in foal mares | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breeding Right In Cracksman Tops Tattersalls Online

A breeding right in Group 1 sire Cracksman (GB) (lot 92) topped the Tattersalls Online January Sale at 50,000gns to Dan Astbury post sale.

The Darley-based sire enjoyed a strong year with his progeny in 2023 anchored by undefeated Classic winner and G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Ace Impact (Ire), who now stands at Haras de Beaumont.

Astbury said, “I am delighted to have purchased the breeding right in the exciting Cracksman on behalf of a client who is building up a very nice band of broodmares. The year the stallion has had speaks for itself, being responsible for superstar Ace Impact who is himself now a very exciting recruit to the stallion ranks. My client is delighted and fingers crossed it works out well for him down the line.”

Ulysses (GB) 3-year-old Trojan Storm (GB) (lot 2) sold from Ralph Beckett's Kimpton Down Stables to AA Bloodstock for 35,000gns. The chestnut horse-in-training ran second on debut at Wolverhampton last week and boasts a strong pedigree, as his Pivotal (GB) dam, Mystic Storm (GB), is a full-sister to listed winner Solar Magic (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) and a half to the G1 1000 Guineas/G1 Coronation S. runner-up Starscope (GB) (Selkirk). The latter is the dam of Cartier Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}).

Rounding out the top three lots was Houghton Bloodstock's Renzia (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) (lot 85) in foal to Cracksman, who changed hands for 25,000gns to One Agency. The 6-year-old mare, a relative of tough American handicapper and GI Gulfstream Park H. and GI Sword Dancer H. hero and Japanese sire Cetewayo (His Majesty) is out of a full-sister to GI Beverly D. S. winner Dynaforce (Dynaformer). Renzia is also a half-sister to a trio of black-type horses, among them dual Grade I-placed Stormy Len (Harlan's Holiday).

Overall, 43 lots sold for a gross of 275,300gns. The average was 6,402gns and the median settled at 3,000gns.

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Q&A With Fasig-Tipton Digital Sales Director Leif Aaron

With the largest Fasig-Tipton online auction to-date underway–counting just over 300 diverse entries in its catalogue–their December Digital Sale is making this one to remember before it closes next Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. ET.

Fasig-Tipton's Director of Digital Sales Leif Aaron took time out of his busy day to discuss with the TDN the numbers, the expectations, comparisons with the physical sales and a whole lot more, as the offerings unfold through the holiday weekend.

TDN: It seems like every digital sale you are announcing a record number of entries! The sheer size of the December catalogue must be a positive? What does that say about the digital climate?

Leif Aaron: Buyers and sellers are becoming increasingly comfortable with the platform. It takes time to change people's buying habits, and obviously, digital sales are very different from a live auction. Digital is being embraced by more and more owners who are conscious of costs, stress on horses and the narrow buying base at the end of marathon auctions.

TDN: The share you are offering in Flameaway (Scat Daddy), do you envisage more and more stallion shares being traded this way? Is this a growing trend? How did this opportunity develop?

Leif Aaron: I think it's actually a case of history repeating itself, many readers will remember the days when Fasig-Tipton did stallion access. In the early 2000's, Fasig-Tipton was selling seasons, shares and options online. We are happy to try things for sellers, but mainly it depends on the stallion, stud farm and the market. Just like the digital auction it must make sense for everyone involved.

I've been begging farms to save me a couple very desirable seasons to auction in February Digital. That way when they have to say 'no' to multiple breeders, they can always offer the option of 'you can buy the last one' in February online. That hasn't gained any traction as of yet and I really am puzzled as to why.

As far as how the Flameaway season came about, Chance Timm contacted me and said I have a client with a share and a LBR in a leading first-crop sire, can we go on the website? Darby Dan was kind enough to oblige and here we are.

Leif Aaron | Fasig-Tipton

TDN: Did you expect to get so many broodmares, especially just after the physical sales? Digital sales run August, October etc., so the timing has to be right, correct?

Leif Aaron: We were confident we would have a lot of breeding stock. So far on the platform we have had most of our success with broodmares and racing stock. What was a surprise to us was the number of weanlings and yearlings that were entered for this sale.

