Tag: elite sales

$310,000 Crew Dragon Tops Keeneland April Horses Of Racing Age Sale

D.M.I. paid $310,000 for Crew Dragon, a 3-year-old stakes-placed, winning colt by Exaggerator, to record the highest price of today's Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age Sale.

Lane's End, agent, consigned Crew Dragon, who is out of the Malibu Moon mare Go Go Dana.

For the one-day sale, 37 horses grossed $2.44 million, for an average of $65,946 and a median of $45,000. Thirteen of those horses sold on the internet for a total of $415,000.

“We are happy with how well the sale was received,” Keeneland director of sales operations Geoffrey Russell said. “We wanted to give people who raced here an opportunity to sell some of their horses before they go to other parts of the country.”

The April Sale featured an enhanced digital catalog on Keeneland.com that included pedigrees, Equibase past performances and race videos, Daily Racing Form past performances, and Ragozin and Thoro-Graph figures. Consignors were able to upload photographs and walking videos.

“The digital catalog allowed us to be more flexible and accept entries later than we typically can with a paper catalog,” Keeneland president and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “We are able to provide a lot more updated information that you cannot do with a paper catalog.”

Bloodstock agent David Ingordo signed the ticket for Crew Dragon on behalf of clients in California. D.M.I. led all buyers with the purchase.

“Keeneland did a great job putting this sale together,” Ingordo said. “The timing of it is good: right before the summer meets. I have been impressed with the trade and the quality of horses. The way they put the catalog together quickly was impressive. I hope they continue to build on this.

“(Keeneland) did a really good job of providing credible videos and information for potential buyers to see remotely,” Ingordo added. “If there is a good thing that came out of COVID for the horse business, it is the speed of producing quality videos. We weren't doing that before. I had to do amateurish videos with my phone and (now) the videos are professional. Most of my clients (did not attend the sale because they) are training horses or running businesses. They appreciate that videos are provided.”

The sale's leading consignor was ELiTE, agent, which sold eight horses for $803,000. Topping ELiTE's consignment were the second- and third-highest priced offerings, Brooke Marie at $210,000 and Secret Time (GER) at $170,000.

Castleton Lyons acquired Brooke Marie, a 5-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid who won a Keeneland allowance race on April 17. She is out of the Giant's Causeway mare Mamasez and from the family of Grade 1 winner Marylebone and Grade 2 winner Alpha Kitten. Brooke Marie has three wins in 11 starts with earnings of $180,430.

Secret Time, a 4-year-old daughter of Camacho who was Group 3-placed in France, sold to Thorne-Spedale Family, John Fahey, agent. Secret Time is out of Song of Time, by Kheleyf.

The post $310,000 Crew Dragon Tops Keeneland April Horses Of Racing Age Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age Sale Monday

The Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age–an amalgamation of live and digital auctions–will be conducted Monday, with bidding beginning at 1 p.m. The auction will be held with live auctioneers at the Keeneland sales pavilion and with horses presented for sale both physically at Keeneland and at off-site locations. Buyers have the option of attending the sale live or of bidding online.

Elite Sales will offer 10 horses at the auction and all but one will be on-site Monday afternoon. The racing/broodmare prospect Mary's France (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) (hip 4) is entered to run at Churchill Downs Tuesday and will remain at Mike Maker's barn in Louisville. She will be one of just two offerings in the auction not on the Keeneland grounds Monday.

“We are not expecting much from the digital sale,” Elite's Brad Weisbord said Sunday. “We have had no success with it to date. We are going to try Mary's France on there and the main reason to try her in the digital sale is because she is entered on Tuesday at Churchill Downs and we didn't want to take the chance of shipping her down, showing her for two or three days and potentially not having her run her race. And you never know what can happen in this environment, so it's not fair to a trainer to ship her back to his barn to run her. The owners decided against shipping her down here, so she is going to go in the digital portion of the sale.”

The remainder of the Elite consignment will be on hand at Keeneland for the sale.

