year-old campaign with a 3 1/2-length winning performance in the GII Santa Monica S. and then ran second in her next two starts against top company in the GI Beholder Mile S. and the GII Santa Maria S.

“Hard Not to Love was certainly at the top of her game posting those back-to-back graded stakes wins,” Browning said. “They were quality races against quality competition. She was also very, very consistent. An eight-time graded stakes performer, very versatile in terms of the distances she ran and was a fun filly to watch because sometimes she would be on the lead and other times she would close.”

Hard Not to Love wins by 2 1/4 lengths in the 2019 GI La Brea S. | Benoit

After placing in two more graded stakes in California, Hard Not to Love was retired this year with five wins in 12 career starts, placing in all but two.

“Hard Not to Love's hallmark for me, and it's something I look for in any horse, is when they're consistently competing at a high level,” Ingordo said. “She showed up every race, competed against the best of her generation and left it all on the track each time.”

Ingordo said he strongly believes that if it were not for the dedication of John Shirreffs, the talented filly never would have had the chance to show off her ability.

“There's no doubt in my mind that if Hard Not to Love was in a mega-trainer's barn, they would have sent her home,” he said. “She was a talented filly and she had a great mind, but you had to teach her and work through some things. John's process was well thought out and was for the filly's best interest. Having Hard Not to Love with John Shirreffs is like being in private school versus public school, and we got a valedictorian.”

The 5-year-old will begin her new career as a broodmare after selling as Hip 184 on the 'Night of the Stars.'

“Hard Not to Love will be a successful broodmare because she had style, class and elegance and she was able to put all those together and perform on the racetrack,” Finley said. “She always had that sparkle in her eye and I think people that know the business can see those special ones.”

Along with the success of her half-sister Wonder Gadot, who sold for $2 million at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, Hard Not to Love's pedigree received another Grade I  boost since her yearling purchase with the success of GI Beholder Mile S. victress Secret Spice (Discreet Cat).

“She has a fantastic depth of pedigree,” Browning explained. “She also offers a lot of breeding opportunities being by Hard Spun and out of a Vindication mare. From a sire-line perspective, she can be bred to a lot of different stallions that stand all over the world. She combines race record, pedigree and physical looks and presents a fabulous scenario for someone looking to have the opportunity to fulfill their dreams come November the 9^th.”

For Ingordo, Hard Not to Love offers everything that he seeks out in a broodmare prospect.

“They have to have some speed and Hard Not to Love is a very fast horse,” he said. “They have to have a good physical presence and I feel like Hard Not to Love is one of the better-looking horses that will walk through any sales ring this year, next year or two years from now. Then when you take into account her race record and pedigree, those are all the things that you need to have a blue hen, foundation-type mare.”

The post Much to Love with Grade I-Winning Fasig-Tipton Offering appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“Valiance is a no-brainer,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “You've got three generations of Grade I winners in her pedigree. She's a beautiful mare and had a great deal of talent as a very successful racehorse. As an added bonus, she's a stakes winner on the turf as well.”

Valiance will sell as Hip 251 with the Bluewater Sales consignment on the 'Night of the Stars.'

“Anybody who has been in the business for any time at all dreams about a horse like this that comes from a filly family with so much opportunity for her family to fill in,” Bluewater's Meg Levy said. “That Grade I is just an absolute stamp. Everybody wants a Grade I winner. They want that collector's item for their portfolio. She has elegance, beauty, balance and bone. Plus, she's a good size. I'm a big believer in mares raising their foals to be winners and I think that will also come with her.”

Levy has been closely associated with the talented 5-year-old mare throughout her racing career. The homebred for China Horse Club went through Bluewater's yearling sales prep program.

“She did have a little bit of a tough personality,” Levy admitted of a young Valiance. “She took on everything she was supposed to do. Every time you asked her a new question she took a step forward, but she did ask you first if you were sure you meant it. I think that part of her personality served her well.”

Valiance flourished during her summer at Bluewater and captured buyers' attention at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale.

“I can still remember her in Saratoga when she came out of the stall,” Browning recalled. “She was a beautiful yearling and one where you just kind of grinned when you saw her thinking, 'We're going to have some fun selling a filly like her.'”

“She was really meant to be the star of our show, being by Tapit and out of a Grade I winner,” Levy explained. “She was a gorgeous filly. She was very athletic with big bone and was almost masculine in the way she moved and how she dealt with things.”

Valiance sold for $650,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale | Thorostride

Lev recalled Brian Spearman, then a relatively new partner with Eclipse Thoroughbreds, approaching her at the sale and inquiring about the filly.

“I couldn't help but tell him, 'Brian, it's all right there on the page. She's out of a Grade I winner who is out of a Grade I winner. You really can't get any better than this. If this filly can run, the stars are aligned. She's a collector's item.”

Eclipse Thoroughbreds partnered with Martin Schwartz along with breeder China Horse Club to purchase the filly for $650,000.

“Sometimes you're a little bit nervous putting people together because you don't how it's going to work out,” Levy admitted. “But in her case, with bringing all these people together and putting her under the right management, she fulfilled her potential. The really special thing about Valiance is that not very often does the page and the expectations and the physical get together and really tell the story and fulfill the prophecy.”

Valiance was sent to Todd Pletcher and made her winning debut early in her 3-year-old season going a mile and a sixteenth on the turf at Gulfstream.

“Valiance is a filly who showed a lot of talent from early on,” Pletcher said. “She showed quality from the day she walked into the barn. For her to win her debut first time out, going long on the turf, that's a difficult task.”

