Also making the post is Alpha Delta homebred Highland Light (Uncle Mo) for trainer Chad Brown. The dark bay's dam GSW Summer Raven (Summer Squall) produced GIII Holy Bull S. champ Winslow Homer (Unbridled's Song) and his full-brother GSW Misconnect. Her most successful offspring is MGSW/MGISP Lewis Bay (Berandini), who earned over $1.1 million on the racetrack. TJCIS PPS

9th-GP, $91K, OC25k/N1X, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 4:07 p.m. ET.
Just before the Sunday finale in Hallandale, Paramount Prince (Society's Chairman) returns to the races after he took home last year's King's Plate S. at Woodbine. Trained by Mark Casse, the Sovereign 3-year-old male nominee is out of a stakes-placed dam who counts U.S. based sire Army Mule as a half-brother. TJCIS PPS

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Steadied last out in the GI Acorn at Big Sandy, but recovering well enough to finish third, the 7-5 favorite had already tasted success early this year in New York as the Busanda S. victress at Aqueduct before running fifth in the GIII Gazelle behind Promiseher America (American Pharoah).

Racing four wide after the jump and settling well in that spot off the rail, she was content to watch the contest unfold from seventh as the leading flight debated the pace. Advancing on the backside and five wide into the far bend, Occult caught the eye as she effortlessly circled the field to take charge at the top of the lane. Widening with every stride, she drew off from her rivals and left them 10 1/4 lengths in her wake as Foggy Night and Riding Pretty closed out the trifecta.

“She's a very big filly who needs time to find her stride and get into a nice rhythm. She'll keep going all day once she gets into her stride, so stamina was never an issue with her. I saw there was some cheap speed in here, so I let them go,” said the winning rider. “At the half-mile pole, I was just trying to find a way clear. Because she's such a big striding filly, you think you're going nowhere. But when I watch the replay, I am sure I will be impressed with the way she was moving. It's all about rhythm and momentum with a big horse like that.”

When asked if he'd been given any specific instructions to adhere to, Lynch replied: “Chad Brown never really ties you down with any instructions. He's great to ride for that way. We have a lot of faith in each other. He just said `get a good trip and win.'”

A half-sister to a pair of accomplished Tapits in Exulting and Magical, the latter with her own 2-year-old daughter by Into Mischief named Illusion, Occult is the most recent black-type runner for their dam and the 65th winner at the graded level for her sire. She has a 2-year-old full-brother Imagination and a 2023 half-brother already named Make My Day (Gun Runner).

#9 OCCULT ($4.80) absolutely dominates in the (GIII) Monmouth Oaks with @FLynchJockey in the irons for the Chad Brown barn. The @keenelandsales graduate and daughter of Into Mischief is owned by Alpha Delta Stables. pic.twitter.com/JVc4zn2g9Z

— TVG (@TVG) July 29, 2023

Saturday, Monmouth Park
MONMOUTH OAKS-GIII, $272,500, Monmouth, 7-29, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:45.74, ft.
1–OCCULT, 119, f, 3, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Magical Feeling (GSW & GISP, $554,532), by Empire Maker
2nd Dam: Magical Mood (GB), by Forestry
3rd Dam: Good Mood, by Devil's Bag
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($625,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC; B-Peter E Blum Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Chad C Brown; J-Feargal Lynch. $150,000. Lifetime Record: GISP, 6-3-0-1, $327,450. *1/2 to Magical (Tapit), SW, $164,550; and Exulting (Tapit), MSW, $687,370. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click  for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free  Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Foggy Night, 121, f, 3, Khozan–Settling Seas, by Stormy Atlantic. ($20,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-Pine Brook Farm; B-Brent & Crystal Fernung (FL); T-Robert E Reid Jr. $50,000.
3–Riding Pretty, 116, f, 3, Jack Milton–High Renaissance, by Girolamo. 1ST BLACK-TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK-TYPE. O/B-Holly Crest Farm (NJ); T-Eddie Owens Jr. $35,000.
Margins: 10 1/4, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 1.40, 2.80, 27.50.
Also Ran: Atthecrossroads, Promiseher America, Seduction, Vegas Magic, Miss New York, Shidabhuti, Ruthanne. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Heck of a run from RAGING SEA (Curlin), who holds on to win in her debut in the fifth at the Spa! @TheRealChadCBr1 pic.twitter.com/xQbf2kJG4P