We've had some success with young horses, so I think that part of the market is currently developing online. Time of year does have to make sense in general for certain types of horses–breeding stock etc.–to sell well, but racehorses can sell no matter the time of year.

TDN: Speaking of racehorses, online seems like a perfect place to trade them (which is a very liquid market at the moment due to high purses). Could you speak about that a little? Why are racehorses maybe more suited to the digital space?

Leif Aaron: I touched on this a little bit earlier, but racehorses are in huge demand right now because of record high purses. With a digital sale, the seller can keep the horse in the barn and continue with training, while the potential buyer gets to look at the horse and look at the vetting. They are getting a lot more information than they would through the claim box.

In general, the horse racing ownership community are traders. It only makes sense for us to have a platform for those owners and trainers to buy and sell.

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$425K Chameleon On Top As Book 3 Opens at Keeneland November

LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale entered its Book 3 section Saturday in Lexington. Leading the day's trade was the 4-year-old broodmare Chameleon (Candy Ride {Arg}), who sold for $425,000 to the bid of Terri Burch of Stoneway Farm. The mare, in foal to Practical Joke, was bred and consigned by Mt. Brilliant Farm.

During the session, 243 horses grossed $15,012,500 for an average of $61,780 and a median of $50,000. The average was down 27% from last year's opening Book 3 session and the median was lower by 23.08%. With 80 horses reported as not sold, the buy-back rate was 24.77%. It was 26.63% a year ago.

There were just six horses to sell for $200,000 or over Saturday at Keeneland, compared to 16 a year ago.

“It shows how polarized our sales are right now because I came over here today and RNA'd them for $20,000 and then we sold one for $290,000,” said Tommy Eastham, whose Legacy Bloodstock offered two of the horses to reach $200,000 on the day. “The market is good, but it's really selective. It's very polarized. It just makes us better horsemen. We need to be better consignors, take better care of our horses because little penalties that you used to be able to get away with, that were maybe 20% penalty in the past, are fatal for your sale now. I hope it gets a little better and spreads out a little bit, but if you tick all the proverbial boxes, it's still really good.”

Weanlings from the first crop of Yaupon have been in demand all week and two colts by the Spendthrift stallion led the foals Saturday, selling for $220,000 to Brownsboro Racing and for $205,000 to Peter O'Callaghan's Cavalier Bloodstock.

While the weanling market has been competitive all week at Keeneland, O'Callaghan said he has noticed a drop-off in quality from years past.

“Unfortunately, the quality is not here,” O'Callaghan said. “We used to have a big list of horses in Book 3 at Keeneland November every year, but we are in single digits this year. There are not as many people offering the good weanlings as there used to be.”

O'Callaghan continued, “It's clear they are holding on to them. But if you're smart, selling the weanlings is a smart business. There are a lot of end-users here, the competition is not nearly as strong as the yearling market and the vetting–there is no comparison to how stringent it is at the yearling sales. I'm starting to think I should start selling a few myself. It's been a hot trade for the quality, there's just not enough quality here.”

The Keeneland November sale continues through Nov. 16 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

Chameleon to Stoneway Farm

Chameleon (Candy Ride {Arg}) (hip 1437) will be joining the broodmare band at Jim Stone's Stoneway Farm after selling for a session-topping $425,000 Saturday at Keeneland. The 4-year-old mare, bred and consigned by Mt. Brilliant Farm, sold in foal to Practical Joke.

“She's a very attractive mare in foal to Practical Joke who just had two double raises in his stud fee,” Stoneway's Terri Burch said after signing the ticket on the mare. “We are looking for big, attractive mares. We lost one of ours this year that was in foal to Jack Christopher, so we were looking to find something to replace her.”

Home to some 15 mares, Stoneway lost the mare Ahh (Saint Liam), dam of multiple graded winner Ahh Chocolate (Candy Ride {Arg}), this year.

“We have a lot of that family, so we were looking for something in a family we didn't have with a lot of winners and stakes horses in it,” Burch said.

