de Meric Sales | Horse Racing Free Tips

Fasig-Tipton Gets Back to Business at Gulfstream

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – A day after watching the horses perform on the racetrack, buyers were out in full force at the sales barns Tuesday in preparation for the return of the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale of Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training, which will be held in the track's paddock Wednesday. Under late-morning overcast skies and windy conditions, trainer Bob Baffert and bloodstock agent Donato Lanni were making the rounds at the sales barns, as were fellow Southern California conditioners Simon Callaghan and Paddy Gallagher. The local training bench was represented by Chad Brown, Graham Motion, Shug McGaughey and Todd Pletcher. Saudi businessman Amr Zedan, who will watch his Medina Spirit (Protonico) go postward in Saturday's GI Santa Anita Derby, hit the barns along with racing manager Gary Young, and Michael Tabor and the Coolmore team were among the throng of studious shoppers as well.

Consignors were kept busy showing the 136 horses expected to go through the ring Wednesday when bidding begins at 2 p.m.

“This is the first time I sat down since 8 a.m.,” Steve Venosa of SGV Thoroughbreds said shortly after noon Tuesday as his popular colt by Nyquist (hip 146) headed out for another showing. “That one horse there has probably been out all morning. They've all been out. It hasn't let up yet. Everybody is here.”

Fasig-Tipton was forced to cancel its 2020 renewal of the Gulfstream sale due to the pandemic and consignors and buyers both seemed pleased to be back in South Florida for the boutique auction.

“It is good to be back out here,” Venosa said. “Last year was an odd year for everyone. Just to get back here and see all of the activity, it's very refreshing. We are really looking forward to a good sale.”

A few consignments up the row, Dean de Renzo of Hartley/de Renzo Thoroughbreds was also taking advantage of a brief interlude between showings of the operation's popular Gun Runner colt (hip 181).

“We have one of the top horses in the sale, so they usually take a lot of time,” de Renzo said as the handsome chestnut once again headed out of the barn. “He's been out all day. But it feels good to be back here after missing last year.”

DeRenzo and partner Randy Hartley purchased hip 181 for $140,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale and he worked a furlong in :10 1/5 during Monday's under-tack preview.

“We bought that horse kind of just on a gut feeling in the back ring,” de Renzo recalled. “We loved him then and thought we had bought a really nice horse. And he's had a great year for us training and here, under pretty tough conditions, he just came through it all. We knew it coming in that he would, but after seeing that first part of the racetrack, we thought maybe this isn't the place we should be. I guess good horses can get through things.”

De Renzo said holding the under-tack show over Gulfstream's dirt track allowed buyers to separate the talent on display.

“We only have three, but they all performed well considering the conditions we had with the heat, deep racetrack and wind,” de Renzo said. “But that's what I do like about the dirt and breezing on the dirt, when they do get through it, people know that's the horse and then it turns out to be the right horse. We like that because if we have a horse that really performs well, but he's not the right horse, it looks bad on us. We're happy to be here.”

Of expectations heading into the sale, de Renzo said, “I think the sale is going to be strong. I think there are a lot of really nice horses here. After a year off, I think people have settled down a little more about the pandemic, there is more of a comfort zone. So I have good expectations that the sale is going to be what it was two years ago.”

Eddie Woods was the leading consignor at the juvenile sales season's first auction, the OBS March Sale, and the Irishman was seeing similar action at the Gulfstream barns.

“It's been very busy,” Woods said. “It's just backing off a little now. But we've seen everyone and they've been working hard. It just has a good feel to the whole thing, a bit like the March sale. Maybe not as many people as in the March sale, but there aren't as many horses to go around either.”

Woods continued, “The expectations are high here. Fasig has been very high on how the sale has been received by their customers and I'm sure with the credit applications. And we will see what happens.”

Tristan de Meric of de Meric Sales admitted he was one of many consignors who had been surprised by the strength of the market last month in Ocala. He said he hopes the momentum only builds from there.

“I was definitely pleasantly surprised by the market at OBS,” de Meric said. “We sold 26 out of 26 horses that we led to the ring. It was a great sale. I can't complain about that. And if the year can build off of that, like it has historically, hopefully we are in for a fun season. For the right ones anyway.”

After a year of uncertainties and frustrations, buyers are ready to move forward, observed Clovis Crane of Crane Thoroughbred Services.

“All of the buyers are here, so all of the stars are aligned for a huge sale,” Crane said. “If you have good horses, they are going to buy them, it's pretty apparent.”