— TDN (@theTDN) August 7, 2022

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Saturday, April 9, 2022
11th-NKY, New Zealand Trophy-G2, ¥103.5m ($835k), 3yo, 1mT
JEAN GROS (c, 3, More Than Ready–Goodbye Stranger, by Broad Brush), a $130K Keeneland September buyback turned $265K OBS March breezer, has won three of his seven trips to the post, his last two over the metric six furlongs, including record-setting success at Chukyo in December and an impressive victory in the Listed Marguerite S. at this venue Feb. 27. (see below, SC 7). Blackstone Farm acquired Goodbye Stranger carrying the foal that would become MGSW & GISP Tom's Ready for $40K at Keeneland January in 2013. The mare was resold to Nursery Place for $120 with this foal in utero at KEEJAN in 2019. Jean Gros stretches back out to a mile for this first attempt at group level. B-Nursery Place & Partners (KY)

Sunday, April 10, 2022
4th-HSN, ¥9,900,000 ($80k), Maiden, 3yo, 1400mT
MOZU BONHEUR (f, 3, Street Sense–Endless Chatter, by First Samurai) was well-beaten on debut over the dirt at Chukyo last Decembeer, but showed some improvement when tried over a nine-furlong trip on the grass at this track 17 days later. A $200K KEESEP yearling, the Apr. 7 foal is out of Endless Chatter, who carried the silks of this breeder to a victory in the Summer Colony S. at Saratoga and a third placing in the GI Beldame S. in 2014. Endless Chatter, who drops back to seven furlongs here, is a daughter of Ornate (A.P. Indy), a full-sister to Claiborne's outstanding late sire Pulpit who is also the dam of SW & G1SP Whitecliffsofdover (War Front). B-Alpha Delta Stables LLC (KY)

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11th-GP, $55K, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, 5:48 p.m. ET

Giverny (Tapit) makes her first start here for Bill Mott and owner/breeder Alpha Delta Stable. She was being carried by her SW and MGSP dam Oscar Party (Dixie Union) when Jon Clay's operation purchased that one for $1.9 million at the 2017 Keeneland November sale. Giverny is the half-sister to MGISW Room Service (More Than Ready)'s second foal–a year-older Tapit colt RNA'd for $675,000 at the same KEENOV renewal.

Chad Brown pupil Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper), a $170,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling, is out of MGSW miler Salty Strike (Smart Strike). Sierra Farm homebred Mischiefful (Into Mischief) was second on debut to Goodnight Olive's well-regarded stablemate Boston Post Road (Quality Road) here Feb. 7. She's a daughter of MSW/GSP Shannon Nicole (Majestic Warrior). Likely longshot A Higher Love (Sky Mesa) didn't do much running in a rained-off race at Aqueduct Nov. 27, but she sports an upbeat local tab of late and gets first-time Lasix and blinkers. The dark bay Is half to GISW grasser Carrick (Giant's Causeway). TJCIS PPs

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Making her first main-track start in the 1 1/8-mile stakes for older fillies and mares that was taken off the turf due to afternoon rain, the 4-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy collected her first career stakes victory while narrowly prevailing over pacesetter Drop a Hint on a sealed sloppy racetrack. The Chad Brown-trained filly provided jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. with his fourth of six victories on Saturday's 12-race program.

Sent to post as the 1-5 favorite in a field reduced to six by scratches, Great Island stumbled leaving the starting gate to drop several lengths behind the field heading into the first turn. Drop a Hint set fractions of 24.28 and 48.81 seconds without pressure for the first half mile and continued to show the way on the far turn after rebuffing a challenge by Loving Moment. Great Island steadily advanced along the backstretch and far turn to reach contention on the turn into the homestretch, but Drop a Hint wasn't showing any signs of weakening under Edgard Zayas.

