Ashview Farm | Horse Racing Free Tips

Nest Takes Off with Suncoast Victory

With a third place effort in the Tempted S. Nov. 5 at Belmont Park the only blemish to her otherwise perfect four race record, Nest used her neck victory Dec. 4 in the GII Demoiselle S. as a springboard into the winner's circle here.

Carrying great expectations as the 1-5 overwhelming favorite, Nest briefly drifted out after the break, but went into the first turn comfortably stalking from third to the outside of the field. Glued to Alittleloveandluck (Arrogate) as the pair tracked a frontrunner through a moderate pace in :24.52 and a half in :49.29, they left the early leader behind coming off the final turn. Nest found her best stride by the final sixteenth, spurting clear to a geared down six length victory.

The winner is a full-sister to GI Santa Anita H. winner Idol as well as a half to stakes placed Dr Jack (Pioneerof the Nile). Marion Ravenwood, a half to sire Abstraction (Pulpit), has three stakes winners from five foals to race. Purchased by Ashview Farm for $400,000 at 2017 Keeneland November, the mare's offspring have justifiably been sought after in the auction ring: Total Cooperation (Tiznow) bringing $525,000, Idol bringing $375,000, and Nest dropping the hammer at $350,000, all at Keeneland's September sale. The 2-year-old half-brother by Violence named Lost Ark recently brought $275,000 from Steven Young as a yearling. Marion Ravenwood was barren last year, and is expecting a foal this season after visiting both Curlin and Quality Road. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

SUNCOAST S., $100,000, Tampa Bay Downs, 2-12, 3yo, f, 1m 40y, 1:39.30, ft.
1–NEST, 124, f, 3, by Curlin
1st Dam: Marion Ravenwood (SW, $112,598), by A.P. Indy
2nd Dam: Andujar, by Quiet American
3rd Dam: Nureyev's Best, by Nureyev
($350,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and House, Michael; B-Ashview Farm; Colts Neck Stables (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-Irad Ortiz, Jr..$60,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-0-1, $265,000. *Full to Idol,GISW, $416,964.
2–Alittleloveandluck, 122, f, 3, Arrogate–Points of Grace, by Point Given. ($135,000 RNA Ylg '20 KEESEP). O/T-Michael Dini; B-Helen Barbazon & Joseph Barbazon (FL). $20,000.
3–Blamethechampagne, 118, f, 3, Candy Ride (Arg)–Quippery, by Forest Wildcat. ($210,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE. O-Six Column Stables, LLC, Bloch, Randall L., Gladden, Jim, Riverview Racing, et al.; B-Popatop, LLC (KY); T-Ian R. Wilkes.$10,000.
Margins: 6, 3 1/4, NK. Odds: 0.30, 4.50, 32.20.
Also Ran: Ha' Penny, Princess Elin, Peaceful Surprise, Mining Chrome. Scratched: Mirth 'n Merriment.

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Bloodlines Presented By Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders And Owners Association: A Weekend Bonanza For Ashview Farm, Colts Neck Stables

Results from the graded stakes for juveniles at Aqueduct on Saturday, Dec. 4, proved a double success for the breeding partnership of the Lyster family's Ashview Farm and the Colts Neck Stables of Rich Santulli.

In the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes, Mo Donegal, a son of champion juvenile and leading sire Uncle Mo (by Indian Charlie), was the victor by a nose from Zandon (Upstart), and in the G2 Demoiselle, Nest (Curlin) won by a neck from the Firing Line filly Venti Valentine.

Both of the Kentucky-bred juveniles were foaled and raised at Ashview, which markets is yearlings as organically grown athletes. The marketplace gave a warm reception to those farm-fresh yearlings: Mo Donegal sold to Jerry Crawford of Donegal Racing Stables for $250,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale; Nest brought $300,000 at the same sale and races for Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Michael House.

As financially and professionally rewarding as those young horses have proven for the farm, Bryan Lyster said that “having bred these two with Mr. Santulli is one of the best things imaginable. He's been right by our side from the mid-1980s, and it's very satisfying that we had a day like that together.

“He's been a longtime client and my dad's best friend. In the last seven to eight years, we have bought a number of mares together.”

