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Global Sensation Con Te Partiro To Return To Keeneland For Breeders’ Cup, November Sale

Keeneland is excited to welcome Con Te Partiro – who began her career at Keeneland before winning stakes in the U.S. and at Royal Ascot in England and capturing two Group 1 races in Australia – back home for a start in the Breeders' Cup World Championships on Nov. 6-7 and then offer her during the premier Book 1 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale on Nov. 9.

The 6-year-old daughter of Scat Daddy, who will be cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect, will be consigned by Bedouin Bloodstock, agent.

With starts at 14 tracks on three continents over five seasons of racing, Con Te Partiro has a story unlike any other Thoroughbred.

“Con Te Partiro has excelled at the highest level of international racing while she has exemplified just how small the global Thoroughbred industry is,” Keeneland President-Elect and Interim Head of Sales Shannon Arvin said. “We are thrilled to hold a Keeneland homecoming for Con Te Partiro. She sold as a yearling at the September Sale and she began her racing career here during the 2016 Spring Meet. We look forward to presenting her at the November Sale with all the fanfare she deserves.”

Owned by SF Bloodstock and trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Con Te Partiro this year has won two Group 1 events: the 7 1/2-furlong Coolmore Classic and one-mile Coolmore Legacy. Last year at five, Con Te Partiro won a Group 3 race in her Australian debut.

“It is remarkable to reflect on what Con Te Partiro has achieved in her racing career,” Waterhouse said. “It is a rare feat in itself to win stakes races on three continents, but it is her performances at the elite level in Australia for which she will be remembered. Con Te Partiro won both of the time-honored Group 1 races, the Coolmore Classic and the Coolmore Legacy, making her, arguably, the best-performed mare in Australia.”

“Con Te Partiro truly is a one-of-a-kind mare,” said Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock. “Her accomplishments on the track – including two Grade 1 wins in Australia, stakes victories at both the Royal Ascot and Saratoga race meets and successes on both dirt and turf – put her in an elite category of racehorses with the ability to perform at the highest level around the world.

“We purchased her in 2018 as a beautiful stakes-winning filly by Scat Daddy from the family of Into Mischief, and we are proud to say she has exceeded all expectations since.”

Con Te Partiro's return to Keeneland will come 4 1/2 years after she opened her career here with a dominating 5 1/2-length victory on dirt as a 2-year-old for trainer Wesley Ward and owner Hat Creek Racing. Transferred to turf, she won the Bolton Landing at Saratoga by 5 3/4 lengths and was second against males in the Juvenile Turf Sprint on the 2016 Breeders' Cup undercard at Santa Anita.

Her 3-year-old campaign included a trip to England, where she won the Sandringham at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet, and she raced in Grade 1 stakes at Del Mar and Keeneland. The next season, she was third in the G3 Arlington Matron in Chicago.

While boasting a unique race record, Con Te Partiro hails from an active, well-known family. Her sire, Scat Daddy, is the sire of such prominent horses as undefeated 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify and European champion and Royal Ascot winner Lady Aurelia.

Con Te Partiro is out of the Grade 1-placed Street Cry mare Temple Street and hails from a Grade 1-producing female family. She is a half-sister to stakes winner and multiple graded stakes-placed Donworth and is from the extended family of four-time champion Beholder, Grade 1 winner Mendelssohn and Grade 1 winner and leading sire Into Mischief.

In addition, Con Te Partiro is from a commercially successful family with half-siblings selling for as much as $550,000. She herself is a graduate of Keeneland's September Yearling Sale.

The post Global Sensation Con Te Partiro To Return To Keeneland For Breeders’ Cup, November Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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I’ll Have Another Relocates To Ocean Breeze Ranch In California For 2021

I'll Have Another, the dual classic winner and champion 3-year-old male of 2012, has been purchased privately by former racing connections J. Paul and Zillah Reddam, and he will stand at their Ocean Breeze Ranch in Bonsail, Calif., for the 2021 breeding season, Daily Racing Form reports.

The 11-year-old son of Flower Alley began his stallion career in Japan, and was brought back to the U.S. to stand in California at Ballena Vista Farm prior to the 2019 breeding season. He was first purchased privately a few months ago by Doug O'Neill, I'll Have Another's trainer during his on-track career, who turned the horse over to the Reddams.

The purchase was done with a bit of urgency over concerns that the stallion might be sent overseas once again.

I'll Have Another won five of seven starts for the Reddams and O'Neill, earning $2,693,600. He earned his spot on the classic trail with wins in the G2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes and G1 Santa Anita Derby. Then, he showed off an incredible closing kick to run down pacesetter Bodemeister in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Bred in Kentucky by Harvey Clarke, I'll Have Another is out of the winning Arch mare Arch's Gal Edith.

Already a veteran sire in Japan, I'll Have Another is responsible for 220 winners, led by Group 3 winner Another Truth.

A stud fee for I'll Have Another will be announced at a later date.

Where Are They Now? Fasig-Tipton Turf Showcase Graduates Span the Globe Three Years Later

A Fasig-Tipton sale in Kentucky is an unusual sight in September, and the only thing more unique than its presence the last time it happened was its premise.

In 2017, the Fasig-Tipton Turf Showcase took place the day before the marathon Keeneland September Yearling Sale, putting a group of selected yearlings on offer with pedigrees or physicals that suggested they'd be well-suited to run on the grass. While auctions specializing in horses of different ages and birthplaces are commonplace on the sale calendar, putting together a catalog with an eye toward their preferred surface was a step into uncharted territory.