“We have encouraged the owners to have the horses on site,” Weisbord said. “I think COVID put a delay into the takeoff of the digital sales. Outside of [subsequent stakes winner] Fiya (Friesan Fire) who sold at Wanamaker's [for $400,000 last July], there really hasn't been a racehorse that has broken out yet. If you have an exceptional horse, people will go to the racetrack and find it. But we have a lot of $60,000 to $175,000 horses and I think those sort of models do better in person.”

Keeneland unveiled its digital sales last year, but the auctions have yet to find traction in the marketplace. Weisbord thinks the concept will eventually pay dividends.

“If you have a superstar, people will find a way to have somebody see it,” he said. “That's the sort of horse who would do well in the digital sales. Outside of that, I think it's going to take a little time to introduce it to the marketplace. It's been so well received in Australia and I think when people are allowed to travel again–COVID has prevented a lot of people from getting into racetracks, getting into training centers–it will take off. It's so hard to get to see these horses, watch them train, talk to the trainers. I do think there is hope, but we are probably a year or a year plus away from really having it take off.”

Two fillies in Elite's consignment are coming off recent wins at Keeneland, with Brooke Marie (Lemon Drop Kid) (hip 48) taking a turf NW2X allowance Apr. 17 and A Thing of Beauty (Bernardini) (hip 41) winning a turf maiden Apr. 7.

“It was really easy to keep them here at their barns with Todd Pletcher and Jonathan Thomas and ship over to us just this week,” Weisbord said. “We did have a couple others ship up from New York and Florida to us. I am excited that most of the owners trusted us to bring them onsite. That's important because I think that will help these horses sell tomorrow.”

Weisbord sees plenty of upside for buyers looking for horses ready to run.

“Every horse of ours is eligible for at least an allowance condition, some are maiden conditions and almost all of them are 2X eligible. That's going to be a big deal. The Del Mar Ship and Win rules have changed. You can now earn the Ship and Win bonus throughout the entire meet, not just the first race. We have heard a couple buyers say that that's a very interesting change that they've made, so people are going to be potentially buying for that meet. And now with the purses in New York being close to $100,000 for these allowance races, these horses are always going to fit that model.”

Of the activity at the barn Sunday, Weisbord said, “We have seen 15 to 20 shows on a horse. It's the same faces from Kentucky. A lot of people just got back from the OBS sale, especially if they stayed in Florida for an extra day or so, so they will be coming back today. We have seen the right traction from the local agents.”

When Keeneland first hosted its April Horses of Racing Age Sale in 2019, it was twined with its revived 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and was held at the beginning of the month and early in the track's spring meet. Weisbord said he thinks this new date will be well-received.

“I think the date change is a positive compared to two years ago when it was earlier in the meet,” he said. “When owners were allowed to come and enjoy the race meet, bring their friends, potentially stay for Derby week, I do think this could be a permanent date for Keeneland.”

The Horses of Racing Age catalogue also includes a pair of juveniles coming off wins at Keeneland. American Bound (American Freedom) (hip 40) gave her freshman sire his first victory when she won impressively Apr. 2. She is consigned by Joe Sharp, agent. Baytown Frosty (Frosted) (hip 77) broke his maiden Apr. 18. He is consigned by McEntee Racing and is entered in the Kentucky Juvenile S. at Churchill Downs Wednesday.

Selling off-site is hip 56, an unnamed 2-year-old colt by Quality Road. He is consigned by Claiborne Farm and is out of Fashion's Flight (Dixie Union), a full-sister to Justwhistledixie, who is the dam of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner New Year's Day (Street Cry {Ire}) and Grade II winner Mohaymen (Tapit). The colt is at Harris Training Center in Morristown, Florida.

A total of 78 horses were catalogued for the April sale, but 30 had already been withdrawn by Sunday afternoon.