The partners own 12 to 15 mares, and breeding a pair of graded stakes winners from a small group of mares is an exceptional accomplishment. Then again, the mares who produced these young athletes are rather special too.

Nest is the fifth foal out of her dam, the A.P. Indy stakes winner Marion Ravenwood, and the Demoiselle winner is a full sister to Idol, who won the G1 Santa Anita Handicap earlier this year, as well as a half-sister to Dr Jack, who also earned black type this season.

In the space of nine months, Marion Ravenwood has become the dam of a pair of graded winners, both by the 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year, and a multiple stakes-placed racer by Pioneerof the Nile. The three siblings have made their dam a very valuable producer, and the 4-year-old Idol also played a role in Ashview's acquisition of Marion Ravenwood.

Bryan Lyster said, “We bought Marion Ravenwood carrying the Pioneerof the Nile, and we were impressed with her Curlin foal, which is now Idol. At the time we planned the mating that produced Nest, we were hoping for a yearling who had the look of Idol.”

The partners bought Marion Ravenwood for $400,000 from My Meadowview Farm LLC. The following spring, the mare produced a colt by Pioneerof the Nile, and Ashview sold the resulting foal for $250,000 as a November weanling. Named Dr Jack, the colt has placed third in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth and the Bourbon Trail Stakes at Churchill, earning $125,857 from seven races in the last eight months.

Lyster noted that neither Marion Ravenwood nor Callingmissbrown, the dam of Mo Donegal, will have a yearling for next year. That's rotten luck, but the breeders have been on the receiving end of the good luck, especially this year, and Marion Ravenwood “will be going back to Curlin. We're hoping to get her in foal early and have been big supporters of Curlin, going back to his first year.”

In fact, Callingmissbrown, the dam of Mo Donegal, is in foal to Curlin for next year, and Lyster said, “Since Mo Donegal is only the mare's second foal, I'd say the win on Saturday would tilt the scales toward a certain sire” for her mating next year.

A Pulpit mare that the Lysters acquired privately for their breeding partnership, Callingmissbrown “is built like a tank. I wouldn't call her big in height, 16 hands or so, but she has a tremendous hip.”

Those qualities no doubt helped when Ashview brought the mare's 2021 yearling, a filly by leading sire Into Mischief, to the Keeneland sales a couple months ago.

By the hot sire but out of a mare who hadn't produced a black-type winner till last Saturday, Callingmissbrown's September yearling brought $500,000 from Frankie Brothers, agent, and Litt/Solis. To bring twice what Crawford paid for the mare's Uncle Mo colt a year before, this filly was quite nice.

Bryan said, “The half to Mo Donegal was so smooth and so athletic in every other way that buyers really wanted her.” Being by Into Mischief put a bull's eye on the filly among discerning horsemen, and she brought a premium for it.

The good work and careful planning that produced a bonus success for Ashview and Colts Neck on the weekend is set to pay off with long-term dividends over the coming seasons from the siblings to these major winners.

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Taking Stock: Notes on Medina Spirit and Breeders Hertrich lll and Fielding

As I sat down to write this column Monday, I got a text from a bloodstock agent that said, “Heard Medina Spirit broke down at Santa Anita a little while ago. Gonna be a shit storm.” I checked Twitter right away, but there was nothing yet about Medina Spirit (Protonico). I didn't have to wait long. Some minutes later, the “I heard Medina Spirit…” tweets started trickling out, and then the dam burst. Everyone had something to say, and most of it was derogatory or innuendo about his trainer, Bob Baffert, who's been a lightning rod for controversy, including for a post-race betamethasone positive on Medina Spirit after the colt had surprised many with a gutty win in the Gl Kentucky Derby this spring.

The negative response was expected, because Baffert went through a tough period some years back when a number of his trainees died of apparent “sudden-death” heart attacks, which was the immediate speculation about Medina Spirit. Although Baffert was mostly cleared of wrongdoing and never sanctioned in the prior deaths, they left a black mark that's never been erased. His recent medication violations have only infuriated his detractors and heightened tensions, creating the climate that was a tinderbox for the “shit storm” that hit after the news broke Monday morning.

Ironically, Medina Spirit had been in the news Friday evening, when Baffert's attorney had triumphantly released a statement that said that a lab had determined the betamethasone in the Derby positive had been from an ointment and not an injection.

