Tag: Bloodstock

Modern Games, who won top-flight races at two, three and four, has been retired from racing, Godolphin announced on Tuesday.

A son of Dubawi out of the exceptional broodmare Modern Ideals, the Godolphin homebred is also a half-brother to 2023 Classic heroine Mawj.

Progressing through the ranks as a juvenile in 2021, Modern Games won a G3 at Newmarket before heading to Del Mar to land the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

As a globetrotting 3-year-old, he won G1 races in three separate countries; the Poule d'Essai des Poulains at ParisLongchamp, the Woodbine Mile in Canada, before recording his second Breeders' Cup success in the Mile at Keeneland in Kentucky.

His first G1 on home soil came at the start of his 4-year-old campaign when beating a top-class field in the Lockinge Stakes by one-and-a-half lengths, emulating previous Godolphin winners and Darley stallions Farhh, Night Of Thunder and Ribchester.

Charlie Appleby said, “Modern Games was a brilliant horse to train and such a great advert for Godolphin. To win at two Breeders' Cups, to be part of our trio of Guineas winners in 2022, and to land the Lockinge Stakes this season, shows his class, toughness and durability.

“He answered every call we asked of him, and we will miss him at Moulton Paddocks. I'm sure he will be a huge success in his next career as a stallion.”

Stud plans for Modern Games will be announced at a later date.

The post Dual Breeders’ Cup Winner Modern Games Retired From Racing; Stud Plans Yet To Be Determined appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The second session of the Fasig-Tipton NY Bred Yearlings sale, held Monday at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., established a new sale record for gross with more than $20,000,000 in sales for the second consecutive year.

A colt by Practical Joke (Hip 628) topped the session when sold for $380,000 to Tom McCrocklin, agent, from the consignment of Nardelli Sales, agent (video). The price equaled that paid for the Sunday session topper. The session- and co-sale topper is out of the graded stakes winning Awesome Again mare Golden Mystery, whose first foal to race is multiple stakes winner Apalachee Bay (Malibu Moon). Hip 628 was bred by Donald Michael McCormick.

“We concluded another very successful NY Bred Yearlings sale today,” said Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning. “(It) continued the strength and moment that we witnessed in recent years at this sale and also the strength that we saw throughout the selected sale last week.”

A colt by Authentic (Hip 407) set the bar early in the session when sold for $360,000 to MyRacehorse & RT Racing from the consignment of Winter Quarter Farm, agent (video). The dark bay or brown colt is out of the winning Street Sense mare Savvy Sassy, who has already produced two stakes-placed winners from three to race. Savvy Sassy is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Southdale and to the dam of multiple graded stakes winner Plainsman. Hip 407 was bred by Oak Bluff Stables & Christophe Clement.

Rounding out the session's top five prices were:

* Hip 463, a filly by Munnings out of To the Moon Alice, sold for $340,000 to Preferred Equine, agent, from the consignment of Denali Stud, agent. The dark bay or brown filly is out of a winner-producing Malibu Moon half-sister to Grade 2 winner Unchained Melody. Hip 463 was bred by Old Tavern Farm.

* Hip 619, a filly by Munnings out of multiple stakes winner Freudie Anne, sold for $325,000 to Niall Brennan, agent for JR International Holdings, from the consignment of Hunter Valley Farm, agent. The bay filly is a full sister to a winner in Eddie the Great, from the immediate family of Grade 1 winner I Ain't Bluffing. Hip 619 was bred by Fergus Galvin, Marc Detampel, Jayne Johnson, & Adrian Wallace.

* Hip 618, a Bernardini filly out stakes winner Fresco, sold for $320,000 to C. Clement from the consignment of Winter Quarter Farm, agent. The bay filly is the first foal out of a full sister to recent United Nations Stakes (G1) winner and millionaire Therapist, from the immediate family of Horse of the Year Dubai Millennium, Broodmare of the Year Fall Aspen, and champions Timber Country and Bianconi. Hip 618 was bred by Oak Bluff Stable.