From there, Valiance remained undefeated in her next two starts, making her stakes debut in the Open Mind S. As a 4-year-old, she returned to the winner's circle in her first try on the main track in the off-the-turf Eatontown S. at Monmouth.

“As Valiance got older, she got stronger,” Pletcher said. “I think she was a filly that was capable of running on any surface but as she matured, she got better and better on dirt. That's what convinced us to try the race at Monmouth when it came off the turf. You have to watch that race to appreciate how easily she won that day. She was hardly ridden at all.”

Pletcher said as the filly's breezes became more impressive following her stakes win on dirt, she convinced her Hall of Fame trainer of her Grade I quality and Pletcher decided to run her in the GI Spinster S.

Stalking the favored Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) for much of the mile and an eighth contest, Valiance surged past the GI Kentucky Oaks winner in the stretch and fended off GISW Ollie's Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}) late to win by almost two lengths.

Levy remembers that weekend at Keeneland well. Two days before the Spinster, she celebrated as Simply Ravishing (Laoban), a 2-year-old filly she bred, raced to Grade I stardom in the Darley Alcibiades  S.

“When Valiance ran in the Spinster, it was a magical weekend for us,” she said. “I remember taking a video of her as we ran to winner's circle. There's nothing like it in racing-that moment, with the heart and the pedigree, when they lay it on the line and leave it on the track. That's all you're looking for.”

“The Spinster was a breakthrough performance for her,” Pletcher added. “It was a very satisfying win for the whole team to take a filly with her pedigree, quality and conformation and win a Grade I, especially at a prestigious track like Keeneland.”

Valiance bests Grade I winners Shedaresthedevil and Ollie's Candy in the GI Spinster S. | Coady

Valiance returned to Keeneland for her final career start in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, defeating all but champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) in a star-studded field that included Grade I winners Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), Dunbar Road (Quality Road) and Ollie's Candy.

“She put in a tremendous effort in the Breeders' Cup,” Browning said. “She paired those two races back to back with really meaningful performances, demonstrating an enormous amount of talent and really showing everybody what an exceptional racehorse she was.”

Browning said he thinks of Valiance's successful career as an example of why buyers return to the yearling marketplace every year.

“Valiance helps everyone have confidence in the auction ring to bid on a yearling like her,” he explained. “As a buyer, you say that's the kind that I ought to be pursuing. Fillies like Valiance who go on and justify their sale price and validate their pedigree give us all hope at the yearling sales.”

“Any time you invest in a filly with this type of conformation and pedigree, you have high hopes, ” Pletcher said. “But then to have one fulfill those hopes and win a Grade I, that's something every owner dreams of. That's what everyone's trying to achieve in this business.”

“The great thing about Valiance is that she was ultra-consistent,” he continued, reflecting on his trainee who made it to the winner's circle in all but three of her career starts. “She had the right combination of speed and the ability to carry it over a route of ground. She was very competitive and she liked her job. Anytime you take a mare with her conformation, her pedigree and her racetrack ability on multiple surfaces, it gives you a horse that you think would be a slam dunk as a broodmare prospect.”

“You take pride when you sell quality horses at a yearling sale that go on to achieve success and then you take pride in having the opportunity to sell them at the conclusion of their career,” Browning said. “Her ownership group is all folks who we have a relationship with and think highly of, so it's an honor to have an opportunity to sell a filly of this quality.”

Take a look at our full 'Spotlight on the Night of the Stars' series here.

The post Valiance Fulfills Family Tradition of Grade I Excellence appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Her dam, Gottahaveadream (Indian Charlie), was a relatively large mare and had consistently thrown size and scope in her first three foals, so the Siena team had decided to pair her with Into Mischief. The resulting foal, Patino said, was better than what they had imagined.

“I loved the filly when she was born,” Siena Farm's General Manager explained. “She was a big, strong filly with the size and scope we were hoping for. I remember calling Anthony [Manganaro, Siena Farm Chairman] and telling him the mare got a beautiful Into Mischief filly.”

As spring turned to summer, Dayoutoftheoffice looked to be the prized weanling of her foal crop at Siena. But one foggy morning in September, the trajectory of her career changed entirely.

Manganaro was in town and told Patino he wanted to take a look at Gottahaveadream's filly.

“It was very foggy and the guys were bringing the weanlings closer to the gate,” Patino recalled. “We were driving up to the barn when we heard all this commotion. The horses had spooked and they took off running in the field. When the guys finally brought them into the barn, that's when we saw Dayoutoftheoffice had run into a fence. Her knee looked like somebody had taken a sledgehammer and hit her.”

Patino immediately sprang into action, loading the injured weanling onto the van and calling the clinic as soon as they were on the road.

“When one of these things happens, you pretty much know that as far as this horse becoming a racehorse, it's probably not going to happen,” he said.

But at the clinic, they discovered that there was minimal damage to the bone or the ligaments. The filly returned to the farm a few days later and for weeks, Patino diligently changed her bandage daily.'

“After three weeks, the knee looked great,” he remembered. “There was a lot of swelling, but the wound had closed. The problem was that for everything to heal, the skin had become stiff and there was no flexion in the knee.”

Dayoutoftheoffice and her dam Gottahaveadream at Siena Farm | Siena Farm

Patino and his team worked with the filly daily to get some flexibility back in the joint, using the cold-water spa and trying out other forms of therapy. When it came time for sales prep to begin, Patino decided to keep her on the same track as the other sales yearlings.