It's always a gut punch for anyone in this business when a horse dies, especially the connections. I sent condolences via texts to both Baffert and Amr Zedan, the owner, and both responded, Zedan with the praying symbol and Baffert with one word, “Devastated.” When the Derby winner and a high-profile horse like Medina Spirit dies, emotions are understandably amplified, but because it was a Baffert horse, the angst and anger surrounding the death was at another decibel level altogether on social media, where he's positively toxic. Unfortunately, lost in all this were Medina Spirit's accomplishments, some of which were minimized by folks while he was alive because of the betamethasone positive and because he was trained by Baffert. That's too bad, because he was a Classic winner and also a rare type of horse.

Bred by Gail Rice in Florida in a “backyard” breeding program, Medina Spirit exceeded all expectations and was an inspiration to small breeders everywhere. A $1,000 yearling, he was purchased for $30,000 as a 2-year-old in training by Zedan Racing Stable but steadily climbed the ladder in Baffert's elite barn, stepping over high-priced yearlings one at a time to become the third-best 3-year-old for Baffert behind Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Concert Tour (Street Sense), two Gary and Mary West-bred colts. But when those two failed to make the Churchill Classic, Medina Spirit stepped up to the plate off the bench and delivered the ultimate pinch hit, succeeding at 12-1. His win appeared to surprise even his trainer.

Medina Spirit's road to Louisville had included some tough races, notably two against the stable star, the handsome and brilliantly fast Life Is Good. In the Glll Sham S., Medina Spirit immediately caught the eye for closing the distance when Life Is Good had looked like was going to blow open the race. At the finish, less than a length separated the two horses, but it was Medina Spirit's “try” that caught the eye–he simply wouldn't give up, despite the excuses that were made for his stablemate's lack of focus in the race. That try is the characteristic that most defined Medina Spirit, and it was evident in all 10 of his starts, five of which he won. He placed in the other five races, and it's notable that he never let the popular Godolphin runner and Gl Belmont S. and Travers S. winner Essential Quality (Tapit), the champion 2-year-old colt last year who's touted as the favorite to win the Eclipse as champion 3-year-old colt, finish ahead of him in two meetings.

Medina Spirit wasn't particularly attractive, he wasn't a big horse, and he didn't appear to be a physically athletic standout unlike most in Baffert's barn, but that will to win and the will to never give up that he repeatedly exhibited is the rarest and most sought-after characteristic in racehorses.

Aidan O'Brien once told me that his G1 2000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) “would absolutely kill himself stone dead for you,” meaning he'd generously empty the tank and run on fumes if he had to.

That's exactly how I'll remember Medina Spirit. He was that type of warrior, and one of the few horses in recent years that I've admired for his try. He left it all on the track.

Americanrevolution

You've already read in TDN about the notable accomplishment of breeders Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables being represented by the juvenile duo of Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and Nest (Curlin), two Todd Pletcher trainees who won the Gll Remsen and Gll Demoiselle, respectively, at Aqueduct Saturday. They can dream about the Derby and the Gl Kentucky Oaks over the winter.

Pletcher also won the Gl Cigar Mile Saturday with CHC Inc. and WinStar's ascendant 3-year-old colt Americanrevolution (Constitution), who was bred by in New York by Fred W. Hertrich lll and John D. Fielding, who've been having a dream of a year. Alone or in partnership, Hertrich, at the least, should be considered for an Eclipse Award as breeder of the year, because he's had a hand in breeding five Grade l winners in 2021–quite an accomplishment, especially for a fairly small breeding entity that's based at Watercress Farm in Lexington.

Aside from Americanrevolution, a winner of five of seven starts, the other Grade l winners are Beyond Brilliant (Twirling Candy), Juju's Map (Liam's Map), Pinehurst (Twirling Candy), and Maxim Rate (Exchange Rate).

Hertrich and Fielding, along with Robert L. Tribbett, bred Beyond Brilliant, who won the Gl Hollywood Derby for trainer John Shirreffs on Nov. 27.

Hertich alone bred Juju's Map, winner of the Gl Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland on Oct. 8 for trainer Brad Cox.

Hertrich and Fielding bred Pinehurst, who won the Gl Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sept. 6 for Baffert.

