The Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (ITOBA) is introducing a new format for the 2023 Fall Mixed Sale. This year will feature a live yearling sale, a paddock sale, and a mixed digital sale.
The live yearling sale will be held on Oct. 14 at the Horseshoe Indianapolis Receiving Barn at 1 p.m. This sale will feature up to 80 Indiana-bred, Indiana Sired, and out-of-state yearlings.
The paddock sale will also take place on Oct. 14 immediately following the conclusion of the live yearling sale at Horseshoe Indianapolis. This sale will only feature horses of racing age.
The mixed digital sale will be held from Oct. 16-19 on HorseAuctionsUSA.com. This sale will feature weanlings, broodmares, horses of racing age, and RNAs from the live yearling sale.
ITOBA is accepting registrations for the mixed digital sale until Friday, Sept. 1. To register, simply visit www.ITOBA.com/fall-sale and print, fill out, and mail in all documents to:
Austin Nicks
Nicks Auction Service
P.O. Box 220
Sellersburg, IN 47172
“We believe the new format of the ITOBA Mixed Sale allows all of the horsemen and horsewomen in Indiana to get involved,” said ITOBA President Pat McGhee. “We have a live yearling sale followed by a live paddock sale of racehorses from Horseshoe Indianapolis. We follow that with an online digital sale for weanlings, broodmares and horses of all ages on the horseauctionsusa.com website. The different formats combined with live broadcast and online bidding on our yearling sale allow us to reach a much broader audience throughout the country. Indiana's new format allows everyone to get involved and take full advantage of the great breeding program and purses offered in the Hoosier State.”
One of the fastest-growing segments of the Thoroughbred auction market is the weanling-to-yearling pinhook market, which regularly produces some of the biggest hammer prices of the yearling season.
While there are individuals within the bloodstock marketplace that have carved out reputations for having a keen eye when it comes to buying young horses and re-selling them as yearlings, the various noms-de-sales ticket that can be tied to an individual through different agents and partnerships can make quantifying the best pinhookers nearly impossible.
We don't have that problem with sires. That's one line on the transaction that is never changed or hidden.
With that in mind, I'll be spending the yearling season trying to figure out which sires are performing best in the weanling-to-yearling pinhook market by seeing whose youngsters are providing the biggest returns on investment from their previous purchases.
Stallions in the pinhook power rankings will be measured by two factors:
1) Gross revenue from every pinhooked yearling by a sire during the 2023 major sale season over the combined purchase price of those horses during the weanling/short yearling season of fall 2022/winter 2023. Because pinhooks comprise a smaller percentage of the yearling market's total offerings, compared with yearling-to-juvenile pinhooks, there is no minimum number of horses sold to qualify for the list.
2) Percent change of gross yearling sales over combined weanling/short yearling purchase price. If a horse sells for $10,000 as a weanling and brings $200,000 as a yearling, that's a 1,900 percent improvement. If a $200,000 yearling goes on to sell for $390,000, that's a 95 percent improvement. Both net you $190,000, but the entry point and expectations are very different.
Stallions are ranked in each category, and their combined ranks are totaled into a combined score. The lower the score, the better the horse is performing.
With just one major North American yearling sale in the books – the Fasig-Tipton July sale – we don't have a ton of data to pull from for this inaugural list, but every set of power rankings has to start somewhere. This list will surely evolve and refine over time, and hopefully it'll turn into something useful, or at least interesting.
So, let's get a look at those rankings.
#1 – Good Magic, Hill 'n' Dale Farms
Good Magic
What a 2023 it's been for Good Magic, who was represented by a Kentucky Derby winner from his first crop in Mage before nearly taking the Preakness Stakes with Blazing Sevens. It was a near-certainty that buyers would pounce on the Good Magics when the yearling season came around, and investors in his young stock would be rewarded for their perfect timing.
Good Magic had two pinhooked yearlings sell at the Fasig-Tipton July sale for a total of $470,000 off a combined initial investment of $124,000. The gross increase of $346,000 was the greatest season-to-season jump by any stallion through the first yearling auction, and he had the fifth-highest gain by percentage at 279.03 percent.
