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Ahead of Fasig November, Amy Moore Bids Queen Caroline a Heartfelt Farewell

The chances might be one in a million.

The odds of campaigning a multiple stakes winner from the first yearling you ever purchase are certainly pretty long. But to have that horse go on and produce a champion as her first foal, what are the chances?

Amy Moore, the owner of South Gate Farm in Millwood, Virginia, knows better than to take this experience for granted. Besides her childhood family pony, the first horse she ever owned was Queen Caroline. Purchased by Moore for $170,000 as a yearling in 2014, the daughter of Blame out of Queens Plaza (Forestry) was cleverly named after the episode in British history when the wife of King George IV was “blamed” for adultery and put on trial in the House of Lords. Queen Caroline would go on to earn over $400,000, claiming five stakes victories for Michael Matz.

After she retired to Moore's small Virginia farm, the mare's first foal–and the first horse that Moore ever bred–was Forte. The son of Violence went on to be a Breeders' Cup and Eclipse Award-winning juvenile and one of the top sophomores of 2023.

“It has really been a thrill,” Moore reflected. “My sister, niece and I all came to Lexington for the Breeders' Cup last year, so we were there to see him win the Juvenile. Forte definitely has the mare's personality. Queen Caroline is a mare that knows who she is and she's number one in any field that she's ever been in. I think he has that too and it shows in these incredible victories where it looks like he's beaten at the top of the stretch and he gets up to win.”

Soon, the final chapter of Moore's fairytale story with Queen Caroline will come to a close when the Grade I-producing mare goes through the ring on Nov. 7 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. The sale of Moore's once-in-a-lifetime mare will make it possible for the breeder to further her boutique broodmare band for many years to come.

Sara Gordon

“It's definitely bittersweet,” Moore admitted. “She's done as much for me as any horse could possibly do. I'm running a business so I have to make decisions with those considerations in mind and she's really become too valuable to keep her in Virginia on my little farm.”

Offered in foal to Flightline, Queen Caroline will sell as Hip 171 with Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services. The mare has spent the last year with consignor John Stuart at his Chanteclair Farm in Versailles. Stuart reiterated that the mare has the attitude of racing royalty.

“She's definitely the queen,” he said. “She was really competitive on the racetrack and now she bosses everybody around in the pasture. She's a really pretty mare–16'1 ½ inches, a strong body, correct. She's got a really nice eye and head to her and just a lot of class.”

Stuart said that Queen Caroline's second foal shares the same confident air as his dam and half brother. A son of Uncle Mo, the colt now named Dr. Park sold for $850,000 last year to Mayberry Farm. Now in training with John Shirreffs, the juvenile is putting in regular works at Santa Anita ahead of his debut.

Meanwhile Queen Caroline had a stretch of bad luck when her third foal was born dead last year and she then ended up losing her foal this year due to the effects of the setback in 2022. Stuart attested to the 10-year-old mare's capability as a broodmare going forward.

“I'm confident that she's good to go and is going to have a lot of foals in a row because she's young and she's fertile,” he said. “Every year that she's been bred, she's been bred one time except for the second year when she had the Uncle Mo, when she was bred twice.”

Bred on an early Feb. 24 cover date, Queen Caroline will be one of the first mares at public auction to be offered in foal to undefeated Flightline. Last year's Horse of the Year, the new Lane's End stallion holds an esteemed place at Fasig-Tipton as a $1 million graduate of their Saratoga Sale.

Queen Caroline and her paddock mate First Passage (Giant's Causeway) | Sara Gordon

“Flightline is a very special horse to everybody in the industry,” said Fasig-Tipton's president and CEO Boyd Browning. “He captivated our imagination like no other horse has in my 35 years of being involved in the Thoroughbred industry. I think everybody around the world is excited to see the potential that Flightline possesses as a stallion.”

Another important component of Queen Caroline's resume, Browning said, is her pedigree. The mare's family includes Essential Quality and Contrail (Jpn), both champions at two and three in their native countries who are now embarking on their stud careers.

