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Pin Oak Stud To Disperse Equine Assets, Host Special Auction At Fasig-Tipton On September 12

Josephine Abercrombie's Pin Oak Stud, one of the country's most successful Thoroughbred breeding and racing operations over the past six decades, announced Aug. 5 that it will be offering its remaining broodmares, weanlings, and some racing fillies at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky on Sept. 12.

Denali Stud will handle the sale as agent for Pin Oak. Separate from this main group are 14 yearlings which will be offered in the upcoming Keeneland September Sale and one yearling is entered to sell at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale. Some 14 retired mares and horses will remain on the farm.

“This has been part of Ms. Abercrombie's plan all along, as we have been selling mares and downsizing the past few years,” said farm manager Clifford Barry. “Actually, in keeping to her plan, we have sold more yearlings than we kept in training the past couple of years.”

Among the 24 horses being offered in September are multiple graded stakes winners Overheard, winner of the Grade 2 Pin Oak Valley View and G3 Dance Smartly Stakes, in foal to Grade 1 winner at two, three, and four Mckinzie; Gold Medal Dancer, winner of the G2 Azeri Stakes, and placed in both the G1 La Troienne Stakes and G1 Apple Blossom Handicap, in foal to top sire Munnings; Dont Leave Me, winner of the G3 Bourbonette Oaks and G3 Ontario Colleen Stakes, in foal to champion and winner of the Kentucky Derby and Breeders' Cup Classic Authentic; and stakes winner Point System, in foal to champion Improbable.

The 2021 foals out of these mares and others are also part of the sale on Sept. 12. These weanlings are by such outstanding sires as Medaglia d'Oro. Street Sense, Ghostzapper, Candy Ride, Flatter, and Justify.

Craig Bandoroff, whose Denali Stud will be handling the sale, remarked, “We have been fortunate to represent Pin Oak Stud for over 15 years. I've always considered it a compliment to have the Denali Stud name associated with Pin Oak and Josephine Abercrombie. Their pursuit of excellence, their integrity and their highest level of horsemanship has made representing them an honor, not a job.

“Although I'm saddened to see this day come, I'm proud that we have been asked to represent a woman and a farm that I admire and revere,” Bandoroff continued. We will do our best to represent not just an accomplished horsewoman and her legacy but an incredible person who has positively impacted many lives through her various endeavors.”

Recognized as the 1995 National Thoroughbred Breeder of the Year, Pin Oak Stud has produced or campaigned over 100 stakes winners. Prominent homebreds to carry the distinct blue and gray striped silks include Peaks and Valleys, Broken Vow, Confessional, See How She Runs, Hasten to Add, Laugh and Be Merry, and Missed the Storm. Additional top performers are graded stakes-winning earners over $500,000 and include Alternation, Brownie Points, Bedanken, Synchrony, Alternate, Euphony, Cryptograph, Gold Medal Dancer and Overheard.

An active supporter of the racing industry as well as her community, Ms. Abercrombie has been honored with the William T. Young Humanitarian Award and the Hardboot Award, both presented by the KTA/KTOB. In 2018, Ms. Abercrombie received one of the industry's most prestigious awards when she was named the Thoroughbred Club of America Honor Guest.

“The names Josephine Abercrombie and Pin Oak Stud are synonymous with excellence and quality,” noted Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. “Ms. Abercrombie is a pillar of the Thoroughbred industry and our local community. Her legacy will carry forward through the lives of the many people she impacted and these Thoroughbred families she cultivated and developed.”

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Bloodlines: Lexitonian The Latest Long-Term Dividend For Speightstown

When leading sire Tapit doesn't have a major performer in a graded stakes, he is figuring as the broodmare sire of a major performer in a graded stakes. Or, the great gray son of Pulpit sometimes has both.

On July 31 at Saratoga, for instance, last year's champion juvenile colt and this year's Belmont Stakes winner Essential Quality (by Tapit) won the Grade 2 Jim Dandy as his prep for the G1 Travers, and on the same card, Lexitonian (Speightstown) won the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and is out of the Tapit mare Riviera Romper.

A winner at two, Riviera Romper was bred and raced by My Meadowview Farm, then sold to Calumet Farm for $310,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale when carrying Lexitonian.

The Vanderbilt winner is the mare's first foal and only winner from three other named foals of racing age, including the 2-year-old Miss Raison (Raison d'Etat). The latter split the field of nine at Arlington Park on her debut in a maiden special on July 17. Riviera Romper has a yearling colt by 2015 Travers Stakes winner Keen Ice (Curlin) and a foal of 2021 who is a full sister to Lexitonian.

Their sire Speightstown is the last remaining important son of the Mr. Prospector stallion Gone West still at stud, and among all the good sons of Gone West, only Juddmonte's classic-winning Zafonic would be a competitor with Speightstown to rank as the very best of them.