“You could see that the knee was never going to be normal, but running around in the field, she looked fine,” he said. “I think the knee was probably bothering me more than it was bothering her. I was kind of hesitant to put her on the walker or exercise her like the other yearlings, but we started sales prepping and it was a completely different horse. Everything she was doing was very easy for her and she just loved it. You didn't have to make her work, she did it on her own.”

Even as the filly flourished in her training, the veterinarians told Patino she had a 50-50 shot of seeing the racetrack. He knew she would be overlooked at any sale.

“People would take one look at the knee and turn around,” he said.

Patino and Manganaro, along with Siena's President David Pope, decided to send her to Tim Hamm, a conditioner they had shared success with in 2016 with My Dear S. winner Velvet Mood (Lonhro {Aus}).

“Tim has a program that he will work out a deal with us and for 50% equity, he will train them at no expense to us,” Pope explained. “So it was a win-win. Dayoutoftheoffice was in a group of three or four horses that we sent him and we thought she was probably the least likely [to race] because of her injury.”

But Patino said that when Hamm first saw the young filly, his eyes lit up.

“I don't think it took him two seconds to look at the filly,” he recalled. “He loved her size and the physical was there, just looking at the knee you didn't know if she would make it. I remember going to visit her in February and you could see she loved going on the track and she looked normal galloping.”

It wasn't long before Hamm was asking for a name for their juvenile. Pope and Patino discussed options back in the office at Siena.

“Her dam's name is Gottahaveadream,” Patino had reminded Pope.

“Nacho, my dream is to have a day at the beach,” Pope had replied.

They looked up the name Day at the Beach, but it was already taken.

“Well my dream is to have a day out of the office,” Patino suggested.

They tried again with Dayoutoftheoffice, and the name was available.

“We didn't even tell Anthony, we just gave her the name,” Pope recalled with a laugh. “Next thing we know, Anthony is calling us up and he hated the name. But after she won the Schuylerville, he called us and said, 'You know what? I love that name.'”

Dayoutoftheoffice made a winning debut at Gulfstream in May last year, flashing through a speedy opening quarter of :21.89 to win the 4 1/2-furlong contest by 4 3/4 lengths. She was dismissed at long odds in her next start in the GIII Schuylerville S., but bested the rest of the field by six lengths.

“I loved the fact that she was 20-1 because we made a little bit of money on that bet,” Pope said with a grin. “We were running against the big boys and it's nice when you're the underdog and you win. She made us proud. You look at the field that day and you see the top outfits in the country that we were racing against. It wasn't even a close race; she dominated.”

Dayoutoftheoffice returned several months later to remain undefeated in the GI Frizette S., besting GI Spinaway S. winner and eventual GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies champion Vequist (Nyquist) by two lengths at Belmont with over 10 lengths back to the third. She earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure in the mile-long contest.

Meanwhile, Patino proudly watched these dazzling performances back at Siena with the rest of his team, a group that was undoubtably responsible for getting the filly to the racetrack in the first place by helping her overcome her early setback.

“It kind of validates what we're trying to do here, for the guys more than anything, because every day we were trying new things with the filly and after a while, I think they probably thought we were just wasting our time,” Patino said.” We didn't know if it was going to work out or not, but we kept working with her and now she's a Grade I winner. Now they believe that any horse we're working on could be the next one.”

Patino said that for each of their star filly's races, all of “the guys” at the farm would congregate at the office to watch.

“They like to bet so of course they're betting on our filly,” he recalled. “When they would go back to work, you could see that they really enjoyed it because this horse just won a big race and now they know they're doing something special. For me, she was special because of overcoming her injury and for all the work that we had to put in to get her there.”

Dayoutoftheoffice scores a 95 Beyer in the GI Frizette S. | Sarah Andrew

Dayoutoftheoffice gave a gutsy performance to finish second to Vequist at the Breeders' Cup to cap off her juvenile season, defeating the likes of Grade I winners Simply Ravishing (Laoban) and Princess Noor (Not This Time).

She returned at three this year with a runner-up performance in the GII Eight Belles S. and a fourth-place finish in the GI Acorn S. While recording works at Thistledowns over the summer, she sustained an injury and was retired soon after.

Much thought was put into what to do with the Grade I winner, but it was ultimately decided that she would go to the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

“I come from the business side of it and I see an opportunity that we could take any funds we generate from that sale and reinvest to get multiple mares to grow our broodmare band to do bigger and better things,” Pope explained. “With her being our third Grade I winner, it's been very special and while we do approach it as a business, we also get emotionally attached to these horses. So we'll always be a fan of hers.”

Dayoutoftheoffice will sell as Hip 156 at the 'Night of the Stars' on Nov. 9 with the ELiTE consignment.

“We're excited to have Dayoutoftheoffice at the sale,” Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning said. “It's unusual to have the opportunity to sell a Grade I winner at two by Into Mischief. It's a pretty unbeatable combination from a sales perspective and it's a pretty unbeatable combination from a breeding perspective. I think what made Dayoutoftheoffice special on the racetrack was the ease in which she won. When you watch the replays, she's pretty much winning in-hand against the best in New York in some very key races. I think when you look back at that group of 2-year-olds last year, we're going to say it was a really deep group and a very talented group of horses.”

Dayoutoftheoffice's pedigree is another factor that Browning said will attract buyers at the upcoming auction.

“One of things I really love about Dayoutoftheoffice is the influence on the broodmare side of things. I think we're going to look up in 15 or 20 years from now and say Indian Charlie was a remarkable broodmare sire. He's already off to a great start, being the broodmare sire of some horses like Mitole (Eskendereya) and Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow).”

