Becky Thomas | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Lieutenant’s First And Last Yearling At The Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale

Potential is the bedrock of the Thoroughbred industry, especially in the bloodstock game. The promise of what a horse could do is often as valuable as what he or she has already done, and that proves itself to be true every time horses are gathered for an auction.

That's what makes it especially jarring when potential is snatched away suddenly, before the horse has the opportunity to live up to it. The fragile nature of the Thoroughbred has left many horses seemingly destined for stardom with incomplete resumes. When it's taken away violently, the shattered potential goes from tragic to traumatic.

There's no other way to describe the brief stallion career of The Lieutenant, a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify who stood one season in New York, shuttled to Haras Barlovento in Peru for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, and was one of four stallions killed by marauders during a December 2019 raid on the Peruvian farm.

The attack left Haras Barlovento so devastated, it exited the breeding industry shortly afterward.

The Lieutenant, a Grade 3-winning son of Street Sense, left 34 Northern Hemisphere foals from his lone season at Sequel New York. From that group, one filly was cataloged in this year's Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale, making her the first, last, and only foal by The Lieutenant to ever be offered in the Empire State's signature sale.

New York has had a rough go of high-ceiling stallions departing too soon in recent years. Grade 1 winner Effinex died of an acute rupture of the pulmonary artery in 2017 after just one season at stud. Grade 2 winner Laoban was a revelation with his freshman crop in 2020, and he promptly left New York for WinStar Farm in Kentucky the following year, where he covered one book of mares before dying suddenly.

This all goes to say that New York's buying bench is used to a limited edition.

The spotlight filly by The Lieutenant went through the ring on Monday as Hip 564, a flashy chestnut out of the winning Henny Hughes mare Sister Mimi. Bred in New York by Jacob West, the filly's family includes Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags and multiple Group 1 winner Declaration of War.

“She is very big, great bone, a lot of size and stretch,” said Jay Goodwin of consignor Eaton Sales. “It's funny, if you thought about what a good Justify would look like, that's sort of what she looks like – a chestnut, a lot of bone. She's a big filly, but she doesn't look that big until you step up to her, and then she looks big, because she's so balanced.”

Becky Thomas of Sequel New York also noted the resemblance The Lieutenant's foals had to Justify, even though the link between the two isn't as obvious as it might seem.

“I have four, and they're all chestnut, which I thought was interesting, because (The Lieutenant) was bay,” she said. “I like that if they're going to follow a pattern, that they'd be like Justify.

“They have quite a bit of stretch to them,” Thomas continued. “You see more of the Street Sense, instead of the Ghostzapper on the dam's side.”

Goodwin knew the story of how The Lieutenant met his end, and he said there was definitely a curiosity factor among the shoppers that asked to see the filly.

However, he said her scarcity in the catalog as the only yearling by the stallion was much more of a driving factor in the number of times her number was checked on the call card.

“Her being the only one in the sale has helped a bunch,” he said. “We had a lot of people just want to see what she looked like because she was the only one here. This is the only one I've seen, which is sad, because if they all looked like her, I'd love to see a bunch more.”

The filly went through the ring late in the auction's closing session, and the hammer fell to Roger “Rocky” Rashall Jr.'s Respect The Valleys for $17,000.

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“We going to go end-use with her, so she's going to race,” Rashall said. “We will place her in Kentucky for a couple months, and then she'll end up over in the Maryland area, probably with Brittany Russell. She'll probably be broken in Virginia, then start out in Maryland and see where it goes from there.”

Sarah Brown, who assists Rashall in the selection process, said the filly was helped by her resemblance to another stakes-placed Respect The Valleys runner.

“She actually reminds me of a Mizzen Mast filly that I bought off of Jay a few Septembers ago, Sailing Into the Wind, that's done really well,” she said. “We got her for about the same price. I just liked the way she walks. She's a bigger filly, but she's light on her feet. She's got good angles, good strength, so we'll see what happens. We got the right price for her.”

Rashall said the “Respect The Valleys” nom de course was a nod to the many ups and downs of the Thoroughbred industry. You don't have to love the valleys when you descend from the peaks, he said, but you have to respect them.

