Fabricio Buffolo | Horse Racing Free Tips

Timm Named Executive Director Of Don Alberto Corp.

Don Alberto Corp. announced today that Chance Timm has been named executive director effective March 1, 2021.

With over 100 broodmares, Don Alberto, which is based in Lexington, Ky., was a top 15 breeder nationally last year.

Timm succeeds Fabricio Buffolo who has been the executive director for the past four years. Buffolo, originally from Brazil, will return to his home country to be closer to his family while continuing his career in the Thoroughbred industry.

“I look forward to Chance leading our progression as one of the top breeding and racing organizations in North America. Although I am sad to see Fabricio go, I am very thankful for his hard work which has led us to where we are today,” said Carlos Heller on behalf of the Heller Solari family.

Beginning with the purchase of the former Vinery Stud in 2013, Don Alberto has subsequently expanded to occupy 1,300 acres and has positioned itself as an active breeder at the top of the bloodstock market. In addition to racing two-time champion Unique Bella among other graded stakes winners, Don Alberto has bred and sold multiple million-dollar yearlings.

“I want to personally thank Carlos and Ms. Liliana for this incredible opportunity and for understanding my desire to be closer to my family. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished and have no doubt Don Alberto will continue to ascend the ranks of the industry,” said Fabricio Buffolo.

Originally from Murray, Utah, Timm has over 14 years experience in the Thoroughbred industry. He has been with Lane's End Farm since 2014 as the director of stallion seasons and shares, where he has also had an active role in their sales consignment.

“Don Alberto has established itself as a major force in the worldwide Thoroughbred industry,” said Chance Timm. “I am confident that our team will further that success in the coming years and am very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it. I'd like to thank Bill Farish and everyone at Lane's End; it has been a privilege to work at such a distinguished farm.”

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Grade I Winners Salty and Dacita Thriving at Don Alberto Farm

An intentional breeder is a student of their broodmares, diligently studying each mating and the resulting offspring while adjusting and making inferences at every corner.

Over the past seven years, the Don Alberto Corporation has meticulously analyzed each foal produced on their growing Kentucky-based farm and has endeavored to make each mating more successful that the last as they continue to learn from their elite broodmare band.

“The engine has started working,” Don Alberto’s Executive Director Fabricio Buffolo said. “We know the mares and know more about how they are producing. We are getting better matings because we know what we can do with them.”

Buffolo said that this year, two crosses in particular have proven to be successful–the mating of Chilean-bred millionaire Dacita with Quality Road, and of Grade I-winning maiden mare Salty with Tapit.

Dacita is a daughter of Scat Daddy, and is the leading earner for her dam Daja (Chi) (Seeker’s Reward). She was a dual champion in Chile before moving to the United States and into the barn of top turf trainer Chad Brown as a 4-year-old. She raced for three years in the States, claiming four graded stakes including two Grade I races in the Diana S. and Beverly D. S.

As fellow Chilean natives, the Don Alberto team had a strong attraction to the millionaire earner.

“Dacita is very dear for all of us because she raced in Chile,” Buffolo said. “She won Grade I races there, including the Chilean Oaks, and when she came here she had a long campaign, running until she was six years old.”

The chestnut mare was purchased by Don Alberto at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $1.85 million. Last year, Dacita had her first foal, a colt by Uncle Mo and was bred back to Quality Road. The resulting filly was born in January of this year, and Buffolo said their team is very happy with the result of the mating.

“We really like the scope that Quality Road gave her,” he said. “Size is really important for Dacita, because she’s a nice, medium-sized mare. Quality Road gave her the scope she needs.”

Buffolo also added that they had picked the mating in hopes that the offspring could be competitive on dirt or turf.

“Quality Road is a horse that could go either way,” he said. “He can have good runners on the grass and the dirt. And although Dacita was a turf runner, we know that Scat Daddy could do it all.”

