OCALA, FL – While it took some time to find its stride, the first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training gained momentum throughout the day and concluded with figures in line with the first session of its record-setting 2023 renewal.

“I thought it was a good day,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “A good horse sells well and I thought we had a lot of nice horses today. Holding true to last year, that's a great start to the week. Obviously, there are a lot of nice horses left to come.”

From a catalogue of 302 juveniles, 205 horses went through the ring Tuesday for a gross of $19,725,000. The average of $136,034 was right on par with the 2023 figure of $136,665, while the median of $87,000 rose 16% from a year ago.

With 60 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 29.3%.

The auction's first hour included a number of RNA's as the Spring Sale settled into rhythm and many of them were getting sold Tuesday evening after bidding had stopped for the evening.

“I think some of that was the sale just getting started,” Wojciechowski said of the measured start to the sale. “I think a little bit of that maybe getting their feet wet, getting their sea legs. I wouldn't be surprised to see a number of those horses getting sold in the post-sale setting here pretty quick.”

Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni and trainer Bob Baffert purchased the session's top-priced lot, going to $775,000 for a filly by Caracaro on behalf of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. The filly was consigned by Global Thoroughbreds.

Pedro Lantz, bidding on behalf of KAS Stables, purchased the session's top-priced colt, a son of Global Campaign, for $650,000. The juvenile was consigned by Eddie Woods, who was the session's leading consignor with nine sold for $2,213,500.

The OBS Spring sale continues through Friday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m.

Three Amigos Strike for Caracaro Filly

A filly from the first crop of Grade I-placed Caracaro (hip 199) turned heads with a quarter-mile work in :20 2/5 during last week's under-tack show and she duly delivered in the sales ring Tuesday when selling for session-topping $775,000. Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, alongside trainer Bob Baffert, handled bidding out back of the pavilion to acquire the speedy filly on behalf of Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. She was consigned by Global Thoroughbreds and was bred by the consignment's Rafael Celis.

The Caracaro filly's work last week | Judit Seipert

“We are happy to get her,” Lanni said. “She did everything she was asked to do. She went fast, came back great.”

The filly is out of Key d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), a half-sister to stakes-placed Twirled (Twirling Candy).

Caracaro, who was second in the 2020 GI Travers S. and GIII Peter Pan S., stands at Crestwood Farm for $6,500.

“He is throwing a beautiful athletic horse,” Lanni said of the stallion's first crop of foals. “You see a lot of Uncle Mo's influence.” @JessMartiniTDN

Caracaro Keeps Rewarding Celis

Caracaro is the stallion who keeps giving for Rafael Celis, who campaigned the bay in partnership with Lucas Noriego's Top Racing. After watching his homebred filly from the first crop of Caracaro sell for $775,000 at OBS Tuesday, the native of Venezuela was beaming with pride.

Rafael Celis and family | Jessica Martini

“That was our best filly in the whole program,” Celis said. “We had high expectations for her. She's by Caracaro, who is our stallion that we own with Crestwood Farm. We were really excited about her. She had been doing well all the way in training. We weren't sure if we should work her a furlong or a quarter, but she prepped really nice and we decided to go a quarter. She was really fast and the gallop out was really strong. She went out in :44 and :59, which was very good.”

Celis purchased Caracaro for $95,000 as a weanling at the 2017 Keeneland November sale. He admitted he almost had the horse sold as a 2-year-old in 2019.

“In our program, we buy weanlings and take them to the 2-year-old sales,” Celis said. “That's what we do. I almost had him sold, but he had an issue and we got him back after we sold him. So we decided to race him.”

In the COVID-delayed season of 2020, Caracaro broke his maiden by six lengths at Gulfstream Park in January and returned to just miss when second behind Country Grammer in the GIII Peter Pan S. in July. He was second behind Tiz the Law in the GI Travers S. in what proved to be his final career start.

“We qualified for the Kentucky Derby, but we couldn't make it because he had a problem with his suspensory,” Celis said. “We couldn't race in the Derby, so we went shopping around to see who wanted him as a stallion. The Crestwood people were open and we made a deal with them.”

While Celis has just 10 broodmares in the U.S., his family has plenty of experience in the breeding industry.

“We have a breeding farm in Venezuela,” he said. “So we have been in the horse business for 50 years. The name of Caracaro is actually the name of our farm in Venezuela, which my father, who passed away, named and that's why we named the horse Caracaro.”

Celis will offer two more juveniles by Caracaro this spring and has an additional 10 yearlings for next year. But he won't completely divest his foals by the stallion.

“We are going to keep two for racing,” he said. @JessMartiniTDN

Global Campaign Colt Sells To KAS Stables

Hip 291, a colt consigned by Eddie Woods, Agent III from the first crop of WinStar's Global Campaign, may be bound for Saudi Arabia after bringing a final bid of $650,000 from Pedro Lantz, acting as agent for KAS Stables. Selling late in Tuesday's session, the colt impressed Lantz not only during his :10 breeze last week but also as a yearling at OBS last October.

Global Campaign | Sarah Andrew

“I tried to buy this horse as a yearling at OBS October [last year]. And I saw his breeze–he has spectacular action and a very fluid stride.”

Buying for Saudi Arabia-based KSA Stables, Lantz noted that the colt may ship overseas but could also stay in America as KSA is looking to expand their operation. By Global Campaign, who is represented by his first 2-year-olds this year, the colt's price exceeded Lantz's expectations.

“I was expecting four [hundred thousand], maybe five [hundred thousand] but people are paying and everyone is on the same horses. So I told them [KSA Stables] to be prepared for at least five [hundred thousand] because the horse [vetted] clean and was about perfect.”

Lantz was busy throughout the day, also picking up hip 195, a filly by Nyquist also from the Eddie Woods consignment for KAS Stables bound for Saudi Arabia, and looks to stay busy throughout the remainder of the week.

“This is a sale that you can get a good horse,” Lantz continued. “I expect to go for [a few] more horses this week. There are a lot of nice horses–in the final two days especially.” @SGrimmTDN

Uncle Mo Filly to Coolmore

A filly by Uncle Mo (hip 166) jumped to the top midway through the session at OBS Tuesday when selling for $600,000 to Justin Casse, who was bidding on behalf of Coolmore's M.V. Magnier. The bay, who was consigned by Tom McCrocklin, worked a quarter-mile last week in :20 3/5. She is out of graded winner Jacaranda (Congrats), who is a half-sister to Constitution and is the dam of Grade I-placed Be You (Curlin) and stakes-placed American West (Curlin).

Justin Casse at OBS in March | Photos by Z

“She is extremely attractive,” Casse said of the filly. “It's a lovely family. The dam is a half-sister to Constitution. She's an Uncle Mo filly, everything you would want from a nice female family sire line and possible future broodmare prospect.”