“It's hard to overcome after that in the first part of the race,” Ortiz said. “She just stumbled, big-time, twice. After I said, 'Let me just see what she can do.' I just let her settle and by the backside she started moving really good so I didn't want to take too much hold of her after what happened in the beginning. I just let her roll and find her stride.”

It took the entire length of the stretch, but Ortiz succeeded in urging the Chad Brown trainee to victory by a head.

“By the quarter pole. I had to start working on her, but thank God, she kept coming. The trainer did a great job. She had a lot of stamina,” Ortiz said. “For a second, I thought she didn't want to go by the other horse probably, and she was looking at her, so I just tried to stay a little away in the stretch so she can feel free and go on and pass that horse. I got lucky I could go by.”

Great Island, who was placed third after finishing second in the Via Borghese at Gulfstream in her previous start, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:52.51.  Drop a Hint finished second, a half-length ahead of Mylastfirstkiss.

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The one-day sale grossed $508,000 for 15 lots, for an average of $33,867 and a median of $11,000. Summary results of the sale are available by clicking here.

Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, Felicita is a 4-year-old daughter of More Than Ready out of the Indian Charlie mare Gottahaveadream. She was offered in foal to Not This Time.

Four Bridges paid $55,000 for Warm Water, in foal to City of Light. The 5-year-old mare by English Channel is from the family of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy and Preakness Stakes winner Summer Squall. She was consigned by Machmer Hall Sales, agent.

Song of Melody, a winning 5-year-old mare by Flat Out, in foal to Not This Time, brought a final bid of $50,000 from Rose Hill Farm, agent. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, Song of Melody is from the family of Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Raven's Pass and multiple graded stakes winner E Dubai.

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The one-day sale grossed $508,000 for 15 lots, for an average of $33,867 and a median of $11,000. Overall, 69 lots were available for bidding from an original catalog of 79 horses.

Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, Felicita was a $10,000 purchase by Harris Farms last fall at Keeneland November and received a major pedigree update this year when Dayoutoftheoffice streaked to convincing victories in the GIII Schuylerville S. and GI Frizette S. before running second in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She was offered in foal to Taylor Made’s leading freshman sire Not This Time.

“Felicita is the prototype of what really works in the online environment now,” said Taylor Made Vice President of Sales & Marketing Mark Taylor. “I think that it’s going to expand and the online marketplace will gain more traction in the future, but right now what sells is something that has a really current update or something that’s going on in the pedigree to create a sense of urgency, like, ‘Wow, I need to act on this and get ahead of the curve.’ With her being a half-sister to Dayoutoftheoffice, a [potential] Eclipse finalist and on the [GI Kentucky] Oaks trail for next year, from a hot female family with great horses up and down the page and being in foal to Not This Time who’s doing so well, that made her unique and created that sense of urgency.”

Additionally, Taylor Made was able to sell 5-year-old mare Song of Melody (Flat Out), also in foal to Not This Time, for $50,000 to Rose Hill Farm in a sale that suffered from a high number of RNA’s.

“You can see the results, there were tons of buybacks, but we got another mare sold for $50,000, and that was a fair price, about what we were hoping to get,” Taylor said. “Then a lot of the other mares that didn’t get done, we’ve learned from the online marketplace that if you’ve got a chink in your armor, it gets magnified by the extra hassle. People aren’t just standing around the back ring and seeing horses go through and spontaneously going, ‘Well I’m here at the auction, I’ve got to buy five horses, I’m going to buy this one.’ You’ve got to make the conscious effort to sign up, get your credit, send somebody out to the farm to see the horse, check out everything and [the challenge] is breaking through those mental obstacles that are in people’s brains and trying to draw their attention to something.”

Conrad Bandoroff, Vice President of Denali Stud, concurred that updated pedigrees lead to the most attractive offerings in the new world of digital auctions.

“The digital sales platform isn’t going away, and there was a mare who sold for $250,000. We’re going to see more of this,” he said. “You have the new online platform in Wanamakers, and you can capitalize on immediacy, on a race result or an update.”