“Keeneland, like Fasig-Tipton, has been very amenable to entering horses 30-45 days out and allowing the owners to get a good result prior to the sale and allowing us to scratch these horses,” Weisbord said. “When you have to recruit these horses two months out, you are going to have a lot of outs because the horses are either going to fail vets or not run well prior to the sale. There is no point bringing horses like that to auction. It's still a select marketplace. Keeneland is not looking for a bunch of $20,000 horses. They are looking for $75,000 and up and that's what they are trying to recruit.”

The post Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age Sale Monday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘Not Another One Like Her’: Monomoy Girl Begins 2021 Campaign In Bayakoa

If Monomoy Girl were a boy and a prospect for the 2015 NFL Draft, the evaluation probably wouldn't have been overly flattering.

Monomoy Girl was by Tapizar, not Tapit, purchased at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $100,000 not $1 million and debuted on the grass in September 2017 at Indiana Grand, not Saratoga.

But her story mirrors that quarterback from the University of Michigan, deemed too skinny and slow to make it big in the NFL. Tom Brady was a sixth-round selection in 2000, the 199th player overall, and the seventh quarterback taken. Brady, 43, recently won his seventh Super Bowl and now has more rings than any NFL franchise.

Like Brady, Monomoy Girl's draft grade would call for a total rewrite for scouts, too. She's a two-time Eclipse Award winner, two-time Breeders' Cup champion and destined for enshrinement in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Measurables, in both cases, were meaningless.

“I think that's a fair assessment,” said Brad Cox, who has trained Monomoy Girl throughout her nearly flawless career. “There's not another one like her, as far as how she came up and transferred to the dirt. She's a special horse.”

Monomoy Girl will begin authoring another chapter, possibly the final chapter, in her brilliant racing career Sunday at Oaklawn when she makes her 6-year-old debut in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Probable post time for the Bayakoa, which goes as the ninth of 10 races, is 5:11 p.m. (Central). Racing begins at 1 p.m.

The projected six-horse Bayakoa field from the rail out: Chance to Shine, Ken Tohill to ride, 115 pounds, 12-1 on the morning line; Another Broad, Joel Rosario, 115, 6-1; Finite, Ricardo Santana Jr., 119, 9-5; Istan Council, Joe Talamo, 115, 6-1; Our Super Freak, David Cohen, 115, 6-1; and Monomoy Girl, Florent Geroux, 119, even money.

Two other stakes are on Sunday's card, the $150,000 Dixie Belle for 3-year-old filly sprinters and the $150,000 Downthedustyroad for female Arkansas-bred sprinters.

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway, Ark., have the program favorites in both races – unbeaten Abrogate (5-2) in the Dixie Belle and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Bye Bye J (3-1) in the Downthedustyroad.

But Sunday's unquestioned headliner is Monomoy Girl, among the most accomplished horses ever entered at Oaklawn.

Monomoy Girl has a 13-2-0 record from 15 lifetime starts and earnings of $4,426,818. One of her losses was a disqualification (stretch interference in the 2018 Cotillion), the other also self-inflicted (lugged in and out late and beaten a neck in the 2017 Golden Rod). Seven victories have come in Grade 1 company, including the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (2018 and 2020) and the $1 million Kentucky Oaks in 2018 at Churchill Downs. She has won at six tracks. She won her first two career starts on turf before switching, ultra-successfully, to dirt.

Monomoy Girl was the country's champion 3-year-old filly of 2018 and after missing 2019 because of injury and illness was crowned champion older dirt female of 2020. She was unbeaten in four races last year, including the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff Nov. 7 at Keeneland in her last start.

“To me, she's one of the best fillies that's ever lived,” said bloodstock agent Liz Crow, who selected and purchased Monomoy Girl for her original owner, Sol Kumin. “I know that maybe sounds a little aggressive, but she did win the Breeders' Cup twice and she's one of only three fillies, I think, or four fillies to ever do that. She's the only filly in history to win the five Grade 1s she won as a 3-year-old, the Oaks, the Ashland, the Acorn, the Coaching Club and the Breeders' Cup. To me, she's done it all. She's really answered all the questions, and she deserves to be a Hall of Famer, I think, one day.”