McCrocklin purchased the filly for $380,000 on behalf of Michael Sucher's Champion Equine at the Fasig-Tipton October sale last fall.

Of the filly's final price tag Tuesday, Casse said, “I thought she was one of the best fillies here, so it was good to get in at that price. I haven't seen what the rest of the sale has been like, I know it's early, but we are happy to get her.” @JessMartiniTDN

Spendthrift Partners Up on Nyquist Colt

A third of the way through Tuesday's opening session, Spendthrift Farms's Ned Toffey started the action off, going to $550,000 for a colt (hip 125) by GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. Bred in Maryland by Bowman and Higgins Stable, the colt was purchased as a yearling for a sale-topping $205,000 by Thorostock & Seth Morris Thoroughbreds at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale and is out of a winning half-sister to the dam of MGISW and young Spendthrift sire Cyberknife (Gun Runner).

Ned Toffey | Spendthrift

“He was hard to miss,” said Toffey after signing the ticket. “He's a big, beautiful colt and [we] had him identified based off his breeze. I love the sire and he's just a big, athletic-looking horse.”

Toffey confirmed that the colt, who worked in :10,  will head west to race in partnership with MKW Racing and Breeding LLC.

“He'll go back to Spendthrift to get a little bit of a break and then we'll send him out to Richard Mandella.” @SGrimmTDN

Maryland Sale Topper Shines at OBS

A Maryland-bred son of Nyquist (hip 125) brought the top price of last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling Sale when bringing a final bid of $205,000 from Thorostock and Seth Morris Thoroughbreds and he helped kick start the OBS Spring sale Tuesday when selling for $550,000 to Spendthrift Farm/MKW Racing and Breeding.

“He was an extraordinarily well-balanced, good-minded horse,” Thorostock's Nick Sallusto said after sending the colt through the ring Tuesday. “He had almost perfect conformation. He was really typical of Nyquist. We felt really lucky the day we found him.”

Nyquist | Sarah Andrew

Sallusto continued, “At the time, Nyquist wasn't as fashionable as he is right now. But I have long been a fan of his. I just felt he was a lot of horse at that particular sale and I wasn't sure I would be able to get him.”

The juvenile worked a furlong during last week's under-tack show in :10 flat.

“He's really advanced since [October],” Sallusto said. “He is a later foal, so we knew he had plenty of advancement left in him. And he still does. He has so much more to go. He has put every foot forward the right way. He never had a day of missed training. He was a lovely horse.” @JessMartiniTDN

Omaha Beach Filly Brings $390,000 For JVC Training And Sales

JVC Training and Sales's Jorge Villagomez saw a good return on investment when the Omaha Beach filly (hip 127) he purchased for clients for $40,000 at Keeneland September last year brought a final bid of $390,000 from Woodford Thoroughbreds during Tuesday's session.

“Her particularly, she's been special for a long time,” said Villagomez. “They say the cream always rises to the top and she was always very fast so it's no surprise that she came over here and did what she did.”

Omaha Beach | Spendthrift/Autry Graham

After working in :10, hip 127 stayed busy throughout the lead up to the sale.

Villagomez continued: “She had a ton of activity–almost an overwhelming amount. She was shown over 100 times and got plenty of attention [from vettings]. We're not at all surprised that she brought the kind of money she did. [Her breeze] was exceptional and everyone was on her.”

Early in the sale, Villagomez, who will sell three more hips later in the week, was cautiously optimistic on his expectations.

“For the good horses? The buyers are here. They're here for horses that breeze well and [vet] well. The rest of [the horses] will be hit or miss. But I don't think anyone will have a problem selling a good horse.” @SGrimmTDN

The post $775K Caracaro Filly Tops Solid OBS Spring Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the equation–we gave them a separate assessment, to open the series–we're left with three groups still untested on the track: those expecting their first foals; those who have just sold their first weanlings; and those actually about to dip a toe in the water with their first runners.

Pending that crossroads, many find themselves somewhat adrift against a bunch of older sires who have survived that test. These fit this tier either because they are losing stature or, more cheerfully, because they have carved out a viable niche as an affordable source of winners.

First the young guns. Of those who sent their first yearlings to auction this year, the ones who really nailed it, unsurprisingly, vaunted the kind of speed that pinhookers crave.

VOLATILE burned brightly in a light career, not seen again after confirming his Grade I caliber against a small but select field in the Vanderbilt. His 112 Beyer in the Aristides S. (1:07.57) was the highest of 2020 and duly secured 181 mares the following spring. Himself an $850,000 yearling, with a GI Test/GI Ballerina winner as granddam, his $125,431 average was boosted by a spectacular $1.15 million docket for a Book 1 filly at Keeneland in September. Nudged back up to $15,000 (from $12,500), Volatile has three hefty books behind him and will be the horse to beat for the freshman title next year.

But not even his median yield of 4.3 on his opening fee ($75,000/ $17,500) could match that of COMPLEXITY, whose $65,000 median (never mind his average $90,400!) multiplied his $12,500 fee by 5.2. Complexity started with some serious volume by the restrained standards of his farm, and then followed through with another three-figure book in his second season. He was clearly in the same vicinity as Volatile as a mature horse (110 Beyer in the GII Kelso) but was the more accomplished juvenile, wiring a Saratoga maiden (90 Beyer) before a decisive success in the GI Champagne S. on his second start. His half-sister ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, so their unraced dam is obviously channelling the good stuff.

VEKOMA is meanwhile working the Spendthrift system with remarkable efficiency, having started out (at $20,000) with staggering volume, entertaining at least 200 mares in each of his first three seasons. This year he processed 102 of his first yearlings at $98,432, albeit was unsurprisingly stretched somewhat thinner by a median of $60,000. Though confined to eight starts across three seasons, he was class from beginning to end, posting big numbers for his Grade I double in the Carter and Met Mile. From a stallion-producing family, he's a horse I've liked all the way through and everything is in place for him to look after many (albeit probably not all!) of his (very many!) clients at $15,000.

Knicks Go | Sarah Andrew

Among those in this intake offering rather more stretch, one or two suffered horrible yearling medians relative to conception fee. But one who made a solid start off $12,500 was Bolt d'Oro's half-brother GLOBAL CAMPAIGN: 74 yearlings sold at $63,195 (median $43,500). This was a more talented animal than generally appreciated and I can see him proving himself a bargain gateway to Curlin. A closer look at his family shows that it tends to produce faster types than are associated with the seeding sires, and Global Campaign's first crop of 126 live foals may surprise a few people with their dash.

Of those who sold their first weanlings this fall, meanwhile, the one that will sort out the sheep and the goats is KNICKS GO. No questioning his talent, it was just never quite obvious where it all came from–albeit his dam maintained stakes speed through four seasons. Those who didn't require a more familiar pedigree were delighted to see a Horse of the Year introduced at just $30,000. Well, now they can get him for half that, even though he's still nearly 18 months away from the opportunity to demonstrate whether or not he can replicate his brilliance! At this money, some people will surely want to roll the dice.