The end of The Lieutenant's story is one of the ultimate valleys, but even in that, there is an epilogue. He has 34 chances to find the runner that will define his brief legacy at stud, and perhaps extend it into future generations.

Rashall hoped his new purchase would be up to the challenge.

“Hopefully, she can pick up in his footsteps and make a happy ending to a bad story.”

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Lessons from a Stallion Consultant

Grade I-producing sire Laoban is off to a fast start in Kentucky as he nears the completion of his first book at WinStar Farm. Meanwhile, his son Keepmeinmind, one of two graded winners for the son of Uncle Mo, readies for his bid in Saturday's GI Preakness S.

“He has settled in and is doing really well,” WinStar's President and CEO Elliott Walden said. “He's going to breed around 140 mares this year.”

The transition from Laoban's original stud farm, Sequel Stallions in New York, to WinStar was a breeze, thanks in no small part to Sequel's Stallion Consultant Charl Van Der Westhuizen, a South African native with a natural gift for putting any stallion at ease. Van Der Westhuizen made the trip alongside Laoban this year to help the young sire acclimate to his new residence and to properly introduce the team at WinStar to their new charge.

“Charl helped us tremendously in getting Laoban acclimated,” Walden said. “He's a first-class horseman. With the nuances of any horse, it's very helpful to understand their differences whenever you get a horse you don't know. Charl knew every detail about the stallion and was great at communicating his personality to us in a way that we could pick up the ball and go right away without having a learning curve.”

Van Der Westhuizen has served as stallion consultant at Sequel since March of last year. The farm's founder Becky Thomas said he has been a crucial member of their team since his first day on the job.

“Charl turned our program around last year,” she said. “It was my easiest year with our stallions. COVID of course made it difficult, but it was my easiest year behaviorally. He has such a natural way with our stallions. One of them is kind of difficult to catch, but he literally trots himself up to Charl. They're so comfortable with him and he has an exceptional relationship with each of them.”

Van Der Westhuizen has worked at stud farms around the globe, but he said the key to handling any stallion successfully is to recognize their individual personality.

“Over the years, I've worked with a lot of different types of stallions, and each and every one is different,” he said. “You have to cater to the needs of the stallion. You have to be a competent handler because they feel if you're nervous and they will take over. On the other hand, if you have a horse that doesn't get overly excited, you can intimidate him to the point where he doesn't want to breed because he'll be more scared of you than he is of the mare.”

Born in the heart of South Africa in Johannesburg, Van Der Westhuizen and his family eventually left their urban location and moved to the countryside where at 13 years old, Van Der Westhuizen met a kind, old broodmare at the family's new farm.

Nadeson Park Stud in Hermanus, South Africa | David Morris

“I traded in my skateboard and started riding this mare,” he recalled. “My interest developed and there was actually a small Arabian stud down the road. They showed me the ropes and started teaching me the basic necessities of horsemanship. Growing up, my mates and I would see all the cowboys in movies from America, so we actually brought in a couple of wild horses to train and would have our own private rodeos.”

Not long after turning 18, Van Der Westhuizen saw an ad in a magazine for an internship at Lakland North in New York, the farm now known as Sequel Stallions. He made his first journey to the U.S. in 2002 for the internship and quickly gravitated towards the stallion division.

“As an intern, you do all aspects of jobs on the farm, but I took an interest in the stallions,” he explained. “It was a challenge because each and every stallion is so different in the way they behave. You have to learn each of their little quirks.”

After completing the internship in New York, Van Der Westhuizen relocated to Sequel's location in Florida for a breeding season before returning to South Africa.

There he spent over a decade honing his stallion-handling skills by serving at stud farms across the country, from Lammerskraal Stud, Newbury Stud, Balmoral Stud and Nadeson Park Stud. At each farm, he picked up valuable lessons from each of the stallions he oversaw.

Western Winter, a Grade I-placed son of Gone West that relocated to Lammerskraal in 1997, was a champion sire in South Africa.