“The sky is the limit in terms of what could be happening within this pedigree,” Browning said. “It's already an exceptional pedigree. She's by Blame, who is emerging as one of the best broodmare sires in the world, and you've got Seattle Slew in the pedigree. But we could look up in 10 years and say the pedigree has exploded. Forte has become a great stallion or Contrail has become a great stallion. And who knows what else is going to happen with her own produce with the potential she possesses. It's a power-packed pedigree and the future is very bright for Queen Caroline.”

“I think anybody in the world could buy Queen Caroline,” he continued. “I would be hesitant to predict who the buyer would be or where they'll be from. She has truly international appeal. Her first foal is one of the best horses of the 3-year-old crop and a champion 2-year-old last year and her second foal brought $850,000, so she's the complete package of what you're looking for in terms of a commercial broodmare. She's going to be coveted by virtually every major breeder in the world.”

In the days leading up to Queen Caroline's sale, Moore will be watching from Virginia as Forte looks to make his bid in the Breeders' Cup Classic. The breeder will make the trip to Lexington to watch her star mare go through the ring and hopefully from there, come home with one or two new additions to her small broodmare band.

“I'm sure Queen Caroline will go to a very good home,” Moore said. “That will be a comfort to me, to know she's well taken care of and she's getting the best in terms of breeding opportunities. I think her future buyer will have a very nice mare and will get some really nice foals from her.”

Even when she no longer owns the mare, Moore said she will always be proud to be listed as the breeder of Forte as he furthers his career on the racetrack and hopefully someday, the stud barn.

“It's been a roller coaster,” she said of Forte's campaign. “I'm sure Forte's owners can say the same. There have been a lot of ups and downs, as there always are in the horse business, but it's been a lot of fun to watch a really good horse compete and to own his dam. I will miss that, but I hope to produce another one and go around again someday. As soon as I have a chance, my mares will be going to Forte.”

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Wonder Wheel, Who Took the Greens on the Ride of a Lifetime, To Sell at Fasig November

When Lois Green was a young girl, her family would take her once a year to Coney Island, where she thought the most exhilarating ride was the Wonder Wheel. So when the family bought a yearling by Into Mischief out of the multiple stakes winner and multiple Grade I stakes-placed Wonder Gal at auction, the name was a natural for the DJ Stable matriarch.

Wonder Wheel would go on to become Into Mischief's first juvenile champion, winning two Grade Is including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, and four of five starts at 2, taking the family on the kind of exhilarating ride Lois remembered. Lois Green passed away May 31, not long after seeing her juvenile champion compete in the Grade I Kentucky Oaks, and when the family sells Wonder Wheel Tuesday night, Nov. 7 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, her son, Jon, the General Manager of DJ Stable, admits it will be “bittersweet.”

“Normally, we like to say we're very businesslike, but in this case, we're not,” said Green. “In this case, she really added so much happiness to us as a family and to watch her go to the ring, even though I know she's going to sell really well, is going to be difficult for my dad and for me–to watch her go through the sales ring and ultimately be out of our family at that point.”

Jon and his father Len are offering Wonder Wheel as a broodmare prospect, selling as hip 200, where she is expected to be one of the most sought-after offerings on the night.

“You can really summarize her potential very simply,” said Fasig-Tipton's president and CEO Boyd Browning. “She's by Into Mischief. She's a two-year-old champion with good looks and a brilliant pedigree. It's a complete package.”

Wonder Wheel will sell with Taylor Made Sales, adding another chapter to a long relationship between the Taylors and the Greens. Taylor Made's President and CEO Mark Taylor said that she was a rare filly who looked like she could be a Classic winner, but who was also an early, exceptional two-year-old.