Don Alberto liked Dacita’s second foal so well that the mare is now back in foal to Quality Road for next year.

A year after they purchased Dacita, they found another Grade I winner up for grabs in the Fasig-Tipton sales ring in Salty.

Produced by the stakes-placed Dixie Union mare Theycallmeladyluck, Salty broke her maiden second time out as a 3-year-old, and then won the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks when making her stakes debut in her next start for trainer Mark Casse. She placed in three Grade Is later that year before claiming her first Grade I in the 2018 La Troienne S. in her final career start. Among those behind her was Eclipse champion Abel Tasman (Quality Road).

Buffolo said he can easily recall initially seeing her at the sale.

“I remember very well the day that I first saw her there,” he said. “I was standing beside Leif Aaron from Juddmonte, and when we saw her, I was just like, ‘Wow.’ She was a beautiful individual, just gorgeous.”

Buffolo passed on his findings to Don Alberto’s Carlos Heller Solari, who also fell in love with the imposing bay filly.

They purchased Salty for an even $3 million, and bred their new addition to champion sire Tapit in 2019.

After the resulting filly was born in January of this year, Buffolo said that Salty was well worth the hefty price tag.

“We have an outstanding Tapit filly,” he said. “She’s just class. She’s very pretty, very feminine. She’s refined, and has almost an Arab-like head, but is a really good size. We were rewarded; Salty gave us a very pretty filly.”

Buffolo reported that the youngster has a sweet charm to go along with her quality physical.

“She has an incredible personality,” he said. “Every time somebody comes here to take pictures, she’s always the first one to come to you. She’s very inquisitive and has a curious mind. She wants to be with you. Even if you’re trying to take pictures of the other foals, she comes up behind you and is always trying to be with people.”

As the auspicious young fillies continue to develop, plans are formulated as to where they could end up.

“We will enter all of them [into a sale] as yearlings,” Buffolo said. “We will assess them one by one as we get closer to the deadlines. We’re not sure yet, but some we might retain.”

While the number of horses on the farm continues to grow, so too does the farm’s acreage. Since the original purchase of Vinery, they’ve added 400 acres from the adjoining Crestwood Farm, and recently, they also bought a portion of the nearby Hill ‘n’ Dale property, and look to receive more acreage later this year.

“We’ve grown a lot in the last few years,” Buffolo said. “For us, three, four, or five years seems like a lot of time, but in this industry it’s not. It takes a long time to get to know the good mares, to know how they are producing, especially when we bought a lot of maiden mares. You really need to learn what they are producing and adjust your matings accordingly so that you can make a plan for the future.”

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Una Bella d’Oro: Don Alberto’s New Golden Girl

It’s a toss-up, really, as to who made the bigger splash in 2017–the Don Alberto Corporation itself, or their superstar filly Unique Bella (Tapit).

Three years ago, Don Alberto Corporation continued their traditional annual shopping spree at the fall breeding stock sales, spending a combined $8.3 million at Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton, plus an additional $3.35 million in partnership purchases at the Keeneland November Sale.

Meanwhile, their $400,000 2015 Keeneland September purchase Unique Bella shone bright as a 3-year-old with four consecutive graded stakes wins and a later victory in the GI La Brea S., earning Don Alberto Stable their first Grade I win in the U.S., as well as an Eclipse Award for champion female sprinter.

No matter who stole the show, Don Alberto has defined itself as a force both at the sales and on the track in the United States, and Unique Bella played a major role in establishing this reputation.

“It’s very obvious that Unique Bella was the one that put Don Alberto on the map and put our silks out there,” Don Alberto’s Executive Director Fabricio Buffolo said. “She won the La Brea S. as a 3-year-old, and then coming back at four, the Beholder Mile S. and the Clement Hirsch S. So three Grade Is, including the first Grade I for Don Alberto.”

