TDN: What has the reaction to Improbable's first two-year-olds been like at the sale this week?

DH: People have liked them. We're extremely bullish on this horse because he was such a sound, top racehorse, having won four Grade Is over three years of training. He was also second in the Arkansas Derby and in the Breeders' Cup Classic. So he was a really exceptional athlete. The thing about him was how sound and how good a mover he was on the racetrack. He ran for three years and had 85 works in between all those races, and he never came back to the farm except to be freshened on one occasion. So he was an extremely sound and tough racehorse. He wasn't the biggest horse. But once we got him under tack, his athleticism on the racetrack was incredible. And when you looked at his works, every one was a carbon copies of the previous one. He worked five furlongs in a minute, and was so consistent. So we were waiting to see if he transferred that athleticism to his two-year-olds. And we're very happy to see that out of the ones he had here, there were four or five of them really showed up as very, very athletic horses. So we're really excited about the future with them.

TDN: You bought one yourself.

DH: We gave $400,000 for one (hip 395) and we were underbidder on another one. This horse was a leggy horse with a lot of scope and his breeze was really, really exceptional. His gallop out was spectacular. I was on the backside and he went by me like he could go around again after going in :9 4/5. And that's really what impressed us. I had seen him at Eddie Woods's and I was impressed with how he breezed out there. He had that tremendous bounce off his back end, and he did his breeze with ease. He wasn't under stress to do it. So, what we felt when we saw him was that he was very, very athletic and looked like he'd go two turns.

TDN: What is Improbable like himself, and is he stamping these two-year-olds?

DH: He wasn't the biggest horse himself in being by City Zip. What is very encouraging is that he seems to be throwing progeny with leg and stretch and with his motion and his athleticism. He got a great book of first mares. On the class performance index, his first book of mares was second only to what Authentic got. So these are the two-year-olds we're seeing now. The way the stallion business is right now, people wait and see. So, at $15,000 (from an initial stud fee of $40,000), I think he's great value right now and based on what his two-year-olds are like, we're really excited about what runners he's going to have. Obviously, he's in that third year and people are just waiting to see what happens.

TDN: He won Grade Is at two and four. What does that say to you?

Improbable (#2) rearing up in the gate before the start of the Whitney | Sarah Andrew

DH: He was a very good, undefeated two-year-old, winning the Los Al Futurity, and also the Street Sense at Churchill on the Breeders' Cup undercard, as well as his maiden. And then at three, quite honestly, he lost his way a little bit. He was second in the Arkansas Derby, but he had an incident in the gate in the previous race, the Rebel. That was in the spring of his three-year-old year. He was always an uptight horse, and after that, he was a little bit tentative in the gate and I think it affected his performance. But then he matured and relaxed and really showed just how good a horse he was as a four-year-old. So I think that was kind of how his career developed. It wasn't through any unsoundness or ability. But then we really saw what he was when he overcame all of that as a four-year-old, winning the Hollywood Gold Cup, Whitney, and Awesome Again and running second in the Breeders' Cup Classic to Authentic. Bob Baffert, the incredible horseman that he is, did such a good job getting him back to his best form.

All the trainers were saying these two-year-olds were beautiful movers. But we had to wait and see if they were going to show you that speed and, and he's answered that question with these :9 4/5 breezers. So that's very encouraging.

The post David Hanley on Improbable’s Encouraging Start appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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When WinStar's David Hanley was asked if he had a few words to say about the remarkable 25-year-old, he said with a laugh:

“I've more than a few words. He's a wonderful horse. I've been very lucky and fortunate to be around him for the past 10 years. He's a magnificent character and a very kind-natured horse. Always looking for treats, but always willing to do what you ask him to do. He has a beautiful head and a sweet nature.

“Up until a year a year ago, we used to ride him every day and he would bow his neck and swell up like he was going to the racetrack. He was a wonderful racehorse and is now a great stallion with 26 Grade I winners in his career. At the age of 25, he has Prince of Monaco, the highest rated 2-year-old in America right now, and several young sons at stud, which is amazing. He's also one of the best broodmare sires right now. He's just a wonderful horse, an amazing horse. It's been a privilege to have him.”

Speightstown (1998 chestnut horse, Gone West–Silken Cat, by Storm Cat)

Lifetime record: Ch. sprinter, GISW, 16-10-2-2, $1,258,256

Breeders' Cup connections: B-Aaron U. and Marie Jones (KY); O-Eugene and Laura Melnyk; T-Todd Pletcher; J-John Velazquez.

Current location: WinStar Farm, Versailles, Ky.

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“I am excited for Natanya to expand her opportunities here at WinStar. She is a very good horsewoman and having David as a mentor for the foreseeable future will give her the expertise needed to continue to grow here at WinStar,” said Walden. “While she has always been responsible for our horses through her expert veterinary care, Natanya can grow into a top General Manager while learning from one of the best.”

Hanley's new role will focus mainly on bloodstock, matings, and the development of young horses.

“David is a critical part of our team that helps us with developing our bloodstock, and the purchasing of our equine athletes at sales,” said Elliott Walden, CEO of WinStar. “This role will give David the opportunity to see more horses off the farm, while still keeping his eye on our young stock at home.”

Serving as General Manager since 2013, Hanley has helped the farm expand its band to over 150 broodmares and 18 stallions with Eclipse Awards for Breeding coming in 2016 and 2020.

On the administrative team, Jack Mullikin will be retiring as CFO at the end of 2023 and Michael Holmes will replace him. Mullikin came to work at WinStar in the first year after a stellar career at Castleton Lyons Farm. He has seen WinStar grow from 415 to 2400 acres.

“We will miss Jack tremendously here at the farm. His loyalty and dedication to WinStar has helped make the farm what it is today,” said Walden. “He has mentored Michael over the last nine years and we are blessed to welcome Michael onto our executive team. He will hit the ground running and do a great job. The future is bright here at WinStar.”

The post Hanley Transitions To Senior Bloodstock Consultant As WinStar Farm Makes Key Personnel Changes For 2024 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Hanley was asked why this particular group was getting early buzz as a top group.

“In general, we keep trying to increase the quality of our mares that we buy and we try to cull some every year and try and bring in new blood,” he said. “Also, in the last few years, we have bred to more to outside stallions as well as our own. Obviously, we have some of our stallions here, but we have spread it a bit more, whereas in the last number of years, sometimes we've bred a lot of mares to young stallions to try and get them started. And if one of them hits, great. But if he doesn't, it can hurt you in the sales ring. So, we're increasing the quality of our mares, which means you breed them to a higher-quality stallion.”

Six of the 80 expected to draw some attention at the sale demonstrate just that, with three of them by WinStar stalwarts Distorted Humor, Speightstown, and Constitution; the other three, by top outside stallions.

As an example, he points out hip 87, by Curlin and the third foal out of the GIII Delaware Oaks winner Dark Nile (Pioneerof the Nile), who died giving birth to this colt. He is consigned by Warrandale Sales.

