Tag: C2 Racing Stable

Minnesota Ready Tops Lothenbach Dispersal on Fasig-Tipton Digital

The Lothenbach dispersal of Horses of Racing Age on Fasig-Tipton Digital, run Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, closed with 66 horses selling for $4,840,000 with MSP Minnesota Ready (More Than Ready) leading all lots at a final price of $380,000, changing hands to Richard Colton Jr..

The first in the digital ring, Minnesota Ready was most recently seen Jan. 20 in the Duncan F. Kenner S. at the Fair Grounds, where he again ran third in a blanket finish with SW Sosua Summer (Summer Front) and MSW & MGSP Just Might (Justin Phillip) and wrapping his 2023 season before that Dec. 23 in the Richard R. Scherer Memorial S. behind those familiar foes.

The four others who went beyond the $300,000 mark include Dazzlin Dictator (American Pharoah), a two-time winner at Turfway Park, who went to Rodolphe Brisset, agent for Ann Harrison; Tickle Me Unclemo (Uncle Mo), a $350,000 KEESEP yearling, went to Robert Salome for $320,000; and Practically Dark (Practical Joke), recently second in a maiden special at the Fair Grounds, sold to C2 Racing Stable for $310,000.

Most notable of that group is GSW & GISP Happy American (Runhappy), who went as a racing prospect and sold to trainer Neil Pessin for $340,000. A frequent face in the graded ranks across the country, he won the GIII Louisiana S. in 2023 and ran third that summer in the GIII Blame and GI Stephen Foster S.. After uninspiring finishes in the a pair of graded efforts in Kentucky, he returned to the Big Easy and hit the board in the Tenacious S. to cap his season. He'd made his 2024 bow in the GIII Louisiana S. Jan. 20, finishing third in his title defense attempt.

In addition to the $4.84-million aggregate, the average was $73,333 while the median was $41,000 with 16 horses selling for $100,000 or more with Taylor Made Sales consigning. A total of 741 potential buyers from 46 states and seven countries registered to bid, placing a total of 3,047, and averaging 46 bids per offering.

“All I can say is, 'Wow,'” said Leif Aaron, Fasig-Tipton's Director of Digital Sales. “We have to thank the estate of Mr. Lothenbach for trusting us with this dispersal of racing stock. This is exactly what the digital platform was built for: horses and buyers from all over the country. These are phenomenal results.”

The dispersal of Lothenbach's breeding stock and yearlings will come during the Kentucky Winter Mix sale Feb. 5 to Feb. 6 with the catalogue available online.

Full results for the Lothenbach dispersal are available here.

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C2 Racing Stable Sells An Interest In White Abarrio To HRH Prince Faisal Of Saudi Arabia

Brothers Mark and Clint Cornett, who race under the name of C2 Racing Stable, have taken on HRH Prince Faisal Bin Khaled Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia as a partner in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day). The 5-year-old will make his next in the Feb. 24 running of the G1 Saudi Cup. Mark Cornett said that C2 remains the majority owner, but declined to say how big of a percentage was sold.

The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's Mike Welsch.

Prince Faisal is the owner who lured trainer Jimmy Jerkens to Saudi Arabia to train a string of his horses.

“Winning the Saudi Cup is very important to them,” Mark Cornett said. “It's in his backyard and he'll be representing his country in an international race. You're going to have four or five Japanese horses, horses from all over the world. It's very important to them that they represent the Saudi people.”

Cornett said the deal has been in the works for about four weeks.

“We've been working on this for about a month,” he said. “They've flown over a couple of times to watch the horse breeze. Their vet has come over twice from France to do his due diligence. They ended up pulling the trigger on it and we consummated the deal this week. They're going to be great partners for us and we will be great partners to them. We look forward to doing additional things with them in the future.”

White Abarrio | Benoit

White Abarrio has remained at Santa Anita since winning the Breeders' Cup Classic there. Cornett said the gray will board a plane from LAX to Miami Feb. 13. From there, he will be joined by South Florida-based horses who will also be running on the Saudi Cup card before heading straight to Riyadh.