The fact that there hasn't been a Turf Showcase since then is a telling indicator of how the auction was received in the short term. The high-end commercial stigma around being labeled a turf horse is making granular progress, but it's still nearly as hard for a turf-leaning horse to crack the upper echelon of a sale today as it was in 2017. However, each sale's reputation as a place to find winners and pinhook prospects takes years to develop, keeping the jury out until further notice.

A full chart tracking the career of each Turf Showcase graduate can be found in the Sept. 9 edition of the PR Special by clicking here.

The graduates of the Turf Showcase are 4-year-olds of 2020, and the late-blooming nature of many top turf runners indicates there is still time for the story to be written on this group of offerings. Just like any cross-section of prospects, be they auction horses or athletes entering a professional draft, there are a wide range of outcomes, from heroes and underachievers, to hopefuls who end up making a splash in an entirely different field.

The star alum of the Turf Showcase by just about any metric out there was Legends of War, a Scat Daddy colt out of the unplaced Rahy mare Madera Dancer who sold to Hunter Valley Farm for $200,000.

Legends of War was shipped to Europe to enter the 2018 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale for the Mayfield Stables of Ronaldo de Souza and Tanya Browne, and he brought the event's highest price, going to bloodstock agent Stephen Hillen for 900,000 guineas (about $1.35 million).

The colt remained in Europe to begin his on-track career for owner Qatar Racing, winning on debut and eventually becoming a Group 2-placed runner in England. Legends of War was moved back to the U.S. for the start of his 3-year-old campaign, where Qatar Racing took on partners including C T R Stables and put the colt in the barn of trainer Doug O'Neill.

Turf sprinting proved to be the specialty for Legends of War, who earned his signature victory in last year's G3 Franklin-Simpson Stakes at Kentucky Downs and parlayed that into a start in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint. He last raced on the Saudi Cup undercard, and he will enter stallion duty in England next year.

Legends of War is the leading earner from the Turf Showcase graduates, having made $491,240 on the racetrack. His Franklin-Simpson Stakes triumph also makes him the only graduate to date with a graded or group stakes win through Aug. 19.

Legends of War has a lot of stamps in his passport, showing just how wide a net one relatively small sale can cast around the globe. The 145 graduates of the Turf Showcase have competed in the U.S., Canada, England, Ireland, France, Italy, Japan, the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Panama, Denmark, and Greece.

While many of the Turf Showcase graduates went on to race overseas, one of the most unique career trajectories came from Revamp, a Tapizar colt who sold to CDM Racing and Dominic Finn for $55,000.
He brought 60,000 guineas (about $90,000) the following year at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, and did little to inspire in three British starts before selling again for 5,000 British pounds (about $6,333) 2019 Tattersalls Ascot June Sale. Such a firesale transaction may not project to big things for a horse still early in his 3-year-old season, but he found his level at Markopoulo Racetrack in Greece, where the gelding drew off to win the Greek Derby by 11 1/2 lengths over dirt.

The female graduates of the Turf Showcase have also begun to branch out into their next careers as broodmares, many of them entering the breeding shed for the first time in 2020.

Mirroring their own newcomer status to the breeding program, the Turf Showcase fillies have typically gone on to support the books of young stallions, including 2020 rookies Vino Rosso, Omaha Beach, and two to Audible. Others have been booked to newer stallions including Runhappy, Oscar Performance, Karakontie, Optimizer, War Correspondent, and Slumber.

The highest-profile stallion bookings among the Turf Showcase alumni so far have gone to Splashy Kisses and Peace Parade.

Splashy Kisses, a daughter of Blame, visited More Than Ready in 2019, and she was booked to Uncle Mo earlier this year. After selling for $30,000 at the Turf Showcase and being pinhooked for $100,000, Splashy Kisses went on to finish second in the G2 Pocahontas Stakes on the Churchill Downs dirt and third in the G3 Sweet Life Stakes over the downhill turf course at Santa Anita. She later sold for $240,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale before starting her breeding career.

Peace Parade drew the highest hammer price of the Turf Showcase, but she finished under her reserve with a final bid of $375,000. The War Front filly never entered a race, and she was bred to Candy Ride this year for her first mating.

A full chart tracking the career of each Turf Showcase graduate can be found in the Sept. 9 edition of the PR Special by clicking here.

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WinStar Farm Promotes O’Rourke To Director Of Bloodstock Services; Desch Joins Stallion Season Sales Team

WinStar Farm has announced the promotion of Liam O'Rourke as its new Director of Bloodstock Services. In conjunction with O'Rourke's promotion, Olivia Desch joins Chris Knehr on the Stallion Season Sales team.

“We are fortunate to be in a position to promote from within,” said Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm. “Our team is deep with talent and we pride ourselves on hiring people that our clients enjoy working with. Liam has been an integral part of our team for the last four years and I have complete confidence in him.”

Originally from Toronto, Ontario, O'Rourke joined the WinStar bloodstock team in 2016.

“Since joining WinStar I have had the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the most talented people in the industry,” O'Rourke said. “While my main focus will remain on our stallion roster, I will now have the flexibility to expand into more bloodstock opportunities. I look forward to the new challenge and achieving shared success with the WinStar team and our shareholders.”

Desch, born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been with WinStar since 2019 when she was hired as a bloodstock assistant. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a BS in Equine Science and Management and prepped yearlings for Lane's End prior to interning with WinStar in 2017.

“I am confident that our dedicated breeders will continue to have the best possible customer experience when they work with Chris Knehr and Olivia,” O'Rourke said. “Chris is a seasoned, knowledgeable team member and makes the breeding process easy for our customers. Olivia, through her hard work and dedication, has grown from an intern into a bloodstock and marketing assistant and now into a full-time bloodstock and sales role while gaining experience across a number of our divisions. Dedication to our clients will be the hallmark of this team.”

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