“We raced Dark Nile,” he said. “She was a Grade III winner trained by Arnaud Delacour, and this is just a lovely horse. He's a typical Curlin, very powerful, very good mover.”

Hip 337, a filly by Uncle Mo-Starship Warpspeed, is “one of the best we've had on the farm in several years,” says David Hanley | Thorostride photo

Hip 337 is a filly by Uncle Mo out of Starship Warpspeed, responsible for producing the multiple Grade I winner Shedaresthedevil. She will be offered through Denali.

“She's a beautiful filly,” said Hanley. “She's been a standout foal from the moment she was a week old and she's continued to grow and develop like we hoped she would. She's a good-sized filly with plenty of leg and stretch to her, but she's full of quality and a very light, easy-moving filly who seems to be all class. She's absolutely beautiful when you see her standing up there. She's got such a beautiful neck, shoulder, head, and beautiful hip on her and she's got the class and presence to go with it. I think she's a really special filly, one of the best fillies we've had on the farm in several years.”

Hip 125 is by Justify, and is the second foal from the WinStar-raced First Hour (Speightstown). Her very deep page features the multiple graded stakes winner Justwhistledixie (Dixie Union), GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner New Year's Day (Street Cry {Ire}), and GII Remsen and Fountain of Youth winner Mohaymen (Tapit), among others.

“This is the first foal out of a Speightstown mare,” said Hanley. “We bought her mother as a foal and we raced her. She had some issues as a yearling and didn't really get to show her potential on the racetrack. She was not a very big filly, but a beautifully balanced quality filly. It's an incredible family, with some very talented horses on the page. And when we saw her as a foal, we decided to buy her and race her, mostly for her broodmare potential. his first foal is a big, strapping, powerful Justify filly. She's gorgeous standing there, with a great neck, beautiful shoulder, and great attitude as well. She carries herself with great poise and great class. A really exciting filly by Justify.”

Hanley also points out three top prospects by WinStar stallions.

Justify | Thorostride photo" width="1024" height="768" />Hip 282 is a filly by Distorted Humor out of Princess Ash (Indian Charlie), and is a full-sister to Quip, the GII Oaklawn H. and Tampa Bay Derby winner who was second in the GI Arkansas Derby. She sells with Denali Stud.

“For a Distorted Humor, she's got a lot of size, and being out of an Indian Charlie mare she's got leg and stretch to her,” he said. “She's a very, very good physical for a Distorted Humor. She's a really easy mover, hits the ground very lightly, and has great limbs on her. She has a beautiful neck and head and is full of quality. It's the last available crop of Distorted Humor yearlings and being as good a broodmare sire as he is and her being a half to a Group I-level horse, I think she's a unique package.”

Hip 442 is a filly by Speightstown, selling with Machmer Hall, out of Ballykiss (Street Boss), who produced the fast multiple stakes winner Miss J McKay (Hangover Kid).

“She's a beautiful physical and she's got a lot of leg under her for Speightstown. She's got a lot of stretch, but yet she's got that body of the Speightstowns, with muscle structure and scope, but yet looks like she could be fast. She's a beautiful mover. Very correct and very classy. We're very excited about her. We expect her to sell well.”

Hip 779, consigned by Elite, is a colt by Constitution out of the young mare America's Tale (Gio Ponti), and is her second foal.

“This is a horse that we loved all along,” said Hanley. “He's a medium-sized horse, not overly heavy, very athletic. He's out of a Gio Ponti mare and obviously, the Storm Cat on Tapit is attractive. But the best thing about him is he moves like a cat, very balanced, lovely level top line, great neck set and head carriage. He's a real athlete when you see him move.”

Hanley's prediction for the overall market is one we've heard a lot in recent years.

“For the people buying top-end bloodstock, I think they're going to be strong as ever. The colt market that we play in a lot is strong. There are a number of groups that are buying colts to try and make stallions over the last number of years, and I think they're all going to be doing it again, which makes it a very strong market for a selective group of horses that have the pedigree and the physical conformation.”

WinStar-breds are spread about with 10 different consignors throughout the sale, a diversity WinStar finds beneficial.

“There are several advantages to it,” he said. “First, your horses are not competing against each other. We will have several yearlings by, say, Constitution, and we don't put them all standing against each other in one consignment where it's human nature to come in and pick the one you like. And we're buying horses so it's difficult for us to try to run a consignment and buy horses. And, we like to support our breeders and I think giving horses to consignors who breed mares with us is nice a nice way to give them back something.”

Hanley gave a shout-out to the team back at the farm for this year's crop.

“Our team here on the farm, our yearling crew led by Donnie Preston, I think they do an exceptional job in raising these horses. We try to raise them naturally. They're out in big pastures that are never overused. They come up in the morning, get fed and checked, and go back out. We try to raise racehorses and I'd like to compliment our team on the job they've done at presenting these horses because I think they all look spectacular.”

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It was just a couple years prior that he had received one heck of a proposal though and it wasn't something he could pass up. So going all-in, as they say, was the plan. Not to put too fine a point on it, when opportunity knocks or in this case, arrives via Instagram, then you must be ready to parlay.

“It was at the 2022 Dubai World Cup and we had poured everything into the business and we needed a win,” Chamberlin said. “There's a time to be disciplined and just go for base hits, but there's also a moment to be bold.”

The series of conversations that spawned from that Instagram message sent by his fellow Western Michigan alum Brian Doxtator concerned the seed of a new company–Commonwealth, also known as CMNWLTH–which the pair agreed early on was going to be about one thing, and one thing only, the members. Yes, the thrill of victory was involved and all that, but it would be about putting together a series of experiences around microsharing and sports. The engine behind it all and the driving force was a sense of belonging.

“Our model is about the journey,” Chamberlin explained. “This is about sharing a belief because we realize that sports like horse racing are based on faith and if you don't build that through trust, then it is difficult to attract new customers.”

As co-founders, Chamberlin who serves as the company's head of racing and Doxtator, who as CEO comes from a diverse tech background, envisaged a world of microsharing where investors could own an affordable piece of a Thoroughbred. They made some well-documented wise calls, like in that aforementioned Dickensian moment in 2022 when Country Grammar (Tonalist) claimed victory in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Other hinge points have followed with We The People (Constitution) going off as the favorite in the GI Belmont S., and of course, when the 382 members that bought shares in Mage (Good Magic) watched that chestnut colt roll late to pick up the GI Kentucky Derby.

Mage during workout at Pimlico | Jim McCue

“We didn't plan to win the [Kentucky] Derby this soon, but we knew that our program and our partnerships would put us in a position to compete at the highest levels because we have a great team and they know how to pick great horses.”

For Chamberlin, taking a chance on joining Doxtator in starting Commonwealth was full of risk, but he was confident that it was the right move. His competitive nature in business that was honed at college comes directly from the equestrian world. When he was four years old growing up near Kalamazoo, Michigan, his mother who worked in a hair salon and his father in a paper mill, stoked his budding love of horses by enrolling him in riding programs. It took him down a path from hunters and jumpers to becoming a multi-national champion in which he showed horses from half-Arabians to Quarter Horses around the world.