Bandoroff and Taylor both agreed one of the issues leading to high RNA rates at the initial online sales is that, due to the relative ease with which horses can be entered digitally compared to the costly effort of physically getting a horse to and through an auction ring, there is less built-in incentive for a seller to complete the transaction online.

“What we’re seeing in these early stages is that when people don’t have to ship a horse into a sale, pay the bigger entry fee, or pay the expenses that come along with it, maybe their level of expectation is higher than where the market is,” Bandoroff said. “I think this is why you see so many horses who fail to meet their reserve. People are testing the market, and if they can get this number, they’ll do it, but maybe they’re not getting what they expected.”

“It’s a learning experience,” Taylor said. “Keeneland did a nice job of moving the ball forward and trying to make the product better, but it’s going to be an evolution and we’ve still got a long way to go to perfect the marketplace and get it really seamless. The seller also has to be realistic about the price. Sometimes, because people don’t have to ship the horse, they’ll think, ‘Yeah, I’ll lob it on there and if I happen to get a premium, I’ll take it, otherwise I’m content to just sit tight.'”

Taylor added that improvements to online sales could come in the form of more consistent presentation, and said that the nature of the medium leads to a more challenging, involved selling process for consignors.

“I think from a consignor’s point of view, the presentations on the website ranged from very low grade all the way to really good,” he said. “Having more photos, really good videos, clear contact information for how to reach out and get more information on the horse, and then being able to be proactive [would help]. This is not passive selling, it’s not throwing them online and hoping somebody bids. It’s more like a private transaction, calling people and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got this horse for sale, it’s on the digital marketplace with Keeneland, you need to go check it out.'”

He also said that while it’s admirable for a digital sale to contain offerings that fit the lower levels of the market, the evolution of the medium could lead to catalogs of more select offerings.

“From Keeneland’s side, this is just my opinion, but if I were them, I’d start with smaller numbers and I would be more selective about what actually went on there,” Taylor said. “I would curate the catalog for things that I thought really would push the buttons of the buying bench out there. It’s a good thing about their culture that they’re trying to help people at all levels move horses. There were $1,000 horses getting sold on there and that was a service to those people selling the horses. That’s to be applauded, but maybe you could separate the auctions that are curated with really nice offerings that check a lot of the boxes. I think we’re all learning and Keeneland definitely moved the ball forward from where they were in the summer when they did it. It was a better product, better experience, better promotion, everything was improved. It’s going to be evolving and we’ve all got to learn and adjust.”

Keeneland’s January Horses of All Ages Sale, which features 1,588 offerings in its catalog, will take place Jan. 11-14 in Lexington with all four sessions starting at 10 a.m. ET.

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Easier said than done, naturally. But here’s a guy who absolutely gets it; who understands that the reckoning is not rendered in consistent, cogent cycles of dollars and cents, but in a longer, wider register of satisfaction. Yes, Clay is a commercial breeder and strives to make his program pay. He has invested plenty of money, time and effort in Alpha Delta Stables since 2006. But the story of its most accomplished graduate–a horse potentially on the threshold of a championship–shows that even the most spectacular vindication of your strategy can test resilience.

Having earned a crack at the GI Kentucky Derby by winning the GII Blue Grass S. last year, Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) has this time round found his true metier round a single turn. After coruscating displays of speed in the GI Carter H. and Metropolitan H. (both under the Runhappy sponsorship umbrella), he is apparently only borderline to seek a third consecutive Grade I success in the Forego S. (presented by America’s Best Racing) on Saturday, having been held up with an abscess in a coronet band. Failing that, however, Vekoma will remain fancied to confirm his elite standing among the current herd at the Breeders’ Cup, with trainer George Weaver eyeing the GII Vosburgh S. at Belmont Sept. 26 en route.

On the face of it, the flowering of Vekoma represents the ultimate dividend on the $1.55 million Clay paid for his dam Mona de Momma (Speightstown) at Fasig-Tipton in November 2011. Earlier that year she had won the GI Humana Distaff in the Churchill slop, and she brought with her a deep pedigree to fortify the developing Alpha Delta program: she was out of a half-sister to Mr. Greeley, and also to the second dam of Street Sense.