“He was a pleasure to work with,” Van Der Westhuizen recalled. “He was so quiet and gentle, it almost made it easy.”

But Parade Leader (Kingmambo), a full brother to former Lane's End Texas sire and GIISW Parade Ground, was quite the opposite.

“He was a really mean horse,” Van Der Westhuizen said. “You had to watch your back the whole time. He would literally try to take your head off if you went in the stall to catch him.”

Van Der Westhuizen with Australian sprinter Time Thief (Redoute's Choice) at Nadeson Park Stud | David Morris

One of the most challenging stallion careers he remembers overseeing was that of well-regarded South African sire Rakeen (Northern Dancer), sire of the late multiple champion sire Jet Master.

“At first he was really mean, but we figured out he wanted to be close to the mares,” Van Der Westhuizen recalled. “So we put him in a paddock next to the broodmare barn and it immediately changed him.”

He remembers when Rakeen once fell and broke his hip. Even after the stallion had fully healed, breeding season the next year proved to be a challenge when he couldn't fully support his body weight when on his hind legs.

“We found a slope along the barn and he would stand on the slope and we would back the mare up into a hole so he could comfortably breed the mare,” Van Der Westhuizen explained. “When he would mount, we had a sling that we would put underneath his hindquarters and two guys would stand on either side to keep his weight up.”

Van Der Westhuizen said the breeding program in South Africa differs from the one in the U.S. in several aspects.

“[In South Africa], you'll do your selection a lot more on pedigree, where I would say here a lot of the breeding is based on conformation. They do not have a lot of juvenile racing as there is here, where the focus is on young 2-year-old colts running as quickly as possible, so the dynamic of the whole breeding program is slightly different. The process is similar, but I would say the end goal is different.”

Another major difference, Van Der Westhuizen said, is that most breeding sessions in South Africa take place outdoors.

“Only a few farms there actually have an enclosed breeding shed. While it varies from stallion to stallion, one thing I've noticed is that stallions seem to breed a lot easier in open surroundings and on natural surfaces than when you're in the shed.”

When Van Der Westhuizen arrived at Sequel last year, he had a few tricks up his sleeve based on what he had learned from his home country to help the stallions at Sequel succeed.

“Laoban always preferred to face the one side of the breeding shed towards the door,” he explained. “We figured out if we opened the door to the shed so he could see outdoors, he was happy. It was nice to be a part of a success story like him, changing up a few things in the shed before he moved to Kentucky to stand with the big boys. Ultimately, it was his progeny that got him there, but to work with a horse like that, it bolsters your confidence and keeps it interesting.”

Van Der Westhuizen and Honest Mischief at Sequel Stallions | Barbara Livingston

Van Der Westhuizen learned early on in his career that his greatest pride came in teaching early lessons to young stallions as they first started stud duty. This year, he had the opportunity to show the ropes to stakes-winning Juddmonte homebred Honest Mischief (Into Mischief). See our video on the new sire here.

“He's doing great; he's been really busy,” Van Der Westhuizen reported. “I believe the way you start off a stallion provides the fundamentals for how he will breed for the rest of his career.”

One of the first young stallions Van Der Weshtuizen ever worked with was a son of Storm Cat named Freud. Now a perennial leading sire of New York-breds, the full brother to Giant's Causeway started his stud career at Sequel in 2002 when Van Der Weshtuizen was at the farm completing his first internship.

“I have almost a sentimental connection to Freud,” Van Der Westhuizen admitted. “I do prefer him out of all the horses in the barn. He has calmed down a lot. He's now 23, but he breeds like he's five. He has his own set way of breeding but the more you work with stallions, the more you pick up on each of their quirky ways.”

Van Der Westhuizen expressed his partisanship for Sequel Stallions as he's watched the farm's success from afar during his time in South Africa, in between his stint as a humble intern two decades ago up until his current position as one of the farm's top advisors.

“This is where my professional career started for me,” he said. “To see it grow into the farm it currently is made it so much easier to come back from South Africa to the States with my wife and daughter. To be able to focus on the stallions again, I can actually feel that the decisions I make impact not just the stallions, but the mares as well.”