Hertrich and Fielding bred Maxim Rate, who won the Gl Gamely at Santa Anita on May 31 for Simon Callaghan.

Hertrich and Fielding are commercial breeders who sell with Taylor Made, and these are the prices they got for these five future Grade l winners: Maxim Rate was a $130,000 weanling; Pinehurst sold for $180,000 as a weanling; Juju's Map was a $190,000 short yearling; Beyond Brilliant sold for $50,000 as a fall yearling; and Americanrevolution was a $275,000 summer yearling.

If I were shopping for young horses, I'd be looking carefully in the Taylor Made consignments for horses bred by Hertrich and Fielding.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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Breeders Ashview Farm, Santulli Hit Remsen-Demoiselle Double

It was 32 minutes that breeders Richard Santulli and the Lyster family will not soon forget. That was all the time it took for the partnership, which owns a limited number of mares, to have bred the winners of two graded stakes races on the same day at the same racetrack.

The feat occurred Saturday at Aqueduct where the Lysters' Ashview Farm and Santulli's Colts Neck Stables bred the winners of the GII Demoiselle S. and the GII Remsen S., contested as the eighth and ninth races on the Big A card. It began in the Remsen with Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) and continued with Nest (Curlin) in the Demoiselle.

“My family has been around long enough to know this was a really special accomplishment because it's so hard to breed a graded stakes winner,” said Gray Lyster, who runs Ashview, located in Versailles, Kentucky, with his father Wayne, his mother Muffy and his brother Bryan. “To breed two and to win two-late season 2-year-old races in New York that everyone is watching back to back on the same day is a perfect storm. That doesn't happen very often, so we are enjoying it.”

Santulli and Wayne Lyster are friends who have known each other for about 40 years and have been long-time partners. Wayne Lyster and Santulli's Jayeff “B” Stables were the breeders of Eclipse Award and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Johannesburg and they also teamed up to breed Sweet Loretta (Tapit), the winner of the 2016 GI Spinaway S.

They're always on the lookout for good mares. They bought Marion Ravenwood (A.P. Indy), the dam of Nest, who was in foal to Pioneerof the Nile, for $400,000 ast the 2017 Keeneland November sale. Callingmissbrown (Pulpit), the dam of Mo Donegal, was bought privately. From there, it's a pretty simple formula–breed to the best stallions out there. (Marion Ravenwood will be bred to Curlin in 2022, and the partnership hasn't finalized plans for Callingmissbrown.)

“We really try to stay in our lane when it comes to breeding,” Lyster said. “We like to breed to really good, top, proven stallions. If not that, we will play the first-year market. Uncle Mo and Curlin are no-brainers for us. They are obviously good stallions and everybody should be using them.”

Mo Donegal was purchased for $250,000 at Keeneland September and races for Donegal Stable. Trained by Todd Pletcher, he broke his maiden in his second career start before stretching out to the mile-and-an-eighth in the Remsen. With Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, he won by a nose and had to survive a stewards' inquiry.

Nest races for the partnership of Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House and cost $350,000 at the same Keeneland September sale. Also trained by Pletcher and ridden by Ortiz, the Demoiselle was her third career start and came after a third-place finish in the Tempted S. She was also a narrow winner, scoring by a neck.

“That was something else,” Santulli said. “What a fun afternoon.”

It was the second straight year that Pletcher won the Demoiselle with a daughter of Curlin after winning the race last year with likely 3-year-old filly champion Malathaat (Curlin).

At this year's Keeneland September sale, Ashview and Colts Neck sold an Into Mischief filly who is a half-sister to Mo Donegal for $500,000. They also sold a colt by Violence who is a half-brother to Nest for $275,000.

The two yearlings give the Santulli-Lyster partnership something to look forward to in 2022, and so do Nest and Mo Donegal. They've both won graded stakes races around two turns, which bodes well for the GI Kentucky Oaks and the GI Kentucky Derby.

“That's what we're dreaming of, the Oaks and the Derby,” Lyster said. “How can you not? I don't want to say it is surreal, but we kind of had to pinch ourselves Saturday. We're really excited. Even if we don't make it to the Derby or Oaks, what we did Saturday was already a huge accomplishment.”

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