Tag: Bloodstock

Optimizer Sold To Saudi Arabian Interests At Keeneland January Sale

Multiple Grade 3 winner Optimizer will relocate to Saudi Arabia after selling to Youssef Mohammed Alturaif's YMT Farm for $35,000 via online bid on Thursday at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

A 14-year-old son of English Channel, Optimizer previously stood at Calumet Farm in Lexington, Ky., where he entered stud in 2017. He was part of a six-horse consignment of Calumet stallions offered on Thursday at the Keeneland January sale, and he was the only one to change hands in the ring. Buckland Sales consigned the offering of stallions, as agent.

Optimizer saw his first foals hit the track in 2021, and his runners have been led by Opalina, who won last year's Grade 3 Sweetest Chant Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and finished second in the G3 Herecomesthebride Stakes. Other runners of note include stakes-placed Double Clutch and Optigogo.

The stallion benefitted from a timely update in the form of Jasmine, a Saudi-born filly who closed from deep and overcame traffic in the stretch to win a race at King Abdulaziz Racecourse just 10 hours before Optimizer went through the ring.

“Optimizer, I think will fit somebody's program, whether it's a turf or synthetic type,” said Zach Madden of Buckland Sales. “Most of these guys, some of their best runners are on dirt, too. It's hard to throw out all the possibilities.

“English Channel's not with us anymore, and I know there was a lot of urgency to get an English Channel yearling at the sales last year,” Madden continued. “The last crop will be yearlings this year, so there's a lot of scarcity there.”

During his own racing career, Optimizer won five of 33 starts and earned $979,289 for Calumet Farm. After earning graded stakes placings on both the dirt and turf as a 2-year-old, he qualified for the 2012 Kentucky Derby after finishing second in the G2 Rebel Stakes. He finished 11th in the Derby, then ran sixth in the Preakness Stakes and 10th in the Belmont Stakes.

After his run at the classics, Optimizer was moved back to the grass, where he found success later in his 3-year-old season with a score in the G3 Kent Stakes. He tallied wins in the G3 Colonel E.R. Bradley Handicap and G3 Fair Grounds Handicap at age four, and he continued to race to age six.

Optimizer is out of the winning A.P. Indy mare Indy Pick, from the family of Grade 3 winner Cellist and French Group 3 winner Junko.

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Champion Letruska To Visit Curlin For First Mating In 2023

Letruska, the Eclipse Award champion older dirt female of 2021, will visit two-time Horse of the Year Curlin for her first mating during the 2023 breeding season, DRF En Espanol reports on social media.

A 7-year-old daughter of Super Saver, Letruska retired with 19 wins in 29 starts for earnings of $3,053,529.

Though she was born in Kentucky and raced as a homebred for St. George Stables, Letruska began her racing career in Mexico, where she went unbeaten in six starts and was named the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2019 after a pair of Group 1 wins. That campaign included her first U.S. start in the Copa Invitacional del Caribe Stakes at Gulfstream Park, where she defeated a field of imported 3-year-old colts and fillies by 4 1/4 lengths.

Letruska remained in the U.S. after that race with trainer Fausto Gutierrez, and she won her first stateside graded stakes race in August of her 4-year-old season when she took the G3 Shuvee Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Two starts later, she embarked on a run that gained her global prominence, winning seven of eight races and finishing second in her lone defeat.

Included in that run, which encompassed practically all of her 2021 season, were victories in the G1 Apple Blossom Handicap, Ogden Phipps Stakes, Personal Ensign Stakes, and Spinster Stakes. She earned the Eclipse Award that season as champion older dirt female upon the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Letruska started strong in 2022 with scores in the G3 Royal Delta Stakes and a repeat win in the G1 Apple Blossom Handicap, but her form tailed off as the year wore on, and she went winless in her final three career starts.

Curlin, a 19-year-old son of Smart Strike, stands at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Paris, Ky., for an advertised fee of $225,000.

From 12 crops of racing age, Curlin has sired 618 winners and amassed progeny earnings in excess of $125 million.

His 2022 slate of runners included a trio of Breeders' Cup winners: Malathaat (Distaff), Cody's Wish (Dirt Mile), and Elite Power (Sprint), along with the likely champion 3-year-old filly in Nest and top older female Clairiere. His other runners of note include Breeders' Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso, Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Good Magic, Preakness Stakes winner Exaggerator, Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice. and Travers Stakes winner Keen Ice.

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‘Class And Presence’: First Foal Is A Filly For Darley America’s Maxfield

Maxfield, Darley America's second year stallion and a multiple Grade 1 winner of the Breeders' Futurity and Clark Handicap, was represented by his first foal on Jan. 7 at Town & Country Farms in Georgetown, Ky., owned by Kiki Courtelis.

Bred by Town & Country, the bay filly is out of the Stakes-winning, Grade 3-placed mare Dreamalildreamofu.

Town & Country's CEO Shannon Potter said this about the newborn, “We are very happy with our Maxfield foal.  She is a pretty filly with all the nice angles you'd expect.  She already has class and presence.”

Maxfield won his second start in the Breeders' Futurity and his last start in the Clark. In between, he won four more graded races, including the G2 Alysheba and the G2 Stephen Foster. He also notched Grade 1-seconds in the Woodward and Whitney.

Never off the board in 11 career starts, he retired with lifetime earnings of over $2 million.

His 2023 fee remains at $40,000, live foal, stands and nurses.

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‘Full Of Energy’: First Foal Is A Colt For No Parole

Grade 1 winner No Parole's first foal, a colt, was born Jan. 9 in Louisiana.

Bred by Coteau Grove Farms, the foal is out of the Street Sense mare Naive Enough. He is a half-brother to the promising stakes-placed 3-year-old Tumbarumba, who recently ran second in the Louisiana Champions Day Juvenile Stakes on Dec. 10.

“We are so excited obviously as the breeders of No Parole himself, to also be the breeders of his first foal. He is a beautiful foal and full of energy this morning,” said Coteau Grove Farms managing partner Hunter Myers.

Coteau Grove Farms bloodstock advisor Andrew Cary said, “We have supported No Parole with some very nice mares and will continue to do so this year and beyond. No Parole had truly elite speed and his sire Violence continues to produce top level horses every year, like Grade 1 winners Volatile and Forte among many others. He's the only son of Violence standing in Louisiana.”

“This is a strong-bodied colt and a great advertisement for his sire. We have several more No Parole babies coming this year and are really looking forward to them. He's off to a great start,” said assistant farm manager Jacob Cyprian.

Raced by Maggi Moss and Greg Tramontin and trained by Tom Amoss, No Parole won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes in 2020 among his six wins in 13 career starts. He stands in partnership at Carrol Castille's Whispering Oaks Farm in Carencro, La. for $3,500 live foal stands and nurses.

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