Gottahaveadream is a half-sister to GI Forego S. winner Here Comes Ben (Street Cry {Ire}). Her granddam, GISW Race the Wild Wind (Sunny's Halo), produced G1SW and sprint champion King Charlemagne (Nureyev) as well as Chasethewildwind (Forty Niner), the dam of successful young sire Daredevil and GISW Albertus Maximus (Albert the Great).

“Indian Charlie is one of the top broodmare sires out there and her pedigree has got graded stakes horses all over the page,” Pope said. “She is something that you're looking for in a broodmare. I think you'll see a lot of people in the industry focusing on Into Mischief as the next top broodmare sire, so this is a great opportunity for people. How many opportunities do you get with a Grade I-winning filly by Into Mischief coming to the marketplace?”

Take a look at our full 'Spotlight on the Night of the Stars' series here.

The post Dayoutoftheoffice’s Career One to Remember at Siena Farm appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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But like her Brad Cox-trained predecessor, she will first give her current owners the chance to get to the winner's circle one last time in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff.

Cox, who saddled Monomoy Girl to victory in last year's edition of the contest, is equally confident in the abilities of this year's Distaffer.

“She came out of her last race in really good order,” he said of the 4-year-old daughter of Daredevil. “She's had a couple of breezes since and they've both been good moves. We'll continue to keep her on a Saturday schedule and she'll ship out on Monday, Nov. 1 for Del Mar. We're confident that she'll make the ship in good order and that she'll put in a big performance.”

The expected favorite for the Distaff is, of course, the speedy Letruska (Super Saver), who has gone all-but-undefeated this year as she captured six graded stakes victories across the country. But Cox also points out her only loss this year in the GII Azeri S.

“Letruska will be favored, but we've run against her twice this year and it's even at one and one, so we're hoping we can win the rubber match,” he said. “In the Azeri, Shedaresthedevil ran a big race off the layoff and we felt like she was probably 90% ready, but she was able to establish a lead and hold off Letruska.”

Following her winning seasonal debut over the rival, Shedaresthedevil collected another victory in the GI La Troienne S. She was third behind Letruska in the GI Ogden Phipps S., but came back with winning efforts in the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. at Del Mar and the GIII Locust Grove S. in her final prep before the Breeders' Cup.

“It gives us confidence moving forward that she was able to put in a big performance in the Clement Hirsch,” Cox said. “She has some experience over the track and with shipping out and shipping back. She handled it extremely well and her last race was exactly what we wanted where she was able to get a good run and use it as a fitness tool to prepare for the Breeders' Cup.”

Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm has had close ties to the imposing bay filly throughout her career with his connection to Qatar Racing and has watched her mature physically over the past few years.

After a successful juvenile campaign that was marked by a debut win and two stakes placings in California for trainer Simon Callaghan and original owners Qatar Racing and Glencrest Farm, Shedaresthedevil was catalogued for the 2019 Keeneland November Sale.

“We had her here for a couple weeks before the sale and she was a big, kind of raw-looking filly,” he recalled.

Following her $280,000 sale, the filly was campaigned by a partnerhship including Staton Flurry's Flurry Racing Stables and Qatar Racing, for whom she finished second to stablemate Bonny South (Munnings) in Oaklawn allowance company in February 2020. Autry Lowry, Jr.'s Big Aut Farms joined the ownership ahead of her victory in the GIII Honeybee S. in Hot Springs the following month. As she progressed through her 3-year-old campaign, the filly flourished physically, Galvin said.

Shedaresthedevil makes history in the 2020 GI Kentucky Oaks | Coady

“She really blossomed into this big, beautiful filly,” he said. “She must be all of 16.2, but she's very well balanced for her size. I think she takes her racing and training really well. In almost two years of talking to Brad about workouts, he's never called to say that she hasn't worked well.”

Leading up to her start in a September renewal of the Kentucky Oaks, Shedaresthedevil added the GIII Indiana Oaks.

“When she went to Indiana, she more or less destroyed that field,” Galvin remembered. “That's really what got our minds thinking towards the Kentucky Oaks. Every work, she just got better and better leading up to it.”

Sent off at odds of 15-1 in front of a fan-less grandstand in Louisville, Shedaresthedevil bested Grade I-winning rivals Gamine (Into Mischief) and Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) to set a Kentucky Oaks record time of 1:48.28.

“It came as kind of a slight surprise to the general public,” Galvin said of the victory. “But the one person it didn't surprise was Brad. He was always so high on her and was very confident going into the race.”

“She was a price and she rewarded the people that backed her,” her trainer said. “It was a tremendous group of fillies assembled that year. Her determination, grit and heart down the lane to stay in front was unbelievable. We were able to capture the Kentucky Oaks a couple of years ago with Monomoy Girl and when you win a race like that you're like, 'Wow, will you ever be back in this position?' To have her come back two years later and win was a great feeling, to say the least.”

For Cox, who won his first Eclipse Award as Outstanding Trainer in 2020, the filly has been a special member of his stable for the past two years.

“When we picked this filly up late in her 2-year-old season, we never envisioned what she would turn out to be,” he said. “She was a nice two year old, but she obviously moved forward at three and four. So she taught me a lot about how horses can develop. She's got a tremendous heart. I mean, she's been locked in battle a couple of times and she doesn't want to lose. She really is a fighter and she's cool to be around in the barn. She's a very straightforward, classy, sound filly.”