Though the owners have not committed to any races beyond the Saudi Cup, Cornett said the G1 Dubai World Cup Mar. 30 is definitely a possibility.

“The Dubai World Cup is definitely on our list of races,” he said. “He'll have to run the right way in the Saudi Cup and come out the race the right way. All the stars are going to have to line up. If that happens, we'll go in the Dubai World Cup. If not, we'll bring him back to New York and take a look at the Met Mile.”

White Abarrio worked four furlongs (:47.60, 6/73) on Friday morning at Santa Anita.

“The horse is doing better than he's ever done,” Cornett said. “I talked to (trainer) Rick (Dutrow) this morning. He breezed a half in :47 3/5 as good as he ever has and came out of the work great. The horse is definitely on his game.”

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Breeders’ Cup Classic Winner White Abarrio Training Up to Saudi Cup

Horse of the Year candidate and GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner White Abarrio (Race Day) will kick off his 5-year-old campaign in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Feb. 24. A subsequent start in the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan Mar. 30 could be in the cards as well.

The Rick Dutrow, Jr.-trained C2 Racing Stable LLC and La Milagrosa Stable, LLC colorbearer has breezed three times at Santa Anita since Christmas Eve, including a five-furlong move in 1:00.40 (9/58) Jan. 8.

“He's gonna go over (to Saudi Arabia) from Santa Anita basically 10 days before,” C2 Racing Stable's Mark Cornett said. “That's when the plane goes over there from Miami. So, he'll fly into Miami from L.A., then he'll get on the flight with the rest of the horses from the U.S. going over to Riyadh.”

Cornett continued, “He's on his game, I'll tell you that. We backed off him a little bit (after the Classic). He's been working very good. They're easy works, nothing serious yet. The horse is such a good work horse.”

The Saudi Cup will be White Abarrio's first start since concluding his 2023 season with a powerful win as the 5-2 favorite in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 4. The longshot runner-up that day Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) could potentially return for a rematch in the Saudi Cup.

Was a prep race–i.e., the $3-million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. at Gulfstream Park Jan. 27–ever in play for White Abarrio before heading to the Middle East?

“Not really,” Cornett replied. “The timing, I don't understand why the Pegasus doesn't move their race and give you some more time to the Saudi Cup. It just isn't enough time with flying and everything else. You can't justify going to that race when you've got $20 million on the table.”

C2 Racing Stable's Mark Cornett (center) | Benoit

White Abarrio's seven-career victories have come at six different distances ranging between 6 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles. The 1 1/8-mile distance of the Saudi Cup is contested around one turn. The handsome gray's resume includes two wins at the Saudi Cup distance, albeit both around two turns, in the 2022 GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and last summer's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga.

“We think that's gonna be what he really wants to do,” Cornett said. “He can do pretty much everything–he can sprint, he can go seven furlongs, he can go a one-turn mile, he can go 1 1/4 miles, etc. The one-turn 1 1/8 miles could be his absolute best.”

As for the appeal of the Saudi Cup, Cornett continued, “It's the distance and the purse money. It's those two factors and you combine them. Plus, it leaves the door open for the Dubai World Cup. It's possible. Obviously, we would be over there already. But the horse has to come out of the race the right way. He has to run the right way, too. If he has to run too hard, we'll pass and get him back over here and get him ready for the Saratoga meet.”

In addition to a runaway win in the Whitney with a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 110 and a decisive victory in the headliner at the Championships three months later, White Abarrio's 2023 season also featured a better-than-it-looked third-place finish after stumbling at the start in the prestigious GI Hill 'N' Dale Metropolitan H. at Belmont Park June 10. Previously campaigned by Saffie Joseph, Jr., White Abarrio was transferred to Dutrow prior to the Met Mile.