The Bayakoa will mark Monomoy Girl's first start in Hot Springs. Cox said he's using the race as a prep for the $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 17 at Oaklawn. Monomoy Girl had been under consideration for the Apple Blossom, among the country's signature two-turn events for older fillies and mares, in 2019 before being derailed and was “very, very close” to making her 2020 comeback, Cox said, in a late-season allowance race at Oaklawn. Instead, it came in mid-May at Churchill Downs.

“When we brought her back in the allowance race at Churchill, that was a lot of pressure, having been off 18 months, whatever it was,” Cox said. “Here, it's not as if we ever took her out of training. We backed off of her after the Breeders' Cup, but we never shut her down. We continued to train her lightly throughout November and December. I feel confident that she's pretty tight and pretty much ready to go. I'm excited to bring her up here. It's a great racing town and they appreciate good horses.”

Monomoy Girl arrived Wednesday night in Hot Springs after being based this winter at Fair Grounds.

Cox's go-to rider, Florent Geroux, has ridden Monomoy Girl in her last 14 starts. Geroux said Monomoy Girl has flourished because of a “big heart” and the resolve to reach the finish line first.

“She's a very gifted, talented mare,” Geroux said. “She takes her track with her. It's not like's only good at Churchill or Keeneland. She goes anywhere, East Coast, Midwest, and does great everywhere she goes. I think that's one of the main assets for her.”

The Bayakoa also will mark Monomoy Girl's first start since Spendthrift Farm purchased her for $9.5 million in November at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale. Monomoy Girl will join Spendthrift's broodmare band upon retirement, but that figures to be in 2022 after the famed racing/breeding operation of founder B. Wayne Hughes opted to keep her training with Cox this year.

Spendthrift stallion sales manager Mark Toothaker said his affinity for Monomoy Girl began after a conversation with Arkansas horseman Dan White in the fall of 2017, shortly before the horse, then 2 for 2, made her stakes and dirt debut in the $80,000 Rags to Riches at Churchill Downs.

Toothaker said White was struck by Monomoy Girl's efficient action and believed she had a “big chance” to win. Monomoy Girl delivered, by 6 ½ emphatic lengths.

“That was really the first time I got her on my radar,” said Toothaker, who grew up in Van Buren, Ark., about 130 miles northwest of Hot Springs. “Boy, who would have ever dreamed she'd go on and do what she did. Just incredible. I think it goes back to the first time that I ever had a chance to see her, just as a fan. Just the efficiency that she moved with and the amount of ground that she covered. She's got what all the champions have got. Just got the killer instinct and she's going to beat you. She's going to run right by you and break your heart. She's got that 'it' factor. No doubt about it.”

In addition to Spendthrift, Monomoy Girl is now campaigned by MyRacehorse, which offers fractional ownership to investors, and Kumin, who bought back into the mare. Crow co-owns ELiTE Sales, which consigned Monomoy Girl to Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale and is an integral part of Kumin's racing team.

“I think this is just the cherry on top, this year,” Crow said. “I think Hot Springs is one of the best places in the country for racing fans and I really hope everybody enjoys getting to watch her run live. I think that's what this year is all about. Hopefully, she gives a lot of fans an opportunity to enjoy her.”

The post ‘Not Another One Like Her’: Monomoy Girl Begins 2021 Campaign In Bayakoa appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Russell Calls Decision To Enter Hello Hot Rod In FT Winter Mixed Sale ‘A Good Business Move’

As a trainer, Brittany Russell knows the best time to take a chance is when a horse is doing well. She shipped Hello Hot Rod from her Laurel Park base to New York last weekend, where the Maryland-bred half-brother of multiple stakes winner Hello Beautiful extended his win streak to three races in Aqueduct's Jimmy Winkfield Stakes.