Cox added that it's been the ride of a lifetime for her owners.

“She's taken these guys on a dream ride,” he said. “Staton has followed her around the country and doesn't miss a race. Sheikh Fahad of Qatar Racing was able to show up for her last race at Churchill Downs and hopefully he'll be there for the Breeders' Cup. It'd be nice to have one last win with this partnership and then we'll see how it goes at Fasig-Tipton.”

Cox has a track record of taking a race filly's value into the stratosphere after the success of Monomoy Girl, a $100,000 yearling purchase that sold for $9.5 million, setting a world record for a racing/broodmare prospect, at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Just as Monomoy Girl returned to the starting gate this year, Cox said he believes Shedaresthedevil has all the potential to perform against top company as a 5-year-old.

Shedaresthedevil gets the Grade I win at Del Mar in the GI Clement L. Hirsch S. | Benoit

“From a trainer, I think the one thing that stands out with me is just how sound she is,” he said. “That's probably the most important thing, but also with her size, she's a very big physical and a strong mare. So I do think there's some tread left on the tires, to say the least. She could definitely race at the age of five, there's no doubt about it.”

For Galvin, whose Hunter Valley Farm will consign the three-time  Grade I winner as hip 232 at Fasig-Tipton, the daughter of the winning Congrats mare Starship Warspeed offers a rare opportunity for buyers.

“There's obviously only one Oaks winner every year and so very few of them come on to market,” he said. “For an Oaks winner of her class, she's kept her form as good, if not better, this year. It's seldom you see a filly in the height of her racing career being offered for auction, so I think this is an opportunity for somebody to compete on the world stage with prize money at record levels throughout the country and abroad as well.”

Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning said that Shedaresthedevil offers the chance  for someone to own a piece of history.

“Not only is Shedaresthedevil a Kentucky Oaks winner, she's the fastest Oaks winner in nearly 150 years,” he said. “When you think about the fillies that have won the Oaks during that time frame, this is one of those Hall of Fame-type, record-setting performances. From a historical context, it's amazing.”

Browning noted that Shedaresthedevil's future as a broodmare can be projected through the brilliance she showed consistently on the racetrack.

“Shedaresthedevil will undoubtedly be a successful producer given her accomplishments on the racetrack,” he explained. “She demonstrated that brilliance, that 'wow factor,' on multiple occasions, which means there's a much higher likelihood of replicating that in her offspring.”

For whoever purchases Shedaresthedevil, Browning said the opportunities are endless.

“Her potential really is two-fold. You've got the potential as a racing prospect next year with some amazing purses out there around the world and you also think about the potential that she offers as a broodmare given her accomplishments and the resume that she's put together as a racehorse. So it's truly unlimited potential in multiple regards.”

Take a look at our full 'Spotlight on the Night of the Stars' series here. 

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“I've been doing this a long time and I don't ever recall having an opportunity to offer a mother and a daughter of this quality together at the same sale,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning.  “Both mares are highly desirable collector's items in their own right. Both mares are in foal to Into Mischief, the leading sire in the United States again in 2021. It's a very, very unique opportunity.”

Magical World, a daughter of ultra-successful broodmare sire Distorted Humor, is out of 2005 GI Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Pleasant Home (Seeking The Gold), a full-sister to MGSW Country Hideaway as well as Matlacha Pass, the dam of five-time Grade I winner and sire Point of Entry (Dynaformer). Her female family also includes MGISW and influential broodmare Maplejinksy (Nijinsky II).

Doug Cauthen, advisor for Three Chimneys, remembers watching in person as Magical World debuted at Gulfstream.

“I was pretty impressed with her,” he recalled of the Phipps Stable homebred. “She ran second, got beat by half a length, and I tracked her from that time on. It was a year and a half later that the opportunity to buy her privately from the Phippses came up and when you get a chance to buy into one of their great families, you jump at it.”

Magical World first produced a winning son of Awesome Again and then was bred to Ghostzapper. The resulting filly, Cauthen said, was an eyecatcher from the start.

“Guarana was a very athletic, strong filly and was sort of a barn favorite,” Cauthen explained. “The managers all liked her and when I would come every month or so and look at her, she got better and better and better. It took her a while to get through her training, but once she got to the track, it was lights out.”

Originally campaigned by Three Chimneys Farm with Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings joining the partnership later in her career, Guarana was brilliant from the start, earning 'TDN Rising Star' status in her 14 3/4-length, front-running debut win for Chad Brown and later racing to three Grade I victories.

“It doesn't really get better than that,” Cauthen said. “She propelled herself forward so powerfully that she just out-manned her competition. [She showed] brilliance and speed, winning Grade Is at seven furlongs, eight furlongs and a mile and an eighth.”

Magical World's third foal Magic Dance takes the Debutante S. | Coady

Magical World's next foal Magic Dance (More Than Ready) followed in her sister's footsteps when she too became a 'TDN Rising Star' and then claimed the Debutante S. as a juvenile.

The mare's  only foal to have gone through the sales ring to date, a colt by Pioneerof the Nile, brought $2.1 million at the 2019 Keeneland September Sale. Now named Beatbox, the 3-year-old broke his maiden this month for Chad Brown.

Magical World did not produce a foal in 2019, but she now has yearling and weanling colts on the ground.

“Her Gun Runner yearling is an exceptional-looking colt,” Cauthen said. “He's being retained by the partnership to go to the next level. Then she has a super Quality Road weanling on the ground. She just keeps throwing these great physicals, so it's hard to beat.”