“They didn't have any connection to anything equine-related, but they made sacrifices and that stoked my passion,” he said. “Over time, I encountered all of these different breeds, people connected to them with their wonderful stories and it just created this obsession.”

Then, he started to think about Thoroughbreds.

“I remember always hearing that showing was a hobby that wanted be a business, while racing was a business that always wanted to be a hobby,” Chamberlin said. “I could maybe be away from horses for six months and then I would find a way to get right back to them.”

Melding that love for all things equine with the mission of Commonwealth was linked by Chamberlin's last position as head of growth at Epipheo, a Cincinnati-based company that has assisted the likes of Walmart, Google, SAP and even the U.S. Air Force with brand awareness campaigns through what is called a video-first strategy. In other words, they explain stuff, succinctly and in a way that is palatable.

“Strategies through these explainer videos were built on education and we know through research that if you confuse people, you'll lose them,” he said. “So, you want members to soak up these complicated ideas because if they don't care, then the moment's gone. It's the old curse of knowledge. What we are doing with horse racing and Commonwealth is similar.”

Chase Chamberlin and Brian Doxtator at Pimlico during Preakness Week | Sara Gordon

Working with bloodstock agents like Marette Farrell, and WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden and David Hanley has brought Chamberlin to the immersive waters of the sales ring and he has learned the language of Thoroughbreds. From breeding to racing, it continues to be an ongoing curve for him. There is a fair amount of torque that he has experienced, but the “vernacular” as he calls it, isn't that far off from the one he once knew.

“David [Hanley] was an Olympic-level show jumper, so when we talk horse flesh we have a certain understanding between us and that has only helped my education, which is all about being a sponge,” Chamberlin said. “This complex and dizzying world has brought us into contact with some amazing partners who are about integrity first and then talent, not the other way around.”

No matter what happens this weekend at the GI Preakness S., Commonwealth has wind in its sails. But Chamberlin is quick to remind anyone that will listen that this isn't just about victories. You can't have win after win in a business like this, no matter how blessed or brilliant you might be.

“Our focus here is to spread the word and not be drained by these moments of euphoria because we know they don't last in the way that our minds think they should,” he said. “So, what you do as a company is be grateful for them, relish it, file it away, but you can temper the downswing you will inevitably feel, if you enjoy that journey along the way.”

Finding the next Mage will not be easy, but remember Chamberlin's origin story as an equestrian, his sponge-like approach to knowledge and his ability to explain complexities are all built assets. As horse racing continues to try and solve their own Rubik's Cube when it comes to bringing new, younger faces into its fold, in just four years has Chase Chamberlin and Team Commonwealth found an answer?

With the sports betting revolution drawing in more diverse customers, in a similar way, Commonwealth is poised to expand their digital platform space into golf. The future looks bright for this unique business model. Affordable investing through a set of experiences which crossover to other sports? That sounds like quite a parlay coupled with a strong sense of belonging. Now, that might be an explainer video worth watching.

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That's not to say that people in the bloodstock industry don't work incredibly hard. There is no real let-up in the work either, with almost wall-to-wall sales these days, foals on the way, mares to be covered, mud to be scraped off almost everything and, some mornings, ice to be broken on water troughs and buckets. 

But it's a wonderful life nonetheless, and every now and then moments can be found for for a collective letting down of hair and slapping on of glad rags to celebrate those whose contributions have been particularly noteworthy over the previous year. 

The best of these events in Europe by a country mile is the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's National Breeding and Racing Awards. For a truly immersive experience, and in an effort to make it look like I wasn't turning up merely for the Champagne and dancing, the weekend escape from Newmarket to Ireland was augmented by trips to visit two significant breeding operations in the country's heartland. One of those has already featured significantly at the ITBA Awards over many years and another will undoubtedly do so in the future, and you can read more about Tally-Ho Stud and Al Shira'aa Farms in the TDN in the coming week.

I will admit to some trepidation ahead of my visit to the O'Callaghan family at Tally-Ho. Their incredible success is matched by their collective disinclination to be interviewed, so when you turn up at someone's house at lunchtime knowing that your arrival brings about as much joy to your hosts as a trip to the dentist for root canal treatment then it is nigh on impossible not to spend most of the time apologising for your presence. As it transpired, the warm welcome from Disney the black Labrador was extended heartily by Tony, Anne, Roger and Henry. Tally-Ho's seven stallions paraded without fuss, their laidback demeanours undoubtedly contributing to the success of the offspring of those far along enough in their careers.

“Temperament is everything,” declared Tony O'Callaghan over lunch, and it is hard to disagree with a man whose farm churns out smart winners with metronomic regularity. 

This time last year, the achievements of Tony and Anne O'Callaghan were deservedly recognised by their induction into the ITBA Hall of Fame. A Tally-Ho connection continued through Saturday's awards when the hugely popular Tom Lacy was recognised as Small Breeder of the Year for Persian Force (Ire). Not only is the G2 July S. winner and dual Group 1 runner-up a son of Mehmas (Ire) but he has joined his father on the roster at the O'Callaghans' farm this year. They know him well, having pinhooked him as a foal from the Lacy family. 

Tom Lacy was presented with his award by John O'Connor of Ballylinch Stud, to whom Lacy had sold his homebred Ingabelle (GB) (Taufan), who went on to become an important foundation mare at Ballylinch. Lacy's achievements extend well beyond his success as a breeder, however. In a marvellous video compilation encapsulating the 87-year-old's career in racing we saw grainy black-and-white footage of his days in the saddle. Not many people can boats of riding against the great Arkle (Ire) and Flyingbolt (GB), not that boastfulness is a term one would use to describe the hard-working Lacy.

After his race-riding days, he went on to carve a successful career as a trainer, launching the career of no less a talent than the much-missed Pat Smullen, who rode for him in his early days, as did Lacy's sons Barry and Tony, both of whom present on Saturday to support their father. 

Tony and his wife Cathy had made the trip from Kentucky, as had the recipients of arguably the most popular award of the evening, the Wild Geese Award, which recognises the contribution of Irishmen and women in the racing and breeding industry around the world. It is safe to say that the ITBA will not run out of potential recipients, for the Irish influence runs deep, particularly in Kentucky, where David and Ann Hanley have been based since leaving Ireland. 

Like Tom Lacy, David Hanley was previously a successful trainer before his move, with the Grade I winner Golden Apples (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) among his many achievements as both trainer and breeder (with James Egan of Corduff Stud).

Now general manager of WinStar Farm, he was described in the video marking the award by Mike Ryan as, “The best judge of a horse that I have ever been around.”

Ann Hanley is as beloved as her husband and, since being diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease 16 years ago, has raised more than $4 million in vital research funding for the debilitating condition as well as being a tower of support to her many friends and colleagues in the breeding industry. The Hanleys' award was jointly deserved and universally approved by those in attendance, and surely by many more tuning in via the livestream.