“I think her two-year-old speed, precocity, and professionalism show a combination of physical and mental ability,” said Taylor. “And pedigree comes in to that precocity, too. Into Mischief is a very good two-year-old sire. Her broodmare sire, Tiz Wonderful, was a good two-year-old himself, but she physically looks like a two-turn Oaks filly. So this filly did all these great things at two. But really, if I would have looked at her as a yearling, I would have said she's going to be a three-year-old. So that just shows her talent, that she was able to have this big classic kind of frame, but yet be quick enough, early enough, and mentally good enough to handle a brilliant two-year-old campaign.”

Wonder Wheel surprised her connections by progressing forwardly enough to make her first start at two June 3 at Churchill, winning a maiden special weight by 2 1/4-lengths. One month later, she took the Debutante at Churchill by 6 3/4-lengths, before shipping to Saratoga to finish second in the Grade I Spinaway.

“When I got her up to Saratoga, I told the Greens this may be the best two-year-old I'd had since Classic Empire,” said Mark Casse, Wonder Wheel's trainer. “They said, `what does that mean?' I said, `I think she can win the Breeders' Cup.'”

“She got beat in the Spinaway,” said Casse. “But I really wasn't overly concerned with that because I had given her a little bit of a break. She came back and then she won the (GI Darley) Alcibiades and I thought she ran well, but I knew she was going to have to come with a better game in the Breeders' Cup. And oh boy, she did. Her win in the Breeders' Cup was amazing because she got away a little slow, got shuffled back, and the move she made from the half-mile pole to the wire? I've been doing this for 40 some years, and it was one of the more impressive victories that I've ever had.”

Wonder Wheel at Taylor Made | Sara Gordon photo

But before the race, Casse's prediction of a Breeders' Cup win caused him more than a little stress, as he had more or less guaranteed it.

“I was very attached to Lois, and she was there at the Breeders' Cup,” said “I had told them early on that we were going to win the Breeders' Cup, so it was a little nerve-wracking. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have done it. But to have Lois there and to be part of it was very special. We all miss her.”

Like the Greens, Casse said he would also miss Wonder Wheel.

“She has a wonderful personality couldn't give a hoot about anything,” said Casse. “She would go into the paddock and look around and say, `So this is my competition?' She was just a pleasure to train and never missed a beat. She loved what she's doing and she's one of the best horses I've ever trained. She has a lot more leg than most Into Mischiefs. She's got some stretch to her, and I've had great luck with that type of Into Mischief. It's what I look for.”

Casse said he expected a smooth transition into her next career.

“She's going to be a wonderful broodmare for a lot of reasons,” he said. “One, she's very sound. Even though she's big and tall, she was fast. Good broodmares, in my opinion, need some speed.

She had that. But she was able to carry it. And she had just a wonderful personality. If she passes her personality her traits on to her foals, there will be a lot of good ones. I'm sure she's going to make a super broodmare for someone.”

“She offers a ton of options for top breeders from around the world to match her up with the best stallions here, in Japan or Europe or anywhere else,” Taylor agreed, pointing out the appeal of a multiple-Grade I winning champion daughter of Into Mischief with an impressive female family, but who is still only three. “Wonder Wheel's Dam is Wonder Gal and she herself was a brilliant two-year-old. She was a stakes winner. She was second in the Frizette and then she was third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. So, you know, by any other filly standards, that would be a really good benchmark to set. But then she produces this daughter in Wonder Wheel who just goes one better. These type of opportunities are really what I love most about my job. All the possibilities down the line and what she could produce, it's really energizing.”

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Fasig-Tipton November Offers Champions, Breeders’ Cup Winners, and More

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued 246 main-catalogue entries for The November Sale, the company's selected mixed sale to be held in Lexington, Kentucky on Tuesday, Nov. 7, following the Breeders' Cup. The single-session sale will begin at 2 p.m.

“The Fasig-Tipton November Sale annually offers a collection of the world's finest bloodstock,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “This year's catalogue is once again outstanding, offering 55 graded stakes winners or producers, 26 of which are Grade I.”

Browning continued: “We have Eclipse Champions, international champions, multiple Breeders' Cup winners, and a Kentucky Oaks winner. On the producer side, buyers will find the dams of Eclipse Award winners, Breeders' Cup winners, and a Royal Ascot winner. This sale is one-stop shopping for those seeking the very best.”