Even as it is, his weanlings sold a little better than those of SILVER STATE. But it's very early days for the latter, whose pedigree in contrast elucidates all the class he manifested as a runner. A friendly clip to $15,000 should hopefully keep him in the game because this horse equipped to prove a really wholesome influence.

The subsequent intake features some truly frightening books, but I will resist dwelling on that here. Suffice to say that those playing a longer game might quite like a filly by either SPEAKER'S CORNER or MYSTIC GUIDE. Both have taken an early trim at Darley, respectively to $17,500 and $12,500, and their pedigrees shout distaff influence.

We'll have to see how many of the youngsters will endure even in this relatively modest tier, a few years from now. Nor does a flying start bring any guarantees, as UNION RAGS could caution them. The halving of his fee to $15,000 acknowledges the way he has faltered, having stood at $60,000 between 2018 and 2020. Trade for his latest yearlings made this further cut imperative, but he's still the same horse that so quickly came up with five Grade I winners. Hopefully he will find a little oxygen now that he has descended to more accessible altitudes.

Studmate DAREDEVIL has taken his second cut since returning to the U.S., now down to $15,000, but of course it's only in 2024 that we'll get to assess the first juveniles conceived after Swiss Skydiver prompted his urgent repatriation. Their sales performance demanded a mild trim in fee, but he could easily be poised for fresh momentum.

MENDELSSOHN has also taken consecutive cuts, similarly now available at $15,000. He has so far been more about quantity than quality but his supporters will hope that he can still emulate four others, standing at the same fee, who have all done admirably to create a lasting foothold in this most slippery of markets.

The first of these, DIALED IN, is something of a blue-collar hero. He maintains such high volume–corralled 175 mares last spring, his 10th at stud–that it will always be hard, with the raw materials available at this level, to make his ratios “sing”. But Defunded has once again shown the caliber within his competence as his third elite scorer. Dialed In gets his work done at a fair tariff, and will keep plugging away to leave behind many of those now starting at multiples of his fee.

Cairo Prince | Sarah Andrew

CAIRO PRINCE has also created a sustainable brand for himself through six crops, as attested by a solid book of 129 mares last spring. A set-your-clock black-type producer throughout, he's now entering the territory where he can legitimately prove a mare–and of course he gets such a nice type, the average ($54,194) and median ($40,000) of his latest yearlings duly best among this proven quartet.

MIDSHIPMAN is a true yeoman and it's typical of this business that he should have had a quieter year (by his very special standards) both on the track and in the sales ring after finally doubling his fee to $20,000 last year–due recognition for having punched above weight for so long. His lifetime stats remain ridiculous for a stallion who has largely been a four-figure cover: 47 stakes winners at 6.4 percent of named foals, nine at graded stakes level; and 101 black-type performers overall, at 13.7 percent. The trim back to $15,000 brings him back towards the reach of breeders who most appreciate just what he can do for their mares.

KANTHAROS, who has really pulled himself up by his bootstraps, had another very solid year on the track. He has made the same slip in fee, reflecting a tepid book of mares last spring and a challenging yield on yearlings conceived at $30,000. But that was an experience shared by many sires exposed to a porous middle market, and the fact is that Kantharos lurks only just outside the top 10 in the 2023 general sires' list with a dozen stakes winners, including a couple at graded level. His lifetime ratio of stakes runners–11 percent of named foals–remains outstanding for a horse whose first five books were compiled in Florida at just $5,000.

He sired two Grade I winners at that fee, and now has another millionaire in Grade II winner Bay Storm. The first of his two $30,000 books were juveniles this year, and we know how they will keep thriving. That guarantees Kantharos imminently entry into the top 20 active sires on lifetime earnings. All he needs to do is supplant… Lookin At Lucky!

VALUE PODIUM

Bronze Medal: CONNECT
Curlin–Bullville Belle (Holy Bull)
Lane's End $15,000

Connect | Sarah Andrew

Amid all this talk about stud fees being too high, credit is overdue to Lane's End for anticipating the mood in the room. From Flightline down, the farm made 11 cuts across their 2024 roster. All were meaningful, and some nearly brutal, effectively conceding that one or two stallions were drifting into trouble and needed some decisive help. Bravo! The very opposite of burying your head in the sand, and in the present environment I hope it works out both for the farm and its clients.

One stallion who can certainly benefit is Connect, restored from $25,000 to his 2021 fee of $15,000 after the crop conceived that year returned a tepid median (albeit a perfectly acceptable $45,774 average) at the yearling sales. He'd also suffered a real slump in his book last spring, down to 45 from 172 in 2022! But we're accustomed to seeing horses treated like this, once they have served their commercial purpose, and should sooner marvel at the impression he must have made with his first crop to get such a big book (up from 93 in 2021) in his fifth year at stud.

Sure enough, only Gun Runner and Practical Joke banked more prizemoney as freshmen in 2021, and only Gun Runner had more winners. Unfortunately Connect did not then consolidate especially well, but he has made a timely return to form this year with eight stakes winners, three at graded level, plus a GI Kentucky Oaks third in The Alys Look. Moreover, his first-crop flagship, the juvenile Grade I winner Rattle N Roll, failed by just half a length to add another elite score in the GI Stephen Foster S. That horse was a $55,000 weanling but has now banked $1.7 million across three seasons.

Connect's pedigree is not without its challenges but he's another to bring Curlin within range and had real prowess as a racehorse, a blip in the Travers his only defeat in seven starts (four triple-digit Beyers) up the grades after debut. He outkicked none other than Gun Runner in the GII Pennsylvania Derby and, while he won't be doing that again any time soon, he's actually siring winners at a higher percentage of named foals.

With that bumper crop of weanlings in the pipeline, and now a lenient fee, this looks a good time to re-Connect.

Silver Medal: KARAKONTIE (Jpn)
Bernstein–Sun Is Up (Jpn) (Sunday Silence)
Gainesway $15,000

Karakontie | Sarah Andrew

How pleasing to see this undervalued stallion moving his book back up last year, up to 86 from 48. Perhaps his hour has come at last, now that the minority prepared to breed to a quality turf sire in the Bluegrass have been deprived of English Channel and Kitten's Joy.

If you're enlightened enough to see the growing need for turf quality in the U.S., then you might also recognize that you don't always have to fly first class to Tattersalls. With a fifth crop on the track, Karakontie has still only had 174 starters, but seven have won graded stakes. For the second year running, moreover, he had an elite scorer in She Feels Pretty, winner of the GI Natalma S. before failing by barely half a length to overcome a wide trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Karakontie's premier earner Princess Grace meanwhile continued to thrive in Australia, missing Group 1 scores by a neck and half a length.