This year's inductee into the ITBA Hall of Fame was William Flood, master of Boardsmill Stud and a great servant to Irish National Hunt breeding.

Flood's award was warmly greeted by a standing ovation from the 300-plus guests at The Heritage hotel on a night when emotions ran high. Earlier in the proceedings, the award for the Novice Hurdler of the Year, Sir Gerhard (Ire) (Jeremy), had ben collected by Joe and Sharon Fitzpatrick. Their son Jonathan, who bred the eight-year-old at the family's Keatingstown House Stud, died in a car crash in 2017 at the age of just 23, several years before Sir Gerhard became so successful in the colours of Cheveley Park Stud. Beaten only twice in his ten races to date, the gelding is a glorious, galloping reminder of the nascent talent of the young Fitzpatrick, a graduate of the Irish National Stud course who had also worked at Coolmore and Ballylinch. 

Two important anniversaries took place in 2022. The Aga Khan Studs celebrated its centenary while the Haefner family's Moyglare Stud marked its 60th year in the breeding industry. Both these milestones went hand-in-hand with continued excellence on the track for graduates of the respective operations. 

Princess Zahra Aga Khan and her mother Princess Salima were both in attendance to collect the Two-Year-Old Filly of the Year Award for the exciting Classic prospect Tahiyra (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}).

“It was an amazing year, and I spent most of the year thinking about my grandfather and great grandfather,” said Princess Zahra, reflecting on the 2022 season which also saw Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) win the G1 Prix du Jockey Club and G1 Eclipse S. “I think it was incredible that it happened last year. We are going into year 101 with such a lovely range of hopes.”

Eva-Maria Bucher-Haefner, who took over the running of Moyglare Stud from her late father Walter, was the recipient of two awards on the evening, for the Three-Year-old Filly of the Year, the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Homeless Songs (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), and the Stayer of the Year, Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), whom she races in partnership with Coolmore. It has been noted before but it bears repeating that Kyprios's celebrated dam, Polished Gem (Ire) (Danehill), bore ten foals for ten winners, eight of whom won black-type races, including the Group 1 winners Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), Kyprios, and his full-sister Search For A Song (Ire).

Ben Sangster was back at The Heritage to claim an award for the second year running as the breeder of Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {Ire}), who was named Three-Year-Old Colt of the Year, while Timmy Hyde of Camas Park Stud, flanked by his wife Trish and daughters Wendy and Valerie, collected the trophy for Two-Year-Old Colt of the Year, Little Big Bear (Ire) (No Nay Never). The Aidan O'Brien trainee was bred by Hyde along with his son, Tim, of Summerhill.

From budding talent to esteemed veterans of the sport, the ITBA Awards reward the passion, dedication and determination of the participants of what remains a vital industry in Ireland. The huge importance of Thoroughbred breeding to the Irish economy and the country's reputation of a global forerunner in horseracing was reflected by the fact that three Irish government ministers attended the ceremony, with Charlie McConalogue, Minster for Agriculture, on hand to present William Flood with his Hall of Fame Award alongside ITBA chair Cathy Grassick. 

That connection to the country's seat 0f power is undoubtedly one of the reasons that the Irish racing and breeding industry continues to thrive and remains a shining example to other nations attempting to emulate its success. 

The ITBA National Breeding and Racing Awards 2022

Next Generation Award: Micheal Conaghan

Young National Hunt Horse: Facile Vega
Bred by Hammer & Trowel Syndicate

Novice Hurdler of the Year: Sir Gerhard
Bred by Keatingstown Bloodstock

Novice Chaser of the Year: Bob Olinger
Bred by Kenneth Parkhill

Hurdler of the Year: Flooring Porter
Bred by Sean Murphy

Chaser of the Year: Shishkin
Bred by CJ & EB Barnett

Small Breeder of the Year: Tom Lacy

Two-Year-Old Filly of the Year: Tahiyra
Bred by HH The Aga Khan's Studs

Two-Year-Old Colt of the Year: Little Big Bear
Bred by Camas Park Stud & Summerhill

Three-Year-Old Filly of the Year: Homeless Songs
Bred by Moyglare Stud Farm

Three-Year-Old Colt of the Year: Luxembourg
Bred by B V Sangster

Stayer of the Year: Kyprios
Bred by Moyglare Stud Farm

Wild Geese Award: David and Ann Hanley

Hall of Fame: William Flood

The post ITBA Awards: Celebrating Ireland’s Best appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“Back then they had those weed-eaters with a motor you strapped onto your back,” Betz recalls. “Weighed about 40lbs. So 7:00 a.m., I started weeding down the front of the farm. Get to 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., I don't see anybody. I'm thinking, 'Boy, people really work hard on a farm.' Finally, about quarter to six, no lunch or anything, I'm weeding round these trees up here, and Doc McGee comes in off his rounds. And he drives by, backs up, rolls down the window and says: 'Who are you?'”

Betz introduced himself to the Hagyard veterinarian. First day of his summer job, funding classes at the University of Kentucky: nutrition, farm management, that kind of thing. He'd arrived from Notre Dame with all his worldly possessions–a '64 Dodge and a dog–with a vague plan to transfer some Bluegrass know-how to the Quarter Horse game where he'd been learning the ropes.

At that moment Mrs. McGee appeared with a tray.

“Young man,” she said. “You look like you could use some iced tea.”

Many years later, they all met again on the top floor of the First Security building in downtown Lexington, to close on the sale of the farm. And Mrs. McGee reminded Betz of his response.

With a self-deprecating chuckle, he admits: “Apparently I said to her, 'Yes, I could. Because now I know how Jesus felt when he carried that cross up Golgotha.'”

When Mine That Bird crossed the line, the first person to call was Dr. McGee, saying how happy he was that the farm had raised a Kentucky Derby winner.

Mine That Bird famously brought only $9,500 as a yearling. Betz doesn't pretend he was any kind of standout, though he always believed in the genes: he'd bought the granddam because she managed second in the Canadian Oaks despite cracking a knee. “Something like Mine That Bird, though, that's just the icing on the cake,” Betz says. “That's just being in the game and giving yourself a chance to get lucky.”

Among countless other photos sharing the office walls, however, are a sale-topper and the half-brother to Roman Ruler and El Corredor who made $4.6 million at the 2006 Keeneland September Sale; and many besides, that did their job both in the ring and on the track. The latest is Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), herself a $300,000 yearling, who assisted her American Pharoah half-sister to $1.4 million last September at Keeneland, even though she had just won the first of the three Grade Is that secured her Eclipse Award.

These mementos of elite horses-remarkably copious, for a farm that has seldom grazed more than a couple of dozen mares–attest to the journey dividing that perspiring college kid from the reflective figure now lounging behind the desk. But perhaps it can better be charted by less familiar navigational points dotted about the room: native American totems, a scale model of a Great Lakes freighter, even the “Meditations” of Marcus Aurelius. Hardly standard issue, on horse farms. But never mind that Betz was a Philosophy and English major; here, simply put, is a man profoundly inquisitive about the world around him. And, really, that was also what drew him to horses.