The sale begins with weanlings selected on pedigree and conformation before transitioning into racing/broodmare prospects and broodmares as afternoon turns to evening.

“Weanlings have become a very important part of this sale, and this year, we tightened up our acceptance standards to ensure a high-quality group from top to bottom. It's a very good group of foals,” Browning added. “The racing and breeding offerings are even deeper this year, as well. Buyers will find significant quality at all levels of the market.”

The catalogue may now be viewed online, as may Fasig-Tipton's Enhanced Catalogue.

The Enhanced Catalogue provides up-to-date catalogue pages, Daily Racing Form past performances, and race replays; an Alan Porter pedigree analysis and five-cross pedigrees for all racing/broodmare prospects and broodmares; stallion register pages for all sires of weanlings and covering sires; as well as other tools to aid prospective buyers. All Grade I-winning females off the track or carrying their first foals will also be profiled with individual feature videos.

The catalogue includes 133 weanlings by established and young sires alike, including 2023 first-crop weanling sires Charlatan, Essential Quality, Independence Hall, Knicks Go, Lexitonian, Maxfield, Raging Bull, Rock Your World, Tacitus and Yaupon.

Those weanlings include:
• Hip 3, a Collected colt whose second dam, Mien, produced champion Big Brown.
• Hip 8, a Ghostzapper colt whose second dam Salty Strike produced champion Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper), also selling at Fasig later on the night;
• Hip 46, a Munnings colt who is a full-brother to Eda, the winner of the GI Starlet S. who sports eight wins in 10 starts;
• Hip 48, a colt by Into Mischief out of Grade I Spinaway S. winner Sippican Harbor (Orb), from Taylor Made;
• Hip 53, a colt by Maxfield who is a half-brother to GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Bright Future (Curlin), who is pointing to the Breeders' Cup Classic;
• Hip 95, a Gun Runner filly whose second dam, Baffled, produced leading sire Constitution;
• Hip 105, a colt by Constitution who is a half-brother to Grade I Preakness S. winner Rombauer (Twirling Candy);
• Hip 107, a colt by Uncle Mo who is a full-brother to Grade II Jim Dandy S. winner Laoban;
• hip 213, a colt by Maxfield who is a half-brother to two-time Grade I winner Up To the Mark (Not This Time).

But it's the mares' section of the catalogue that really wows.

Top mares include:
• Argentinian champion 3-year-old filly Dona Bruja (Arg), in foal to Candy Ride (Arg);
• Impazible Woman, the dam of Tyler's Tribe, who won his first five starts in 2022 by a combined 60 lengths;
• Grade I Cotillion S. winner It Tiz Well, in foal to Into Mischief;
• Moira (Ghostzapper), the champion 3-year-old filly and Horse of the Year in Canada, being offered as a racing or broodmare prospect;
• Fev Rover (Ire) (Gutaifan {Ire}), the winner of this year's GI Beverly D. S. who was also placed in the G1 English 1000 Guineas;