Even after a hike from $10,000, Karakontie is an awful lot of horse for this fee. He converted some of the most regal blood in the book–his third dam is Miesque herself–into a turn of foot that won him a Group 1 at two and then a mile Classic, before doing all he could to endear the American market in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Don't forget that he restores Sunday Silence to the Bluegrass through his dam, herself out of a half-sister to Kingmambo. His international pedigree and participation alike are a measure of our debt to the program that produced him.

The American market has not really grasped its privilege, with this horse, but the elevation in his fee tells you everything you need to know: he's being used by people who want to breed a runner, whether in their own silks or to boost a mare. Actually, Karakontie is perfectly capable of a home run at the sales, including the $525,000 filly at Keeneland in September whose buyers will have been delighted to see her full-sister (who herself made $280,000 the previous year) win the Tepin S. last month. His lesser specimens may struggle commercially, until the environment improves, but that won't trouble those eccentrics who calculate value according to the odds of ending up with a runner.

Gold Medal: MITOLE
Eskendereya–Indian Miss (Indian Charlie)
Spendthrift $15,000

How naïve of me to imagine that all those commercial breeders who flocked to the new sires in 2020 wanted nothing more than to land on the champion freshman of 2023. Because Mitole, as he closes in on those laurels, finds himself the only one of the four Spendthrift sires dominating this table to remain on the same fee in 2024.

Mitole | Louise Reinagel

Now, clearly this farm needs no help in how to make their remarkable machine run smoothly. The Spendthrift team know that Mitole was the one who took the biggest slide of the quartet, in the inevitable slackening of demand for their second crop of yearlings. But they had already ensured that these were conceived more affordably, trimming him from $25,000 in his debut season to $15,000. That was partly a concession to the Covid market, but it also offered such obvious value about a champion sprinter that he maintained the enthusiastic support of 184 mares even last spring, after topping 200 in each of his three previous seasons.

In other words, the system is functioning smoothly and Mitole has played his part so well that he approaches the winning post with a narrow advantage over Maximus Mischief (my serial “gold” pick, I might add, after starting at $7,500!) by prizemoney and also a wafer-thin one by individual winners (32 from 79 starters).

Whether or not he holds out, Mitole is the only one of the four to have a graded stakes scorer–and so joins Flameaway and Solomini in what has been a weirdly unproductive group, by that measure-in GIII Pocahontas S. winner/GI Alcibiades runner-up V V's Dream.

The precocious Maximus Mischief has shown a lot more of his hand (77 starters from 122 named foals) and remember that Mitole (79 from 145) himself only squeezed in a single start at two, in late November. It was as a 4-year-old that he racked up his four Grade Is–including that resonant Met Mile/Breeders' Cup Sprint double, and a stakes record at the intermediate distance in the Forego. So it seems fair to suggest that he has only just got started.

By now Mitole has surely stifled misgivings about his sire, himself after all a brilliant performer and a conduit of corresponding genes. Eskendereya's fifth dam is Cosmah, and doubles up her half-sister's son Northern Dancer top and bottom. It was presumably his unfashionable sire that confined Mitole to $20,000 as a yearling–but then along came kid brother Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), himself a $17,000 short yearling, to reiterate the merit of a family cultivated by the late Edward A. Cox Jr.

Hot Rod Charlie has now followed Eskendereya to Japan, where they have made a habit of exposing crass commercial trends in Kentucky. But here's a horse making the family assets work even in this less imaginative environment, and his debut at the 2-year-old sales–behind only Omaha Beach in the key freshman medians–suggest that Mitole will be taking out a long lease on the attention of pinhookers.

Sires In The Teens: Breeder Selections

Aidan O'Meara, Stonehaven Steadings

Aidan O'Meara | Keeneland

Gold Medal: Volatile
One of the best angles for success in the commercial breeding field is identifying a future leading stallion in the early stages and this sometimes requires taking a leap of faith breeding when their first runners are about to run. Volatile has been the breakout star at the yearling sales this year, mirroring his sire's first crop results a few years back. He's a beautifully built horse himself and passed his physique on with remarkable consistency. He's been very well supported by breeders and will have plenty of ammo in his first few crops to give him every opportunity. If his offspring have legitimate ability, he will skyrocket up the stallion ranks and $15,000 will look like the deal of the decade.

Silver Medal: Connect
The crop of 2021 has all been overshadowed by Gun Runner's incredible achievements, but Connect has been quietly developing a very solid career for himself. He has shown consistency with three graded stakes winners again this year and a strong supporting cast of stakes horses. He has also shown the ability to get the all-important high-class horse with Rattle N Roll. He measures well in all statistical categories and looks to be a stallion that can establish himself long term in the mold of a Midshipman/First Samurai/Blame type.

Bronze Medal: Audible
The Spendthrift quartet has garnered most of the attention from this year's freshmen and rightly so but one horse is simmering just below these and that horse is Audible. His 14% stakes horses with his first 2-year-olds cannot be ignored and his own racing career suggests there is more improvement to be had as they mature. He's a beautiful horse that can throw the right kind as witnessed by his first crop of yearlings. $15,000 is very intriguing for a horse with some potential future upswing and worst-case scenario has shown plenty of ability for longer term success at this price point.

Peter O'Callaghan, Woods Edge Farm

Peter O'Callaghan | Fasig-Tipton

Gold Medal: Midshipman
This stallion has been very good to us both on the track and in the sales ring. We recently bred first-time-out 2-year-old winner Midshipman's Dance; pinhooked Grade II winner Special Reserve; bred Leucothea and co-bred Amidst Waves, both of whom are multiple stakes winning 2-year-olds. He is a very consistent and well-respected sire, standing for an affordable $15,000. You can sell one well at the sales and he produces winners every weekend at the track.

Silver Medal: Mitole
Obviously a brilliant racehorse and looks to be turning out some good 2-year-old winners this second half of the year. Must be a horse worth a punt at $15,000. We are breeding to him again this year.

Bronze Medal: Vekoma
A brilliant racehorse, a high class 2-year-old who trained on, winning some high-profile races in the GII Bluegrass S. going two turns at three. Then winning the GI Carter H. and GI Met Mile at four in impressive fashion. Furthermore, he is a very well-bred son of Candy Ride (Arg), out of the GISW Speightstown mare Mona De Momma from the family of Mr. Greeley.

He is a good-looking horse who seems to sire plenty of good-looking stock. We have bred to him each year and have bought foals by him in each crop, he has not let us down so far.

I think he is a horse with a legitimate shot to be a sire standing at an affordable fee of $15,000.

The post Value Sires For 2024, Part 4: Into The Teens appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Over the course of two days of trade, OBS reported sales on 386 yearlings for gross receipts of $7,692,100, good for an average price of $19,928. The number declined by 25.7% from last year's sale–which featured a 'select' session followed by an open session–when 394 horses sold for $10,560,900 or an average of $26,804. The median also took a hit, dropping 26.5% to $12,500. In 2022, some 15 horses sold in excess of $100,000, while seven crossed the six-figure threshold this year.