White Abarrio is a finalist for champion older dirt male at the upcoming 53rd Eclipse Awards to be held at The Breakers Palm Beach Jan. 25. Horse of the Year finalists won't be announced until that evening.

“It's nice to be in the conversation,” Cornett said. “In my opinion, he won the two most prestigious route dirt races in the U.S.– the Whitney and the Breeders' Cup Classic. Obviously, he doesn't have the storyline of a Cody's Wish. But it just depends how much the voters are gonna factor that into the equation.”

Cornett concluded, “We're not in it to win these things. We're in it to manage the horse the right way. Things that are out of our control, whatever happens, we're ok with that.”

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White Abarrio Owner Mark Cornett Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

It's been a roller coaster year for White Abarrio (Race Day), but it ended on the highest of possible notes, with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. To talk about the Breeders' Cup, future plans for the horse, the decision to hire Rick Dutrow as the trainer and more, co-owner Mark Cornett was the Green Group Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast, which is presented by Keeneland.

With the status of Saffie Joseph, Jr. in limbo after he was temporarily banned by Churchill Downs when two of his horses died in the lead-up to the GI Kentucky Derby, Cornett, who owns White Abarrio in partnership with his brother Clint and Los Milagrosa Stable, needed to find a new trainer. He said he narrowed the choice down to two, Dutrow and Chad Brown. In the end, he thought Dutrow was the perfect fit.

“I had Rick in my mind all along,” Cornett said. “I've known him for a long time. Paul Pompa and I were really good friends. I put numerous horses in Rick's barn through some partnerships with Paul and had a lot of success. I know what a good horseman he is. He's one of the best, top five in the world, in my opinion. He was trying to rebuild his stable at the time. We were basically being forced by Churchill and NYRA to make a trainer switch. It's hard enough to manage these horses without having politics and racetracks and state vets and everybody else try to step in and make you do things you don't want to do. It was a bold move to hire Rick and I don't know too many people that would have done what we did. We have all the confidence in the world in Rick and his abilities and it all worked out.”

So far as next year's racing schedule goes, the $20-million Saudi Cup is definitely on the schedule. Cornett said there's a possibility White Abarrio could race beforehand in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

 

White Abarrio's Co-Owner Mark Cornett Joins Writers' Room from Thoroughbred Daily News on Vimeo.

 

“The main goal is going to definitely be the Saudi Cup,” Cornett said. “If we were designing the perfect race for this horse it would be one turn at a mile and an eighth. And then they put the $20 million behind it. The timing of the race is a question mark. It's about four months after the Breeders' Cup. The only thing we really have to figure out is how to get him there at a peak. Do we run him in between? Do we send him over there to acclimate? Those are things that Rick and I will talk about and discuss what's the best way to win that race.”

White Abarrio's first big win on the year came at Saratoga in the GI Whitney S., but Cornett saw signs as early as May that the horse was about to take things to another level.

“I went to Churchill Downs in May and I hadn't seen him in 45 days, 60 days before that,” he said. “I couldn't believe my eyes on the physical maturity of this horse. He had probably gained 200 pounds. There was a physical transformation, from a boy to a man, which is what you want to see. He matured at the right time.”

White Abarrio | Benoit

So far as the race for Horse of the Year goes, Cornett realizes that Cody's Wish (Curlin) will likely earn the honor over White Abarrio.

“Whatever the voters decide is fine,” he said. “We're going to be around next year so we can take another shot. Maybe for Cody's Wish, it's meant to be for obvious reasons.”

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, 1/ST Racing and Lane's End, the team of Zoe Cadman, Bill Finley and Randy Moss touched on the heartbreaking loss of Cody Dorman, the inspiration behind Cody's Wish, who died the day after the Breeders' Cup at age 17. The team reviewed the entire Breeders' Cup program, the dominance of the New York and European stables and the poor showing by the California barns, and gave their opinions on Horse of the Year, all agreeing that it should be and will be Cody's Wish.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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