The most dramatic jump among the two Good Magics came from Hip 175, a colt who sold as a weanling to Three Counties Bloodstock for $49,000 at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and later sold to Boardshorts Stables for $370,000. The first foal out of the winning Carpe Diem mare Scolding, the colt was consigned at the July Sale by Blandford Stud, agent.
The Fasig-Tipton July sale is a big momentum-setter for first-crop sires, and rookie Thousand Words was one of the early standouts at this year's renewal.
Thousand Words' lone pinhooked yearling started as a $65,000 weanling purchase by Stella Stables at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale, and he sold to Stanley Stables for $250,000 at this year's July sale. He ranked fourth by both gross and percent gains, at $185,000 and 284.62 percent, respectively.
Offered as Hip 351, the filly is out of Grade 3-placed Maria's Mon mare Izshelegal, and she was consigned at the July Sale by Gainesway, agent.
Thousand Words, a Grade 2-winning son of Pioneerof the Nile, was himself a $1-million yearling during his own time in the sales ring, offering a positive bit of past performance when projecting the fortunes of his foals at auction.
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His one pinhooked yearling to sell at the July sale started as a $20,000 short yearling secured by Cece Stables at this year's Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, and he sold to Legion Bloodstock, agent, for $130,000 at the July Sale. The 550 percent gain was the second-best among qualifying sires, while the gross increase of $110,000 placed him 10th in that category.
Consigned by Gainesway, agent, the colt offered as Hip 149 is the first foal out of the unraced Giant's Causeway mare Pipistrella, from the family of champion High Chaparral.
Omaha Beach has proven a versatile sire with his first crop of runners in the early months of their juvenile season, getting stakes-placed runners on both dirt and turf. His runners figure to get better as time rolls on, and it appears he has managed to maintain the attention of the marketplace while those early runners do the work to prove out their sire.
#4 – Army Mule, Hill 'n' Dale Farms
Army Mule
After performing admirably with his first runners in 2022, it's little surprise that buyers are bullish on Army Mule's follow-up crops, and the believers are being rewarded.
Army Mule had two pinhooked yearlings in the Fasig-Tipton July Sale, starting with a combined initial investment of $72,000 and selling for $217,000. That marked a gross gain of $145,000, which ranked him sixth for his best-performing category.
The star of that duo was Hip 233, a filly out of the unraced Giant's Causeway mare Whiff, handled by the Paramount Sales consignment. Good Amego Bloodstock first landed her for $42,000 at the Keeneland January Sale, then she hammered to Pablo Stables for $140,000 in July.
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#5 – Caracaro, Crestwood Farm
Caracaro at Crestwood Farm
Another first-crop sire making a positive impression with his debut yearlings. Caracaro had two pinhooked yearlings sell in July, growing an initial investment of $57,000 to $190,000.
That marked a 233.33 percent season-to-season growth, while the gross improvement of $133,000 ranked him seventh in that category.
The biggest revenue driver among Caracaro's pinhooked yearlings was Hip 329, a filly out of the unplaced Giant's Causeway mare Giants Diva, from a deep family including English Horse of the Year Dayjur, champion Sky Beauty, and Grade 1 winners Maplejinsky, Pleasant Home, and Tale of Ekati.
She sold to Scoot Stables as a weanling for $47,000 at the Keeneland November Sale, then she sold through the Gainesway consignment to All Star Bloodstock for $150,000.
Caracaro has every right to have early-developing types. After securing an Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old, Uncle Mo was a record-setting freshman sire, and his debut crop featured champion juvenile and eventual leading freshman sire Nyquist.
Leading 3-year-old Two Phil's, who finished a close second in this year's Kentucky Derby, will stand the 2024 breeding season at WinStar Farm, the farm announced today.
A son of leading sire and Grade 1 winner Hard Spun, Two Phil's retires with five wins from 10 career starts, having amassed earnings of $1,583,450. A stud fee will be announced at a later date.
Bred in Kentucky by Phillip Sagan, and owned in partnership by Sagan, Patricia's Hope, and Madaket Stables, Two Phil's concluded his racing career with three consecutive performances recording triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. The Larry Rivelli-trained runner ran a 101 Beyer in overpowering his rivals by 5 ¼ lengths in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park in March; He earned a 105 Beyer in finishing second by just a length in the Kentucky Derby; and equaled the 105 Beyer in a dominating 5 ¾-length win in the G3 Ohio Derby at Thistledown in his final career appearance.
