Tag: Bloodstock

It was easy to understand why Hip 245 of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training sale would have attracted attention.

The daughter of Mendelssohn was a striking shade of gray, harkening back to her near-white broodmare sire, the champion Hansen, and she stood out around the barns in a sea of dark bay juveniles. However, buyers paid attention to her for how she traveled over the track, and when Speedway Stable landed her for $800,000, she got attention for topping Monday's opening session.

Success is a team effort at a 2-year-old sale, and the team that got the Mendelssohn filly to Maryland with consignor Paul Sharp prominently featured riders Daniel Garcia and Skylar Munden.

Garcia, a native of Guerrero, Mexico, breezed the filly during last week's under-tack show, where she clocked an eighth of a mile in :10 1/5 seconds, tying for the second-fastest time at the distance.

“She's nice, she's easy,” Garcia said. “This filly had class. She did a good job in the work.”

Taking a horse through a breeze at an under-tack show is essentially the pinnacle of speed in the Thoroughbred world. There is practically no scenario where a Thoroughbred would be tasked with covering a furlong in 10 seconds or less in an actual race.

Asking a young horse to achieve those speeds requires a certain degree of expertise in the saddle, to not only urge the horse to give all of themselves in a way that appeals to buyers, but also to hang on for the ride.

Garcia had never ridden a horse before arriving in Central Florida, where he joins brothers Jose and Gio working for Sharp's operation. He was the only one of the brothers with a rider's frame, so when he first arrived at Classic Mile Park Training Center in Ocala, Fla., before working for Sharp, he took lessons aboard a friend's horse and picked up the skills with relative ease.

“I saw everything, and I wanted to ride the horses, so when I had the opportunity, I tried it and liked it,” he said.

Riding was already in Munden's system by the time she joined Sharp's barn a decade ago at age 15.

A native of Williston, Fla., Munden didn't come from a family with ties to horses, but nonetheless, she first got in the saddle at age five riding jumpers. She took a break from the saddle after breaking her leg at age 12, but when it healed, she decided to shift her focus from jumping to going fast.

“My mom would take me to work every morning, and I would get on two, three, five horses before I had to get off and my friend would take me to school every day,” Munden said. “When I turned 16, I got into the work program where I could work instead of going to school, and I took advantage of it. I loved being at work much more than I enjoyed being at school. After I graduated, this is all there was. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.

“It's the thrill,” she continued. “It's something like no other to have an animal that can do anything at once, but you just go together.”

Compared to Garcia, Munden had only just been introduced to the Mendelssohn filly. She returned to work three weeks ago after having a baby, and her first time aboard the filly came on the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, where she helped make final preparations for her under-tack show performance.

“By the time I got on her, she was strong and ready to go, so I had the pleasure of just sitting there, thank goodness,” Munden said. “I didn't have to go through the hard work everyone else had to, so I got the best parts of her, I think.”

Munden described Sharp's Central Florida training center as an especially quiet setting, which was a stark contrast to the sometimes-hectic atmosphere that an auction can bring. She also noted the differences between the surfaces at Sharp's training track and the oval in Timonium.

“Here, it's not as deep,” she said. “At the farm, it's natural and deep. Here, it's a little bit harder, but it's much easier for them to get across here, because they don't have to work as hard.”

As someone that had been on the Mendelssohn filly on the farm and at the track, Garcia agreed that the faster-paced nature of the sale requires some adjustments as a rider, compared to on their home turf when they can control more aspects of working with the horses.

“The horse sales is more preparation, so it's a little more work,” he said, “and the farm is more relaxed.”

The post Meet The Team Behind A Session-Topping Mendelssohn Filly At Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A million-dollar Arrogate filly topped the final session of the 2023 Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training held Tuesday evening in Timonium, Md., marking the eighth consecutive year that a seven-figure horse has been sold at this sale.

Kerri Radcliffe, agent, purchased the session- and sale-topping Arrogate filly (Hip 552) for $1 million from the consignment of Hartley/de Renzo Thoroughbreds, agent (video).

