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Mike And Penny Lauer Named Top Indiana Breeder For Fifth Year

For the fifth year in a row, Michael and Penny Lauer have been named the Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development Program's Breeder of the Year, an award based solely on Indiana Breeder's Awards payments.

The couple bred 16 horses in the Indiana program that raced in 2019, earning them a total of $183,243 in Breeder's Awards alone. The two most notable 2019 starters include Drinkatthecreek (Itsmyluckyday – Mizzen My Momma) and Twobirdsonestone (Birdstone – Dreamin Big).

Working as a team, the Lauers have been breeding and training horses for more than 40 years, and have participated in the Indiana program since its inception. Michael has more than 1,100 training wins and more than $9.1 million in earnings throughout his career, with his main stable based at Indiana Grand Racing and Casino and Churchill Downs. He is Indiana Grand's all-time learning stakes-winning trainer with more than 35 stakes wins.

A retired teacher, Penny manages the bookkeeping and daily operations of the breeding and racing side of Michael Lauer Stables. Penny is among Indiana Grand's all-time top five leading owners in wins and leads with more than $5 million in earnings, the most of any other owner in Indiana Grand history. The couple's three daughters, Elizabeth, Sara and Abby, pitch in around the farm.

While their farm is based in Finchville, Ky., the Lauers work closely with breeding farms in Indiana such as Springcliff Farm, Ledgerwood Farm, Nicks Farm and Swifty Farm.

“We've always thought the Indiana program was a good one,” says Penny. “We breed a lot, but we're not the top of the heap. We try to keep some decent mares, breed to decent stallions and go from there.

“I'd love for some of our Indiana breds to win some big races outside of the state, because I want to show that Indiana breds can win anywhere,” she continued. “I don't feel we get a lot of respect outside of the state and I hope we can help with that with our horses.”

The Lauers recently started standing the stallion Ready's Image in Indiana, who will stand at Swifty Farm for his third year in the program for 2021.

“We started standing Ready's Image in Indiana the last few years because we like him and we're trying to help the program in Indiana more with his quality bloodlines,” says Penny. “He's done pretty well these last couple of years and we look forward to seeing his Indiana babies on the track soon.”

Over the past seven years, the Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development Program has distributed more than $23 million to Indiana breeders. Horses produced out of the Indiana bred program have gone on to win multiple graded stakes races and even competed internationally in the Breeders' Cup and at the Royal Ascot meet. Currently, breeders are awarded up to 20 percent of the purse in awards for winners.

The 2019 Indiana Thoroughbred Breed Development and Indiana Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association award winners were recognized during the first ever Indiana Breeders Day held at Indiana Grand on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

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After Distaff Disappointment, ‘Shining Light’ Swiss Skydiver To Race Again In 2021

Preakness Stakes winner Swiss Skydiver will run as a 4-year-old next year, owner Peter Callahan told Horse Racing Nation after the filly finished a disappointing seventh in the weekend's Breeders' Cup Distaff.

The daughter of Daredevil stumbled at the start of the race and never recovered, but she had a stellar 2020 campaign that included wins in the Preakness over males, G1 Alabama, G2 Santa Anita Oaks, G3 Fantasy, and G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. Swiss Skydiver's record stands at six wins from 12 starts for earnings of $1,812,980; not bad for a filly that cost $35,000 as a yearling at the Keeneland September saale.

“I'm OK finishing where we finished at the back of the pack, because there is a life lesson to be learned,” Callahan told Horse Racing Nation. “In this day and age everybody gets a trophy, and that's nonsense. You've got to learn to lose. You've got to take disappointment and rejection.”

Swiss Skydiver emerged from the Distaff with a few nicks and bruises, and will head to Magdalena Farm for some down time before a 2021 campaign is mapped out. The Pegasus at Gulfstream on Jan. 23 is too soon and is not on the radar for the filly.

“It's been an amazing year. She's just been real special to be around,” added trainer Kenny McPeek. “Through all the pandemic and everything, she's just been a real shining light.”