Chameleon is a daughter of stakes winner Secret Someone (A.P. Indy). Her granddam is Private Gift (Unbridled), who produced multiple graded winner Private Mission, as well as the dam of Grade I winner Dunbar Road.

Stoneway Farm campaigned multiple graded winner Stonetastic (Mizzen Mast), who the operation purchased for $77,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September sale. The gray mare joined the farm's broodmare band and her filly by Gun Runner sold for $925,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“It's so much cheaper for us to race one of our own and make it a stakes horse then try to come over and buy one,” Burch said. “We've been very successful buying them on the cheap and they turn into graded stakes horses and we bring them home to the farm. So we are hoping we get great babies out of [Chameleon] because she's so beautiful.”

Terri Burch | Keeneland

Yaupon Weanlings in Demand

Weanlings from the first crop of Grade I winner Yaupon (Uncle Mo) have sold well all week at Keeneland, with 20 sold through four sessions for an average of $164,500 and three selling for $400,000 or over.

The top two weanlings to sell during Saturday's session of the auction were colts by the Spendthrift stallion, with Peter O'Callaghan's Cavalier Bloodstock going to $205,000 to acquire hip 1319 from the Grovendale Sales consignment, and hip 1430, from the Legacy Bloodstock consignment, selling for $220,000 to the phone bid of Brownsboro Racing.

“He's a very good-looking horse himself,” O'Callaghan said of Yaupon. “He's out of a Vindication mare, so that's a great influence and it must be coming through, between the Uncle Mo, [Uncle Mo's sire] Indian Charlie, and the Vindication–all of the above. I think he's really a nice horse. I have to hand it to him, they are very consistent. Each session almost, from Fasig, to Keeneland Books 1-3, there has been a couple of star colts and fillies by him each day. It's been impressive.”

Bred by St. Simon Place, hip 1319 is out of the unraced Sunday Driver (Quality Road) and from the family of graded stakes winner Skippylongstocking.

Hip 1430, bred by Scott Pierce, is out of stakes winner Cartwheelin Lulu (Bustin Stones).

“They are really nice horses,” Legacy's Tommy Eastham said of the first crop of Yaupon. “You know how the market is once they figure out the pretty ones. Yaupon is one of the prettiest horses I've seen. Frank Taylor said it best, he's one of the prettiest horses since Unbridled's Song.”

Of the session-topping weanling, Eastham said, “This was colt was great-minded, he did everything we asked him to. Even after he'd been out 111 times, we knew he was tired, but he never failed us. Every horse gets tired, but the ones that keep going are the ones that make a difference. We are really grateful to the people like Scott Pierce who send us these horses.”

Hip 1319 | Keeneland

Opening Act Sets the Pace

Opening Act (Ghostzapper) (hip 1223) went to the lead midway through Saturday's fourth session of the Keeneland November sale when bringing $290,000 on a phone bid from Steve Spielman of Nice Guys Stables. The 3-year-old, who sold in foal to Golden Pal, was consigned by Legacy Bloodstock. Out of Laffina (Arch), she is a half-sister to multiple Grade I winner Bast (Uncle Mo). She raced twice for Michael Tabor and trainer Wesley Ward, finishing third in her debut at Turfway in January.

“She is a beautiful mare,” said Legacy's Tommy Eastham. “She is once covered, carrying a colt. She is beautiful minded and has a big pedigree with an update. Body language counts, even in the horse business and she came out and did everything we asked of her. She had a tremendous following at the barn.”

The mare's 2-year-old half-sister Royal Slipper (Uncle Mo) graduated by a front-running 4 3/4 lengths for Tabor and Ward at Keeneland Oct. 6.

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Mares Banned From Racing in France After Being Covered

Fillies and mares are forbidden from racing in France after they have been covered by a stallion due to a change to the French rules of racing, France Galop announced.

The amendment brings the rules for Thoroughbred racing in France into line with those for Arabians and for Standardbreds used for trotting. However, it is a move which puts France at odds with its fellow European Thoroughbred racing jurisdictions. In Britain and Ireland, fillies and mares can continue to compete for up to 120 days after being covered. If not found to be pregnant after covering, they can continue racing.