The chestnut filly worked an eighth in :10 flat during the Thursday session of last week's under tack show. Out of the winning Mutakddim mare Twixy, Hip 552 is a half-sister to four winners, including multiple stakes winner Twixy Roll (Roll Hennessy Roll). Her dam is herself a half-sister to the dam of multiple Grade 1 winning millionaire and Breeders' Cup champion Caleb's Posse.

A filly from the first returning U.S. crop of Take Charge Indy (Hip 361) commanded the day's second-highest price when sold for $510,000 to Jeff Mackor, agent for Gus King, from the consignment of De Meric Sales, agent.

The dark bay or brown filly worked an eighth in :10 flat during the Wednesday session of the under tack show. Hip 361 is a full or half-sister to eight winners out of the stakes placed Songandaprayer mare Perfect Paula, who produced Take Charge Indy's graded stakes winning filly Take Charge Paula.

Rounding out the session's top five prices were:

– A filly by Gun Runner (Hip 406), sold for $450,000 to Flurry Racing Stables from the consignment of De Meric Sales, agent. The dark bay or brown filly is the first foal out of the multiple stakes winning Rock Slide mare Rocky Policy. Now a three-time Fasig-Tipton sales graduate, Hip 406 was bred in New York by Barry R. Ostrager.

– A colt by Justify (Hip 322), sold for $400,000 to Tom Durant from the consignment of Hartley/de Renzo Thoroughbreds, agent. The bay colt is a half-brother to three winners and a placed 3-year-old out of the winning Elusive Quality mare My Fast One, from the immediate family of multiple Grade 1 winner Wekiva Springs.

– A filly from the first crop of champion Vino Rosso (Hip 379), sold for $385,000 to Team Hanley and 30 Year Farm from the consignment of Tom McCrocklin, agent. The bay filly is out of the Malibu Moon mare Qualkris, from the immediate family of Grade 1 winner Faiza and Grade 2 winners Thousand Words and Pomeroys Pistol.

Over the course of two days of selling, 373 juveniles changed hands for $34,751,500. The gross was the second highest in this sale's history behind last year's record-setting gross of $37,297,700 for 291 sold. The average was $93,168, third highest in sale history behind last year's record of $95,391 and 2021's then-record watermark of $94,391. The median was $50,000, tied for a sale record with the median in 2021, and up 6.4 percent over the median of $47,000 in 2022. The RNA rate was just 14.6 percent, second lowest in sale history behind the record RNA rate of 12.5 percent set in 2010.

This marked the eighth consecutive year that a seven-figure juvenile has sold at the Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training sale.

The first such sale in 2015 – a $1.25-million Smart Strike filly – was a record for both the sale and for a Thoroughbred sold at public auction in the state of Maryland at the time. The Maryland-state record is now $3.55 million, the price of last year's sale-topping Bernardini colt.

The most prominent of the run of expensive juveniles is 2019 sale topper Gamine ($1.8 million), who would go on to be named Eclipse champion Female Sprinter in 2020 after capturing that year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, one of her five Grade 1 scores and seven graded stakes victories.

Full results are available online.

The post Million-Dollar Arrogate Filly Tops Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Juvenile Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The heartbeat of commerce in the 2-year-old auction market comes from sellers purchasing their stock at the previous season's yearling sales and training them up with the goal of flipping them for a profit.

Aside from operations like Ocala Stud where it's baked into their strategy, seeing a homebred on offer at a 2-year-old sale is quite uncommon. Carrying a horse along for that length of time in the hopes that they'll end up being an appealing lot for an ever-more scrutinizing juvenile market is a risk most breeders don't want to take unless they have no other choice.

For Torie Gladwell of consignor Top Line Sales and her partners, though, the finish line for her Lookin at Lucky colt was always the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, and they crossed the wire with authority on Monday when the colt sold for $320,000. The partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds and Lane's End Bloodstock secured the winning bid.