PR Special Keeneland November: A Foundation Sire Line In Jeopardy

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

The focus of the bloodstock community shifts across town for the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, and the Paulick Report has the reading material you need for the day in the PR Special.

Today's issue, like every edition of the PR Special, offers exclusive, detailed bloodstock content not yet seen on the rest of the website in a pdf format that's easy to read and print.

With the recent pensioning of champion and leading sire Tiznow, bloodstock editor Joe Nevills assesses the state of the foundation Godolphin Arabian sire line – one that runs through the great Man o' War – which is left without a clear heir in North America.

Spendthrift Farm's Coal Front is the subject of this issue's Stallion Spotlight, with Mark Toothaker explaining what makes the globetrotting son of Stay Thirsty an appealing prospect for breeders. In a time when major catalog updates can be found throughout the sale catalog, Bryce Burton of Muirfield Insurance discusses when and how to change a horse's insured value in Ask Your Insurer. Then, Nevills takes a look at the new weanling sires in the Keeneland November sale in First-Crop Sire Watch.

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

Thanks as always to the sponsors of the PR Special. Your support is invaluable to the functioning of our publication.

CLICK HERE TO READ THIS EDITION OF THE PR SPECIAL

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City of Light Weanlings Clear The Path At Fasig-Tipton November Sale

The first major commercial test for North America's first-crop weanling sires is the Fasig-Tipton November sale, and City of Light has come out fast from the gate, responsible for two of the evening's top three-priced weanlings.

Larry Best's OXO Equine went to $600,000 to secure Hip 129, a City of Light colt who is the first foal out of the winning Into Mischief mare Breaking Beauty.

Bred in Kentucky by Camas Park Stud, the bay colt's second dam is the German Oaks winner Que Belle, whose runners include Grade/Group 3 winners Osidy and Quetsche. Looking further down the page, one will find European champion Bakharoff, among other international graded and group stakes winners.

Hunter Valley Farm consigned the colt, as agent.

The weanling-to-yearling pinhook contingent showed up at the top of market on Sunday as well, with the Brian Graves-led Blue Sky Stables landing a first-crop City of Light colt for $380,000.

The gray or roan colt, offered as Hip 82, is out of the unplaced Unbridled's Song mare Stormy Rhapsody, whose runners include the stakes-placed Arkaan. He was bred in Kentucky by Fred W. Hertrich III and John D. Fielding, and his extended family includes French Horse of the Year Allez France, Grade 1 winner Al Mamoon, La Gueriere, and Icon Project, as well as Grade 2 winners Master Command and Lasting Approval.

Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned the colt, as agent for Hertrich's Watercress Farm.

City of Light, by Quality Road, stands at Lane's End in Versailles, Ky. He has a busy couple weeks ahead of him at the fall mixed sales, with five weanlings cataloged in the Fasig-Tipton November sale and 15 in the book at Keeneland.

The first weanlings by Triple Crown winner Justify were expected to make an impact during their debut mixed sale season this fall, and those high-level returns have already started to roll in on Sunday at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, led by a $400,000 filly.

Offered as Hip 30, the filly sold to Breeze Easy, and she is out of the placed Sky Mesa mare Lastofthsummerwine, whose five foals to race includes four winners, all of them black type earners. She is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Conquest Panthera, Grade 3 winner Happy Like a Fool, stakes winner Hawaiian Noises, and Grade 2-placed Maniacal.

Bred in Kentucky by Magnolia Bloodstock and Lynch Bages LTD, the filly hails from the family of Grade 1 winners Nine Keys, French Colonial and Silver Voice, Grade 2 winner Clef d'Argent.

Four Star Sales consigned the filly, as agent.

Justify, a son of Scat Daddy who stands at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., will also have an busy November sale season ahead of him. He had nine foals cataloged to the Fasig-Tipton November sale to lead all first-crop sires, and he has 16 entered in the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, 11 of which are in the select Book 1.

To view the auction's full results, click here.

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