“The horses near the top of the market sold good, but at the lower levels of the market, there certainly was some weakness,” said OBS President Tom Ventura. “I think it's the nature of the market reacting. We have been spoiled somewhat post-pandemic where the market has been moving, even in the face of increased interest rates and the financial markets and the general financial situation. We just keep doing what we can, recruiting horses, recruiting people trying to put the best product we can in front of our clientele.”

Woods struck first for hip 507, a Sue Vacek-consigned Florida-bred son of Mitole and Midnight Magic (Midnight Lute) and was the recipient of a positive update when his half-sister, last year's GIII Delaware Oaks heroine and two-time OBS graduate Midnight Stroll (Not This Time), padded her resume with a close runner-up effort in the GII Presque Isle Downs Masters S. Sept. 18.

With time ticking away on the sale, Woods snapped up hip 745, another Florida-bred, who fetched $82,000 when offered as a short yearling at the OBS January Sale. The late February foal was consigned to the October Sale by Richard Kaizen's Kaizen Sales, agent.

“The two horses I bought, I loved. I didn't think I could get them bought, but I did,” Woods said. “I might have stretched on the [Mitole] a little bit, but gosh, he's gorgeous, by a sire that's on the come with a fashionable pedigree, he just did everything right and that mare throws a good-looking horse.

“The Global Campaign was a magnificent-looking horse, it's just a family of runners. He looked a bit like [the stakes-winning] A. J. Melini (Matty G) [who appears in the second dam], that's a horse I had for Marion Montanari once upon a time, just a bit of a stronger version of him. Two really good, strong, physical colts.”

Ice Cold, a 2-year-old daughter of Mitole and a graduate of the Woods program, won the Oct. 4 Miss Indiana S., and the consignor thinks Mitole is a stallion with a bright future.

“They're showing up and as they get older, they're starting to get a little bit better, which is a good sign,” he said. “I thought they may be a little quick and early, but they're getting a route of ground and that usually augurs for a decent kind of stallion.”

Both of Woods's purchases are naturally ticketed for next year's breeze-up sales, and Woods is equal parts pragmatic and optimistic.

“We've got a long ways to go,” he said. “If everything goes right, they're perfect for resale candidates. They need to be quick, they need to vet well and have good videos. But they both move really well, they're both quite handsome and there's no reason to think they wouldn't do well going forward.

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ROCKETEIGHTYEIGHT (Into Mischief), a homebred for Frank Fletcher Racing, debuts for Riley Mott Sunday at Kentucky Downs. His dam is a half to the dam of successful young sire Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) along with GISW Global Campaign (Curlin) and SW/MGSP Sonic Mule (Distorted Humor). Under his third dam is MGISW Zensational (Unbridled's Song) and MGSW/GISP Departing (War Front).

Making his second start, Hanalei Bay (Into Mischief) was a $500,000 yearling who just missed when debuted over the Colonial Downs turf Aug. 3. He is out of a half-sister to GSW/MGISP Out of Control (Brz) (Vetorri Pire {Ire}) and to the dam of Brazil's champion 3-year-old colt George Washington (Brz) (Redattore {Brz}). TJCIS PPS

5th-KD, $150K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7fT, 3:41 p.m.

A pair of first-time starters headline this field including Sierra Sky (Uncle Mo), a $375,000 yearling out of GSW Sky Girl, herself a $1.5m broodmare purchase by Mt. Brilliant Farm out of the 2017 Keeneland November Sale. Sky Girl is a half-sister to champion 3-year-old filly Abel Tasman (Quality Road).

A Godolphin homebred is lined up just to her inside in Pendulum (Street Boss). Entered off a pair of bullet works at Turfway Park, she is from the family of champion 2-year-old colt Vindication (Seattle Slew). TJCIS PPS

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#10 COIN MINER ($23.64) comes flying home late under @James_D_Graham to win the 6th at @KYDownsRacing.

The 2yo filly by @spendthriftfarm's Cloud Computing is trained by Keith Desormeaux for Rocker O Ranch. pic.twitter.com/5GYrWvZeXc

— TVG (@TVG) August 31, 2023

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On debut 2yo #5 CONDON CANDY ($24.34) was impressive running away from the field in race 6 at Ellis Park. The son of Unified was ridden by @decky_cann and is trained by Brendan Walsh.

Watch more on @FanDuelTV and wager at https://t.co/nBYFHiPrdh. pic.twitter.com/Pwv7sagp7n

— TVG (@TVG) July 31, 2023

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MGISW Guarana (Ghostzapper) was the only 'TDN Rising Star' to win multiple Grade I events in 2019. She posted three consecutive victories that year, going straight from her maiden-breaking score at Keeneland to the GI Acorn S., where she defeated GI Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and future Eclipse champion Ce Ce (Elusive Quality), and then to Saratoga's GI Coaching Club American Oaks. Second only to GISW Street Band (Istan) in her final start of the year, the GI Cotillion S., Guarana returned in 2020 to score once more at the highest level, retiring a winner back where she started in Keeneland's GI Madison S.

With a final record of 6-5-1-0 and earnings of $1,078,268, Guarana wasn't done making headlines just yet, going on to bring a final bid of $4.4 million from Hill 'n' Dale's John Sikura at the Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars Sale in November 2021. She produced a colt by leading general sire Into Mischief in 2022 and was bred to a fellow Hill 'n' Dale great in Charlatan for 2023.

A further eight 'Rising Stars' from 2019 would find success at the Grade I level including elevated GI Kentucky Derby winner and current Darby Dan stallion Country House (Lookin At Lucky), GI American Pharoah S. winner Eight Rings (Empire Maker), WinStar stallion Global Campaign (Curlin), himself the half-brother to 2022 leading first-crop sire Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), and Valid Point (Scat Daddy). A quartet of fillies, many of whom brought big sales numbers upon their retirement, joined this group: Hard Not To Love (Hard Spun), who sold to Gainesway and Whisper Hill Farm for $3.2 million while pregnant to Curlin, Sharing (Speightstown), Wicked Whisper (Liam's Map), who brought $2,9 million from Whisper Hill Farm also in foal to Curlin, and Wesley Ward's millionaire Kimari (Munnings) who sold at the same Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars Sale for $2.7 million to Coolmore's M.V. Magnier.

Another eight horses achieved graded-stakes success highlighted by GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner up Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo), who sold in foal to Tiz the Law for $1.9 million at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars Sale, and Frank's Rockette who finished 2022 strong with a win in the GIII Sugar Swirl S. at Gulfstream Dec. 31. GII Risen Star S. winner Mr. Monomoy (Palace Malice), a half-brother to dual Eclipse champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), and GIII Iroquois S. victor Dennis' Moment (Tiznow) both found their best form as 2-year-olds in 2019 while Magic Star (Scat Daddy) entered the graded-stakes ranks with a win in the 2020 GIII Marshua's River S.