“The reserve was well below that,” Gladwell said. “He was extremely popular. We knew we had a good shot of hitting a home run on the horse. We were thinking $250,000 might have topped him out, so $320,000 was a pleasant surprise.”

The first domino that led to Monday's transaction was tipped during the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase in Lexington, Ky., when a New York-bred Practical Joke filly caught Gladwell's attention on the sales ground. She secured the filly for $90,000 on behalf of John Gregorio's Knollwood Stables, and Top Line Sales consigned her to a $500,000 hammer price at the following year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Select 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

The filly, later named Let Her Inspire U, has become a stakes winner for owner China Horse Club and trainer Todd Pletcher.

Gladwell was so impressed by the filly during their time together, she reached out to breeder Pine Ridge Stables to keep a good thing going with her dam, the winning Speightstown mare Caribbean Lady. When the deal was done, Caribbean Lady was pregnant to Lookin at Lucky, and Gladwell took on her mother-in-law Martha Gladwell and frequent business partner Jordan Wycoff as partners in the ensuing foal.

“After we sold [Let Her Inspire U], I said, 'Dang, I really need to find this mare,' because we thought the filly was going to end up being really nice, and she was,” Gladwell said. “We found the mare and got her bought, and she was in foal with the Lookin at Lucky, so I didn't choose the mating. I probably wouldn't have picked Lookin at Lucky, but he's kind of heated up this year as far as the 2-year-old sales go. There's been a handful of them sell very well this year.”

The colt that sold Monday followed an electric renewal of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale for the veteran resident of Ashford Stud, where a pair of colts sold for $700,000 and $500,000 – the two highest prices ever paid for Lookin at Lucky juveniles at auction.

Lookin at Lucky, a first-team member of the Paulick Report's 2022-23 All-Value Sire Team, stands for an advertised fee of $10,000 in 2023, and he stood for $20,000 in 2020, meaning Monday's sale price would have been multiples of his initial stud fee, had Gladwell booked the mating herself.

Gladwell has a broodmare band about 17 strong, spread out between Kentucky, New York, and Florida. Caribbean Lady is one of the four or five she keeps in New York on an annual basis, boarding at Stonegate Racing Stables in Fort Edward, N.Y.

Because Gladwell rarely sells her homebreds at yearling sales, the Lookin at Lucky colt's status as late-April New York-bred foal made the Midlantic sale a natural target. The auction's location in Timonium, Md., meant a closer trip for potential buyers based in New York, instead of a sale in Central Florida, and getting the colt into a set of those hands would help Gladwell reap the benefits of the state's lucrative breeder incentive programs.

The Midlantic May sale is fairly late on the 2-year-old calendar, which Gladwell said was advantageous timing for the late-season colt when it came to his training schedule.

“We actually started this horse later in his career, more like October or November, just because he was a late foal and we knew we were going to Maryland, so we got him broke and we kicked him out for three weeks over the holidays, December to January, and then put him back in training and got him ready for the sale,” she said. “It's easier when you know what sale to target, and with him being a late April foal, it worked out perfect. You can go easy and take your time to get them ready.”

The colt breezed an eighth of a mile in :10 1/5 seconds last week during the Midlantic sale's under-tack show, which tied for the second-fastest overall time at the distance.

Gladwell said the time was right in the wheelhouse for her expectations going into the sale, based on what she saw from his training at her and husband Jimbo Gladwell's Williston, Fla. base.

“Probably five breezes ago when we really sat him down and asked him a little bit in company to see what he had, he just outworked the other horse,” Gladwell said. “When he outworked that one by three or four lengths in company, we thought we had one with some serious talent.”

Gladwell has a system for watching Top Line's horses go through the ring at the Midlantic sale: If it's one she expects to do good business, she'll watch from inside the pavilion, because the high-end activity typically comes in under the roof. For the ones with lesser expectations, she watches from the back ring or outside.

The Lookin at Lucky colt was an “inside” horse.