“I think that's the number one thing you need in this business,” he says. “A natural curiosity. To be a careful observer. I think in some ways it's probably been an advantage, not to be second or third generation [in the industry]. Some of those people either don't have that curiosity to really see things and learn. Experience is a great teacher.”

Betz is instead indebted to his father for the template of a self-made man. Having started out as locomotive fireman, he had ended up president of the railroad–and his sons, in turn, were expected to learn about life by experiencing it. Hence the desk replica of the SS Kinsman Enterprise, where Betz had another of his summer jobs.

“She was built in 1927 and was sister ship to the Edmund Fitzgerald that they wrote the song about,” Betz says, referring to the loss of all hands in a Lake Superior storm in 1975. “Having this here reminds me of a different time in my life. We'd bring taconite pellets mined in Minnesota and Wisconsin down to the steel mills. Loading onto the dock, being the young kid, they'd swing you over in what they called the bosun's chair, with a big cable you had to run up and put on a cleat. And the taconite, of course it spills out and you're running over these marbles, with the boat coming in and the gap so wide.” He holds his hands apart. “These boats come in at 660 feet, into a real high dock. And there are no brakes on a boat! There weren't a lot of safety rules back then.”

It was a grounding that gives Betz a distaste for any sign of entitlement in young people today, and he's grateful that his father's “nepotism” was confined to putting his sons on a section gang, laying the track.

“We were knocking these spikes in with a sledgehammer, and the Mexican men would go all day and then build a fire and cook their tacos,” Betz recalls. “But after about five hits, my arms were rubber. And they'd come up, put their arms round me and say, 'That's okay, you go rest.' So when the Mexicans started embracing the horse business, I had nothing but respect for them. It does open your eyes: what the real world is like, and that if you want something you have to go out and earn it.”

A first exposure to horses came through upcountry Ohio weekends with his great uncle, who drove a school bus, but traded work horses on the side.

“He was quite a character,” Betz recalls. “He'd go in there and next thing you knew he'd be coming out with a different horse from the one he went in with. And he'd hook them up to a sleigh, and we'd go on trail rides, and he'd tell all these stories round the camp fire.”

Having learned to handle horses, Betz hooked up with another rare type to show Quarter Horses through his high school years.    “This trainer took me all over the country: Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Chicago,” he says. “He liked the drink, he liked the ladies, so he'd go out and party while I stayed behind to feed and groom and then bed down in the corner of the stall. Interesting experience, to say the least. But there I was, a 15-year-old kid, paid $25 for every horse I showed in the ring. I'd go into tack shops and buy myself fancy chaps, I was king of the walk.”

To persevere with horses, even so, struck his family as “a ridiculous thing to do” with law school beckoning. But it was a time of opportunity. People were starting to cross Quarter Horses with Thoroughbreds, and Betz figured that he should come to the Bluegrass and learn a few angles–only to become so absorbed by Thoroughbreds that he never went back.

Lee Eaton gave him a little office to comb through regional racecards, digging out the pedigrees of any fillies entered for a claim. He also had to index, longhand, the families of the many horses sold by Eaton's pioneering agency: toil that left him thoroughly versed in pedigrees. Betz then rounded out his education with the chance to manage Helmore Farm for Edgar Lucas in Maryland.

“They stood three stallions and bred a couple of hundred mares each year,” he recalls. “I didn't have much experience of handling stallions, and it was three old racetrackers and me. I can remember to this day the first mare I foaled on my own, I was so nervous. But you got a lot of stuff thrown at you, real quick, and you learned how to deal with it. After that baptism under fire, coupled what I'd learnt with Lee, I felt there wasn't anything I couldn't do in this business if I kept working hard.”

Betz befriended another outstanding horseman in David Hanley, nowadays at WinStar, but then managing a farm in Ireland before an impressive stint as a trainer. They'd begun a transatlantic pinhook partnership, along with Irish vet James Egan, at a time when the weanling market was little contested.

By now Betz was leasing a farm near Paris from his former boss Lucas, who kept his mares there as part of the package. But then he heard that the McGees were selling and Betz, initially with partners, became only the third proprietor of 300 lush acres previously maintained on a revolutionary war land grant by heirs of Patrick Henry. (“Give me liberty, or give me death!”)

“I knew I didn't want to work for anybody else,” Betz reflects. “I'm my own best critic. It's my life, not somebody else's, and you're not going to give that away. But I realized early on that there was no money in boarding horses, if you do it as you should without cutting corners. So if I was going to have a farm, I decided I'd want a piece of everything that's on it. That was the business model: populate the farm in partnerships, with people loyal to your program. And then upgrade as much as you can, whenever you have the capital.

“You have to be willing to take chances–I started out week to week, payroll to payroll–and you have to be objective. It's like running a sports franchise. These mares are draft choices: some work out, some don't. I want to strengthen their weaknesses without weakening their strengths, but to do that you have to see those strengths and weaknesses clearly. You can't be sentimental. And I think over the years, you develop intuition about it.”

To Betz, mating is all about match-making. “I don't think any stallion is too 'cheap' or too 'expensive',” he says. “All that matters is whether it's the right one for the mare. Can he enhance her? That's what you strive for. Breed the best to the best? Nice if you're Vanderbilt. But sometimes best to the best isn't the best. Yes, I have to be aware of the commercial side, because I sell yearlings for a living. I only race the odd filly. But within that context, within that group of successful stallions, there will always be matches that fit my mare.”

A case in point is Echo Zulu's dam Letgomyecho (Menifee), who had fallen beyond reach in the 2010 Keeneland November Sale, at $235,000, only to slip to $135,000 in the same ring a year later. Her first covers had been pricey, commensurate with her record as winner of her first three starts including the GII Forward Gal S. But maybe they weren't the right covers. Betz sent her to Mineshaft, and came up with graded stakes winner J Boys Echo; to Speightstown, for Grade I winner Echo Town; and then to Gun Runner for her champion. As Steve Asmussen said to him, after Letgomyecho's American Pharoah hit the home run last September: “'Well, I got mine. Now you got yours!'”

“I want to breed aptitude to aptitude,” Betz says, dismissing another lazy convention. “If your mare's fast, don't breed her to a stayer. Breed a stayer to a stayer and hope it's fast, or a sprinter to a sprinter and hope it can carry its speed. But those are just principles over-riding the program. It's like if you're a painter, and someone says why did you use that color? It all goes together at the end of the day, and you just hope that you got it right.”

That feels an instructive analogy, for there's a really creative sensibility at work here.

“I think I do have an artistic side,” Betz accepts. “I love music, I love art, and the way people can express themselves like that. To me, this is really my way to express myself. I'd love to be a musician, but I'm not, so this is kind of my extension.”