Van Der Westhuizen said he's not done climbing the ladder of success yet in the industry, knowing there's a new lesson to be learned from every stallion he encounters.

“You always read about the old greats, people who have been a stallion manager and worked with these super stallions for many years,” he said. “Ultimately, I'd like to build up enough knowledge to specialize in stallion fertility and troubleshooting. I'd like to be at the point where people contact me if their stallion is having problems.”

He's on track to do just that. From a teenager playing cowboy in the South African countryside to a sought-after advisor for the world's top stallions, oh, the stories he will have to share.

The post Lessons from a Stallion Consultant appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Violence Filly Fastest at OBS Monday

The under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, delayed a day by Sunday's stormy weather, got underway Monday in Central Florida with 13 juveniles sharing the bullet furlong time of :10 flat and a filly by Violence turning in the day's fastest quarter-mile breeze.

Eddie Woods consigns hip 107, a daughter of Violence out of the unraced Royal Paradise (Unbridled's Song). The bay filly claimed the session's quarter-mile bullet time of :20 3/5.

“I was expecting a good work for her,” Woods said Monday afternoon. “You can't tell someone a horse is going to go in :20 3/5, it's ridiculous. But whatever the fastest work was going to be of the day, she was going to be really right on it.”

The filly is a half-sister to stakes-placed Bano Solo (Goldencents), who sold for $400,000 at the 2018 OBS March sale. She was purchased for $50,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She's tall, leggy and she's got some length to her,” Woods said. “She's out of an Unbridled's Song mare and you can kind of see that in her. And she's bigger than I'd ever thought she'd be. She was a medium-sized yearling, but she's a big, beautiful filly now.”

Woods sent out six juveniles to work at OBS Monday.

“We had a good day, it all went pretty well,” he said of his results. “There were no surprises. Everyone looked to come back well, so we are happy about everything.”

Of the track following a day of intense rain storms Sunday, Woods said, “I think the track was very fair. There were a couple of :20 4/5s and :10 flats. There weren't any :9 and changes and that's kind of the way the track should be. We had so much rain yesterday and that track acts a little bit like a sponge at times with a lot of water where it absorbs some of the stuff and expands a little bit. We're talking minute amounts, but minute amounts effect times. So it will be interesting to see how it is as we go forward in the week. Hopefully it stays the same.”

Becky Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock sent out four New York-breds to work Monday and came away with three sharing the bullet furlong time.

Leading off the trio was hip 4, a daughter of Laoban out of Paper Kite (Bernardini). The bay filly, bred by Sequel, turned in her :10 flat work early in the day's first session.

“When you see me have a horse that goes first, that's usually a horse that I think a lot of in terms of speed,” Thomas said, adding of the filly, “She's a pretty mover out of a Bernardini mare. She is very nice. We're happy with her.”

Another Sequel homebred, a son of the operation's stallion Mission Impazible (hip 135), also turned in a :10 flat work. The gray colt is out of Scott's Aly Cat (Tale of the Cat).

“I bought [Scott's Aly Cat] from Roy Lerman from his Lambholm program,” Thomas explained. “We bought her in foal to Mission because I had seen her year-before baby and liked it. He has a little bit of a Tale of the Cat look and yet has a little more leg to him because of the Unbridled's Song from Mission. I gave that mare away on a co-breed deal to one of our breeders who is probably very happy today.”

Also working in :10 flat from the Sequel consignment was hip 187, a first-crop son of Grade I winner Cupid out of Silver Sands (El Prado {Ire}). Thomas purchased the colt for $57,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.

“He's a May 25 foal and he's got a lot of length and a lot of stride,” Thomas said. “He belonged to a friend of mine who bred him in New York, so you always feel good when you can give back to our whole community. That horse was a Hidden Lake horse and they like to support our stallions, so I try hard on those breeders who support our stallions.”

Rounding out Sequel's team of New York-breds working Monday was a colt by Central Banker (hip 115), who worked in :10 1/5. Thomas is consigning the colt on behalf of breeders Chester and Mary Broman.