• Needmore Flattery, whose second foal was the three-time GISW 'TDN Rising Star' Taiba (Gun Runner), carrying a full-sibling to him;
• two-time GII Santa Monica S. winner Merneith, in foal to Flightline;
• Nest (Curlin), the winner of GI Ashland, Coaching Club American Oaks, and Alabama who was the Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old filly of 2022, and who is expected to start in this Sunday's GI Juddmonte Spinster S. at Keeneland;
• GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Fillies winner Pizza Bianca, in foal to Into Mischief;
• Queen Caroline, the dam of Forte, in foal to Flightline;
• Grade I American Oaks winner Queen Goddess (Empire Maker), from an elite Phipps family;
• Sauterne (Kingman {GB}), who won the G1 Prix de Moulin de Longchamp on Sept. 3 and out of a half-sister to multiple champion Stacelita (Fr);
• Grade I Acorn S. winner Search Results (Flatter);
• Grade I Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath (Arrogate);
• Grade I Queen Elizabeth S. Winner Shantisara (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire});
• Sophia's Song, the dam of GI Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Bright Future, in foal to Jackie's Warrior;
• Trophy Girl, the dam of GI Champagne S. winner and GI Preakness S. runner-up Blazing Sevens (Good Magic), carrying his full-sibling;
• the dam of Grade I winner and sire Golden Pal, Lady Shipman, herself a graded stakes winner, in foal to Flightline;
• the six-year-old Vigui's Heart, whose first foal Valiant Force won the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot, selling in foal to Vekoma;
• Wonder Wheel, Into Mischief's first champion juvenile and winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies in a 2-year-old campaign where she went four-for-five;
• America, the dam of GIII Pimlico Special winner and 'TDN Rising Star' First Captain, in foal to Gun Runner, whose last two auction yearlings have each sold for seven figures;
• Arrogate's Grade I-winning daughter And Tell Me Nolies;
• Armony's Angel, the dam of Grade I-winning millionaire Angel of Empire, in foal to Gun Runner;
• Belle's Finale, the dam of Up To the Mark (Not The Time), carrying a full sibling to the turf star;
• Grade I Frizette S. winner Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke);
• Grade I Starlet S. winner 'TDN Rising Star' Faiza (Girvin);
• Eclipse Award and Breeders' Cup champion Goodnight Olive;

There are also three Grade I-winning daughters from Arrogate's first crop, and mares in foal to first-crop sires Flightline, Olympiad, Nashville, Life is Good, Mystic Guide, and Epicenter.

Print catalogues will be available by October 6. The catalogue will also be available via the Equineline sales catalogue app.

Online bidding and phone bidding will be available.

The November Sale will also offer a supplemental catalogue. Fasig-Tipton will accept approved entries for the supplement through the Breeders' Cup.

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Son of Nyquist on Top at Fasig Midlantic Finale

A son of Nyquist brought a sale-topping $205,000 during Tuesday's second and final session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale in Timonium, MD.

With a catalogue some 20% smaller than it was last year, the 2023 renewal of the auction saw 289 head fetch $7,078,000 at an average of $24,491 (down 7.9% year over year from $26,597) and median of $12,000 (down 20% from last year's cumulative figure of $15,000).

Last year there were 23 horses to sell for $100,000 or more–there were only 12 to reach that number this week.

For Tuesday's longer session, which came after a later-starting afternoon of selling Monday, 190 yearlings changed hands for gross receipts of $4,715,000. The average was $24,816 and median was $12,000.

“I thought it was fairly consistent, very much in line with previous years,” said Fasig-Tipton President and CEO Boyd Browning, Jr. “The catalogue was smaller this year, which obviously had an impact on the gross. Average declined slightly, median declined a little bit, which are trends we've been seeing in the regional markets. All in all, I thought the sale was fine, it was fair, it was consistent, and really as expected–it was in line with our expectations and what we've seen in this marketplace in recent years.”

The overall buy-back rate was 21.5% compared to 17% 12 months ago. The RNA rate was 25.5% at the conclusion of the session Tuesday–it had been 16.2% at last year's corresponding session and was 19.5% on Monday–but Browning noted that post-sale transactions were still being processed and the RNA rate would come down as those additional sales were finalized and recorded.

Nick Sallusto's Thorostock LLC and Seth Morris Thoroughbreds purchased the sale and session's top two lots Tuesday: hip 160, a Maryland-bred Nyquist colt from Becky Davis Inc., agent; and hip 376, a $175,000 son of fellow Darley resident Street Sense offered by Northview Stallion Station.

The sales top five sellers all went through the ring Tuesday. Eight of nine toppers for the sale were colts, with the lone filly in that group hip 368, a Maryland-bred miss from the first crop of Vekoma. Northview also consigned that filly, who was purchased by Golden Lion Racing.