Amongst those who competed at the stakes level, Canadian champion 3-year-old Desert Ride (ON) (Candy Ride {Arg}) took wins in two of the three legs of the Canadian Triple Tiara, the Woodbine Oaks and the Wonder Where S. Others include the ill-fated dual-stakes winning filly Taraz (Into Mischief), GI Santa Anita Oaks runner up Flor de La Mar (Tiznow) and MGISP Shoplifted (Into Mischief).

Other names to note include a pair of foals by Constitution in MGISP Gouverneur Morris, a factor in the 2019 Road to the Kentucky Derby, and MGISP Golden Principal, who did her best racing as a 3 and 4-year-old.

In total, 9/60 (15%) 'TDN Rising Stars' of 2019 would achieve success at the Grade I level. 8/60 (14%) won graded-stakes races, 18/60 (30%) were stakes winners, 10/60 (16%) placed at the graded-stakes level, 3/60 (5%) placed at the stakes level, and only 12/60 (20%) did not reach black-type status.

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During Wednesday's open session of the two-day auction, 182 horses sold for $2,064,200. The average was $11,342 and the median was $7,500. With 22 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 10.8%.

Those figures were right on par with the 2022 open session when 186 horses grossed $2,075,600 for an average of $11,159 and a median of $7,000. The 2022 buy-back rate was 8.8%.

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Having already demonstrated an aptitude for the Churchill surface in winning the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., Instant Coffee resumes the Derby trail in the GIII Lecomte S. at the Fair Grounds on Saturday. And while those most immediately concerned in his performance are owners Gold Square LLC and the Brad Cox team, the colt also has the chance to script a heartening sequel to the poignant renunciation of a quest that had stirred much nostalgia in Maryland and beyond.

That Sagamore Farm happens to be registered as Instant Coffee's breeder is evidently more or less a quirk of bureaucracy. A deal had already been done for his dam Follow No One (Uncle Mo) to join the broodmare band at Upson Downs Farm in Goshen, Ky., and Instant Coffee was foaled, raised and prepared for sale there. But his existence nonetheless owes much to those years when Kevin Plank, as a proud son of Maryland, strove to restore Sagamore as a force in the Thoroughbred world.

It was here, of course, that Alfred G. Vanderbilt II bred Native Dancer before launching him on one of the greatest track careers in Turf history. “The Gray Ghost of Sagamore” subsequently achieved an enduring legacy at stud, notably via Raise A Native and Natalma, and is buried at the farm. And there were moments, during the Plank revival from 2007, when those specters found fresh company on the national stage: as when Shared Account (Pleasantly Perfect) won the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 2010, and Global Campaign (Curlin) won the GI Woodward H. a decade later.

Even as the latter was preparing for his swansong in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, however, it was announced that the farm was to be turned over to wheat and rye in support of Sagamore Spirit whiskey. Global Campaign ran an excellent third, and is now bidding to extend the farm's Turf heritage as a WinStar stallion. But for Hunter Rankin, the impressive young president of Sagamore's Thoroughbred program since 2015, it was time to find a new path in the industry.

Little could he realize that the twists and turns of fate had already reserved a wonderful consolation for the disappointing end of this particular adventure. For it was Rankin who bought Follow No One for Sagamore as a juvenile, at the OBS April Sale of 2016; and, after she failed to reach her reserve at $85,000 at the Keeneland November Sale in 2018, it was his father Alex who was able to agree terms with Plank to keep her for the family farm. Moreover it was Sagamore's final flourish with Global Campaign, trained by his cherished mentor Stan Hough, that helped to steer Rankin towards that horse's half-brother Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) as an appropriate first cover for Follow No One. The result is Instant Coffee.

So while the ambition to rekindle Sagamore as a beacon of the Maryland Turf was ultimately reduced to ashes, Rankin has been delighted to stoke up a final flame out of the embers; to have found a way, so to speak, of adding a little “more” to this great “saga”.

“Yeah, it's really cool,” he says. “I was very proud of what we tried to do there, of the effort that we put in to get where we were trying to go, which was to compete at the highest level and breed the best horses we could. It didn't work out, and I'm sure I'd go back and change some of things that we did, but we did our best and that's all you can do.

“Our goal was always to get a horse that would transcend Sagamore, and carry that brand whether we were in it or not: to have a horse to stamp the place, like Native Dancer did. Of course I'm not saying that Global Campaign is a Native Dancer. But it would be really nice for us to point to something and say that we did that while we were there. And, gosh, he just had so much talent-and he's the reason we bred this mare to Bolt d'Oro. So, yeah, what a great story.”

Follow No One was initially purchased by Gatewood Bell for just $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. Pinhooked through Eddie Woods, she advanced her value to $100,000 when Rankin bought her for Sagamore the following spring.

“She was petite, not small by any means, but feminine,” Rankin says. “She's kind of a dainty type. She worked okay, 21.1, but she had little things, I guess you could pick her apart. But I talked to Eddie and he said, 'I think she's a really nice filly, she's sound, she'll run through her conditions and I could maybe get some black type for you.' And that's exactly what happened, he was dead on.”

Follow No One (who was so named by skier Lindsay Vonn) did grab third in a Laurel sprint on her only black-type start, but her overall record was fairly modest and, though she was out of a stakes-winning daughter of the KatieRich foundation mare Miss Mary Apples (Clever Trick), nobody was too interested when she was consigned for sale through Upson Downs as a 4-year-old.

“It was about the time that we were transitioning out of the breeding part of things at Sagamore,” Rankin explains. “After she RNA'd, we put her in foal and my dad, who had liked her on the farm, ended up buying her privately.”

Rankin had naturally admired Bolt d'Oro as a racehorse but especially favored him as a first mate for Follow No One because of his regard for his half-brother.

“We just thought, and still think, that Global Campaign will be a great sire,” he reasons. “So we wanted to support that line, and she did fit well with him: her pedigree matched up, and their body types seemed to mesh well too. Well anyway, we got the foal-and what a nice foal he was. She's a little offset, a little this and that, but her foals have been great. And he was great. He was a lot like her: not feminine, but very similar in that [elegant] body type. He became a very good-looking yearling, very sensible and straightforward.”

Though offered deep in the Keeneland September Sale, Instant Coffee made $200,000 from Joe Hardoon as agent and duly won on debut at Saratoga. Still inexperienced when just missing the frame from off the pace behind divisional champion elect Forte (Violence) in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, he then banked 10 Derby starting points on his successful reconnaissance of Churchill.

