Haymarket Farm | Horse Racing Free Tips

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Haymarket Farm's Chip Montgomery.

“I've always been enamored with the deep pedigrees of the stalwarts of the industry and have gravitated recently to granddaughters, etc. of Personal Ensign, My Flag and Storm Flag Flying,” said Montgomery. “About once a quarter, I will put on the video of the 1988 Breeders' Cup Distaff to hear Tom Durkin's call of Personal Ensign's nose win against Winning Colors to retire undefeated. It's an honor to own several fillies and mares with this royal blood in their veins, and makes me proud to be a Kentuckian!”

BLESSING THE FLAG, 6, (Distorted Humor–Fly the Flag, by Giant's Causeway). To be bred to Medaglia d'Oro.

We bought her as a yearling and made $130,000 but couldn't win a race! As a maiden, we will breed her to Medaglia d'Oro as this cross works very well, not only in the population in general, but also within her family (Vigilantes Way and Major Dude, among others).

FLY THE FLAG, 17, (Giant's Causeway–My Flag, by Easy Goer). To be bred to Upstart or Annapolis.

Honoring our investment in stallion shares here as she's in foal to Upstart (bred like Zandon and Trademark) and will likely go back to Upstart or possibly Annapolis.

STAND FOR THE FLAG, 8, (Super Saver–Raise the Flag, by Awesome Again). To be bred to Proxy.

A winner of $290,000, we bought her as a broodmare prospect and she is in foal to Olympiad and going to Proxy. Both good crosses and beautiful animals!

WYCHWOOD, 8, (Tale of the Cat–Queens Wood, by Tiznow). To be bred to Street Sense.

A daughter of a GI-producing mare, she has already produced our homebred stakes winner Cats inthe Timber (Honor Code) as her first foal. Barren this year, she will be bred to Street Sense, needing that size and two-turn power.

QUEENS WOOD, 16, (Tiznow–Salon Prive, by Private Account). To be bred to Forte.

The queen herself, currently in foal to Jackie's Warrior, will be bred to Forte, a proper cross and a powerful two-turn hopeful.

CTIMENE, 15, (Consolidator–Persimmon Hill, by Conquistador Cielo). To be bred to Mitole.

A half-sister to GI producer Once Around, she had a breakthrough stakes winner this past year with Katonah (Klimt) and is being bred to Mitole. A big, course mare, she will benefit from Mitole's sprinter physique.

GOOD TOHAVE AROUND, 4, (Good Samaritan–Ctimene, by Consolidator). To be bred to Yaupon.

A more elegant rendition of her mother, as a maiden, will be bred to the magnificent looking Yaupon.

Interested in sharing your own mating plans? Email garyking@thetdn.com.

The post Mating Plans, Presented By Spendthrift: Chip Montgomery And Haymarket Farm appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Chip Montgomery didn't have visions of the bright lights of Book 1 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale with his Nyquist colt. In fact, he'd have probably preferred to avoid it altogether.

The colt was out of an unplaced, $70,000 broodmare with a produce record that would have a hard time standing out in one of the most top-heavy and unforgiving marketplaces in the world, and he knew it. But, he also knew this was the best horse on the farm, and that bargain-priced mare has done little else but reward the Haymarket Farm operation, so far.

When Hip 102, out of the Congrats mare Pantanal, sold to AMO Racing USA for $330,000 during Monday's opening session, it brought the mare's total progeny sales from the breeder to $725,000 from four foals sold, making for an incredible return on investment.

Pantanal was a long way from Book 1 when she was offered as a first-time broodmare at the 2015 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Montgomery and farm manager Kelly Jackson were on a tightly-budgeted mission at that year's auction, but they'd made it to the end of Book 3 without any success. They finally hit the mark with Pantanal near the end of the sixth session.

“We were looking for a mare in foal to Uncle Mo, thinking he was going to be an emerging sire, and we put our heads together, and Kelly pushed me along to go on and spend that kind of money,” Montgomery said. “Back in those days, that was a couple more shekels than I wanted to spend.”

Pantanal was pregnant for the first time to Uncle Mo, and the ensuing colt sold as a weanling to Preston Madden for $100,000. Later named Borracho, the colt finished third in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes in 2019, just a few months after Pantanal visited Nyquist for the mating that generated the yearling that sold on Monday.

Haymarket Farm has done well finding modest-priced mares and finding their potential with foals in the sale ring and the racetrack. The operation bred New York stakes winner and $170,000 yearling Miss Brazil out of a $40,000 broodmare purchase. In 2016, Haymarket Farm bought Queen's Wood, the dam of True Timber, for $47,000 while pregnant to Quality Road, and sold the ensuing foal for $250,000. Vinery Sales consigns Haymarket Farm's auction horses.

“We do like to buy a mare that maybe has had a couple foals, in foal to the right stallion,” Montgomery said. “I think the market tends to give up a little early on a mare. Sometimes, that's been good for us, and sometimes it's been bad for us.”

Given Pantanal's relatively modest auction history up to this point, Montgomery admitted that putting the Nyquist colt in Book 1 was against form, and carried a bit of risk, but the colt's physical and Nyquist's rapid ascent in the stallion ranks ultimately steered the yearling's placement.

“We actually feel more comfortable in Book 2 or 3 for a colt like this,” he said. “He does have the looks. Nyquist has done enough, and certainly, that was a factor in Keeneland wanting him in Book 1. We typically try to lobby to get into Book 2. That's just a strategy that Kelly has, and I support him 100 percent.”

Montgomery, a longtime auto dealership owner in Louisville, Ky., is quick to heap the praise for his success on his staff, particularly Jackson. He bought the 150-acre Haymarket Farm in Simpsonville, Ky., in 2008, about a decade after buying his first Thoroughbreds with partners. About 18 mares reside on the property.

“I'm not a hands-on guy, so as I've done my whole life, I've relied on people,” Montgomery said. “I've delegated to get something done. The successes we've had, we'll give it to them, and the failures, I guess I've got to pick up myself.”

Book 1 is all about the fantasy of splashy prices at the top of the market, but the transactions below that upper crust help sustain the day-to-day reality for smaller breeders.

When Pantanal's Nyquist colt brought $330,000 on Monday, Montgomery knew it was a high point for his mare, and for the Haymarket Farm's 2020 crop of foals, but it was still just a piece of the overall puzzle to keep the operation going.

“My view here today is, we might have eight or 10 to sell,” he said. “We sold a couple of weanlings, and we might race one or two, or vet issues are keeping them out and we'll have to go to the 2-year-old sale. We've got to get to that magic overhead number, so this fills up the pitcher only so far, but you would expect the Book 1 horse to fill that pitcher up pretty darn far, because the rest of them are just kind of filling a few drops here and a couple glasses of water there.

“If you look at the numbers, for that particular horse, it is very successful, but when you've got a dozen and a half of them, this is the best horse on the farm, so he's got to carry the load, and the mare's got to carry the load,” he continued. “Maybe next year, it's another mare and yearling that's carrying the load.”

The post Modest-Priced Broodmare Pantanal Rewards Haymarket Farm At Keeneland September appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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