“Mr. Broman is another one who supports the New York program,” Thomas said. “So it's always fun when you have home-team horses.”

Despite the heavy rains Sunday, Thomas called an audible and sent her horses out to train following the cancellation of the breeze show.

“Normally we don't train the day before the breeze, but because they had already had one day off, I didn't want to not train,” Thomas said. “So we trained yesterday heading in.”

She added of the weather, “It was terrible. I realized we were about to get a deluge right in the middle of it.”

De Meric Sales sent out a pair of bullet workers Monday: a son of American Freedom (hip 78, :10 flat); and a colt by Classic Empire (hip 87, :10 flat).

Also represented by a pair of bullets Monday was Grassroots Training and Sales, which sent out a filly by Dialed In (hip 113, :10 flat); and a filly by Violence (hip 190, :10 flat).

The brigade of bullet workers Monday was completed by: hip 48, a colt by Kantharos consigned by Julie Davies (:10 flat); hip 108, a colt by Tapiture consigned by Tradewinds Farm (:10 flat); hip 118, a colt by Gun Runner consigned by Eisaman Equine (:10 flat); a filly by Noble Mission (GB) (hip 163) consigned by Top Line Sales (:10 flat); a colt by Dialed In (hip 175) consigned by Wavertree Stables (:10 flat); and a filly by Klimt (hip 203) consigned by Randy Bradshaw (:10 flat).

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning each day at 8 a.m. The OBS Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday. Bidding begins each day at 10:30 a.m.

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Things Looking Up As OBS March Kicks Off New Sales Season

OCALA, FL- Hardy attempts at optimism were made at last year's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale, but an unmistakably ominous atmosphere hung over the grounds. Before the first hip had even reached the walking ring in Ocala, both Keeneland's April Sale and Fasig-Tipton's Gulfstream Sale had been canceled as the tentacles of the Coronavirus pandemic tightened their grip around the nation.

There was an unforgettable discord between the then-normalcy of crowded local restaurants and stores while sporting event and festival cancellations seemed to happen between the start of each breeze set.

“Last year we were in the middle of the breeze show when we knew things were happening,” Sequel's Becky Thomas recalled. “There were people fleeing to what they thought was safety and we were stuck here with a group of horses. It was pretty traumatic. We knew that if we got through this sale it would be some time before we would have another sale.”

“Last year we were terrified,” consignor Eddie Woods echoed. “You know, we were in a total gray area. [The Coronavirus] had just shown up out of the blue and no one knew what to expect, but because of the gray area involved, our expectations were kind of nil.”

One omnipresent question sat at the forefront of sales-goers minds. When would these horses even get to see the starting gate?

After a full year of trying circumstances and steady perseverance within the racing community- one where those young sales graduates did get the opportunity to race–a new page is turned as the next crop of juveniles prepare to go through the sales ring as the OBS March Sale marks the beginning of another 2-year-old sales season.

The first of two sessions of the 561-head catalog begins Tuesday at 11:00 a.m.

“We're looking forward to this sale,” OBS President Tom Ventura said. “Last year, we didn't know whether we were moving forward or stopping. We had the sale and we made it work, but now things are loosening up. And you could see the energy on the sales ground here today. Things are doing much better with vaccinations throughout the country and I think the attitude is way different now. There's actually a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Ventura said that interest in this sale has been high over the past months.

“One of the things that was promising even before we got things going here is that the activity in the barns at the training centers was pretty active with people looking in advance at the farms,” he said. “I think one thing about this sale, when we opened it up from the select sale, is that there are horses at the top and then horses at varying budgets. So I think that attracts a broader buying bench and we're hoping that's the case again this year.”

Woods said he believes the results from last fall's breeding stock sales are a strong indication of positive outcomes for juvenile consignors in the coming weeks.

“The fall sales went down really well,” he said. “Now we've gone into the 2-year-old mode off a pretty much solid routine. People are able to move around more and it looks like we got a really good attendance for the first 2-year-old sale. There's a bunch of nice horses here so I think things are just going to be fine.”