“We have been looking for a Danzig-line horse that meets our standard of physicality, pedigree, and race record for some time now,” said Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar Farm. “I think Two Phil's could have been the best 3-year-old in the country if his career had not been cut short after his dominant win in the Ohio Derby with a 5 Ragozin, 105 Beyer, and a negative ¾ on Thorograph. However you look at it, he is top class.”
Two Phil's guaranteed himself a spot in the starting gate for the 2023 Kentucky Derby with a convincing victory in the $700,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks at 1 1/8 miles, emulating his sire who also won the traditional Kentucky Derby prep 16 years earlier when it was named the Lane's End Stakes. Winning under wraps, Two Phil's covered the distance in 1:49.03 under jockey Jareth Loveberry.
In the 149th Kentucky Derby, Two Phil's delivered an exceptional effort and once again followed in the footsteps of his classic-placed sire, Hard Spun, who finished second in the 2007 Kentucky Derby. Two Phil's rated just behind the brutal early fractions of :22.35 and :45.73 and angled to the two-path entering the lane. He surged to the front in the stretch before being caught in the final strides by Mage. Despite being headed by Mage close to home, Two Phil's fought doggedly to the wire to finish a clear second from a hard-charging Angel of Empire who finished third.
Two Phil's once again brought his “A” game to the $500,000 G3 Ohio Derby in June. He rallied three-wide around the far turn of the 1 1/8-mile fixture, making the lead near the quarter-pole. He quickly opened a clear advantage and drew off through deep stretch to win easily in 1:49.60, defeating Bishop's Bay, who was previously second by a head to subsequent Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo in the G2 Peter Pan Stakes in May.
A well-traveled and versatile horse who did not need to take his racetrack with him, Two Phil's came out running at two. He broke his maiden in his second lifetime start at Colonial Downs, winning a six-furlong maiden special event in front-running fashion in the fast time of 1:09.79. Two Phil's captured the six-furlong Shakopee Juvenile Stakes at Canterbury Downs in his next outing, crushing his rivals in a hand ride by 9 ¾ lengths. He brought the curtain down on his freshman season with a runaway 5 ¼-length triumph in the $200,000 Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs, giving him three wins from five starts as a juvenile.
“From the time he came into my barn at two, Two Phil's was a standout,” said Larry Rivelli. “He is the best horse I have ever trained, and I look forward to his babies.”
Among his esteemed sire's lifetime leading earners and his chief earner in 2023, Two Phil's is produced from the multiple stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed General Quarters mare Mia Torri, a half-sister to graded stakes-placed River Rocks and stakes-placed Go Gator Girl Go and an earner of $314,720.
Winning his eighth consecutive race in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes at Saratoga, last season's champion sprinter Elite Power (by Curlin) prompted a question to trainer Bill Mott from one of the television commentators about what it took to win eight races in a row. Mott wryly remarked that he knew how hard it was to win 17 in a row.
That was a reference to the Mott-trained Horse of the Year Cigar (1995 and 1996), who won 16 in a row, then lost the G1 Pacific Classic in a massive upset. Cigar (Palace Music) ran his streak from October 1994 to July 1996, winning 10 G1 races during that time, plus the 1996 Dubai World Cup and the G1 Woodward immediately after the Pacific Classic. The elegant and powerful bay was bred and raced by Allen Paulson, who owned large farms in Kentucky and Florida and operated a massive home breeding program at his Brookside Farm outside of Versailles, Ky.
The greatest of Paulson's homebreds, which also include 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri (Jade Hunter), Cigar hit his best form at four, five, and six after Mott switched him from turf to dirt. A scion of the Northern Dancer line, Cigar had been expected to follow his sire's preference for turf racing, but instead performed best on dirt like his broodmare sire, Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. Sold to Coolmore's Ashford Stud as a stallion prospect at the end of his racing career, Cigar very sadly proved sterile, never siring a foal, but he became one of the grand attractions at the Kentucky Horse Park, where he was visited by thousands annually.