There has been some disquiet among breeders in France and beyond at the sparse communication on this issue, with the changes having been implemented in the middle of the covering season without breeders and owners being notified.

Julian Ince of Haras du Logis, a member of the Federation des Eleveurs du Galop (French TBA), committee member of the owners' federation and head of the French stallion commission, said, “France Galop dealt with this in a democratic way within their system. It was proposed by a commission, it went to the administrative council, and it went to the France Galop committee and was voted through. However, while there may have been a few members of the TBA who were on those committees who were perhaps informed, the committee of the TBA was not informed of this rule change, and neither was the owners' federation.”

He added, “It would have been preferable for France Galop to have communicated and to have had a debate with the professionals. There are 2,300 members of the [French] TBA and 1,500 of us are owners, but we weren't involved. We're all trying to promote the French system and the prize-money but it is a little bit of shame that [French racing] has gone this way by itself, rather than on a European level. That's my only regret. Maybe there is a case for this, and times have moved on, but it is a shame we have done this without communicating.”

According to the amendment made to Article 123 of the Code des Courses au Galop, from Mar. 1, 2023, no filly or mare that has been covered or confirmed to be pregnant may take part in a race. If a mare who has been covered does not get in foal she will be eligible to race again after 120 days have elapsed from the last service date. No female that has produced a foal will be able to race within 240 days from the date of foaling.

The owner of any female horse in training who has been covered since Jan. 1 of this year must inform the stewards of France Galop and the horse's trainer in writing, giving details of the covering date and name of the stallion. The stewards must also be given written notification if it later transpires that the mare is not in foal.

Des Leadon, chair of the veterinary advisory committee of the European Federation of Thoroughbred Breeders Associations (EFTBA), has sounded a note of caution as to the wording used in such an announcement.

He said, “The announcement relates to the racing of pregnant mares and I think we have to be very careful in this era as to how we apply our terminology. In the Thoroughbred industry we don't race pregnant mares because mares are mature females and, not to be semantic, there are stages of pregnancy.

“In the first 60 days after conception we are talking about an embryo, and an embryo is a very small entity, non-viable outside the uterus, and occupying minimal space. Its ability to have much influence over a 500kg animal is minimal.

“Between 60 days and 120 days, the post-conceptus entity is called a foetus. It's not called a pregnancy. Even if we take the foetus up to 120 days, it probably weighs no more than two or three pounds and is no bigger than six or seven inches in length.”

Leadon continued, “Once a mare has conceived–and I prefer that to pregnant–of course there will be endocrine changes, but there are endocrine changes anyway in the reproductive cycle when mares are in estrous and when they are not. So my concern is that the use of a term that says 'racing pregnant mares' is misleading, and I think it's emotive language that we should not be using in these circumstances. The term I would use is 'after conceiving'.”

He added, “What seems to have happened is that this has come along from pressure rising within Arabian and Standardbred racing and although there are similarities with the Thoroughbred industry, there are also very significant differences. We don't have artificial insemination, and we don't have a situation in which we would have widespread racing of pregnant mares.”

Pierric Rouxel of Haras de Maulepaire, who serves on the jumps council of the Federation des Eleveurs du Galop (French TBA), echoed the sentiments expressed by Ince. He said, “The French should have advised the Irish and the English breeders. There has been a lack of communication from our side. I'm not against this change but the communication should have been better, particularly at this time of year when people are making plans for their horses.”

Leadon, too, called into question the timing of the rule change. He added, “One of the things that strikes a chord immediately is that the timing of this announcement is after the commencement of the breeding season.

“Our initial response [at EFTBA] is of course to have sympathy with racing administrations facing more and more difficult environments, but at the same time we issue a plea for a real focus on the extent of problems, on careful use of language, and a clear definition and understanding of what we are talking about. But, as ever, the biggest plea of all is for inclusive dialogue between racing and breeding from the very outset of these debates, and not just after a decision has been made.”

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