It has not always been this way.

As a yearling, Speightstown was a beauty, and well I remember his presence and charisma from the 1999 Keeneland July sale, when Speightstown was such a sensation that the gleaming chestnut brought $2 million from Eugene Melnyk out of the Taylor Made Sales consignment.

The great-looking yearling developed into one of the quickest juveniles for trainer Todd Pletcher, then started as the favorite for his debut at Saratoga in August 2000. And Speightstown finished dead last of 13, having “raced greenly and tired.”

The horse returned almost six months later and won a maiden special at Gulfstream, then lost an allowance but jumped into graded stakes for the G3 Gotham and finished seventh. For trainer Phil England, Speightstown won three straight allowances at Woodbine, then went to Saratoga for the G2 Amsterdam. There, Speightstown and favored City Zip flamed broiled each other, with Speightstown getting the calls for the quarter in :21.69 and the half in :44.86. City Zip had his head in front at the stretch call and pulled away slightly to win by a length, but it had taken the two front runners :26.17 to finish the final quarter-mile.

Speightstown didn't race again in 2001. Nor did he race in 2002. Twenty-one months and six days after the Amsterdam, Speightstown returned to racing at Belmont Park and won a seven-furlong allowance by a neck. The second horse was Volponi, whose previous start had been a victory in the 2002 Breeders' Cup Classic at Arlington.

The colt's next start was the Jaipur Stakes at Belmont and resulted in another head and head battle, this time with the very fast Holy Bull son Garnered, who won by 1 ¼ lengths. It was nearly a replay of the Amsterdam, and after a quarter in :21.64 and a half in :43.91, the two leaders took :39.58 to cover the final three furlongs.

After the Jaipur, Speightstown didn't race for 10 months and a day. For many an owner, this would have been too much. A $2 million-dollar colt who had made 10 starts in four seasons of racing and who had shown a very high level of speed but had trouble staying healthy seems like a proposition that many would have bailed on.

When Pletcher brought the striking chestnut back to the races in 2004 at age six, however, Speightstown showed that he was worth the wait. The horse swept victoriously through his first four starts – the Artax, G2 Churchill Downs Handicap, G2 True North Handicap, and G2 Vanderbilt Handicap – and in the latter was the odds-on favorite and set a new track record of 1:08.04.

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Upset as the odds-on favorite in the G1 Vosburgh, Speightstown came back in the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Lone Star Park in Texas on Oct. 30, 2004. The horse rated in fourth as Abbondanza and Cuvee slugged out the early furlongs, then came on in the stretch to win by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:08.11.

That G1 victory put the seal on a championship season for Speightstown, who entered stud the following year, and with the combined might of WinStar and Taylor Made farms behind him, Speightstown has risen to uncommon heights. The stallion's first crop contained 15 stakes winners, including Reynaldothewizard (G1 Golden Shaheen), Haynesfield (G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup), Lord Shanakill (G1 Prix Jean Prat), Jersey Town (G1 Cigar Mile), and Mona de Momma (G1 Distaff Stakes).

Despite being a horse of high speed, Speightstown prospered with maturity, and many of his best offspring likewise have shown improved form as they matured. That has not always made him the most popular commercial horse, but his stock have the speed if owners have the time. To date, Speightstown has 121 stakes winners (10 percent to foals of racing age).

The stallion's most successful son at stud to date is Munnings, a G2 winner from that illustrious first crop, and Calumet's latest G1 winner will doubtless be given opportunities at stud, both by his breeder and by commercial breeders who appreciate speed and pedigree.

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Grade 1 Winner Dayoutoftheoffice Retired

Dayoutoftheoffice, a Grade 1 winner who ran second in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, has been retired from racing, Daily Racing Form reports.

The 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief was being pointed toward the Grade 1 Test Stakes at Saratoga, but trainer Tim Hamm said the filly's broodmare value outweighed her racing value at this point in the year. After discussing the matter with co-owner and breeder Siena Farm, the decision was made to retire her.

Dayoutoftheoffice retired with three wins in six starts for earnings of $642,300. She won each of her first three career starts, first breaking her maiden at Gulfstream Park, then she rolled off victories in the G3 Schuylerville Stakes and G1 Frizette Stakes before finishing second to Vequist in the Breeders' cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland.

At three, Dayoutoftheoffice finished second in the G2 Eight Belles Stakes, then ran fourth in the G1 Acorn Stakes in her final career start on June 5.

British, Irish Bloodstock Markets Introduce New Industry Code Of Practice

The Bloodstock Industry Forum (BIF) is pleased to announce the completion of the new Bloodstock Industry Code of Practice which will be formally incorporated into the rules of British Racing on Aug. 16 and replaces the previous Bloodstock Industry Code of Practice which has been in place since in 2009 and the ITBA Sales Code of Practice, operational since 2010.