The daughter of champion sire Tapit retired in the summer of 2018 as a millionaire with eight graded stakes wins and two Eclipse awards to her credit. The towering gray filly was a fan favorite throughout her career and a top earner for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. She was sent to Don Alberto’s new farm in Lexington upon retirement. The former 440-acre Vinery Farm was purchased by Don Alberto in 2013.

The next year, she was bred to top Darley stallion Medaglia d’Oro, the sire of 25 individual Grade I winners including Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, dual Eclipse winner Songbird and Canadian Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot.

This January, the 6-year-old mare delivered her first foal.

Buffolo said that the foaling went perfectly and that their team is now ecstatic with the bright young filly.

“Her foaling was good, and Unique Bella was nice and kind to the foal,” he said. “We think she’s an outstanding filly. She has plenty of scope and she’s definitely growing the right way.”

The youngster comes from a family of powerhouse mares, and Buffolo said this one looks to fit that mold.

“She’s a pretty tall filly already,” he said. “She has plenty of leg. Soon we’re going to be looking to wean her. So it’s another step for her, but she’s a really good filly with a good temperament and we expect great things from her.”

The foal has been named, but where she might end up is still unknown.

“We named her Una Bella d’Oro,” Buffolo said. “We’ll see, she might go to the sale and she might not.”

The filly, who’s name translates to ‘a beautiful golden one’ in Italian, won’t live up to the “golden” part of her name in respect to her coat color, as she is developing her mother’s bright dapple gray coat more every day.

Buffolo reflected upon Unique Bella’s racing career and how her personality has changed as she transitioned into motherhood.

“On the track, you could see from her workouts…she wanted to go fast and there was no holding her back,” he said. “She just wanted to go and go and go. And that’s definitely a trait that is good to see on the good horses, right? They want to go no matter what.”

He continued, “I was involved with Royal Delta as well, and you see that with some of those mares, sometimes they want their own way and it’s whatever they want and you need to adjust to it. So Unique Bella is like that, but to be honest, she has settled quite a bit as a mom. She’s really quiet and gets along with her peers. She’s been pretty easy as a broodmare.”

Unique Bella has checked back in foal to two-time Horse of the Year Curlin for next year.

It’s an exciting time for the Don Alberto Corporation. Since their first expansion to the States in 2013, they are now starting to see some of the first products of their hard work.

“The engine has started working,” Buffolo said. “We know the mares and know more about how they are producing. We are getting better at matings because we know what we can do with them.”

While Don Alberto is still a relatively new name in the U.S., the corporation has been an international powerhouse for many years.

Their Chilean location, Haras Don Alberto, was founded in 1987. Liliana Solari and her son Carlos Heller Solari are the driving forces behind the business.

“Miss Liliana has a passion for horses and always loved the breeding,” Buffolo said. “She had a few good mares from her father, Alberto, and she started breeding on her own in Chile. It’s a long tradition there for them and it’s a big operation nowadays.”

Haras Don Alberto has leased a number of stallions for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season including Bluegrass Cat, Fusaichi Pegasus, Stevie Wonderboy, and Proud Citizen. They are also involved with WinStar’s Tourist (Tiznow) and the red-hot Constitution (Tapit).

Don Alberto Corporation is a subsidiary of Bethia Holdings, which holds interests in retail, television, health care, agriculture, and a variety of other businesses. They also own the local Chilean racetrack Club Hipico de Santiago.

The expansion to their United States location was all in pursuit of Don Alberto’s ultimate goal.

“The goal is to have successful horses in Chile, and then hopefully in the U.S.,” Buffolo said. “[The goal is] that they can be competitive anywhere.”

Their first U.S. Grade I winner in Unique Bella was one of the first fulfillments of that goal, and she will always be a favorite for the Solari family.

“Miss Liliana’s favorite thing is to bring carrots to Unique Bella,” Buffolo said. “They have a very strong emotional connection to the horses. They’re passionate not only about the breeding and racing, but about the animals as a whole.”

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