Incidentally, Rankin reminds us of an overlooked distinction in another Kentucky horseman that day. For the same year that he pinhooked Follow No One, Gatewood Bell also bought a rather more expensive yearling at Saratoga for Cheyenne Stables: a $750,000 daughter of Tapit who won a couple of races before being sent to Into Mischief. The resulting filly is Hoosier Philly, who romped in the GII Golden Rod S. half an hour before Instant Coffee won. Bell, it seems, was only just getting going as a bloodstock agent when he joined Keeneland as Vice-President of Racing a couple of years ago!

Rankin himself has meanwhile engaged with a stimulating new project, having topped the second session of the Keeneland January Sale when signing a $650,000 docket for the promising young filly Ancient Peace (War Front) on behalf of Boardshorts Stables. But meanwhile there's an obvious personal fulfilment available in having brought together the dam of a potential Derby horse, as a residue of his time with Sagamore, with his parents' home operation. (It's a connection, by the way, that has already been fertile in the past: at Saratoga in 2018 Upson Downs consigned Shared Account's $350,000 daughter by Speightstown for Sagamore, and she became GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Sharing.)

“I help with all their matings and I love working with my dad,” Rankin says. “He and I are very close. It was always his dream to own a horse farm, and we moved out there from town when my mom was pregnant with me. And he built it from a single mare that he bought in 1983 with [the late] Bob Courtney, who was a legend around Lexington and like a second father to my dad. Everybody loved Bob, my dad was just lucky enough to know him and learn from him, very much the same way I have been with Stan.”

That foundation mare, Flash McAllister (Ward McAllister), cost just $24,000. Her granddaughter Tar Heel Mom (Flatter) was trained by Hough to win 11 of 31 starts and $832,892 in the family silks, including three graded stakes, and it's a dynasty that has been cultivated at Upson Downs for 40 years now. For this is an enduring passion that has placed Rankin's father, in daily experience, shoulder to shoulder with the Bluegrass community-a point worth stressing in view of the occasional flak he inevitably endures in his role as Chairman of the Board at Churchill Downs Inc.

Having served a stint with CDI himself, Rankin acknowledges the heartache and contention over the sale of Arlington, in particular, but emphasizes the authentic commitment to the wider sport that he found among colleagues there. And, be all that as it may, the one guarantee is that long and ardent embrace of life at the coalface-Upson Downs foals out 50 to 60 mares every year, the majority for longstanding clients-fully preserves his father in the respect of fellow horsemen.

Rankin Sr. has built up the farm parallel to his work as chairman of Louisville insurers Sterling G. Thompson Co. “From the day they moved out there he worked every weekend, all day, and then Monday through Friday he'd wake up at 5 a.m., go out on the farm until 7.30 and then go to work,” marvels Rankin. “He has lived and breathed it for a really long time. Like when we had that big cold snap recently, and the temperature's negative five, he was still out there breaking the water tanks. He shouldn't be doing that anymore, but he does. And you hope that all that hard work pays off for him, because he's such a great guy.”

Little wonder, then, that Rankin is so gratified by the rise of Instant Coffee. He knows that the Derby still remains a long way off; but he also knows that Cyberknife (Gun Runner), after disappointing the same connections in the Lecomte last year, regrouped to confirm himself one of the best of the crop. So who can say what flavors may yet percolate through the Instant Coffee story?

Follow No One, remember, has only just turned nine. She has a juvenile filly by Frosted but sadly aborted last year before being bred to Maclean's Music. All going well with that imminent delivery, her first son's flying start is scheduled to earn her an upgrade in fee this spring to Life Is Good.

“We're excited,” Rankin says. “There's a good nucleus on the farm right now, youngish mares either with nice family or that could run a little bit. But to have this horse running for one of those mares, foaled and raised at Upson Downs, it's a dream. When he won in November, one of the girls that helped raise him was in the winner's circle crying. So it's a neat story. And just for my parents, you'd love to have a really, really good horse come off the farm. They've raised Grade I winners, for clients, but you'd love to have something that had a chance at the big one.”

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In contrast, we now come to that awkward bubble for stallions between the market testing of first weanlings (and soon first yearlings) and the racetrack testing of first juveniles. Even that, of course, will scarcely be a fair measure of those that might need two turns and maturity to show their full hand. There's nothing like having a strong third and fourth book behind you, then, if a stallion actually starts delivering on the track. But this is instead typically a time when book numbers begin to slide, and farms often start dangling lower fees to keep these horses in the game.

Fee cuts are duly one of the “value” factors we must weigh now, alongside the initial vibes from the weanling marketplace. As a result, we can't just replicate our previous choices among this intake. The sands are shifting. On the other hand, we do need to persevere somewhat. If you truly believe in a horse, you will expect him to make an impact on the track even if he has meanwhile endured a tepid reception at market. And, if he does indeed vindicate your belief, there might actually be a commercial dividend for those who keep the faith now.

That makes this is a devilish group to sieve down to a “podium.” We want to respect the professional verdict of horsemen, presented with the first flesh-and-blood evidence of a stallion's genetic imprint. But we also want to respect those horses that will have to ride out diminishing books pending any racetrack impact. We all know of great stallions who were clinging to the precipice around this point. Yet we also know that many who find themselves in that kind of early pickle will indeed just keep slithering into the abyss.

So let's hit and hope, and see if we can strike a balance between these conflicting forces.

Bubbling Under:

We've often noted that those directing ringside investment tend to be pretty obedient, in that sale averages broadly tend to align with the order suggested by sires' opening fees. This intake, however, actually featured one or two that dropped out of that sequence, with their weanlings, and who will duly be under pressure to raise their game at the yearling sales next year.

Among those who did best behind Authentic-who topped the averages, as required by his fee-were Game Winner and McKinzie, who both duly maintain their $30,000 tags.

Of those who have been processing “mega” books, VEKOMA appeals as a valid play right now. He has taken another friendly clip to $15,000 at Spendthrift (started at $20,000) which should help to maintain momentum pending a remarkable stampede of runners. (First books of 222 and 196!) While the sheer volume of his stock will ensure a wide range of experiences for vendors, a $92,222 average is highly respectable in view of the fact that he sold no fewer than 27 of 29 offered. A Grade I winner at seven, eight and nine furlongs, Vekoma is from a stallion-producing family and channels a lot of speed by the standards of his sire of sires.

It is only with extreme reluctance that we ask HONOR A.P. to dismount the podium, as I remain certain that he was extremely close to the summit of his generation, in ability and looks alike. I suspect it may have been a little difficult for him to start out alongside his own sire, who would ideally have elevated himself into a different commercial tier by now. In the round, however, Honor A.P. has ample pedigree to convert his inherent gifts into an awful lot of “run” for your money.

He should have an adequate foothold with opening books of 110 and 81, and we will be keeping the faith at $15,000 at Lane's End. With that tremendous frame of his, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one or two of his foals mature into major pinhook scores from a median touching $45,000.