“There were lots of really outstanding horses on the grounds,” added Browning. “It was a very good market, a very good sale, and (we're) very pleased with the results.”

Overall, 217 yearlings changed for a sale record gross of $20,806,000, up 3.1 percent from the previous record set last year when 188 sold for $20,175,000. The average was $95,880 and the median $75,000, good for third- and second-highest in sale history, respectively. The percentage of yearlings that did not attain their reserve price was 27.7 percent (83 of 300 were not sold), an increase from the 19.3 percent RNA rate in 2022.

Full results are available online.

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Texas Thoroughbred breeders and horsemen are preparing to stage one of the largest Texas yearling sales ever. The annual Texas Thoroughbred Association Summer Yearling Sale is set for August 28 at the Lone Star Park Sales Pavilion. The live auction sale begins at 10 a.m.

The sale features a blockbuster catalog of 264 yearlings. Based entirely on the youngsters lining up to prance into the sales ring, this should be the strongest yearling sale ever held in Texas. Classic winners Exaggerator, Union Rags, Accelerate, Tapwrit, Mucho Macho Man, Cloud Computing, Country House and Tonalist are all represented, as are popular Texas stallions Competitive Edge, Bradester, Mr Speaker and Too Much Bling. In fact, Competitive Edge, a graded stakes winner of $520,000 who stands at Valor Farm in Pilot Point, has 10 yearlings in the sale, more than any other stallion.

The sensational Mitole, who in 2019 won the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) as well as the Met Mile (G1) on his way to championship honors, is represented by four yearlings in the sale. Six of the yearlings being offered are by Spun to Run, who won the 2019 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and earned $1,160,520; four are by Vino Rosso, the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner who was the 2019 champion older male. From Vino Rosso's first crop, The Wine Steward won the recent Bashford Manor Stakes.

“The hurdles Texas racing is going through at the moment are discouraging, but I am confident there will be a solution soon to rectify the issues,” said Melanie Martinelli of Solitude Thoroughbreds in Alvord, Texas, which has jumped into the state's Thoroughbred industry with its 14 yearlings representing its first consignment. “We are continuing on the path we've chosen for ourselves in Texas. The Yearling Sale is going to be a strong indicator of the Texas-bred market. We really like this group of yearlings we are bringing to the auction.”

Six of the yearlings in the Solitude consignment are from the first crop of King Zachary, a multiple stakes winner of $366,120 and the only son of the great Curlin standing in Texas. When King Zachary won the 2019 Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga, he set a track record (2:52.97) for 1 3/4 miles that still stands. Hip No. 170 by King Zachary is out of the stakes-winning mare Notacloudinthesky and so is a half-brother to three winners.

Like Martinelli, Jeff Hooper, the chairman and CEO of Highlander Training Center, said he's disappointed with the current political issues surrounding Texas racing, and he's also optimistic.

“Horsemen are optimistic by nature,” Hooper said, “ and I'm optimistic about this upcoming yearling sale. There's always a market for a good racehorse, and I think our consignment overflows with potential. We've focused on the regional horses, and I'm very pleased with the group. We have some very nice Kentucky-sired Texas-breds, and the quality of the Louisiana-bred yearlings is especially strong.”

The Highlander consignment is comprised of 18 fillies and 18 colts — all of them “client horses,” Hooper pointed out.

Hip No. 112 could be one of the more popular yearlings in the sale. A handsome bay colt by the champion Improbable, he's out of the stakes-placed Harlan's Holiday mare Holiday Girl and a half-brother to the stakes-placed Twirl Girl, as well as three more winners. And Hip No. 191, also from the Highlander consignment, could be appropriately named. A chestnut son of the great sprinter Imperial Hint out of the graded stakes-winning mare Ready's Gal, He's Ready to Win is a half-brother to the graded stakes winner Machen and the stakes-placed Mawthooq, as well as three other winners.