“I think, generally speaking, the average person would generally rather have a colt than a filly to go to the races with,” Browning said. “And I think that's even more so the case in a regional marketplace where you don't have collector-type pedigrees, generally speaking, so I think there's always going to be an affinity for colts.”

Yearling season will wrap up later this month when Fasig holds its four-day Kentucky October Yearlings sale Oct. 23-26, and Browning isn't anticipating any more surprises back in Lexington: “There were no real emerging great signs or negative signs with the marketplace [in Maryland]. We already have a pretty good idea of where things are, it was in line with what we've already seen this year and I would when we go back to Kentucky in a few weeks for the last yearling sale of the year it'll again be very similar to what we've been seeing.”

Visit www.fasigtipton.com for complete sales results.

Sallusto 'Stocks' Up

Nick Sallusto's Thorostock, in partnership with Seth Morris Thoroughbreds, took home Tuesday's top two lots, the $205,000 Nyquist colt consigned by Becky Davis, Inc. as hip 160; and hip 376, a $175,000 son of Street Sense bought out of the Northview Stallion Station consignment.

The purchases, along with four other more inexpensive pick-ups ranging from $15,000 to $50,000, will be heading to next year's 2-year-old sales.

Hip 160 is out of Laurel debut winner How My Heart Works (Not For Love), who has been a very productive mare for Maryland breeders Bowman and Higgins Stable. Her first foal Monday Morning QB (Imagining) fetched $25,000 at this sale in 2018, but has racked up more than $334,000 in earnings, including two stakes victories and a graded placing. A 3-year-old full-sister to hip 160 sold to Cary Frommer for $200,000 here in 2021, then brought $450,000 back in the Timonium sales ring last May. Now named Asawer, she was third in this year's G3 U.A.E. Oaks. A still-unraced Arrogate colt from the mare sold for $180,000 to Cash Is King and LC Racing here 12 months ago.

“I think he's very much like his father–he's got a very similar physical to his daddy; very beautiful type of horse,” Sallusto said of hip 160's appeal. “He's very, very well put together–near perfect conformation. He's got plenty of development left in him, he's still a little bit of a baby. I'm a big fan of the sire, he's got a stallion's pedigree, he already has a full-sister who's graded-placed, the mare already has two graded stakes horses from two with a 2-year-old who hasn't started yet. There were just too many things to like about him to not take a swing at him. We just felt lucky that we had the money to buy him today.”

The dark bay also hails from the family of last year's MGISW sophomore colt Cyberknife (Gun Runner), highest-level winners Well Armed and American Patriot, et al.

Sallusto said the final price paid for hip 160 was in line with what he was expecting. When asked if the absence of the colts groups, which have been such a force at the major yearling auctions in Kentucky and Saratoga, made for an easier time shopping for higher-end male prospects, he said, “There's a little less resistance I would say, but I think he was fairly bought,” adding of the market as a whole: “There's good support for the locally based Maryland-bred horses, and overall I think the horses who vet clean and have good physicals are bringing fair money.”

Later in the session, Sallusto was back at it acquiring another top-end Maryland-bred colt by an established Kentucky sire. Hip 376 is the second foal out of Victory Rally (Jump Start), who was a stakes winner going a main-track mile. His second dam is SW American Victory (Victory Gallop) and third dam is MGSW and good producer Who Did It and Run (Polish Numbers).

Hip 376 had RNA'd for $90,000 in August at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga. He was bred by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds. A now 2-year-old half-brother by Union Rags sold for $75,000 here last term and has most recently been breezing in Kentucky.

Nyce Sale for Davis

Consignor Becky Davis admitted that she knew heading into the Midlantic Fall Yearlings sale that she was coming with some standouts, and the market agreed. Davis's consignment grossed $1,005,000 from 25 sold, led by Tuesday's session and sale-topping Nyquist colt as well as another $110,000 son of the Darley stalwart.