But though she was still only 10, Mona de Momma died soon after delivering Vekoma.

“She had problems with arthritis and it was very painful for her to carry a foal to term,” Clay recalls. “We were very lucky to get that last foal out of her. It’s always sad when you lose a horse. But, as I say, you’re going to have ups and downs in this business. I’ve seen a lot of people get into it, dreaming about all the great things they’re going to achieve. And when it doesn’t turn out quite the way they pictured, they get out. If you want to last the course, you have to take the bad with the good.”

Nor was there even a particularly useful dividend when Vekoma was sold at the 2017 September Sale, raising $135,000 from R.A. Hill Stable (since partnering with Gatsas Stable).

“We didn’t set a very strong reserve because, as everyone can see from his races, he has that funny front end, the way his leg flails out,” Clay explains. “That was a conformation issue he always had, as he went through the ranks. But I remember him as being very precocious, despite the foaling date [May 22]. As a lot of people know by now, Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) was another late foal and they were playmates in the same paddock at Lane’s End. So it’s been a lot of fun to see these two horses that literally grew up together, racing against each other so many times.”

Instead of dwelling on the Mona de Momma tragedy, Clay is just relieved that he set a more aggressive reserve on the first of what proved to be just three surviving foals, a War Front filly, who returned from the 2015 September Sale as a $275,000 RNA (Mona de Momma’s only other daughter, by Medaglia d’Oro, was unraced after being sold to Courtlandt Farm for $500,000 as a yearling.)

Clay named the War Front filly Bloody Point, for a headland on Saint Kitts, and she won three of six starts.

“We were pointing to a Listed race with her,” Clay recalls. “And then Vekoma wins the Blue Grass, and it’s April, and I said: ‘You know what? I think it would be better to breed her right now.’ Because, with Vekoma heading to the Derby, and having lost the dam, it would have been terrible for something to happen on the racecourse. She really had the potential to be a stakes horse, she was very multi-dimensional, excelled on grass and on dirt. But I just feel very fortunate to still be in that family. She’s obviously very well bred, and I’m hoping that she can carry on the legacy of her mother. She’s had a very nice Quality Road colt, and hopefully he’ll go through the ring next year.”

Bloody Point is now in foal to Street Sense, which will double up Mr. Greeley’s dam Long Legend (Reviewer) 4×4 in the resulting foal’s pedigree. This is the kind of long view that stimulates Clay, unsurprisingly in view of his own family tree: he is a cousin of Catesby W. Clay of Runnymede Farm, and owes some of his breeding philosophy to that branch of the family. Catesby took Clay to his first Kentucky Derby, the year of Genuine Risk (Exclusive Native), and assisted his evolution from intrigued novice to an impassioned breeder in his own right.

“I learned a lot from Catesby finding successful nicks deep in the pedigree,” says Clay. “It’s a lot of fun, trying to figure out what makes a good racehorse. You don’t just look at the first generation to see where the success comes, you look in the second, third, and fourth generation. If you find something that works back there, it may work again. [Bloodstock advisor] Reynolds [Bell] does the same thing: we’re both looking deep in the family for something that can still work today. He has been an invaluable resource in helping me develop my program.

“So I have really delved into various important female families in the breed. As I started to expand, I was really focused on trying to acquire mares from very strong families. That’s really what attracted me to Mona de Momma: a really strong, deep family as well as the speed and brilliance to have won a Grade I. I thought she might breed horses for both distance and speed.

“Certain families you can’t get into. So I was very intrigued when William T. Young had his dispersal, and Ned Evans had his, because you really don’t have access to those kinds of families in the commercial market, just by buying yearlings or weanlings.”