Hip No. 87, a Spun to Run colt from the Oakridge Farm consignment, is a half-brother to eight winners, including the undefeated 2-year-old Divining Humor, winner of the recent TTA Futurity. And Hip No. 143, a Flatter colt, is a half-brother to Texas Chrome, a multiple stakes winner of $1,033,362, as well as stakes-winning Patrona Margarita.

The sale is open to the public and admission is free. Download a 2023 Texas Summer Yearling Sale catalogue here with more information at www.TTAsales.com.

The post 264 Cataloged For Texas Thoroughbred Association Summer Yearling Sale At Lone Star Park On Aug. 28 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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It took less than 40 hips into the abbreviated first session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale for Honest Mischief to make a statement among the New York stallion ranks.

On Sunday night, Honest Mischief became the first New York stallion to sell multiple six-figure yearlings from his debut crop at the New York-Bred sale since Dublin had three in 2014.

Early in the evening, Shepherd Equine Advisors, as agent for International Equine, signed the $100,000 ticket for Hip 314, a filly from the family of Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike. Shortly after that transaction, Tom McCrocklin, as agent, landed Hip 340, a colt out of the Malibu Moon mare Miss Malibu Style, for $120,000.

“Everyone has really been excited about the first crop of Honest Mischiefs, not just the buyers and the breeders, but also the consignors that have the ability to sell his progeny,” said Carlos Manresa, Sequel's director of operations. “Going around the consignments, looking at each of the Honest Mischiefs in the sale, we were really excited with what we saw. We had several in the consignment that already sold really well, and we know they're going to go on to do great things. It's very encouraging to see that other people see what we see in him, as well.”

The early auction success continued a wave of commercial interest in the 7-year-old son of Into Mischief, which began in his debut season at Sequel New York in 2021, where his 127 mares bred was the most in the Empire State. In turn, he had the most first-crop yearlings cataloged in this year's New York-Bred Yearling Sale.

Sequel New York has five Honest Mischief yearlings cataloged in the sale, including the $120,000 colt. Ballysax Bloodstock handled the evening's other six-figure yearling by the stallion.

“The Honest Mischiefs are giving a very athletic and fast build,” Manresa said. “He has a lot of similarities to Into Mischief. He's a middle-sized horse, but he's incredibly robust. He's very powerful-looking, and in a lot of ways, he's a refined version of Into Mischief that had a lot of early speed. He looks like a horse that's going to produce a lot of fast 2-year-olds.”

During his own on-track career, Honest Mischief won four of nine starts racing as a homebred for Juddmonte Farms, earning $287,464. He won the listed City of Laurel Stakes at Laurel Park during his 3-year-old season, which also included an in-the-money effort in the Grade 2 Amsterdam Stakes.

Honest Mischief is out of the Grade 1-winning Seattle Slew mare Honest Lady, whose other foals of note include Grade 1 winner and sire First Defence, and stakes winners Phantom Rose and Honest Quality. His second dam is 2002 Broodmare of the Year Toussaud, putting him in the family of Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker, Grade 1 winner Chester House, and Grade 2 winner Decarchy.

The crowd for Sunday evening's session of the New York-Bred sale featured a healthy mix of end-user owners, trainers, and pinhookers, and Manresa said the Honest Mischiefs were called out by many of them.

With that degree of popularity, meeting or surpassing Dublin's trio of six-figure yearlings appears to be an attainable goal as the auction enters its final session.

“The Honest Mischiefs have been looked at by everyone at the sale, across the board,” he said. “They were part of all of our shows, from local breeders that were happy to see him come to our farm in New York to Hall of Fame trainers that were bringing them all out to see what the new crop was going to look like.

“Chad Brown was, of course, really happy to see them, as he trained Honest Mischief,” Manresa continued. “He was really happy to see what we had, and I think he found a lot of similarities between his progeny and Honest Mischief himself.”

New York Stallions With Six-Figure First-Crop Yearlings In The Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale Since 2014

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