According to Cauthen, Magical World's consistency in producing quality physicals is key to her success as a broodmare.

“I think she produces great physicals because she is a great physical,” he said. “She's got the speed of Distorted Humor in there, but a lot of scope and stretch that came from the dam side. I think quality is the thing that's hard to reproduce and she does it time and time again. It's hard to find that kind of mare and she's definitely special.”

“Magical World is one of those once-in-a-lifetime mares in terms of what she's already accomplished,” Browning added. “She has

produced both runners and sales horses and is still very, very young. Now you've got a combination of daughters underneath her that are going to the very best stallions in the world as well. So you've got an amazing pedigree with really unlimited potential to continue to develop.”

Magical World will sell as Hip 203 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Both she and her Grade I-winning daughter, who sells as Hip 182, will go through the Hill 'n' Dale consignment.

John Sikura, President of Hill 'n' Dale, said he was looking forward to presenting both talented offerings.

“Magical World is a mare with her entire future in front of her,” he said. “She's the kind of mare that could be a broodmare of the year. She inherits the quality from her pedigree and certainly produces foals that have extreme ability and are conformationally flawless. Guarana has enormous breed-shaping ability as far as her brilliance on the racetrack, and her depth of pedigree traces back to some of the most significant dirt runners of the past 20 years.”

Guarana's brilliance, Sikura said, is what comes to mind when he looks back on the millionaire's career.

“Her first race was brilliant,” he said. “She won off the charts and was a 'TDN Rising Star.' Then she ran back in the GI Acorn S. It was highly unusual to take a filly who had just broken her maiden and run her back in a very deep, significant Grade I. But she won by six lengths, beating Serengeti Empress (Alternation), who was a brilliantly fast and determined mare.”

Guarana's sizzling 1:33.58 final time in the one-mile contest proved to be a stakes-record performance. From there, the speedy filly took the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and was second to Street Band (Istan) in the GI Cotillion S. Returning at four, she added another win to her resume over allowance company at Churchill Downs before winning the GI Madison S. in a near race-record performance in her final career start.

“The brilliance she demonstrated [in the Acorn S.] was remarkable in just her second start,” Browning said, reflecting on Guarana's five-for-six career. “But she also demonstrated her versatility. She won Grade Is at seven, eight and nine furlongs, so it wasn't like she was one dimensional. She literally could do it all and she displayed brilliance virtually every time she stepped onto the racetrack.”

Guarana bests fellow GISW Mia Mischief (Into Mischief) in the 2020 GI Madison S. | Coady

Along with her brilliance and versatility, Sikura explained that Guarana's pedigree will be another asset to her ability as a broodmare in terms of the number of influential broodmare sires across her page.

“If you look at every broodmare sire on her page, from Ghostzapper to Pleasant Colony to Distorted Humor, it's influential beyond the norm with highly successful broodmare sires. Much like some sire lines are prepotent and continue through generations, female families are the same way. They beat all the metrics as far as the standard norms of breeding, so the future is immensely bright for this entire family.”

“The pedigree opportunities are really unique,” Browning said of the duo. “You've got one mare by Distorted Humor who has proven to be an unbelievable broodmare sire and then you've got another by Ghostzapper, who would arguably be one of the most desirable young broodmare sires in the world. You combine that with the depth of pedigree where you've got champions all over the world in these two pedigrees, and it's pretty special.”

As for the mating with Into Mischief for both mares, Browning said, “You know the old saying, breed the best to the best. We've got an example here with one of the best producers in the world in foal to Into Mischief, who is arguably the best stallion in America and certainly numbers would verify that. Then you've got one of the best race fillies in the world in Guarana who is also bred to the best.”

The cross of Into Mischief with Distorted Humor has already proven to be highly successful with the likes of Grade I winner and sire Practical Joke as well as the talented current graded stakes performer Life Is Good.

“We bred these mares to the best sires available and I think it's a great mating for Guarana and her dam,” Sikura said. “Guarana is carrying a colt, so the sky is the limit and anybody that's very serious on a global scale will be looking for her attributes when they go shopping this November.”

For Three Chimneys, Cauthen said the farm is proud to be offering two superstar mares who have brought eyes upon the Three Chimneys breeding and racing program.

“Whenever a farm wants to be a leader in the business and can prove that they've produced top-level horses like Guarana, it says that the plan is working,” he explained. “For us advisors, we're just happy when the results work out because it's not a one-person thing, it's a 50-person job. From the Torrealba family down to the grooms that work so hard to take care of these horses, it shows that the system is working.”

Take a look at our 'Spotlight on the Night of the Stars' series here. 

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Now, they hope to continue the same success at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars Sale on Nov. 9 with a consignment that features three graded stakes winners including the speedy and precocious Perfect Alibi (Sky Mesa – No Use Denying, by Maria's Mon). The Grade I winner campaigned by Tracy Farmer will be offered in foal to super-sire Into Mischief.

“I've spent the past 20 years developing our yearling sales at Gainesway and it's been a real goal of ours to expand and try to be as competitive in the November market as we are in the yearling market,” Gainesway's Brian Graves explained. “For the Farmers to give us a Grade I winner in foal to Into Mischief means a lot to us and we're extremely appreciative for the chance.”

For Graves, Perfect Alibi offers everything breeders will be looking for in the days following Breeders' Cup weekend.

