It was almost a year ago that Case Clay stepped away from his position at Three Chimneys Farm to focus full-time on his company, Case Clay Thoroughbred Management. With services including bloodstock auction and private purchases, portfolio management and equine insurance, he has stayed busy since going solo.
Clay was in Australia for the Inglis Easter Sale this spring to oversee a successful auction for his clients offering yearlings there. They celebrated several lucrative sales, including a Dundeel (NZ) colt out of Kevikki (Aus) (Smart Missile {Aus})–a mare that Clay had purchased privately for the breeding partnership–that sold for A$500,000 out of the Arrowfield consignment to Katsumi Yoshida.
He maintains his longstanding relationship with Three Chimneys by working to expand Gun Runner's international presence. In April he took a trip to Japan, visiting farms there to recruit mares for the emerging supersire.
Of course he was recently on hand for the domestic yearlings sales as well, representing clients both buying and selling. During Book 1 of Keeneland September, Case Clay Thoroughbred Management purchased a Kingman (GB) filly from the family of Uncle Mo for $625,000.
“It's going well,” Clay shared. “I'm really enjoying it and having a lot of fun. The goal is to try and do well for my clients, whether that is advising or buying or selling for them. I feel lucky to be working with some great people and what I'm really liking is the variety of work. It's never the same job from one day to the next.”
Clay's next undertaking is one that he admits was never really in the cards for his business until now. At the Keeneland November Sale, he will launch his first consignment. The two-horse lineup features Puca (Big Brown–Boat's Ghost, by Silver Ghost), the dam of GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), and Grade I-winning millionaire Dalika (Ger) (Pastorius {Ger}–Drawn to Run {Ire}), by Hurricane Run {Ire}).
Mage gets the win in the GI Kentucky Derby | Horsephotos
“This was not really in the plans, but when these two mares came along and did well, it became part of the plan,” Clay explained. “I'm lucky to have clients and relationships that have confidence in me to take them to a sale. They were very much a part of this decision and very much a part of me being fortunate enough to sell them.”
Clay's father Robert Clay launched Grandview Equine not long after selling Three Chimneys in 2013. When the partnership bought several shares in Good Magic, they purchased Puca, a stakes-winning half-sister to GISW Finnegans Wake (Powerscourt {GB}), for $475,000. After producing her first foal by Gun Runner the following spring, Puca was sent to Good Magic in his first year at stud.
The resulting foal was Mage, who Grandview sold as a yearling for $235,000. Although he won't make it to the Breeders' Cup this weekend due to a fever, the Kentucky Derby winner has stamped himself as a top 3-year-old this year as he collected additional Grade I placings in the Florida Derby, Preakness S. and Haskell S. and he will now point to the GI Pegasus World Cup in 2024.
“My dad has been floating around since May,” Clay said with a laugh. “It's very exciting for my parents and the partners in Grandview.”
At 11 years old, Puca's produce record extends past Mage. That first Gun Runner foal, a filly named Gunning, was retained by Grandview and is twice stakes placed. Her 2-year-old Dornoch, a full-brother to Mage, was second in the Sapling S. in August and just broke his maiden at Keeneland by six and a half lengths for trainer Danny Gargan. Puca's yearling colt by McKinzie sold to Mayberry Farm for $1.2 million at the Keeneland September Sale.
“She's three for three with producing blacktype and now has sold a $1.2 million yearling as well,” said Clay. “Her foals are all a little bit different, but one consistency is that they're good-looking horses. They're all commercially-appealing physicals. She's a big, beautiful mare and she's from a good-producing family.”
Puca will be offered at Keeneland November in foal to Good Magic.
“Who knows what her potential is with what she has already produced?” said Clay. “I can't think of another Derby producer that sold in the same year with this kind of produce record from only three foals to race.”
The other mare in the consignment, the German-bred Dalika, represents the scope of Clay's international network.
A winner at two in her native country for her breeder Gestüt Ammerland, Dalika caught the eye of Bal Mar Equine's Paul Varga.
“Paul and I had talked a lot about buying fillies in Europe and racing them here,” explained Clay. “By good luck, I am friends with Ammerland. He used to board his horses at Three Chimneys back in the day. Crispin de Moubray is a good friend and he managed for Ammerland for many years. I called him and we were able to buy Dalika privately.”
Dalika quickly emerged as a turf force on American soil and she was a presence in the Al Stall barn for four years as she amassed four career graded stakes wins highlighted by the 2022 GI Beverly D. S. at Churchill Downs.
“She won at seven distances, from five and a half to 11 furlongs,” said Clay. “A track record setter at Churchill Downs and Kentucky Downs, she had 32 starts and retired sounds. She was kind of the dream filly. Al Stall did an amazing job training her. It's one of those things where it was such a lucky circumstance that such a durable mare ended up in Stall's hands.”
Dalika is Stall's highest-earning filly with over $1.4 million in earnings.
“She is very unique to what we are training in America,” said Stall. “When she was traveling well close to the front end, she was a tough horse to get by. She outlasted the competition and she brought it most of the time. That was the best thing about her. Every time she ran we would just assume that she would come out of the race fine and usually she did. There's a lot to like about this mare with her soundness, heart and reliability.”
Dalika wins the 2022 GI Beverly D. | Horsephotos
Retired from racing at the start of the year, Dalika is now carrying her first foal by 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline.
Clay said he believes the 7-year-old's pedigree will offer breeders ample opportunity for success.
“You've got breedability with her,” he said. “She's pretty much an outcross anywhere. These German mares are durable and they have produced winners of a lot of races around the world–the Arc, the Melbourne Cup, the King George and Queen Elizabeth, the French Derby and Epsom Derby. For anyone around the world who wants to win a major Classic, the more you look into it, these German mares produce those types.”
Clay said he doesn't plan to set expectations for his consignment until the mares are on site. Until then, he will finalize last-minute preparations, take a quick trip to the Breeders' Cup on Friday and then return to Lexington to ship in for the weekend.
“Once you get to the sale you can get a feel for things, so I've left all that until later,” he said. “I plan to treat my customers and the people I deal with right and hopefully the rest takes care of itself.”
Clay is quick to say that while he is looking forward to this latest endeavor, he has no plans of expanding his consignment into yearling sales.
“Selling mares that are in my camp is vertical integration, so it makes sense,” he said. “Mares are much more straightforward, whether you're buying or selling them. That's what I like about it.”
After a 20-year tenure at Three Chimneys, Clay has had a hand in offering many top-selling broodmares and broodmare prospects to the marketplace. One of his most memorable Keeneland November Sales was back in 2004, when MGISW Take Charge Lady (Dehere) was consigned by Three Chimneys and sold for $4.2 million.
Clay said he hopes his past experiences serve him well going forward.
“I was super lucky to be working for Three Chimneys when there were a lot of these million-dollar plus mares going through,” he said. “Take Charge Lady was a really memorable one, as well as Mizdirection (Mizzen Mast), Composure (Touch Gold) and Life at Ten (Malibu Moon). It's nice to have that experience to pull from and I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle with these two mares.”
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