Crane continued, “I think there is still a lot of uncertainty, but I think there is also optimism. I think the election being over and the uncertainty of that and COVID–I hate to say under control– but there is light at the end of the tunnel, so I think that's a positive. And I think there is optimism. People want to move forward. People don't want to be held back and they are sick of the media telling them the sky is going to fall. We are going to move forward and people are excited to move forward. Racehorses are something to go do and have fun with. It's exciting, the racehorse business. That's what people need right now. They need something exciting and positive.”

When it was last held in 2019, 59 horses sold for $29,115,000 at the Gulfstream sale. The average was $493,475 and the median was $375,000. A colt by Curlin brought the auction's top price, selling for $3.65 million and that youngster was one of six to sell for seven figures at the sale.

The post Fasig-Tipton Gets Back to Business at Gulfstream appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Tacher, a True Jack of All Trades

There is not much Marc Tacher hasn't tried his hand at in the horse racing industry. The Puerto Rico native breeds, owns and buys horses; owns part of a racetrack; and pinhooks. He hopes to enjoy more success with the latter Wednesday as he sends three of his potential pinhooks through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale.

Growing up in Puerto Rice, Tacher was bit by the racing bug at a young age and made his first investment in the game early in his adult years.

“I got into horse racing early. As a kid, I used to go to the track with my father,” said Tacher, who owns insurance companies around the U.S., but mainly in Miami. “When I was in my twenties I bought a piece of a horse and that is how I got started over 32 years ago.”

Tacher now has 85 horses in training in both Puerto Rico and the United States; operates a breeding program predominantly in his home country; and owns part of his local racetrack, Hipódromo Camarero.

“I kept on buying horses and, through the years, I was pretty successful at that,” said Tacher. “I raced mostly in Puerto Rico. The opportunity came to buy the racetrack in 2004, but it took like three years to get it done.”

Of all the things he does, Tacher enjoys racing the most.

“I have the biggest stable in Puerto Rico,” he said. “I have been leading owner there for the past five years. In the U.S., I am in second-place in victories in the nation and was third last year.”

Tacher continued, “I won the Puerto Rican Triple Crown, which was a nice experience to have. Not many people get to experience that, so that was a good feeling.”

Tacher has also done well with pinhooking. His biggest success in that venture, however, did not come at auction.

“My biggest score didn't go through the ring, but I sold a Distorted Humor colt for $1.5-million that I bought for $60,000,” Tacher said. “I mostly buy to pinhook, but through the months leading up to the juvenile sales, I can change my position or if the horse doesn't bring what I think he is worth, I keep him to race. I don't buy to race, to be honest, I buy to pinhook. Most of what I race are RNAs and I also buy at the 2-year-old sales.”

Three of Tacher's yearling purchases are set to sell Wednesday with de Meric Sales, who he has been using for the past three years. The first to go through the ring will be Hip 81, a filly from the first crop of Practical Joke. The $130,000 KEESEP purchase is out of a half-sister to MGSW Takeover Target (Harlan's Holiday) and SW Ladies' Privilege (Harlan's Holiday).

“She is a nice filly and very forward,” said Tristan de Meric. “These Practical Jokes are really training well and she is one we have liked all year. She is a balanced and good-looking filly.”

Tacher secured Hip 92, a son of last year's leading freshman sire Nyquist, for $155,000 at Keeneland September. The chestnut colt hails from the family of MGISW Diversify (Bellamy Road).

“He is a really nice colt with a lot of leg,” de Meric said. “He has been training very well and is horse we think could do really well at the sale.”

Rounding out the Tacher trio is a colt from the first crop of the late champion Arrogate (Hip 122). The $200,000 FTKOCT acquisition is out of MSW Hero's Amor (Street Hero), who is a full-sister to SW & MGSP Threefiveindia.

“He is a bit immature, but he is very quick and sharp,” Tacher said. “He is not as big as the Nyquist colt, but he is fast and looks like he should do well. He is a very refined colt.”

The Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale will be held Wednesday at Gulfstream Park starting at 2 p.m. and the breeze show is Monday at 9 a.m.

The post Tacher, a True Jack of All Trades appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Consignors Talk First-Crop Sires Ahead of 2-Year-Old Sales (Part 2)

With the 2-year-old sales right around the corner, the TDN reached out to consignors with juveniles heading to the sales rings at the Mar. 16 and 17 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and the Mar. 31 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale to discuss which of their offerings by first-crop sires have impressed them. This is the second installment of the series (click here to view the first section which was published in Tuesday's TDN).

CIARAN DUNNE (Wavertree Stables)

Among the 26 juveniles Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables has consigned to the OBS March sale and a further 22 targeted at the Gulfstream sale are a bevy of youngsters by first-crop sires. Dunne joined the chorus of consignors singing the praises of Practical Joke (Into Mischief–Halo Humor, by Distorted Humor).