Like all artistry, all intuition, horsemanship is hard to articulate. As Betz says, if he can't always remedy a situation with a horse, he tries not to be confused by what's causing it.

“We like to give them human qualities, say they're courageous or whatever,” he muses. “And maybe there's a little bit of that: they can be competitive. But truth be told, the ones that excel, I think it's probably just easier for them. What did Vince Lombardi say? 'Fatigue makes cowards of us all.'

“I remember being sent down to Hialeah to look at this filly Jimmy Conway had, who used to train for Darby Dan. And I was asking him what he looked for, in terms of soundness and all that, and he said: 'Bill, if they can run, they're all unsound.' You train them hard; they run hard. So there's probably some truth to that, too.”

What does seem obvious is that Betz's empathy must reflect a hinterland so much wider than you tend to encounter in the obsessive, all-consuming world of Thoroughbreds. Asked about the Native American totems, for instance, Betz gives a shrug.    “They understood one very important premise, in my view,” he says. “People complain about the world. But if there's a God, maybe he didn't just make the world for us. That may be inconvenient for us, but maybe we're missing the point. We think we're the center of everything-and those native cultures understood that maybe they weren't.”

Not that he pretends the slightest immunity to the vexations of a horseman's life, whether in trivial daily frustrations or the disasters that can ruin a whole business cycle.

“It is a rollercoaster,” he says. “The emotional highs and lows can be pretty dramatic. That's not for everybody. I've had people over the years wanting to get into the business, but I'm pretty careful who I partner with-just because you know what's coming, and you need the mentality to accept those pitfalls. But I guess if you've got enough nerve to keep getting back on the rollercoaster, the thrills can be memorable.”

And surely the good days, all those photos on the wall, redress the disappointments?

“I think that's true in life,” Betz replies. “But I don't know that you do this for those kinds of things. You do it because this is what you do.”

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The clinic will include tours of Godolphin's Stonerside Farm, Spendthrift Farm, WinStar Farm, Mt. Brilliant Farm, Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, and Summerwind Farm.

Topics and speakers at the Breeding Clinic include: Breeding For the Athletic Thoroughbred and Conformation in Foals, presented by Gerry Duffy, Stonerside and Raceland Farm Manager; Tour of Spendthrift Farm/Stallions and Breeding Procedures, presented by Ned Toffey, General Manager of Spendthrift Farm; Matings and Stallion Conformation, presented by David Hanley, General Manager of WinStar Farm; and more.

Registration is available online, until May 31, at: toba.memberclicks.net/seminars-clinics.

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“It was a very solid opening session to the sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “There was diverse bidding activity literally from buyers all around the world participating today. This has become a really solid marketplace where you can sell a quality horse, you can sell a state-bred horse. There was lots of activity at really all price ranges.”

A total of 172 juveniles sold Monday for a gross of $15,755,700. The average of $91,603 dipped slightly from the opening session of 2021, while the median was up 11.1% to $50,000.

Last year's record-setting auction concluded its two-day run with its highest average–$94,375–and highest median–$50,000.

With 59 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate Monday was 25.5%. It was 19% during the first session of the 2021 auction.

Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, bidding on behalf of Michael Lund Petersen made the day's highest bid when going to $725,000 to acquire a filly from the first crop of GI Haskell Invitational winner Girvin. Monday's session topper was consigned by Paul Sharp.

“It's been tough all year,” Lanni said of the 2-year-old market. “It's been a crazy year. Good horses bring a lot of money and it doesn't matter who they are by, if they perform and they look like a racehorse. People want a racehorse. It's good to see the market be so strong.”

Sharp said the traditionally deep buying bench in Timonium can reward sellers.

“This sale has always been like that,” Sharp said. “If you have a horse that's kind of risen to the top, people are very excited about them. And it's a good buyer base. I like to bring meat and potato horses here, they seem to get looked at and do well here.”

The Midlantic sale continues with a final session beginning at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Girvin Filly to Lund Petersen

Donato Lanni, bidding on behalf of Michael Lund Petersen, signed the ticket at $725,000 to acquire a filly from the first crop of GI Haskell Invitational winner Girvin (hip 88). The filly was consigned by Paul Sharp on behalf of Baltimore native John Davison. Erin Wismer purchased the filly on Davison's behalf for $90,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July sale. She is out of Sweet Pistol (Smart Strike), a daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Pomeroys Pistol (Pomeroy) and a half-sister to multiple graded winner Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile).

“She was just a really cool filly,” Lanni said. “She had a lot of class. She did everything they asked her to do and she stayed pretty cool all the way through. I liked her a lot. I showed her to [trainer] Bob [Baffert] and Bob liked her as well.”

Girvin, who stands at Ocala Stud for $6,000, has had a solid spring of results in the sales ring with a half-dozen six-figure juveniles led by a $300,000 colt at the OBS Spring sale.

“I have been impressed by the Girvins I've seen,” Lanni said. “They look like they have speed and they look like they want to go two turns. This is a tough year for freshman sires because there are a lot of really good freshman sires. So he's against Justifys and Bolt d'Oros, but I've been impressed by what I've seen from him.”

Sharp agreed with Lanni's assessment of the offspring of Girvin he's seen.

“They kind of seem to have some class with some precocity,” Sharp said. “They are good-looking horses. They have some scope and look like they can get some distance, too.”

Lund Petersen purchased the top lot at the Midlantic sale in 2019 and 2020. He purchased champion Gamine (Into Mischief) for $1.8 million in 2019 and a $1.1-million son of Uncle Mo in 2020.

“Michael lives down the road and this sale has been lucky for him,” Lanni said. “He likes to be here and it's been fun to have him come to the sale. It's nice to see him be here in his backyard.”

Sharp admitted the filly's final price tag exceeded expectations.

“I had no idea she would bring that much,” Sharp said. “Coming in, we had pegged her at the $300,000 mark, after that we are only guessing. It's a guessing game about who feels the most passionate about the horse. There were several underbidders. And we are definitely thankful for them. Only one person can win, but they definitely never get enough credit, but I like to thank the underbidders.”

A filly by freshman Girvin sells for $725k in Timonium. Donato Lanni signs the ticket on the filly who was consigned by Paul Sharp. She was a $90k FTKJUL yearling. pic.twitter.com/BSgZxGCMQO

— Jessica Martini (@JessMartiniTDN) May 23, 2022

Wismer, Davison Form Winning Partnership

Bloodstock agent Erin Wismer and John Davison have turned a chance meeting at Fasig-Tipton a few years ago into a profitable partnership, never more so then when Davison sold a filly by Girvin for $725,000 Monday in Timonium. Wismer had picked the youngster out for Davison, paying $90,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July sale.

“We met a couple years ago at Fasig-Tipton when we were both bidding on the same horse,” Wismer recalled. “We kept in touch for a couple of years. He is very passionate about the industry, but didn't know a lot about buying horses, so he asked if he came to the sales if I would teach him. He came to the sale and we just started looking at horses and I showed him what I like and what I don't. And he decided he was ready to buy one.”