Although there's no Cigar in Elite Power's pedigree, the chestnut champion's fourth dam is Eliza (Mt. Livermore), the 1992 champion juvenile filly bred and raced by Paulson. Other Eclipse Award winners raced by Paulson, though not all bred by him, included Arazi (in partnership), U.S. and European champion 2-year-old of 1991; 1989 champion older horse Blushing John; 1997 champion 3-year-old filly Ajina; 1998 champion older filly or mare Escena; 1986 champion turf mare Estrapade; and 1987 champion grass horse Theatrical.
Eliza won five of her first six starts, including the Arlington-Washington Lassie, Alcibiades, and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The spritely bay opened her 3-year-old season with victory in the G1 Santa Anita Oaks, then was tried against colts in the Santa Anita Derby, finishing third. The filly's half-brother Dinard (Strawberry Road) had won the same race the previous year, and they are two of three stakes winners and six stakes horses from the fifth dam, Daring Bidder (Bold Bidder).
Subsequently, Eliza was second in the G1 Kentucky Oaks, and when sent to stud, the good-looking mare became the dam of Miss Doolittle (Storm Cat), who ran third in the G2 Schuylerville Stakes and then produced a pair of stakes winners: G1 Florida Derby winner Dialed In (Mineshaft) and Broadway Gold (Seeking the Gold), winner of the Astoria Stakes at Belmont and the second dam of Elite Power.
Broadway Gold was bred by Paulson's widow Madeleine, Will Farish, and Skara Glen Stables. The daughter of Seeking the Gold sold to Paul Robsham for $600,000 at the 2003 Keeneland September sale, became a stakes winner, and then a stakes producer. At the 2015 Keeneland November sale, the mare sold to SF Bloodstock for $950,000 in foal to Medaglia d'Oro. At the time of sale, the mare's three stakes winners were on the page, including G2 winner Broadway's Alibi (Vindication) and G3 winner Golden Lad (Medaglia d'Oro).
The dam of Elite Power, Broadway's Alibi won four of her six starts, including the G2 Forward Gal at Gulfstream, and was second to Believe You Can (Proud Citizen) in the G1 Kentucky Oaks of 2012. Broadway's Alibi never raced again but came to auction at the 2013 Keeneland November sale in foal to leading sire Smart Strike (Mr. Prospector). As part of the Robsham Stables dispersal, Broadway's Alibi brought $2.15 million from Reynolds Bell for Jon Clay's Alpha Delta Stables.
Bell recalled that “Broadway's Alibi had the depth of family that appealed to Mr. Clay, and she had shown a lot of ability on the racetrack.”
From six foals, Elite Power is the mare's only stakes winner. Unfortunately, Broadway's Alibi died foaling earlier this year, and Bell said that “losing both the mare and foal was devastating to Mr. Clay. Fortunately, he has the experience with the business to weather this kind of loss.”
Breeding horses requires patience and resilience, and Alpha Delta still has two daughters of Broadway's Alibi: Distorted Lies, a daughter of Smart Strike that the mare was carrying at the time of her purchase, and Prevaricate (Medaglia d'Oro), a 4-year-old.
“Mr. Clay's business plan concentrates on selling colts and retaining some fillies to race,” Bell said. One of the premier colts that Alpha Delta has produced from its program is Elite Power, whom Bell recalled as a top physical from the start. The colt went to the yearling sales without a hitch and sold like a future star.
Juddmonte, through farm manager Garrett O'Rourke, acquired Elite Power for $900,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale. The striking chestnut “was Curlin all over,” Bell recalled.
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Then Juddmonte was required to have the patience and faith in their selection to wait until September 2021 for the colt to make his debut. Their patience is being well rewarded.
Likewise, breeders need patience, and Alpha Delta has the 2-year-old full brother to Elite Power. “Occasionally, you end up with a colt you don't mind having; this is one of those,” Bell said. “The full brother to Elite Power had a vet issue for the sale, and we felt like he would be discounted too much; so we kept him.”
Unnamed as yet, the full brother was sent to Eddie Woods in Florida for breaking in and is now at WinStar. Bell noted that “we had to give him a little time to allow the vet issue to resolve the right way, and Elite Power didn't get to the races till the middle of his third year.” The plan is for the full brother to go into training with Chad Brown, if all continues well.
As a breeder and owner, Paulson was known for his patience, often well rewarded, and now, with Elite Power, another top racer rooted in his breeding program has shown the value in appreciating the long game.