“Some of the first-season sires, people want to get excited about because they are a little precocious,” Dunne said. “The Practical Jokes actually look like they have a bit of quality. They have speed, but they aren't all speed all the time. Obviously, it's early days, but they have been very sound horses to this point and are very easy to train. You don't have to gear your training around them, they just do whatever you put in front of them. He was a fast horse himself, so they should be fast, but they have a license to go a little bit farther.”

Wavertree will offer a colt by the Ashford stallion (hip 273) at the OBS March sale and a colt (hip 31) and filly (hip 156) at Gulfstream.

“The colt we have in March looks like he'll be very early and very quick, but he's a half to a really quick filly [Jo Jo Air {Scat Daddy}]. The two that are in Gulfstream, the filly is beautiful. She's big and tall and leggy. She's out of a Five Star Day mare and I don't know why she looks the way she does because it's speed on speed and she is big and strong and beautiful and looks like she'll go two turns. And the colt that is down there has a big pedigree. He is a half to [graded winner] Plainsman (Flatter) and [graded-placed] Liam (Liam's Map).”

Dunne continued, “We have an American Freedom filly (hip 154) for Gulfstream that was a very expensive yearling [$160,000 FTKSEP], but she acts the part. She was beautiful filly as a yearling. She ticked all the boxes then, and now in training she is the same. She's tall and lean and leggy and gets over the ground well. She acts like she could have a bit of quality.”

American Freedom (Pulpit–Gottcha Last, by Pleasant Tap) stands at Airdrie Stud. Winner of the 2016 GIII Iowa Derby, he was second in that year's GI Travers S. and GI betfair.com Haskell Invitational.

Wavertree will offer a pair of colts by Unified (Candy Ride {Arg}–Union City, by Dixie Union) at the OBS March sale. The Lane's End stallion, who stands for $10,000, won the 2016 GII Peter Pan S. and GIII Bay Shore S., as well as the 2017 GIII Gulfstream Park Sprint S.

“The Unifieds that go to March are surprisingly quick,” Dunne said. “I wouldn't have thought that they had the license to be that fast.”

Dunne will send a pair of fillies by Claiborne Farm stallion Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}–Steady Course, by Old Trieste) through the OBS sales ring (hip 173 and hip 378), and a colt by the Grade I winner will be offered at Gulfstream (hip 33).

“The Masterys are beautiful horses,” Dunne said. “Really, really good-moving horses. How quick they will be at the end of the day, I don't know, but from the way they are training on a day-to-day basis, they are very impressive and they look like they will be two-turn horses.”

Wavertree has a pair of juveniles by the late champion Arrogate (Unbridled's Song–Bubbler, by Distorted Humor), one of which will be offered at Gulfstream as hip 158.

“The Arrogates we have we really like,” Dunne said. “It's obviously going to be a small sample with him, but he seems to have thrown to the mare. We have one out of a Salt Lake mare and one out of a Silver Deputy mare and that's kind of what they are. But they are both really nice horses.”

The Wavertree freshman sire bench also includes a filly by Klimt (Quality Road–Inventive, by Dixie Union) (hip 84) who will be offered at OBS March.

“The Klimt filly that is in there is very nice,” Dunne said. “She might have been one of the most expensive of the Klimts [$160,000 FTKSEP]. She is a real Quality Road, a big strong filly who looks like she'll run all day. She has a great attitude.”

TRISTAN DE MERIC (De Meric Sales)

“We've got five Practical Jokes,” Tristan De Meric said of the much-hyped freshman stallion. “They are all training really well. I'm not telling you anything new, but he'd be my obvious top pick. They all look the part and they are all just getting better the more you do with them. I love their dispositions, they have great minds, they put a lot in their training, leave it all out on the track. They are very professional and very smart, classy nice horses. I have high hopes for him as a sire.”

De Meric Sales will offer two colts (hip 1 and hip 7) and a filly hip 81) by the multiple Grade I winner at the Gulfstream sale.

The Ocala-based operation will offer a colt by Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}–Quiet Giant, by Giant's Causeway) (hip 388) at OBS in March.

“We have three Gun Runners,” de Meric said. “One is in the March sale and he's freaky fast. He's a very quick colt with a good family behind him. He's out of Brazen Persuasion, who was a good race mare. He is the only Gun Runner we have going to a sale, but the two we have for the races are also really nice horses. I'd be surprised not to see Gun Runner up there next year also.”

De Meric added, “At the yearling sales, we obviously tried to pick up a few more Practical Jokes and Gun Runners, they were just hard to buy and we didn't end up with as many as we wanted. But we are thrilled to have a few of them because they are doing great.”

Another freshman sire whose progeny have impressed de Meric is Connect (Curlin–Bullville Belle, by Holy Bull). De Meric Sales will offer a pair of colts (hip 71 and hip 524) by the Lane's End stallion at the OBS March sale and a third colt (hip 60) at Gulfstream.