“She's an absolute collector's item,” he said. “A Grade I-winning 2-year-old and in foal to North America's leading sire. You don't get your hands on many of these kinds of broodmares that were so good at two. Speed and precocity make some of the best producers and combined with her physical-she's got balance, stretch and size- she's a broodmare that anybody would like to have.”

A daughter of Pin Oak Stud's stakes-winning homebred No Use Denying (Maria's Mon), Perfect Alibi was foaled in 2017 and was slated to sell at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale the following summer.

The auction company's president and CEO Boyd Browning remembers first hearing of the young filly as the sale approached.

“I can remember when she was just a yearling and [Fasig-Tipton's Executive Vice President] Bayne Welker was doing yearling inspections,” Browning recalled. “He called me and said, 'I found a really special horse at Pin Oak today. She's an absolute superstar.' When she got to Saratoga I remember walking into the courtyard where she was showing with Denali and when they brought her out, I was like, 'Wow, Bayne you were right.' She was a spectacular physical individual.”

The dark bay filly caught the eye of many in Saratoga including Kern Thoroughbreds' Lincoln Collins and Joe Miller, who were on the lookout for a race filly for Tracy and Carol Farmer.

Perfect Alibi as a yearling at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale | photo courtesy Joe Miller

“She was a big, strong-looking filly and we knew she was going to be very precocious,” Miller recalled. “She was so well balanced and had a great hip and shoulder on her. She was just the one filly there that we really couldn't pick apart. We loved everything about her.”

They perused the rest of the catalogue, but when Miller and Collins sat down with trainer Mark Casse, they discovered they had all landed on the same filly. After sending a photo to Tracy Farmer and getting his stamp of approval, they purchased Perfect Alibi for $220,000.

The following May the filly made her first start at Churchill Downs, blowing away a field of fellow maidens to win by 9 1/2 lengths.

“We knew she would be precocious, we just didn't know she would be that precocious,” Miller said with a laugh.

After a close second in the Astoria S. at Belmont, Perfect Alibi returned to Saratoga to take on graded stakes company and came out victorious in the GII Adirondack S. She made it to the winner's circle again in her next start in the GI Spinaway S. to become the first filly in over 10 years to sweep both prestigious 2-year-old filly contests at Saratoga.

“We knew she would just get better with distance,” Miller recalled of the Spinaway. “It was a very, very good field that she ran against that day, but she proved she was the best 2-year-old filly on the East Coast.”

“It takes a special horse to couple graded stakes wins at Saratoga as a 2-year-old,” Browning added. “She did it with style and she did it with flair. To accomplish that in the way she did was very impressive.”

Perfect Alibi made her next start at Keeneland, running second to future Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies champion British Idiom (Flashback) in the GI Darley Alcibiades S.

“She got a little bit of a wide trip that day and she even ran a very good race in the GI Breeders' Cup [Juvenile Fillies] being five wide around the turn and still coming on to be a fast closing fourth,” Miller said of the conclusion of Perfect Alibi's juvenile campaign. “She always tried so hard. She had such a high cruising speed and she just loved to win.”

The Casse trainee returned at three with a fourth-place finish in the GI Longines Test and placed in the Weber City Miss S. at Laurel Park. She retired at the conclusion of her sophomore season with earnings of over $600,000 as one of several Grade I winners for longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder Tracy Farmer.

Perfect Alibi takes the GI Spinaway | Coglianese

“Tracy and Carol love all their horses,” Miller said. “To have a filly of her class is special because it's not easy to come by, so it certainly means a lot to them.”

Browning said he believes that on top of her memorable racing career, Perfect Alibi's Pin Oak pedigree will be another attraction for buyers.

“Mrs. [Josephine] Abercrombie is a legendary figure and it's really unique to have a filly of this caliber offered for sale and in foal to a horse like Into Mischief,” he said. “The depth of pedigree is really special. You've got the combination of some of the best breeding from Pin Oak and some of the best breeding from others in the world. It's a quality pedigree from top to bottom.”

Perfect Alibi's stakes-winning dam has produced four other winners including the Grade II-placed Noble Thought (Harlan's Holiday). Their family includes champions Chris Evert, Chief's Crown and Winning Colors.

“It's a deep Pin Oak family and Sky Mesa himself has proven to be a good broodmare sire already,” Graves added. “He's the broodmare sire of three Grade I winners and, combined with her outstanding physical and with her size and scope, it just makes her the top of the shelf.”

Along with the opportunities attainable with Perfect Alibi's breeding career, Graves also places high merit on this first foal by Into Mischief she now carries.

“She could be carrying a top-caliber broodmare prospect or a future stallion,” he said. “Some of the top qualifications of a good stallion are that they are out of a mare who was fast and precocious at two and also that they are one of the first foals out of a mare. [Those factors] greatly increase your chances to have a good stallion, so the sky is the limit.”

Perfect Alibi will sell as Hip 218 on the Night of the Stars with the Gainesway consignment.

“She truly does have worldwide appeal,” Browning said. “I think whoever breeds her has the opportunity to produce a champion literally anywhere in the world. It's going to be the perfect opportunity for some of the top buyers in the world to pursue a mare of her quality and I can't wait to see what she does in her career.”

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What was it, exactly, that made Swiss Skydiver so unforgettable?

It could have been her extraordinary toughness and durability. The filly's Eclipse-earning sophomore season was unlike any other as she competed in 10 stakes races at nine different racetracks, crossing the wire first in half those starts. During a year of the unprecedented in 2020, it became altogether familiar to find Swiss Skydiver in the entries nearly every month.