The partnership's initial investment was a filly by Twirling Candy who was purchased for $40,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September sale. Returned to the ring last spring in Timonium, the filly (hip 468) sold for $200,000.

Hip 88 was Davison's second pinhooking prospect and Wismer admitted the filly's $725,000 exceeded all expectations.

“His wife calls it serendipity,” Wismer said of the partnership. “Because it was ironic that we met and it's ironic that we kept a friendship going, because he's from Baltimore and I'm from Lexington. It's kind of funny how it all happened.”

Asked what she liked about hip 88, who was bred by Airdrie Stud's Brereton Jones, last summer, Wismer explained, “My husband [Troy] works for Airdrie and I love buying Airdrie horses. I love the way they raise them. I had never seen this filly before the sale, but she just walked out and she was so classy and she seemed very intelligent. She had a lot of presence and she was a phenomenal mover.”

Wismer and Davison will be back in action Tuesday with a pair of pinhook prospects.

“We have a Good Magic colt (hip 384) and a Classic Empire filly (hip 556) in tomorrow,” Wismer said. “I love both of them, too.”

While Davison is new to the pinhooking game, his family has been breeding Thoroughbreds in Maryland for three generations.

“His grandfather and his mother have been racing in Maryland for a very long time,” Wismer said. “He is very passionate about Maryland racing.”

Spendthrift, Fletcher Team Up for Bolt Colt

The new partnership of Spendthrift Farm and Frank Fletcher, shut out at OBS last month, officially got started Monday in Timonium with the purchase of a colt by Bolt d'Oro (hip 30) for $675,000.

“He will probably go to [trainer] Brad Cox,” Spendthrift's Ned Toffey said. “We tried to get one or two down at OBS and couldn't get anything, but we are always looking for people to partner up with on colts. Frank is a quality guy who has been doing this for a long time. We are really honored to do something with him. We think we have the right colt.”

The partnership was quick to add a second juvenile to its roster when going to $340,000 to acquire a colt by GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (hip 47).

Hip 30 turned in a bullet :10 flat during last week's under-tack show and he is out of Shine Softly (Aldebaran), a daughter of champion Soaring Softly (Kris S.). He was consigned by Pike Racing and was purchased by Al Pike for $90,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Monday's result continued the hot start to the stud career of Spendthrift's Bolt d'Oro, who has been in demand in the sales ring this spring and who has already been represented by a pair of winners on the racetrack.

“This is as good a start as you could ask for from a young sire,” Toffey said. “It is really remarkable how well they've been received, how they have performed at the sales so far, how they are already performing on the track. It's one thing to do it here, but he's got two winners already. You couldn't ask for him to get off to a better start.”

Toffey said hip 30 was typical of the Bolt d'Oros he has seen so far.

“They tend to have some stretch to them and stand over a lot of ground,” he said. “But they are just very athletic, that's the bottom line. We see athletes come in all shapes and sizes, these are big beautiful classy horses. But the things that you are seeing most of all is ability. This track will separate them a little bit. So if they are doing :10 flats, it's pretty strong.”

A smashing $90k to $675k pinhook for @AlPikeracing with this standout colt from the first crop of BOLT D'ORO

Hip 30 is a half to the SW The Grass is Blue from deep Darby Dan family. Purchased by @spendthriftfarm + Frank Fletcher Racing

– @ColtPike @FasigTiptonCo pic.twitter.com/0ijsxGyAeu

— Lucas Marquardt (@ThoroStride) May 23, 2022

WinStar Gets Into Mischief

WinStar Farm's David Hanley signed the ticket at $600,000 to acquire a colt by Into Mischief (hip 70) from the de Meric Sales consignment at the Midlantic sale Monday. Out of multiple stakes winner and graded placed Stormy Regatta (Midshipman), the juvenile is a half to stakes winner Bay Storm (Kantharos). He was purchased by the de Merics for $250,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale and worked a furlong at the under-tack show in :10 1/5.

“He is a beautiful horse and I thought his breeze was one of the best breezes,” Hanley said of the colt's appeal. “He has beautiful balance, he's a beautiful mover and he's full of class. Elliott [Walden] really liked the videos on the horse, so we took a shot on him.”

Hanley signed the ticket on the colt on behalf of the partnership of WinStar's Maverick Racing, Siena Farm and Commonwealth.

“It's been strong right through. I think nothing has changed with that,” Hanley said of the 2-year-old market this spring. “But he's by a proven sire with a nice page, with A.P. Indy and Storm Cat down there, and out of a nice young mare. We were very happy to get him.”

West Strikes Early for Always Dreaming Colt

Bloodstock agent Jacob West struck early in the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale Monday morning, going to $550,000 to acquire a colt from the first crop of GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (hip 11) on behalf of Robert and Lawana Low. The juvenile was consigned by Top Line Sales on behalf of Marc Tacher's Elusive Thoroughbreds, which purchased him for $40,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. He worked a quarter-mile during last week's under-tack show in :21 2/5.

“I think at the end of the day, he was one of the most talented horses that we've seen in quite some time,” West said of Always Dreaming. “For him to have done what all he did in a short amount of time speaks to the merit of the racehorse he was. And this horse reminded me of him physically. And I thought his breeze was outstanding. He is a big horse that breezed really quick on a small track. He handled it very well. Historically speaking, if you look at the front and back covers of this catalogue, the horses that breeze well here and gallop out are the ones that live up to that hype. I am just hoping he is the next one to make the catalogue.”

Hip 11 is out of stakes winner Saritta (Indygo Shiner) and from the family of graded winners Called to Serve and Behrens.

West made his winning bid just minutes into the first session of the Midlantic sale, but he was expecting action at the auction would heat up quickly.

“I actually told Mr. Low we were going to have to strike early and strike hard because I think, as this sale picks up later today and tomorrow, we are going to see some fireworks. There are some very nice horses here and there is plenty of money walking around. The market has been strong all the way through. I know some people have gotten shut out on top horses. This was a top horse. We were happy to get him.”

Monday's bang-up result continued a strong spring of sales for Tacher.

“It was exactly what you saw today,” Tacher said when asked about the colt's appeal as a yearling. “Physically, he was very impressive and a correct colt. He is a big scopey colt who looks like a two-turn colt who looks like he can go on and do good things.”

Of the colt's yearling price tag, Tacher added, “I was surprised to get him for that. I thought he was going to go much higher. I was happy to get him for $40,000 because I'm always thinking about the 2-year-old sales.”

Asked how his pinhooking has gone this spring, Tacher said, “Fantastic. This has been a great year. Probably my best year.”

Watch Hip 11 c. ALWAYS DREAMING o/o Saritta sell for $550,000 at the Midlantic 2YO Sale! Congrats to all the connections!#FasigMD @WestBloodstock @TopLineTBs @WinStarFarm pic.twitter.com/mCMEFDEQiF

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) May 23, 2022

Ransom the Moon Colt Tops Big Day for Brewer

Robert Brewer enjoyed a string of pinhooking successes Monday in Timonium, led by a colt by Ransom the Moon (hip 94) who sold for $375,000 to B-4 Farms, LLC. The Texan had purchased the dark bay colt for $55,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.