“I think, as a sleeper sire, Connect might be really good,” de Meric said. “They may be later developing. We have one entered in the Miami sale out of Wild Hoots (Unbridled's Song). He looks the part. There is nothing not to like about him. He's a beautiful horse. And we have a really nice filly out of Nest Egg (Eskendereya) going to April who is an elegant, two-turn looking filly.”

Of his impressions of the Connects he has seen, de Meric said, “The ones we have, they are throwing to the broodmare sire maybe a bit. But they are great-minded and training really well. I wouldn't say the five we have have a lot of similarities, but the one similarity that they all have is that they are all training great. They have great minds and I think they are going to be solid, nice horses.”

Of his expectations for the upcoming calendar of 2-year-old sales, de Meric said, “The top end will be as strong as ever, I hope. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the market is. Hopefully, there is a deep pool of buyers and we can move horses and have a good year.”

TORIE GLADWELL (Top Line Sales)

Top Line Sales had its first seven-figure sale a year ago when a daughter of first-crop sire Not This Time sold for $1.35 million at the OBS Spring Sale. The operation has another strong group of freshman offerings in 2021, led by the omnipresent Practical Joke.

“They are just extremely forward horses,” Torie Gladwell said of the Practical Joke juveniles who will represent Top Line in the sales ring this spring. “The ones that we have, you're almost slowing them down. They just want to do too much too early. So we are just trying to slow them down and do what we need to do to get there and keep them happy and sound. Because they are the kind of horses who want to go out there and do too much.”

Top Line Sales has a filly (hip 311) and colt (hip 563) by Practical Joke catalogued at the OBS March sale and a second filly (hip 85) targeted at Gulfstream.

“The filly going to Gulfstream, she wasn't a really big filly when we bought her and now she's probably 15.3,” Gladwell said. “We actually went and bought her mom [Caribbean Lady {Speightstown}] and her baby sister by Mendelssohn, we liked this filly so much.”

Top Line Sales will also offer a colt by American Freedom (hip 454) at OBS March.

“We have two American Freedoms,” Gladwell said. “They are a little bit bigger than some of the other freshman stallions that we have, but they seem precocious and early.”

Gladwell said she has also been impressed by the first crop of runners by 2016 GI Del Mar Futurity winner Klimt.

“We have a handful of Klimts and we like those,” she said. “They are really good-boned horses. They are smart and take everything in stride. They are really sound, solid horses.”

Reflecting on the success Top Line enjoyed with $1.35-million future Grade I winner Princess Noor (Not This Time) at last year's Spring Sale, Gladwell said, “I think it really just proved that those top, top horses can step up and perform no matter what sale you go to, whether it's June, April, Miami, Maryland. It doesn't matter who the horse is by, whether it's a freshman stallion or not, if a horse steps up and performs, you're going to get paid for it.”

The post Consignors Talk First-Crop Sires Ahead of 2-Year-Old Sales (Part 2) appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Reinvestment Risk Impressive In Saratoga Debut For Freshman Sire Upstart

Reinvestment Risk, trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown for Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, romped to a 7 3/4-length score in a six-furlong maiden sprint on the main track in Saturday's first race at Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

A $280,000 purchase at the OBS March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training, Reinvestment Risk won geared down at the finish, earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. He is the second winner from the first crop of foals sired by Upstart, a son of the A.P. Indy stallion Flatter standing at Brereton C. Jones' Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky.

Out of the Candy Ride mare Ridingwiththedevil, Reinvestment Risk wintered at Payson Park in Florida before shipping north to Monmouth Park for continued preparation. The precocious bay arrived at Saratoga in mid-July and breezed twice on the main track including a five-eighths work from the gate in 59.89 on July 26 ahead of his eye-opening win.

“He ran super. He trained super all spring down at Monmouth with my assistant Luis Cabrera, who had the horse early on,” said Brown. “We transferred him up here and we've always liked him. Our team here did a fantastic job with him. Mike Ryan, my partner in all our bloodstock work, picked him out from the De Meric consignment, another farm we use a lot. Everyone that's touched the horse or been involved with him has raved about him, so I'm happy he lived up to that on his debut.”

Brown said the Grade 1, $250,000 Runhappy Hopeful, a seven-furlong sprint on Closing Day, September 7 could be in the cards.

“You'd sure think so,” said Brown. “If he comes out of the race well and especially having a race over the track, it looks like we'd have enough time between starts. I'll talk to Mr. Klarman about it. It's always exciting to have a nice 2-year-old.”

The post Reinvestment Risk Impressive In Saratoga Debut For Freshman Sire Upstart appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post