As an owner, Russell hopes to experience similar success when Hello Hot Rod goes through the ring Feb. 9 on the second of Fasig-Tipton's two-day winter mixed sale in Lexington, Ky. The sale begins both days at 10 a.m. ET.

Russell co-owns Hello Hot Rod, a 3-year-old Mosler colt out of the Tiznow mare Hello Now, with Dark Horse Racing. Consigned by ELiTE Sales, he is cataloged as Hip No. 672.

Hello Hot Rod fetched $10,000 out of Fasig-Tipton's 2019 Midlantic Eastern Fall Yearling Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. He has won three of four starts and $113,941 in purse earnings.

“This is a business and it just seemed like sort of a good business move after winning the stake up there. I have some friends between Fasig and ELiTE sales and I thought it was a good move,” Russell said Thursday. “Naturally, I'd love to have him in the barn and keep him and race him, and maybe that can still happen, but we're going to put him through and just see what happens.”

Hello Hot Rod debuted running second by a neck to Doubleoseven in a six-furlong waiver maiden claimer last Oct. 30. He returned to capture a similar spot going seven furlongs Nov. 13 by 4 ½ lengths, then stepped up to win a one-mile optional claiming allowance triumph by 2 ¼ lengths Dec. 13 in his juvenile finale. All three races came at Laurel.

“He's the right kind. This is the right kind of horse at this time of year,” Russell said. “He's won at a mile. He already has that, and he's a stakes winner. He's done nothing wrong. That's what it comes down to. He's a racehorse.”

Hello Hot Rod was a determined front-running head winner of the seven-furlong Jimmy Winkfield, the first time he didn't go off as the favorite. He returned to Laurel later that evening, ahead of the winter storm that gripped the New York and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas.

“He's awesome. We got lucky with the snow. It started later up in New York so we were able to get him home right away,” Russell said. “He's wonderful. You wouldn't even know he ran. He trained this morning and he's in good form.”

Russell has Wonder Stables, Robert LaPenta and Madaket Stables' Little Huntress in the seven-furlong Ruthless for 3-year-old fillies Feb. 7 at Aqueduct. A 14-length maiden special weight winner Dec. 27 at Laurel, the Frosted filly is also nominated to Laurel's $100,000 Wide Country going seven furlongs Feb. 13.

Little Huntress drew Post 4 in the Ruthless against just four other rivals.

“I entered Little Huntress in the Ruthless this morning because it [is] a short field. We're going to take a look at it and, obviously, we're going to heavily consider running Sunday there,” Russell said. “If we opt to skip, she'll run here in the stakes next week.”

Meanwhile, Russell will send out Cash is King, D.J. Stable and LC Racing's Mine Not Mine in Friday's eighth race, a one-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired 4-year-olds and up where the Golden Lad colt drew Post 3 in a field of seven and is 6-1 on the morning line.

Mine Not Mine ran third in a similar spot going 1 1/16 miles Jan. 1, his first start in 216 days after finishing 10th of 11 as the favorite in an open one-mile allowance last May. The winner of that race, Toy, also beat Mine Not Mine in his New Year's Day comeback.

“We were tickled with his last race. To be honest, he was far from being tight to go two turns … meaning he was at least two works short,” Russell said. “He could have used a little bit more, but he was doing well and he was working well so we thought, let's just give him a race and that should really put him right for this next race.”

Mine Not Mine, also by Golden Lad, made his first two starts for trainer Claudio Gonzalez. In his first two starts after being sold for $210,000 in December 2019 and moved to Russell, Mine Not Mine ran second and third, respectively, to the Gonzalez-trained Lebda in the 2020 Miracle Wood and Private Terms at Laurel.

“He's a horse that we've had high expectations for from Day 1 and he's had some hiccups along the way. You're just kind of hoping that every time you run him, maybe this is his chance to shine,” Russell said. “He seems like he's great right now. He's on good foot in the morning so I certainly expect to see a good effort from him.”

The post Russell Calls Decision To Enter Hello Hot Rod In FT Winter Mixed Sale ‘A Good Business Move’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights