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Eight Rings To Stand At Tommy Town Thoroughbreds In California

Eight Rings, a Grade 1 winner at two, will stand the 2023 breeding season at Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in Santa Ynez, Calif., for a fee of $7,500, it was announced by Adrian Gonzalez's Checkmate Thoroughbreds, which manages the owning partnership.

Trained by Bob Baffert, the son of Empire Maker won the Grade 1 American Pharaoh Stakes at Santa Anita by six lengths from Grade 1 winner American Theorem, Breeders Cup Juvenile winner Storm The Court, and G1 Del Mar Futurity winner Nucky.

On debut as a 2-year-old at Del Mar, Eight Rings' brilliant performance earned him a TDN Rising Star dominating the 5 1/2-furlong maiden race by 6 1/4 lengths clear over future G1 Santa Anita Handicap winner Express Train and Shooters Shoot (second in the G2 Triple Bend Stakes).

Eight Rings was bred in Kentucky by WinStar Farm and sold for $520,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Eight Rings is out of G3 Whimsical Stakes winner and G2 Masters Stakes-placed Purely Hot by Pure Prize. Bred on the same Empire Maker/Storm Cat cross as Eclipse champion and Triple Crown winner American Pharaoh and Eclipse champion Classic Empire.

Adrian Gonzalez of Checkmate Thoroughbreds said, “Eight Rings is a sensational stallion prospect for California breeders. He was an exceptionally precocious Grade 1-winning 2-year-old on the dirt at Santa Anita. He's beautifully bred and even more impressive physically. He's robust and powerful and exudes class. It is a rare opportunity to launch a stallion with this genetic makeup that is a Grade 1 winner at two in California. I am thrilled to present him.”

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Bloodlines: Flightline At Lane’s End, And The Family Shoes He’ll Aim To Fill

The catlike power and bounding glory of Flightline graced our racetracks for the last time on Nov. 5, and one of the marks of highest merit for the bay son of Tapit (by Pulpit) is that he translated the exceptional speed and overpowering dominance he had shown while racing in California to tracks in New York (for the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap) and Kentucky (for his career finale in the G1 Breeders' Cup Classic).

Now being carefully unwound from the bustle and daily routine of life on the racetrack, Flightline is being prepared step by step for his second career as a stallion at Lane's End Farm outside Versailles, Ky. On the racetrack, a show of particular interest in fillies can earn a colt a sharp correction. This is so because a horse's purpose on the racetrack is racing, and focus is important. Very important.

Back at the farm, it sometimes takes a moment for a smart colt to realize that a particular interest in fillies will no longer result in a correction. Instead, fillies are the focus of this new life that only a very few colts can attain.

Flightline has made the initial steps of transition to the quiet life of a breeding farm under the guidance of the stallion staff at Lane's End. Fresh from the accolades he earned after a rousing race in the Breeders' Cup Classic against his divisional challenger, Life is Good (Into Mischief), Flightline would be one of the most popular horses in the country. Tens of thousands would like to see him; many fewer would like to acquire a season and breed a foal from his first crop. Okay, actually nearly everyone would like a season. The reality is that only a very few have the cash ($200,000 for a live foal) and a mare of the quality to possibly reach that pinnacle.

So, one of the highlights of the latter days of the Keeneland November sale was the opportunity to venture out to Lane's End and see Flightline being shown to some of his fans and admirers on the grounds trod for decades by champion racehorse and sire A.P. Indy.

A thick-bodied son of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew (Bold Reasoning) and the Secretariat mare Weekend Surprise, A.P. Indy was a leader in every segment of his life. A beautiful young horse, he was the top-selling lot at the 1990 Keeneland July sale of selected yearlings. On the racetrack under the patient training of Neil Drysdale, the colt became a Grade 1 winner at two, then progressed to win the Belmont Stakes at three, ended his racing career with victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and was named Horse of the Year in 1992.

Thirty years late, there is no question who will be Horse of the Year for 2022. That question was answered emphatically and properly (on the racetrack) when the two best horses in training – Life is Good and Flightline – squared off over the 10 furlongs of the Breeders' Cup Classic.

On Monday afternoon, watching Flightline walk the manicured pathways that A.P. Indy, Kingmambo, and others built, there was no doubt that, on racing ability and athletic prowess, here was a young horse who merited inclusion among these champions of sporting history.

Across the quad from the primary showing path where our new champion strode and stood and pricked his handsome ears, a statue of A.P. Indy on a pedestal surveys the domain the great horse ruled.

The son and grandson of Triple Crown winners became the most dominant influence on the American classics of the past 20 years, and Flightline is a son of A.P. Indy's most famous and important grandson, Tapit.

Whereas A.P. Indy himself was a Goliath, thick-bodied and immensely powerful, Pulpit and his great son Tapit are just a step closer to the norm, nice-sized horses but not immense.

In contrast, Flightline is out of a stakes-winning daughter of the big, brawny, and powerful Indian Charlie (In Excess), and Flightline is cast in a distinctively different model to Indian Charlie and his best son, champion Uncle Mo.

Flightline himself is a lean and elegant racer of considerable individuality. In phenotype, Flightline is definitely more of a greyhound than a mastiff, and the influence of the great Mr. Prospector is evident in the elegant and efficient construction of the horse. Mr. Prospector was no carbon copy of his sire Raise a Native, either, but took a different type, and Flightline is inbred to Mr. P 4x5x5. That might be a point worth considering.

Judicious consideration is always a good ingredient in well-planned matings, but if the brilliant bay champion to be is able to pass on a reasonable portion of the qualities he showed on the racetrack, his future will be bright, and the sport will be all the richer.

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Two $130,000 Horses Lead Penultimate Session Of Keeneland November Sale

Two horses – a weanling colt from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Vekoma and the winning 4-year-old Munnings filly Souper Munnings – each sold for $130,000 to highlight Tuesday's ninth and penultimate session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

With one session remaining, 2,091 horses have sold for $208,879,800, rising 7.41 percent above last year's $194,463,100 for the comparable period when 2,239 horses sold. The average of $99,895 is 15.02 percent higher than last year's $86,653, and median of $40,000 equals last year.

Keeneland sold 265 horses Tuesday for $3,183,200, a 19.02 percent decrease from the eighth session of the 2021 November Sale, when total receipts were $3,931,400 for 289 horses. The average of $12,012 was 11.70 below $13,603 for the corresponding session last year. The median of $7,000 declined 22.22 percent from last year's $9,000.

Christina R. Jelm, agent, purchased the top-priced weanling, who was consigned by Eaton Sales, agent. The third weanling by Vekoma to top a session of the November Sale, the colt is out of Gypsy Grey, by Giant's Causeway, and from the family of Grade/Group 1 winners Chief Honcho and Poet's Voice and Grade 3 winner Gemswick Park.

River Bend Farm paid $130,000 for Souper Munnings, who was consigned by Warrendale Sales, agent for Live Oak Stud. Out of the winning Sky Mesa mare Mylitta, the filly is a half-sister to Grade 3-placed Judge Davis. She is from the family of Canadian Horse of the Year Alywow and Grade 2 winner Century City and Grade 3 winner Wow Me Free.

Eaton Sales, agent, also consigned the aforementioned Gypsy Grey, in foal to Midshipman, who was the day's second high seller when she was acquired by Kildare Stud Farm for $90,000. The mare is out of Sheraton Park, a stakes-placed daughter of Cozzene.

A weanling filly from the first crop of Grade 2 winner Instagrand sold to Taproot Bloodstock, agent, for $80,000. Greenfield Farms, agent for Sierra Farm, consigned the filly, who is out of the Midnight Lute mare Sierra Song and from the family of Grade 2 winners Triple Tipple and Informed along with Grade 3 winner Discreet Hero.

C J Stables paid $75,000 for a weanling filly by Army Mule from the family of Grade 3 winner Agave Kiss. Out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Mezcalita, she was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa.

Morning Frost, a 4-year-old daughter of Frosted from the family of Racing Hall of Famer Point Given, sold to Jody Huckabay, agent, for $70,000. Denali Stud, agent, consigned the mare, who is out of stakes-placed Live for Now, by Tiznow.

The session's leading buyer was K.O.I.D., which spent $188,500 on 14 horses.

With sales of $384,800 for 29 horses, Taylor Made Sales Agency topped consignors.

Wednesday is the final day of the November Breeding Stock Sale. The session begins at 10 a.m. ET.

On Thursday, Keeneland will present the November Horses of Racing Age Sale. The auction starts at noon.

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Group 1-Winning Juvenile Filly The Platinum Queen Added To Tattersalls December Mares Sale

Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp winner The Platinum Queen has been added as a wildcard entry to the Tattersalls December Mares Sale and will be offered as lot 1924B on Tuesday, Nov. 29. She is the first Group 1 winning filly to be offered as a two-year-old at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale this century.

The Platinum Queen no stranger to rewriting the record books, becoming the first 2-year-old to win the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp since the great SIGY in 1978 with a tremendously game effort for trainer Richard Fahey and owners Middleham Park Racing who purchased her at the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale from Tally-Ho Stud.

An impressive winner on debut, The Platinum Queen blitzed the field by four lengths in the Alice Keppel Fillies' Conditions Stakes at Glorious Goodwood to break the juvenile course record in a time faster than the Group 3 Molecomb Stakes held earlier on the card. She then put up an excellent performance in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes on her next start when second to Highfield Princess, a three-time Group 1 winner this year and Cartier Champion Sprinter, with Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint runner up Emraaty Ana in third. A valiant second by a short head on soft ground in the Group 2 Flying Childers Stakes followed before her tour de force in the Group 1 Prix de l'Abbaye, a race won in recent years by outstanding sprinters Bataash and Marsha.

Commenting on The Platinum Queen, Tom Palin of Middleham Park Racing said: “The Platinum Queen's breeze at the Rowley Mile back in April was unbelievably impressive and we were determined to buy her. She has been an absolute superstar for Middleham Park Racing ever since, taking us everywhere including Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood, the Ebor Meeting at York and ultimately to Group 1 glory in the Abbaye on Arc day at Longchamp where she achieved something which has not been done in more than 40 years. The Platinum Queen really is a special filly, a credit to Richard Fahey and the whole team at Musley Bank, and she has the physical scope to develop into an equally outstanding three year old.”

Bred by Tally-Ho Stud, The Platinum Queen is a graduate of the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up Sale and is out of the Kodiac mare Thrilled, who herself sold for 460,000 guineas at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale. A half-sister to high class two-year-old The Gold Cheongsam, Thrilled is out of the Listed runner up Fuerta Ventura from the excellent Littleton Stud family of Arabian Queen and Barshiba.

The Platinum Queen is from the second crop of Tally-Ho Stud's European Champion first season sire Cotai Glory, a Group 3 winner as a 2-year-old and top class Group winning older sprinter who was beaten only a neck when runner up in the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes at four and placed in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at five. He is by brilliant Australian sprinter and Champion sire Exceed And Excel, a proven Group 1 broodmare sire in both hemispheres.

The Tattersalls December Mares Sale will take place from Monday, Nov. 28, to Thursday, Dec. 1, with the new Sceptre Sessions held on Monday, Nov. 28, and Tuesday, Nov. 29. The catalogue for the Tattersalls December Mares Sale can be viewed online at www.tattersalls.com and is available from Tattersalls and Tattersalls representatives.

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