Complexity | Sarah Andrew

We gave COMPLEXITY high rank in this group last year and he made a very solid auction debut, finding a home for 27 of 33 weanlings at $58,518. But while his yields are basically in step with the other $12,500 start-up in the intake, he cedes the podium purely because the rival in question-as we'll see in a moment-has taken a fee cut even as his family tree had been elevated.

Everything remains in place for Complexity, however, not least after covering as many as 282 mares across his first two years at Airdrie. He was the most expensive yearling of his crop by a stallion who has since elevated himself to a much less accessible fee; and, for such a fast horse, you might have expected him to spend a rather larger portion of his career in sprints. I'm confident Complexity will have a say in the freshman sires' championship-and, if he does, obviously those who support him now will be well ahead of the curve.

Bronze: WAR OF WILL (War Front-Visions Of Clarity by Sadler's Wells)
$25,000 Claiborne

This series is not about finding stallions who are simply the most credentialed to succeed. That said, I do feel that this guy may have the best prospects of this group of turning himself into an important stallion. For a dirt Classic winner to combine Northern Dancer's parallel breed-shapers Danzig and Sadler's Wells as closely as he does-they respectively account for his sire and dam-feels like a fairly historic opportunity to reconcile the culpably separated gene pools of North America and Europe.

And, in those terms, he looks value as well. Certainly the early signs are that War of Will is getting the commercial traction he needs, with 255 mares across his first two books and a highly promising ring debut, processing 21 of 28 weanlings offered at $102,761.

Standing alongside another young grandson of Danzig, Silver State, War of Will similarly has an opportunity to enrich the legacy of a stallion who founded a global dynasty on this same farm. The maternal line, moreover, is regal: extending to matriarch Best In Show (Traffic Judge) through a line decorated by such brilliant Niarchos performers as his dam's sibling Spinning World (Nureyev) and granddam's half-sister Chimes Of Freedom (Private Account), herself dam of Aldebaran (Mr Prospector) among others. The result is a “stairwell” of quality through War of Will's third and fourth generations that makes it irrelevant which genes filter through, because they are uniformly proven to be potent (i.e. not just by the names that bring them into this pedigree).

That's how you end up with a Preakness winner who could then add a Grade I mile on turf at four. We know that the commercial market often betrays a childish dread of any flavor of chlorophyll in a pedigree, but hopefully everyone can see that the grass elements in this horse are all about miler speed and class.

War of Will | Claiborne

Obviously, War of Will remains a far more affordable alternative to his ageing sire. In the next instalment of this series we'll see whether another elite dirt winner by War Front, Omaha Beach, can retain gold in his own class. But for now we note with pleasure that War of Will and Silver State share a chance to take their farm back to the future, lighting a path from the glorious torch that was Danzig.

Silver: GLOBAL CAMPAIGN (Curlin-Globe Trot by A.P. Indy)
$10,000 WinStar

I've been with this fellow throughout and will gladly double down now that he gets a trim in fee, from $12,500, even as his genes have been exalted by a stellar start to his own stud career by half-brother Bolt d'Oro.

With 177 mares in his first book, Global Campaign will have the necessary ammunition for his bid potentially to give their remarkable dam a second consecutive champion freshman from just three foals delivered before her premature loss.

It'll be fun to see whether her only other son, Sonic Mule (Distorted Humor), can thrive in his own stud career, in Uruguay. Even as things stand, however, Globe Trot was clearly a conduit of some very potent genes.

This is a branch of the Myrtlewood dynasty that has conspicuously concentrated speed. Globe Trot's dam was a triple graded stakes winner (including round one turn) whose half-sister produced triple Grade I sprint winner Zensational (Unbridled's Song)-an unusually quick horse, for his sire, just as two juvenile Grade Is hardly made Bolt d'Oro a standard issue Medaglia d'Oro. Sonic Mule was graded stakes-placed at six furlongs. Sure enough, Global Campaign himself was loaded with a good deal more speed than might be expected in a son of Curlin out of an A.P. Indy mare.

Indeed, he outpaced Yorkton (Speightstown) over seven furlongs on his comeback at four. And while he never ran at two, that was pretty marginal: he romped on debut on January 5. I always felt that his slightly uneven development-which didn't stop him clocking four triple-digit Beyers in 10 starts-meant that people never quite recognized the level he had reached once putting it all together. Conceivably, moreover, his outlying family left him unfinished business over slightly shorter distances (unpressured in the GI Woodward H.).

Global Campaign | Sarah Andrew

Global Campaign made a solid debut at the sales, hitting a median of $52,500 for 16 weanlings sold (25 offered). And while his second book halved to 87, the chance presented by his big first crop could really work in favor of those who persevered. The fee cut gives them every incentive to do so again, not least with Bolt d'Oro ($15,000 in 2021, now $35,000) now surging beyond the reach of many operating at this level.

Gold: COUNTRY HOUSE (Lookin At Lucky-Quake Lake by War Chant)
$7,500 Darby Dan

No point undertaking an exercise like this if you're not prepared to stick your neck out from time to time. Quite clearly the odds are steeply against Country House, favored by no more than 89 mares across his first two books, but he deserves someone to stand up and point out what the herd is missing.

He was scandalously underrated as a racehorse, a victim of all the hoopla about the horse he supplanted as Derby winner. He got no credit for beating all the rest of his crop on the day that counted-including horses like Improbable and Game Winner, who were launched at much higher fees-though his performance actually sat very coherently with the way he had been progressing through his rehearsals.

He was then unfortunate to be denied any chance of authenticating his breakout (becoming even more of a forgotten horse, sadly, after the decision to keep him in training backfired) and, though sensibly priced and inbred to the Sam-Son matriarch No Class (Nodouble), has evidently remained in the margins of breeders' attention.

What a fabulous achievement, then, to hit a $250,000 home run with one of only four weanlings into the ring from his debut crop. Obviously, the colt he sold at Keeneland in November, buried deep in the catalogue as Hip 2370, could turn out to be a flash in the pan. But the fact is that far more expensive peers had to summon two or three dozen weanlings from enormous books to muster a single sale in that kind of range.

Congratulations to those who banked that dividend off a $7,500 cover. It may be too much to hope others will now sit up and take notice, given how deplorably the market has treated Lookin At Lucky over the years. But that horse has never lost his appeal to those prepared to swim against the tide in pursuit of merit. And perhaps it will also prove true of his son that there's no limit to the kind of runner he might produce, if only he is given a chance.

As we've said, this is an agonizing podium because it permits wildly different interpretations of value, bringing together horses like Vekoma, who have suggested immediate viability on a more industrial model, with others who can overcome early neglect and prove long-term value once they get runners.

Country House, while clearly belonging in the latter category, has also made a resounding commercial statement from tiny opportunity. He's an audacious pick, no doubt, but plenty of less deserving prospects will be receiving far more attention-and we must do the little we can to redress that.

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