By the same token, Clay likes to adhere to old-fashioned principles even in striving for commercial yield. The first premise of a mating, as it always should be, is a balance of physical types; and Clay much prefers a proven sire to the rookie with his fleeting, flimsy appeal. And while he will make occasional exceptions, he will do so only according to his own instincts. He was prepared to pass up a virtually guaranteed market vogue for American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), for instance, but couldn’t resist breeding several mares to Justify (Scat Daddy).

Clay also believes in the invigoration available in blending blood from different racing environments. Last fall he bought G1 Prix de l’Opera winner Villa Marina (GB) (Le Havre {Ire}) out of a French stable to join Chad Brown. (Unfortunately she bowed a tendon, but she’s now in foal to Medaglia d’Oro; and is next being sent back to Europe, where the market should obviously be receptive to her pedigree, for a mating with Frankel {GB}). Earlier in his program, moreover, Clay made a seven-figure play for Love To Dance (Ire), a Sadler’s Wells half-sister to two turf champions in Dylan Thomas (Ire) (Danehill) and Queen’s Logic (Ire) (Grand Lodge).

“It was fascinating to get into that family,” he says. “I think it’s important to keep that kind of mix in the pedigrees, American and European. Because among the North American sire lines, we are really becoming very weak on Northern Dancer. That line is so strong in Europe, yet it’s dwindling here.”

After all, you never know which way the coin will fall unless you spin it. As Clay says: “I mean, I was always interested in War Front more for the dirt. I was breeding to him when he was $40,000, and then he just exploded as a great turf sire.”

In much the same way, he was early to spot another perceived (if, again, unfairly so) grass specialist in Chad Brown. Dividing the horses he retains between Brown and Linda Rice, Clay feels he has two of the best trainers in the land.

“Great trainers, both,” he says. “I’ve been with Chad since before he got famous! He hadn’t won any training titles at Saratoga or Belmont. But what I like about both of them is their honesty. They’re both incredibly straightforward, and I appreciate that in the business. I also like the fact that they treat horses well. They don’t use a lot of drugs to keep their horses sound. That’s very important to me. One of the first things I always ask a trainer is to see their vet bills. Because if they’re very expensive, then things are probably being done that are not in the best interest of the horse.”

Clay’s personal antipathy to abuse of medication is informed by professional judgement: his business is sports marketing, primarily focused on golf, and he has a corresponding sense of how best to engage a wider public.

“We’re never going to attract new people if they continue to drug the horses like they do,” he says firmly. “That’s the biggest problem we have, and I am all for Lasix-free racing. But I also think we need to do a better job of marketing, across all racing jurisdictions. Each one seems to have their own target market. There’s no unified message.”

Clay is not one of those horsemen who sees the world through blinkers. He studied art history and government at Harvard–Alpha Delta Stables is named for his fraternity there–and lived for a long time in New York before moving to Palm Beach five years ago. But for all his cosmopolitan interests, he finds palpable fulfilment in the obsession that began with three mares at the November Sale 14 years ago.

“When I started out, my plan was just to sell everything,” he says. “But my philosophy evolved, and now I tend to keep good fillies from good families. I kept Lewis Bay (Bernardini) as a $170,000 RNA as a yearling: she was out of a mare I bought from the Young dispersal, and became a multiple graded stakes winner and ran third in the [GI] Kentucky Oaks. So with Lewis Bay, I’m going to keep every single filly because of the great depth of her family. Same with the half-sister to Constitution I have [Grade III winner Jacaranda (Congrats)], with him turning out to be such a promising young stallion.

“I just love trying to figure out how to breed a good racehorse. That’s what keeps me in the game. My primary goal, going into it, was to breed a horse good enough to run in the Kentucky Derby, and the Kentucky Oaks. I’ve done both, so that box is checked. I have a great team around me, with Reynolds and two of the great farms in Lane’s End and Mill Ridge. I am fortunate to have their wisdom and knowledge.

“But regardless of whether you get into the racing side or the breeding side, first and foremost it’s all about that patience. If you want longevity in this business, and long-term enjoyment out of the sport, that’s the number one thing. In the end, if you learn to take the ups and downs the same way, it all works out. I mean, I don’t see any reason to leave this business for the rest of my life. I just love it.”

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