“I haven't gone to Saratoga or Kentucky in a long time. I've specifically focused on bringing everything to Maryland and trying to improve our offerings,” Davis said during a brief lull in the action Tuesday. “A lot of what we sell are horses we've raised on our farm. We started sending a lot more mares to Kentucky and improving what we were breeding to when we started missing out on the Two Punch and Not For Love and the Allen's Prospect era. So, I know that we're breeding some of the higher-quality horses in the region. A couple years ago, I made a commitment–along with some other consignors–to try and make the Maryland sales better and take everything we had here. There was a group of us who decided that the sales weren't going to get any better unless we brought our own best, so that's what I've done.”

Davis had also consigned each of hip 160's aforementioned prior foals.

“I think overall, he's been the nicest foal the mare has had. He's phenomenal. I sold his full-sister here two years ago, and she sold for $200,000, but this is a nicer horse than she is,” Davis said of the Apr. 26 foal. “Honestly, he's darn near perfect. Since he was a foal, you just couldn't really pick out anything wrong with him. Some people may have liked to see him be bigger because he's a colt–I would call him average sized–but he's just so well put together, and such an athletic horse with a really good walk. He moves in the field like a dream. He's just the whole package. I was not disappointed by what he brought, but I wouldn't have been surprised if he brought a good bit more.”

Davis notably includes footage of her offerings in the field as part of her promotional walking videos (click for hip 160's video). When asked why, she explained:

“In [2002], I sold [eventual GII Pennsylvania Derby winner] Love of Money (Not For Love) here [for $70,000]. The sale was huge, there were 600-some horses and we had tents in the infield. That horse got loose from a lot of my handlers, and he was running loose in the infield a couple of times. Samantha Siegel (of Jay Em Ess Stable) bought him from me and she told me later that she bought him because she got to see him run.

“I believe it was the very next year–it's been a good 20 years now that I've been doing videos like that. I used to send DVDs out to people. I've been selling horses for a long time, and I've always done so much of it myself. I've prepped all the horses, raised half of them, so I started even doing the videos myself.

“This year, I did a lot of the footage myself… Then my 16-year-old daughter edited all the footage and put the videos together… Even with [hip 160], he was so tired [after being inspected so much]. I don't do any forced exercise on the farm, so none of them have been on walkers or lunged or anything like that. They're healthy horses, but they're not like fit athletes–they're babies. So when they get here, and they get shown as much as he did, they get tired. So, I want people to be able to see more than just a tired horse dragged up and down the asphalt… I've had a lot of people buy a lot of really good horses and tell me that they've bought it off of video.”

Davis's other Nyquist colt offering was hip 253, who was sold on behalf of breeder Glenangus Farm and purchased by David and Lori Hughes's Mens Grille Racing. The Maryland-bred is the second foal out of stakes winner and graded-placed turfer Peach of a Gal (Curlin). Second dam Richetta (Polish Numbers) was a Maryland standout herself, and also responsible for MSW/GSP Concealed Identity (Smarty Jones) and two other black-type performers.

“He's also another really impressive, big, strong colt, but not nearly the same [as hip 160],” Davis said of the chestnut. “He was bigger and taller, but not conformationally the same as the other horse. I think he benefitted from being behind the other horse because people who didn't get the first Nyquist I think were in there a little bit on this one. But, he's an athletic horse himself. He didn't have all the conformation to make him top dog… He's a nice colt. I think he'll be a good racehorse.”

Hip 253 had RNA'd for $185,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga while consigned by a different outfit.

Davis acknowledged that while she was having a good sale, not everyone was.

“I've seen a lot of disappointments, for sure,” she said. “For me, it's going very well. But I think I brought the best group of horses I've ever brought here, and it's probably one of the best consignments this sale has ever seen overall… I honestly think the market is more realistic. To be honest, things have been so over the top; people quadrupling their stud fee. Nobody is happy anymore with just doubling their stud fee. You get caught up in these overinflated numbers and get disappointed… at some point we have to realize that people are losing their shirts and spending too much money and maybe everyone's just becoming a little more realistic.”

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