The new Code of Practice has been drawn up in response to the central recommendation made in the BHA Review of the Buying and Selling of Bloodstock and Racehorses in British Racing which was released in December 2019.

Commenting on the new Bloodstock Industry Code of Practice, Tattersalls marketing director Jimmy George, who chairs the Bloodstock Industry Forum, said;

“It has been a long process, but in response to the BHA Review of the Buying and Selling of Racehorses and Bloodstock in Britain, the Bloodstock Industry Forum is delighted to have finalized a new, robust Bloodstock Industry Code of Practice which has been approved by all of the key British and Irish industry bodies as well as the British Horseracing Authority and the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board.

“The new Code of Practice will be formally incorporated into the rules of British Racing and appear in all Tattersalls and Goffs sales catalogs, starting with the forthcoming Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale. It will also be widely disseminated and available through all BIF member organizations as well as being subject to regular review. Importantly the new Code of Practice has introduced a complaints procedure independent of the industry bodies and individuals found to be in breach of the Code, either in criminal or civil proceedings or having been sanctioned by the BHA for breach of the code, will also be subject to exclusion from participating at Tattersalls and Goffs sales in Britain and Ireland.

“Second only to the formation of the Bloodstock Industry Forum, replacing the existing Code with a new Code has been the priority in terms of embracing the principal recommendations set out in the BHA Review and we would like to thank all the members of the Bloodstock Industry Forum, which comprises representatives of the BHA, the IHRB, the Federation of Bloodstock Agents, Goffs, The National Trainers Federation, the Racehorse Owners Association, the British and Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Associations, and the Breeze Up Consignors as well as Tattersalls and Goffs, for their commitment to the process from the outset.

“The Bloodstock Industry Forum has also developed an 'E-learning' integrity module which will be adopted as part of the trainer licensing process in Britain as well as being mandatory for members of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents, while both Tattersalls and Goffs have committed to making full ownership details readily available to registered potential buyers as recommended in the Review.”

BHA Chief Executive Julie Harrington said;

“The BHA welcomes the publication of the Code of Practice, and the collaborative industry approach that has been taken to achieve this milestone. The Code of Practice has been approved by the BHA's Board and will be incorporated into the Rules of Racing. It will represent a significant step forwards in terms of enhancing trust in the process of buying and selling bloodstock in Britain and Ireland, and was one of the core recommendations of the Review of buying and selling practices of bloodstock and racehorses within British racing which was commissioned by the Board of the BHA.

“It is essential if we are to attract and retain owners in the sport that anyone involved in the purchase of bloodstock can have confidence that they are being treated fairly, and the Code will help further enhance British racing's reputation on this front. My thanks go to Jimmy George and all members of the Bloodstock Integrity Forum for their efforts and determination to reach this point, and we will continue to work with members of the BIF to make further improvements in this area.”

Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby added;

“I am pleased that the British and Irish racing and bloodstock industries have come together to deliver one gold standard to enhance the buying and selling of bloodstock on these shores. From an auction house perspective we certainly insist on the same transparency and high standards of integrity at every sale we conduct regardless of location, and feel this new Code addresses all the issues raised in the BHA report.”

Horse Racing Ireland CEO Brian Kavanagh said;

“Horse Racing Ireland and the IHRB welcome the new Code of Practice. We acknowledge the work and collaboration by the Bloodstock Industry Forum in drafting this document, and look forward to continuing our work with all stakeholders.”

Alongside the completion of the new Bloodstock Industry Code of Practice, Oliver St Lawrence on behalf of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents (FBA) confirmed more rigorous procedures for membership of the association, saying;

“Just like the other members of BIF, the FBA have embraced the principles of the BHA Bloodstock Review and have been heartened by the collaboration and willingness to address comprehensively the issues it highlighted. Together with a raft of other new measures, this upgraded Code should protect Principals with a significant tightening up of the definition of acceptable ethical behavior by all participants in the buying and selling of bloodstock and fully clarifies the law in the UK and Ireland. We at the FBA have tightened our membership requirements, which includes all members undertaking the new bloodstock education course, and are pleased to be endorsed by the BHA, and other BIF members, as an association which represents the highest standards of integrity and the recommended trade body that principals should look to use.”

On behalf of the Bloodstock Industry Forum, Jimmy George concluded;

“The commitment from each member of the Bloodstock Industry Forum to delivering a new Code of Practice has been unwavering and we are confident that we have produced a detailed, robust code, subject to regular review, which will stand the test of time. We share a collective responsibility to preserve and enhance the global reputation for integrity which has always been central to the success of the British and Irish bloodstock industries and the new Code sends out the very clear message that we will do everything in our power to maintain and increase confidence in an industry which is held in the highest esteem throughout the world.”

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