Though she is listed as the colt's co-breeder, Gladwell was quick to deflect accepting credit for the mating, being as though she bought the Caribbean Lady already in foal. The ensuing matings she has chosen for the mare, though, have her quite excited.

Caribbean Lady produced a full-brother to Let Her Inspire U in 2022, and she was part of the first book for Spendthrift Farm's champion sprinter Jackie's Warrior this year. In order to maintain her New York eligibilities, the mare will be bred to a New York stallion in 2024, with the most likely suitor being Solomini; a stallion in which Gladwell has a share.

As a breeder who primarily targets the 2-year-old sales for her foals, Gladwell said the members of her broodmare band tend to fit a pattern to manifest those goals.

Even if Gladwell is slow to heap too much praise on herself for breeding the colt, the end result was still right where she wanted to be.

“Typically, most of my mares are sprinter-type mares: Speightstown, Elusive Quality,” she said. “I like the Uncle Mos and Into Mischiefs, so those are the mares I tend to gravitate toward, horses that are going to be early and precocious, and I breed them to early, precocious stallions. I'm in the market to sell them as 2-year-olds, so they need to come out looking ready to rock and roll. I may never get a classic horse, but that's okay. If they keep selling well at the 2-year-old sales, I'll be happy with that.”

The post ‘Serious Talent’: Gladwell Scores With Homebred Lookin At Lucky Colt At Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Strong trade marked the opening session of the 2023 Midlantic May Two-Year-Olds in Training sale held Monday in Timonium, Md.

Gross, average, and median trended up over last year's successful renewal, and nearly a quarter of those sold during the session sold for six figures.

A filly by Mendelssohn (Hip 245) topped the opening session when sold for $800,000 to Speedway Stable from the consignment of Paul Sharp, agent (video).

The filly worked an eighth in :10 1/5 during the Wednesday session of last week's under tack show. From the second crop of her Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winning sire, the gray or roan filly is out of the stakes placed Hansen mare Lady Hansen and is a direct descendant of Champion Turf Mare De La Rose.

A colt from the second crop of Awesome Slew (Hip 91) was the top-priced male of the session, selling for $700,000 to Maverick Racing/Siena Farm/CMNWLTH from the consignment of Tom McCrocklin, agent (video).

The colt worked an eighth in :10-flat during the Tuesday session of the under tack show. Out of the winning Distorted Humor mare Cash Reserve, the Florida-bred colt is a half-brother to six winners, including stakes performers Reckling and Campy Cash. Hip 91 hails from the immediate family of multiple Grade 1 winner Diversify.

Rounding out the session's top five prices were:

– A filly by Uncle Mo (Hip 186), sold for $625,000 to Solis/Litt from the consignment of Pick View LLC, agent. The bay filly is out of a Gabriellestoblame, a winning half-sister to Uncle Mo's first-crop champion Nyquist. Hip 186 was bred in Florida by Bridlewood Farm.

– A colt by Tapit (Hip 250), sold for $600,000 to Steven W. Young, agent, from the consignment of Julie Davies LLC, agent. The chestnut colt is a half-brother to five winners, including champion 2-year-old filly Jaywalk and multiple stakes winner Danzatrice, who produced this year's G1 Blue Grass Stakes victor Tapit Trice, by Tapit. Hip 250 was bred in Kentucky by Gainesway Thoroughbreds.

– A colt by Not This Time (Hip 198), sold for $500,000 to Speedway Stables from the consignment of Pick View LLC, agent. The gray or roan colt is a half-brother to four winners and hails from the immediate family of Kentucky Oaks winner Summerly.

During Monday's session, 161 juveniles changed hands for $16,975,000, up 7.7 percent from last year's opening session when 172 hips sold for $15,755,700. The session average was $105,435, up 15.1 percent from $91,603 last year, while the session-to-session median rose 20 percent to $60,000 from $50,000 in 2022. The RNA rate held steady at 25 percent.

Session results are available online. The Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training sale resumes Tuesday at 11 a.m.

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