Thomas said that her Sequel Bloodstock consignment has been well-trafficked since the start of the sale.

“I can tell you it feels very, very good,” she said, comparing the atmosphere this week from the one a year ago. “There's a lot of interest from agents. We've been steady and busy here this morning. I thought the breeze show was well-attended. Agents are voicing that they've got plenty of interest from owners, so I think it's a very, very good feeling and it bodes well for starting our season.”

RiceHorse Stables' Ali de Meric said that in general, talk on the sales ground has been optimistic.

“It's an exciting time, the first sale of the year,” she said. “There's always a little tint of anticipation and excitement for what's to come. I've very hopeful that it's going to be a strong sale. I think there's a general air of positivity so overall, I'm very happy and excited to present what we've got here to the market.”

de Meric added that she believes the growing market polarization with continue.

“It's ever more polarized, all or nothing, and it's up to us as consignors to set good reserves and set the number because you don't have that burning fire of organic bids making a horse go from zero to 200 naturally,” she said. “So you kind of get good at understanding the market. And if you can get that number right, you'll sell your horses profitably and everyone is happy and goes home a winner.”

Ventura said that an impact is expected due to the loss of the Korean market with the Korean Racing Authority's temporary restriction on foreign-bred racing imports.

“They were fairly active last year,” he said. “They're predominantly buying in the price range where the market could use some help so it's disappointing that they're not able to buy horses. Hopefully next year they'll be able to participate.”

“We will miss seeing the Koreans here,” de Meric echoed. “They're really good under-bidders and a solid middle-market group for us. But I see plenty of people to support a good, healthy sale.”

Ventura also noted that fewer pinhooks are present in this sale's catalogue.

“Looking at the broad picture, on average our pinhooks are down a little bit, which is expected because the market was down,” he said. “So I don't know if we have the exact same sale as we did last year. People will be doing better because they came in with less investment. But I'm very pleased with the horses on the ground and I think that as always, the top of the market is strong.”

Three under-tack sessions were held during last week's breeze show. A trio of juveniles fired off :20 2/5 quarter-mile breezes while another 25, entered as of Monday, shared the quickest :9 4/5 eighth-of-a-mile breeze time. Learn more on the under-tack sessions held Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Despite a disrupted racing season due to the pandemic, several stakes performers have come out of last year's auction including three-time stakes winner Joy's Rocket (Anthony's Cross) ($47,000) and dual stakes winner Madone (Vancouver {Aus}) ($125,000). Recent GIII Herecomesthebride S. victress Con Lima (Commissioner) RNA'd here 12 month ago.

Last summer, 2019 sales graduate Speech (Mr Speaker) ($190,000) reached Grade I stardom in the Ashland S. at Keeneland. Also since last year's sale, 2019 graduate Café Pharoah (American Pharoah) ($475,000) won a trio of graded races in Japan including the G1 February S. this year.

The 2020 sales topper, a filly by American Pharoah consigned by Wavertree Stables, sold for $650,000 to Katsumi Yoshida. Now named Russian Samovar, she is a winner in Japan.

According to subsequent post-sale transactions added to the 2020 OBS March Sale statistics, 295 sales were recorded for gross receipts of 27,349,500 at last year's edition. The $92,710 average was down 35.9% from $144,603 in 2019. 2019 sales averages were also down from $164,494 the year prior. The median last year decreased from $95,000 in 2019 to $50,000.

“I think everybody on the ground is in a much better frame of mind just from walking around the barn and seeing the activity, and even in the grandstand during the under-tack show,” Ventura said. “We're looking forward to a good sale and I think the mind set at the barns is very positive. This is certainly a glass-half-full business and that's what we're looking forward to. Compared to last year, it's so, so different. As we get closer to the finish line here with this pandemic, I think people are ready to get back to business. We're ready to start the 2-year-old season and looking forward to a good couple of days.”

For more information, visit www.obssales.com. Watch full coverage of both sessions of the sale, beginning Tuesday at 11 a.m., at www.thoroughbreddailynews.com.

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