“It was a good lick,” Brewer said of the result. “But with all the action that was on him, I thought he might bring more. I thought he could bring $300,000 to $500,000.”

Brewer also sold a colt by Good Samaritan (hip 135), purchased for $27,000 at Fasig October last fall, for $150,000 to Chad Schumer, as well as a filly by Cross Traffic (hip 270) for $150,000 to August Dawn Farm. Paul Neatherlin signed for the filly at $18,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Brewer purchased a colt by Bolt d'Oro (hip 272) for $35,000 at the Fasig October sale and sold him Tuesday for $250,000 to Harmash Racing.

“I was excited when I was seeing how the Bolt d'Oros were selling,” Brewer admitted. “I knew I had a good one, so I knew I would do well with him.”

When Brewer is shopping for yearlings, he said the individual is paramount.

“An athlete,” he said succinctly when asked what he looks for in pinhooking prospects. “[The pedigree] kind of matters on the price, but I don't open my book until I find a horse.”

Asked to assess his Monday in Timonium, Brewer said, “It was good. I RNA'd a couple that shocked me a little bit, but I am getting them sold.”

Thank you to our buyers and consignors for supporting the Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training sale. Session 1 has ended. Session 2 begins tomorrow at 11 AM.

Results https://t.co/BaQGsdE2mc #FasigMD pic.twitter.com/r84GYxQtgf

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) May 23, 2022

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In a TDN series last spring polling various juvenile consignors and buyers, the son of Uncle Mo was on several shrewd observers' lists as a predicted under-the-radar stallion.

“Laoban is a sneaky one that I'm not sure if a lot of people will notice,” Brandon Rice had said last March. “I can see that there's guaranteed speed, and I could see him having a break out year…They all have a pleasing physical type. Horses that stamp their progeny this way usually have at least some level of success.”

“There's been some buzz surrounding him by the breeze-up consignors,” Justin Casse had echoed. “He's by Uncle Mo, which should help with precocity, and he has the numbers. I think he has a chance to be a premier stallion in New York going forward.”

Casse was correct in hypothesizing Laoban's shot at becoming a premier stallion, but this year the young sire will have the opportunity to take it one step further by hosting his fifth book of mares in Kentucky.

One banner weekend at Keeneland's fall meet last year helped seal his destined Bluegrass move.

First his daughter Simply Ravishing took the GI Darley Alcibiades by over six lengths. Then the next day, his son Keepmeinmind ran second to Essential Quality (Tapit) in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity.

Later that month, it was announced that Laoban would be relocating to WinStar Farm.

“Coming from New York, he stood his last season for $5,000,” said WinStar's David Hanley. “The difference in quality of mares he's getting now off a $25,000 fee, with the kind of physicals that he gets, I think he really has the possibility to be a big success as a stallion.”

Laoban wrapped up the 2020 season in second place on the freshman sire earnings list. His other top performers included Ava's Grace, his first winner from July who ran back to a third-place finish in the GII Adirondack S., dual New York-bred stakes winner Laobanonaprayer and Dreamer's Disease, who broke his maiden on the turf and switched back to dirt to go wire-to-wire and win an optional claimer at Keeneland by 4 1/2 lengths.

“From the kind of mares that he bred to consistently get these kind of runners, I think it speaks a lot to his future as a stallion,” Hanley noted.

Laoban, along with another son of Uncle Mo in Darley's Nyquist, led their class by graded stakes winners last year after Keepmeinmind became Laoban's second when he took the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. in November.

When Keepmeinmind enjoyed a brief freshening at WinStar following his win in the Jockey Club, Hanley said he recalls being awed by the youngster.

“Wow, what a nice horse he is,” Hanley said. “Every time you see him on the track, he's such an impressive physical specimen and a beautiful mover. A disposition just like Laoban himself, really laid back.”

Laoban's momentum didn't stop over the winter as several of his weanlings carried hefty price tags at the breeding stock sales.

A colt out of Dixie Gem (Stonesider) was the highest-priced weanling at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale, going for $150,000 to Machmer Hall.

At the Keeneland January Sale, a colt out of Making a Point (Freud) sold for $120,000 to Cavalier Bloodstock in the first session. Later in the week, a colt out of Jade (Colonel John) sold for $70,000 as the highest-priced short yearling of the third session.

Then at the OBS Winter Mixed Sale, his filly out of Best Reward (Grand Reward) topped the sale, going to Sand Hill Stables for $175,000.

Hanley spoke on visiting this youngest crop at the sales over the past months.

“As they came out, they all had that similar sort of balance. They stand up square and have a beautiful shoulder. They walk off just like he does. Then when you go look at the mares and you see how much he moves those mares up physically, I thought it was quite astonishing because he was literally stamping his stock and they had his qualities. All beautiful horses off a $7,500 stud fee.”

He continued, “Then you look at the horse himself and he's such an impressive individual. He's got such stature to him. He's got the most beautiful shoulder, length of leg and a beautiful long, clean neck. He's such a classy horse to be around. I think that was evident in his stock as well.”

The next few weeks could prove to be defining for Laoban's early success as several first-crop 3-year-olds aim towards a start on Derby weekend.

Keepmeinmind is expected to return to the starting gate in the GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park on Mar. 13 while Simply Ravishing remains uncommitted to her next start, but is ranked highly in Bill Finley's most recent TDN Oaks Top 10. Meanwhile Laobanonaprayer looks to get her first victory against open company in this weekend's Busher Invitational S., where a win would earn 50 points towards the Oaks.

Hanley said Laoban has been well received by Kentucky breeders since his arrival, but that he is confident their new addition will see more success before the first Kentucky-breds hit the track. After filling a book of 122 in his first year, Laoban bred a combined 230 mares in his next three years at Sequel.

“He had very impressive 2-year-olds off a stud fee of $7,500,” he said. “When you look at the pedigrees they're out of, he has really moved those mares up. [His progeny to date] don't have very exciting pedigrees, just very good physicals. When you look at the mares that are booked to him this year, he's got 130 mares booked at a fee of $25,000. If he can continue to stamp his stock and produce the kind of quality that he had out of those lesser mares, I think the future for Laoban is really exciting.”

The GII Jim Dandy S. winner is out of stakes-placed Chattertown (Speightstown) and his half-sister produced Mr. Hustle (Declaration of War), a champion 2-year-old in Canada. His extended family also includes three-time Grade I winner I'm a Chatterbox (Munnings).

“He's out of a Speightstown mare and her second dam is by Danzig,” Hanley noted. “Being an Uncle Mo, he's an outcross for a lot of mares. Physically, he fits a lot of mares. He's a big horse, but he's very well-made. He's a great horse to be around. He's doing great in the breeding shed, has settled in really well and we're very happy with how it's going with him right now.”

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