Or maybe it was the grit and bravery she displayed so magnificently in her historic GI Preakness. S., refusing to let Authentic inch past her white shadow roll. Every racing fan remembers exactly where they were watching as she battled to become the sixth filly in history to win the Preakness S.

Even still, it could have been her intelligent personality, which Kenny McPeek shared with her many admirers through social media as they journeyed to racetracks across the county.

Perhaps the fierce chestnut's uniqueness shines through in all of those elements, each one an important element in the story of Swiss Skydiver.

A member of the first crop of Daredevil, Hip 2997 was a half-sister to two winners and the granddaughter of GSP Clouds of Gold (Strike the Gold), but it wasn't her pedigree that caught the eye of Kenny McPeek.

“She was a big, beautiful filly with a great walk to her and a great energy,” the agent said, recalling even the barn at which he first laid eyes on her.

Swiss Skydiver becomes one for the record books in the 2020 GI Preakness S. | Horsephotos

McPeek purchased the Select Sales-consigned yearling for $35,000 for longtime client Peter Callahan. Swiss Skydiver made her debut the following November at Churchill Downs, breaking her maiden there by five and a half lengths.

There was much more to come as the calendar turned to 2020.

“Her three-year-old season was magical,” McPeek said. “For everybody who was dealing with the pandemic, we knew that there were a lot of people that couldn't go to the races and we were traveling with Swiss Skydiver. We went from state to state and it seemed like everywhere we went was a new adventure.”

Swiss Skydiver collected three consecutive graded stakes victories before making her first start against the boys in the GII Blue Grass S., running a more-than-acceptable second to Art Collector (Bernardini). After earning her first Grade I in the Alabama S. and then taking second in the GI Kentucky Oaks, Kenny McPeek had skeptics reeling when she was entered in yet another contest, this one against her toughest competition still, in the GI Preakness. S.

“I never second-guessed running her against the boys at all,” McPeek said when asked of his decision to enter the filly in her ninth start of the year. “Her speed figures looked like she fit against just about anybody.”

Off at 11-1, Swiss Skydiver refused to yield against eventual Horse of the Year Authentic and crossed the wire in front by a neck to win the second-fastest Preakness S. in history and give her trainer his first Preakness victory.

“I think I had maybe 700 text messages on my phone,” McPeek said with a laugh. “Look, when you win everybody texts you and when you lose, nobody does. But you know, she made it all happen. Without her, none of it happens.”

McPeek added that he was thrilled to share the experience with longtime client Peter Callahan.

“Peter is one of the most special people I've ever worked for,” he said. “He really understands the game. His persistence with me is really the reason why we're here. He has let me buy some slow horses too and I couldn't be happier for a guy like him to have her.”

While the stars all aligned for Swiss Skydiver during her Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old campaign, she came back at four to win the GI Beholder Mile S. in March but then several unfortunate circumstances got in the way of the original plan for her 2021 campaign. However McPeek said he will not let those disruptions get in the way of him celebrating the champion's many accomplishments.

“We would have liked to have had a better 4-year-old year, but you couldn't have had a better 3-year-old year, maybe in the history of 3-year-old fillies,” he said. “She's just a tough filly. She loves her food and you don't get many like that. With colts maybe you do; fillies are a little more sensitive, but she is as sturdy as I've ever seen and may ever will see.”

Swiss Skydiver will enter the ring at Fasig-Tipton as a six-time grade stakes-winning champion with earnings of over $2.2 million.

Swiss Skydiver sells as Hip 246 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale | Sarah Andrew

“We're thrilled to have a filly of the quality of Swiss Skydiver entered in the sale,” Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning said. “She truly is the complete package-unbelievable race record, demonstrated brilliance on a number of occasions, but also demonstrated the durability and consistency that truly defines a great filly.”

Browning added that he believes Swiss Skydiver offers all the qualities the buyers as Fasig-Tipton will be seeking.

“Breeders today are desiring durability, consistency and toughness,” he said. “She's a throwback. She trained hard, she ran hard, she answered every bell. She was an exceptional racehorse and had that grit and determination that I think she is likely to pass on to her offspring as well.”

For McPeek, watching Swiss Skydiver as she embarks on her broodmare career reminds him of another one of his talented trainees from years ago.

“Take Charge Lady (Dehere) had that kind of talent and ended up being Broodmare of the Year,” he said. “I would wager that Swiss Skydiver will be every bit as good of a broodmare as she was a racehorse because she's extremely intelligent and she's just a kind soul to be around. On the physical [aspect], she's just so big and strong. She's a filly that would be ideal in that you could breed her to a list of stallions.”

For Browning, much of Swiss Skydiver's potential for success as a broodmare is found by looking back on the accomplishments of the only other two Preakness-winning fillies from the last 100 years.

“We all remember Rachel Alexandra-one of the all-time greats of our industry,” he said. “She produced a Grade I winner in a very limited number of foals and also produced a stallion who is having success at the racetrack right now too. The other filly to win the Preakness in the last 100 years is Nellie Morse and she produced a champion in her own right and has become a very influential broodmare.”

Swiss Skydiver will sell as Hip 246 with the Runnymede Farm consignment on Nov. 9 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, but for now McPeek is enjoying his final days with his history-making filly as she begins the transition period at Magdelena Farm–the location where she was once saddled for the very first time.

“We've really been blessed to be around a horse like her,” he said. “They're few and far between and you really have to appreciate them when they come into your life. I think we did take advantage of all that and spent time with her. I got a chance to bond with her really well. It's going to be tough, because we love being around her. She's a really special filly.”

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