Dew Sweepers On Track For July Sale

When Jack Goldthorpe and Ciaran Dunne came up with the Dew Sweepers partnership, the plan was always to buy yearlings, try and get them to Royal Ascot, and then sell them all in the Fasig-Tipton July Horses of All Ages Sale. On Monday, the final step of their plan will go into action when seven juveniles go through the ring in a complete dispersal through the Grovendale Sales consignment.

“Ciaran went to Royal Ascot last year and said, 'Goldie, this was some sort of fun. We've got to do it.' I said, 'Sounds good. How are we gonna do it,” Goldthorpe said. “The plan was to buy yearlings and try our damnedest to get one to Royal Ascot and, at the end of Royal Ascot, take these horses to the sale. It was a different style pinhook. We were going to race them as opposed to blowing them down the lane [in a 2-year-old sale]. We were going to race them, show what we have and give them to a trainer that doesn't beat them up, Rusty Arnold. That way, there's a lot of meat left on the bones when somebody else wants to come by them.”

Dew Sweepers not only got one horse to Royal Ascot, they got two, Late September (Munnings) (Hip 550) and Grand Oak (Ire) (Speightstown) (Hip 521). A well-beaten fourth after hopping at the start of his main track debut at Keeneland Apr. 20, Late September earned his diploma next out on dirt at Churchill exactly one month later. Sent across the pond, the $60,000 KEESEP buy failed to fire when trying the grass at Royal Ascot, finishing 17th in the G2 Coventry S. June 14.

Grand Oak checked in second when unveiled on the dirt at Keeneland Apr. 21 and wired the field for a 4 1/4-length graduation when switched to the lawn at Churchill May 20, the same day Late September broke his maiden. Unfortunately, the $105,000 KEESEP purchase did not fair much better than her stablemate at the Royal meeting, checking in 18th in the G2 Queen Mary S. June 15.

Despite those poor finishes, the Dew Sweepers thoroughly enjoyed their Royal Ascot experience, according to Goldthorpe.

“It was awesome, even though the horses ran like shit,” the founder of Lexington Equine Insurance said. “We had a blast and we checked the box. The partners were like, 'Wow, what an experience.' We have to give a lot of credit to Royal Ascot. They treated us like we brought Secretariat over there. They rolled out to red carpet. They are so happy to have the Americans come over there and participate in their greatest show on Earth. It made us feel great.”

The Dew Sweepers is comprised of six partners and they made a total investment of around $700,000. They acquired seven yearlings, four fillies and three colts, shopping at both Keeneland and Tattersalls.

In addition to Late September and Grand Oak, their dispersal includes:

  • Tituba (Good Magic) (Hip 437), filly, $125,000 KEESEP yrl, unraced
  • Alcazaba (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) (Hip 455), colt, 40,000 gns TATOCT yrl, a maiden of two starts
  • Buttons (Twirling Candy) (Hip 474), filly, $110,000 KEESEP yrl, won on debut on grass at Indiana June 28
  • Castle Rising (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) (Hip 480), colt, 58,000 gns TATOCT yrl, unraced
  • Just a Care (Ire) (Australia {GB}) (Hip 542), filly, 105,000 gns TATOCT yrl, fifth in lone start on turf at Belmont June 30

“These horse can take the new owner to Royal Ascot next year; to Kentucky Downs and run for all that money; or they can take them to the Breeders Cup,” Goldthorpe said. “That gives them an opportunity and I think they will bring a pretty good bunch of money because of that.”

As a complete dispersal, all seven juveniles will be there to sell, as per the partnership's contract.

“This was in a contract, that they will all disperse in July,” Goldthrope said. “This was the first time trying it. Some are regretting that we have the July end date and some are happy that we do and we completed the task as the contract set. Now will we adjust it for next year? We will probably tweak it a little bit. The success was giving us second thought. There are more races left in these horses and we knew there would be. I didn't know what kind of quality we would have, but we've got a quality bunch of horses going over there.”

Just because this first class of purchases is set to sell, does not mean the Dew Sweepers are done. They plan to be active at the yearling sales again this fall.

“We will be buying horses, absolutely,” said Goldthorpe. “Whether we buy them and point towards Ascot or something else. Maybe a few bottles of wine and a dinner will decide that. We're going to be invested in the game. The partners had so much fun. This not their last venture. There were some veterans in there that had to share, but for the most part, these were new people in an effort to get them excited about the game. And let me tell you, they are excited! We're not going to let them go. We're going to buy horses. We're going to sell horses. We're going to race horses, even may venture into a mare or two for the guys whose wives want to see babies being born. So it's just a very close-knit group of guys that are financially stable enough to play the game. We got lucky to put them all together and have success the first year. You won't see the end of the Dew Sweepers!”

The Fasig-Tipton Horses of All Ages Sale kicks off Monday at 3 p.m. and will include both racehorses and broodmares. It will be followed by the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale Tuesday.

The post Dew Sweepers On Track For July Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The TDN Writers’ Room On Site at Keeneland

In advance of the April Horses of Racing Age sale, the writers ventured to Keeneland this week for in-person chats with Keeneland's Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy and Grovendale Sales' Chance Timm. Trainer Michael Stidham was also featured on the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland. The upcoming sale features a number of new concepts, including dropping a requirement that horses in the sale be present at Keeneland. The sale will also take place on a racing day, after the conclusion of the card on Friday, the last day of the meet.

“I started almost a year ago and the first thing we did was look at everything so far as how do we better service our clients?” said Lacy, who, along with Timm and Stidham were the Green Group Guests of the Week. “What is the best way to do things? So at Keeneland that embodies everything in the industry. It's a sales company, but it's also a world class racetrack. So we decided to combine the two activities on the one day. Logistically for our team, it's really challenging. But everybody knew it was very important that we could pull it off to get it done. The feedback has been really, really positive. I think the people really appreciate the fact that they can go racing, watch the Bewitch Stakes, and walk down the hill and an hour later we're able to sell horses.”

All the sales companies had to make adjustments due to the pandemic, and one was an increased emphasis on online bidding. Once again, in Friday's sale, prospective buyers can bid on their computers from the comforts of their homes.

“The pandemic has forced a lot of innovation that may have taken a lot longer to initiate otherwise,” Lacy said. “The horse industry is not something that really embraces change really quickly. So as we have learned from a lot of our customers, they have really appreciated the fact of being able to bid online. They also need to do their homework, so Information transparency is incredibly important. That's why we're trying to be flexible as much as possible and are trying to find ways to make it all convenient. A traditional auction is absolutely something that's not going to go away. But we've got to find a way of modernizing it and finding a way that better suits the modern way of doing business.”

Timm, who has had many roles in the industry, recently announced that he has joined forces with James Keogh at Grovendale, a Thoroughbred consignment based in Versailles, Kentucky. The April Horses of Racing Sale will mark the first time the newly formed team would be selling horses together.

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, XBTV, Lane's End Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders and Legacy Bloodstock, writers Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and Jon Green discussed the win by Letruska (Super Saver) in the GI Apple Blossom H. and her prospects for another stellar campaign in 2022.

For the audio (only) version, click here.

The post The TDN Writers’ Room On Site at Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Keeneland November Sale Starts Monday

LEXINGTON, KY – The action moves from the racetrack to the sales ring at Keeneland Monday with the first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. The 10-day auction kicks off with a single select Book 1 section that begins at noon and continues through Nov. 18 with subsequent sessions beginning at 10 a.m.

“I think the sale will be good,” Marshall Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency said on an unseasonably warm November morning at the Keeneland sales grounds Sunday. “We have a lot of good horses and there are a lot of good horses on the sales grounds this year. I am hoping the momentum from the September sale and the yearling sales will carry over into November and things will keep getting better.”

Keeneland played host to the two-day Breeders’ Cup championships for the second time over the weekend and Taylor agreed the championship meet provided extra excitement heading into the sale.

“You can almost get that magical feeling where all of these stars are coming right across the road from the racehorse barns into the sales barn,” Taylor said. “It brings a whole vibe to it that you don’t get when the Breeders’ Cup is out of state.”

While the September yearling sales were conducted largely without on-site participation of foreign buyers due to the global pandemic, international shoppers were out in force at the sales grounds Sunday.

“I have seen a lot of foreign buyers,” Taylor said. “I’ve seen a lot of Europeans and a lot of Japanese. In September, I didn’t feel like there were as many Japanese buyers as there are here at the November sale. So it seems like there are a lot of foreign buyers here, which is great.”

In addition to the international buyers on the grounds, foreign interests are expected to continue to make their presence felt with on-line and phone bidding.

“I am very pleased with the traffic here so far,” James Keogh said in front of his Grovendale consignment Sunday morning. “There is a strong domestic influence right now, but we’ve been receiving overseas calls and people asking questions and for photos, especially from Japan. I expect they will very likely be bidding on-line.”

The Breeders’ Cup championships provided several updates to horses in the Keeneland catalogue and Keogh is hoping to take advantage of Into Mischief’s two wins at Keeneland Saturday.

“We are feeling very fortunate because we have a very nice mare in foal to Into Mischief (hip 10) with a real family behind her. So that was very exciting.”

Other Breeders’ Cup updates in Book 1 include a half-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Turf runner-up Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in foal to Catholic Boy (hip 99); a full-sister to GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up C Z Rocket (City Zip), in foal to Distorted Humor (hip 244E); as well as the dam of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), in foal to Into Mischief (hip 32). A weanling half-sister to GII Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Cowan (Kantharos) will be offered as hip 146 and Veronique (Mizzen Mast), the dam of track-record setting Nashville (Speightstown) will be offered as hip 244D.

During the recently concluded yearling sales season, demand remained for the perceived quality offerings, but interest fell off markedly from there. Expectations are for that trend to continue at the November sale.

“If they were on your horse, you got good money, maybe even a little more than you thought you’d get,” said Hidden Brook’s  Sergio de Sousa. “I don’t see anyone saying it was a healthy market. When the median was $15,000, that doesn’t pay your board bill for the most part.”

Expectations are for that polarization to continue into the November sale.

“You’ve got to be optimistic about it, especially for Book 1, but you also have to be realistic about the market,” said de Sousa. “The market has shown this year to be down between 20% and 30%. So you have to be aware of that. But as a breeder, we are dreamers and you always hope for the best in this business. So it will be interesting to see what happens. It was a fantastic two days with the Breeders’ Cup and a lot of excitement. People are starting to come and look at the mares and foals more now, so we have to see what the traffic is going to be.”

De Sousa thinks there will be bargains to be found by astute buyers.

“There will be a lot of mares sold who are bubble mares,” de Sousa said. “I think this time next year there will be a lot of mares who will have 3- or 4-year-olds running now who sold for not a lot of money at this sale and they will be producing nice horses. I think that creates opportunities. I think if you have cash, it is a buyer’s market.”

Last year’s November sale was topped by the $3.2-million Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway). The mare was one of 14 to sell for seven figures. Larry Best’s OXO Equine paid top price for a weanling, going to $775,000 for a daughter of Curlin.

In all, 2,671 head sold for $200,135,200 at the 2019 sale. The average was $74,929 and the median was $25,000.

The post Keeneland November Sale Starts Monday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights