into mischief | Horse Racing Free Tips

$1.2-Million Tapit Colt Paces OBS March Opener

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis

The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale opened Tuesday with a solid session, and while the 2-year-old sales are usually all about speed, the day was topped by a colt by Tapit who galloped during last week's under-tack show. From the Lothenbach dispersal, the youngster sold for $1.2 million to the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds and D. J. Stables. He was consigned by Tom McCrocklin.

“I think it points to the fact that the under-tack show is one metric,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. “There are a lot of different metrics that people use to buy horses. The under-tack shows get talked about a lot, but it's not the only thing. There were obviously people here who felt like they could get a good read on the horse and liked what they saw at the barn and what they saw on the racetrack in the way he moved. Everybody focuses on the time because it's an easy touch point, but there are a lot of other variables and intangibles that go into that decision-making process.”

During the session, 152 horses sold for $20,844,000 for an average of $137,132 and a median of $73,500. The average was down 11% from a year ago and the median dipped 18.3%. The buy-back rate for Tuesday's session was 26.9%. It was 32.1% a year ago.

“It's hard to compare day to days after the first day, but I thought it was pretty on line with last year overall,” Wojciechowski said.

Showing the breadth of the buying bench, the top 10-priced lots were purchased by 10 different buyers.

“The buying bench was pretty varied,” Wojciechowski said. “There were a lot of different people buying horses. I felt like we have good horses spread out through the entire catalogue. We obviously had some highlights today and I think we will continue to have highlights over the next two days.”

Of the top 10 sellers Tuesday, two were from the first crop of Gainesway stallion McKinzie, with Bill Childs going to $750,000 for a colt from the Wavertree Stables consignment and Belmar Racing, R.A. Hill and Gargan going to $450,000 for a colt from the King's Equine consignment. Both colts shared bullet furlong work times of :9 4/5.

The OBS March sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 11 a.m.

West Point, DJ Stable Unite for Tapit Colt

Proving that value rarely goes unnoticed among the savvy juvenile market buyers, Hip 173, a colt by leading sire Tapit, realized $1.2 million on the OBS March Sale's opening day. With the tempo picking up noticeably as the session progressed, West Point Thoroughbreds and D J Stable teamed up to land the opening session's sole seven-figure offering. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, the Feb. 27 foal was a member of the Lothenbach Stables Dispersal.

Jonathan Green & Terry Finley | Photos by Z

“He's the kind that we look for. We figured he'd bring a lot of money, but I think he's got plenty of upside,” said West Point's Terry Finley. “The Tapits can be across the board in terms of their mental disposition, but he has a very cool mind and acted the right way. With these expensive horses, we tend to say the same things and just keep our fingers crossed. You just hope they live up to that expectation.”

Out of Distorted Music, herself a $190,000 Keeneland September purchase in 2011, the gray is a half-brother to Grade III winner She Can't Sing (Bernardini). The colt represents the family of GI CCA Oaks heroine Music Note, dam of G1 Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide, in addition to French Classic scorer Musical Chimes.

“Obviously, we have a soft spot for Tapit,” explained Finley. “We love the fact that this [colt] is big and raw.”

The dispersal came up after Bob Lothenbach died suddenly at the age of 64 last fall. All of the Lothenbach horses galloped during last week's breeze sessions.

“I didn't know [Lothenbach] but I know he had a beautiful breeding program and ran a great operation,” said Finley. “We knew we were buying something from a very effective program.”

D J Stable's Jon Green was equally enthused with Tuesday's purchase.

“You look at these dispersals, and it seems like every year one jumps out of that program. We hope it works out that way. But we really thought he was the best of that group. The fact that he was galloping and not breezing, for a big horse like that, it only added to his appeal because we felt it would be more beneficial to his development. The world is his oyster.”

Partnering on a handful of horses in the past, including Grade III winner Turned Aside (American Pharoah), longtime friends Len and Jon Green and Finley thought it seemed like the right time to take the relationship to the next level.

“We have had a couple of horses with the Greens in the past, but this is by far the best we've ever got our hands on together, so we're excited to go forward,” said Finley.

Green echoed the sentiment.

“The important thing about this horse are the people behind it. Terry and I have been talking and we were just waiting for the right horse and we felt this was absolutely the right athlete to go after. He looks like he has two-turn ability and we're going to take our time with him. This was just the right opportunity.” —@CBossTDN

Not This Time Colt Heads to Japan

A colt by Not This Time (hip 183) will be heading to Japan after selling for $850,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent Shingo Hashimoto, acting on behalf of Katsumi Yoshida. The dark bay colt was consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds on behalf of trainer Tom Durant. He worked a furlong last week in :10 flat.

“His workout was really good and his appearance was really nice,” Hashimoto said. “We really liked the colt and we are very excited about him. We will bring him back to Japan and see how he goes.”

The colt is out of Dos Vinos (Twirling Candy), a half-sister to stakes winner China Grove (City Zip) purchased by Durant for $230,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale.

Hashimoto, who purchased a $1.05-million son of Arrogate on behalf of Yoshida at last year's March sale, was making his second purchase of the 2024 auction with hip 183. He went to $310,000 for a filly by Take Charge Indy (hip 110) earlier in the session.

Of the March sale's appeal, Hashimoto said, “It's good to know how the horses change from what we saw at the yearling sale and how they train. I think the level of training that they do in the U.S. is very high.” @JessMartiniTDN

Colts Group Adds an Uncle Mo Juvenile

The BSW/Crow Colts Group and Spendthrift Farm partnership, which has been active at the yearling sales the last few years, supplemented its 2024 roster heading to the barn of trainer Brad Cox with the purchase of an Uncle Mo colt (hip 106) for $750,000 during Tuesday's first session of the OBS March sale. The bay colt, consigned by Pick View, is out of Canteen (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Hip 106 | Photos by Z

“Everybody on the team liked him,” Liz Crow said after signing the ticket on the juvenile. “Katelyn Jackson, Ned Toffey and his son Daniel and Seth [Semkin] and then Brad Cox, everybody on the whole team felt like he fit what we were looking for.”

The partners had success buying at OBS last year, purchasing Jimmy Winkfield S. winner Bergen (Liam's Map) for $375,000 at the OBS April sale.

“It was hard to buy yearlings last year,” Crow said. “We have a small number, we only have 10, and so this will be our 11th horse for the group.”

Stock Thoroughbreds purchased the colt for $270,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. He worked a furlong during last week's under-tack show in :10 2/5. @JessMartiniTDN

Childs Jumps into the Fray Early at OBS

Bill Childs sat chilly until the closing moments of last year's OBS March Sale to land a Justify colt for $700,000. This year, the Texas businessman reversed course and extended to $750,000 for Hip 89, a son of freshman sire McKinzie, early in the sale.

The bay recorded a :9.4 move for Wavertree Stables during last Wednesday's breeze session.

“I really liked everything about him,” said Childs. “I liked the way he worked–that was an obvious reason. But I also liked him because I thought he'd want to go two turns.”

Bill Childs | Photos by Z

Out of Breech Inlet (Holy Bull), the Ontario-bred is a half-brother to Canadian multiple stakes winner and graded placed Merveilleux (Paynter). The colt's 14-year-old dam, a granddaughter of GISW By Land By Sea, is a half-sister to GSW Bauble Queen (Arch). In foal to Olympiad, she brought $50,000 at Keeneland November last season.

“He doesn't look like a horse that should work that fast going that short,” added Childs. “But when they do, they'll often turn out to be good.”

According to Ciaran Dunne, the colt has flourished since his arrival in September.

“He's a beautiful horse and worked really well,” he said. “He is one of those rare things, he was well sold and well bought. I think it hurt him a little bit being so early in the sale. People might have been expecting him to bring a little bit more or they weren't quite ready. But I think it was a fair price for him.”

According to Childs, the colt will go to trainer Bob Baffert, who also trained the youngster's sire, McKinzie.

“It's his first crop, so we don't know how that'll go,” he added. “But based on the way they worked here, it looks like they will be good.”

Offered at last year's Keeneland September sale, the Feb. 26 foal was secured by Ron Fein's Superfine Farm for $205,000.

Asked about the feel of the market halfway through Tuesday's session, Childs said, “It was actually a little softer than I thought. I saw a few that I thought would have brought a little more money. However, I do think it will probably get stronger as the sale goes along.”–@CBossTDN

Mischief Returns to OBS

Rarely absent from the leaderboard at any sale in the country, Into Mischief was represented by Hip 202, a colt that realized a $700,000 final bid from Muir Hut Stables. Out of GSW Electric Forest (Curlin), the bay colt is a grandson of MGSW and MGISP Forest Music (Unbridled's Song), herself responsible for graded winner Uncle chuck (Uncle Mo). Spendthrift Farm was among the underbidders on the colt.

“Muir Hut Stables has put a lot into the game,” said Southern California-based trainer Mark Glatt, stationed alongside the Muir Hutt team during the bidding. “I have been trying to get them to buy an Into Mischief for some time now. We were able to get this one, so we're excited.”

The Mar. 19 foal breezed an eighth in :10.1 during the initial breeze session last week.

“We are high on the sire, of course, but also on [broodmare sire] Curlin. This colt is a very athletic horse and seems to have talent. We hope he stays sound so we can get him to the races.”

Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, the bay was consigned by Old South Farm on behalf of Bow River Ranch.

“I bought him for a new group of guys. That's their first pinhooking venture,” confirmed consignor Hoby Kight, who signed for the colt after the Oregon-based group paid $250,000 at last September's Keeneland sale.

When asked what drew him to the colt, Kight explained, “Everyone knows what I like–I like a horse with angles. I like a stretchy, big and fast horse with just enough pedigree. That's what it takes. If they can run, you're good. That's what I like to buy and this colt fit the bill.”

According to Kight, the fledgling partnership also sold Hip 19, a colt by Munnings, for $250,000, in addition to a Gun Runner colt (Hip 155) for $100,000.

“For me, the sale has been very fair so far,” Kight added. “The Munnings could have been anywhere from $250,000 to $400,000, depending on the breeze. He worked with a headwind [10.1], so that might have affected things a bit, but I thought it was fair overall.”–@CBossTDN

Munnings Filly Jump Starts March Sale

With the March sale less than half-an-hour old, a filly by Munnings (hip 26) kick started the action in Ocala Tuesday when selling for $700,000 to the bid of trainer Will Walden, acting on behalf of John Sykes's Woodford Thoroughbreds. The bay filly, consigned by Niall Brennan Stables, shared the :9 4/5 bullet on the first day of last week's under-tack show.

“I thought she had all of the parts,” Walden said. “She is a little bit on the smaller side, but with plenty of muscle. She had a great walk and temperament at the barn. I thought the breeze was outstanding. It was the best gallop out of the day and it was on the toughest day. She did it into a 10 mph headwind.”

Will Walden & Niall Brennan | Photos by Z

The filly is the first foal out of the unraced Ansaam (Bernardini), a half-sister to Grade I winner Denman's Call (Northern Afleet) and from the family of multiple Grade I winner Evening Jewel. She was a $95,000 Keeneland September purchase by Ryston Stables.

“She's probably a filly who is going to be early,” Walden said. “We will get her back to Turfway and then Keeneland and start looking for starts around Churchill. We are really excited to have her.”

Walden has been buying horses for Sykes across the globe over the last several months.

“He has been a great supporter of ours,” Walden said of Sykes. “He supported us when we went overseas when we bought some out of Tattersalls. We are just trying to buy runners and get in the winner's circle. He has a breeding operation, so with this filly's pedigree and hopefully with what she does on the track, she will hold some residual value as a broodmare.”

Walden agreed, with the juvenile sales season just minutes old, it could be difficult to anticipate prices.

“I had her between $600,000 and $800,000,” he said. “I would have liked to pay six instead of seven, but she is a quality filly and we are happy we got her. But you have to trust your gut. If you like the horse, the horse speaks to you and, on numbers and on paper it works out, you have to take a swing.” @JessMartiniTDN

All Dreams Equine Absent from OBS

Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine consignment, which was pulled into controversy when a filly it sold at last year's OBS June sale broke down at Finger Lakes in November and subsequently tested positive for Clenbuterol, had six horses catalogued to the OBS March sale, but the entire group was scratched from the auction.

“There was some publicity about me and my consignment and I just felt like it wasn't going to be a fair judgement on the horses,” Centeno said of the decision to withdraw his horses from the auction. “I could feel the energy wasn't all there. So the best thing for the horses and for everybody else was to scratch them for now.”

Two of the horses from Centeno's March consignment were involved in incidents during last week's under-tack show, with a filly collapsing on the track following her breeze and a colt getting loose before breezing and galloping around the infield.

OBS sales officials confirmed that Centeno had voluntarily scratched his horses from that sale and that the All Dreams horses were all tested before the under-tack show, but that results of those tests were not yet available.

“Yes and he welcomed it,” OBS President Tom Ventura said when asked about testing the horses in the consignment. “We did hair samples and additional blood samples. We don't have the results to share back at this point, but whatever he had here, he welcomed any additional scrutiny that might show that they had nothing in their systems.”

Of the additional testing, Centeno said, “All of my horses were tested, I don't know the results because they have them. But I have nothing to hide. I have always been honest and I have a good record. My tests have always been clean. And anybody who has questions or wants to test the horses, they are available to be tested or inspected. Not a problem.”

He continued, “I was happy to be tested. I have nothing to hide. I treat my horses with the highest standards. I am very dedicated to my horses. I am attached to my horses. And I am very proud of what we do together.”

Trainer Jeffrey Englehart was facing a two-year suspension after the Classic Empire colt he purchased from the All Dreams consignment last summer tested positive for Clenbuterol after breaking down in November. The case against him was dropped when segmented test of the colt's hair sample revealed that the drug had been administered before Englehart had become the horse's trainer.

“I was surprised when I was accused about that,” Centeno said of speculation that he had given the colt the drug. “I never gave anything to my horses. I wanted to prove that. And for that reason, the horses are available to be tested, to show the buyers I am honest and I play by the rules.”

Of the filly that collapsed after breezing during last week's under-tack show, “The horse was fine and we asked him to keep it here so that everybody, including us, could go and inspect the horse,” Ventura said. “And we talked to the vet and we aren't sure exactly what caused it, but she came out of it fine.”

The horse that got loose on the track was also uninjured in the mishap.

“If he had gotten loose on Wednesday, he would have had the opportunity to come back and breeze on Saturday, but given that he got loose on the last day at the under-tack show, there was no opportunity for him to come back,” said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. @JessMartiniTDN

The post $1.2-Million Tapit Colt Paces OBS March Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Seeking Solutions When The Rookie Buzz Has Gone “West”

For a stallion farm, it's the equivalent of the “difficult second album” so notorious in the music industry. You've launched a new sire, and profited from the customary stampede of commercial mares. But the vogue proves to be cruelly fleeting. When he returns to the covering shed, the following spring, he offers exactly the same performance history, chromosomes and conformation as before. But suddenly the phone is cold. Precisely the factors that drove his debut book–novelty, plus security from imminent exposure of his competence (or otherwise) to replicate ability–have meanwhile prompted everybody to switch to the next bunch of rookies off the carousel.

In the old days, farm accountants might reckon on three seasons to retrieve the investment required to land a stallion prospect. The model was “three and out.” Nowadays, they're having to calculate closer to “one and out.”

In the verdict shared by one confidant, the market for second-season sires in 2024 is proving “brutal.” Already five years ago, one of the big commercial farms managed to find just 53 mares for the second book of a stallion that had started out the year before with 223. It's very hard to see who benefits from that kind of volatility.

Knowing that the only thing as certain as demand for a new stallion is the brevity of attention, opening fees now tend to be very high. In fact, the percentage of sires that will achieve a viable niche in Kentucky naturally being very small, the majority will turn out to have started at the highest fee they will ever command.

The agents and managers tell their clients that first-crop yearlings represent their one shot to land on the next Into Mischief or Tapit while he's still affordable. But if that were true, why don't they stick to their guns in the stallion's third and fourth seasons, when fees, books and medians are on a giddy slide? That, after all, is precisely when your vaunted “judgement” is about to be vindicated by his first runners.

That leaves as their only real pretext the self-fulfilling one that a stallion's debut book will generally prove the biggest and best of his life. But if you've truly identified a stallion who can upgrade his mares, then wouldn't you want one of the few yearlings going to market the year after he has demonstrated that ability to a waiting world?

Look, everyone is doing this stuff with their eyes open. The industrial model enables a stallion farm to charge a relatively lenient fee because they're going to process a ton of mares. But if a turf sprinter could last year cover 293 mares in his first book, then breeders already know that they had better stand out from the crowd.

In fairness, these high-volume operations would surely prefer a consistent spread of temperate support, through four or five years, to the current polarities. True, some of them have mastered the challenge impressively, maintaining the famous “pipeline”–whether with their own mares, or through the kind of imaginative incentive schemes introduced by the late B. Wayne Hughes for an ice-cold second-year stallion named Into Mischief. And the farms that do struggle to maintain traffic can hardly blame commercial breeders, who need to put bread on their table. So we can only conclude that it all starts with those directing investment at ringside.

So what can be done? Anecdotally, we're hearing of farms offering deals on second-year sires: two-for-one, even free seasons. We're also told that “nobody's talking about it.” Well, let's change that. At the end of this article you'll find an email address to share your views or experiences.

In the meantime, one man characteristically prepared not only to address the situation but to do something about is Price Bell of Mill Ridge. This farm has made a pretty spectacular return to the stallion game with Oscar Performance, and is now determined to help its latest recruit face the headwind in his second year.

Aloha West, winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Del Mar in 2021, covered 83 mares in his first book. Emboldened by the quality they report in his first foals, Bell and the shareholders are offering a new incentive to keep the horse (an $8,500 cover) in the game.

“If you're the breeder of record of an Aloha West that wins a maiden special weight, as a 2- or 3-year-old, you'll get a free season the next year,” Bell explains. “In other words, it's after actually having done something that you'll get rewarded. As opposed to what you hear now, where it's like, 'You get a free season this year, but then if the horse makes it, you're going to have to pay a $20,000 stud fee to breed back to him.'

“Heaven forbid, Aloha West has 40 maiden winners his first crop? Then we'll have to give away 40 seasons. But it would also mean he's champion first-crop sire, so I'd love nothing more than that problem!”

The point is that it should all come down to belief.

“At the end of the day, if you stand a horse at stud, and support him with your mares, that's got to be because you believe that their foals will become successful racehorses,” Bell says. “And now that purse money is where it is, you can make that play. You won't always have to go to the commercial sales market. Yes, you've got more bills if you don't. But the reward, at the end, is potentially worth it.”

Somehow, somewhere along the line, people have come up with this idea that there's a difference between breeding for the racetrack and breeding for the ring. For anyone prepared to play a slightly longer game, however, there should be nothing more commercial than putting a winner under your mare.

“Absolutely,” Bell agrees. “For your mare and for your stallion, right? I mean, I don't have all the answers, anything like it–but I guess that is exactly my query about the whole thing.”

Aloha West found himself in a very tough intake: Flightline, Life Is Good, Jackie's Warrior, Jack Christopher, Epicenter. But it was no picnic for Oscar Performance to lock horns with Justify, Good Magic, City of Light. And he duly had to earn his stripes through the standard adversities.

“Oscar Performance actually had the same number of mares in his first and second years, which was like 120,” Bell says. “Just like Aloha West, because of the breadth, quality and belief of the shareholders, he was going to remain supported through those early years. He went 120, 120, 80, and then 60. And it was probably only as many as 60 because he had a winner at Keeneland in April. That got him another 10 mares or so in that fourth book.”

Which brings us back to a point made earlier: if you actually believe in what you were doing, the fourth season is exactly when you would be playing: you get the best value about a horse even as he's about to announce his prowess for all to see.

“And yet some horses don't even get to a fourth crop in America!” exclaims Bell. “I think my dad [Headley Bell] made that point when he bred to Arrogate in his fourth crop. There was a lot of uncertainty along the way, before he exploded with Cave Rock and all the rest. Nobody gets it right every time. Well, it's that yo-yo of chicken and feathers–you're still back at feathers. With the middle market so bifurcated, you stick to your guns because you're either going to be rewarded or you're not. There's no safe 'bond' play. If you hit, you're going to get well paid; and if you don't, you got nothing anyway.

Oscar Performance | Photos By Z

“That's why you do see some very shrewd breeders using horses in years three and four. And I'd like to believe that a little bit of that's happening right now. There's still a lot of mares to be booked. People have seen the incentives. They're like, 'Well, let's see her foal and then see what kind of deal I can get.' Which may also be a reaction from last year, which felt quite transitional.”

Arguably, the staggering books reported in 2023 felt as though one or two farms were making a point after seeing off the proposed mare cap. But it's certainly interesting to hear these imaginative perspectives from Mill Ridge, which last engaged with the sector way back with Diesis and Gone West. After all, the whole environment has seen wild changes in the meantime.

“We're all kind of sheep and if we're not careful we'll run ourselves right over a cliff,” Bell warns. “The whole beauty of the game, the whole reason we do it, is that ultimately no-one knows for sure where a good horse comes from. So if you believe in Aloha West, or any other horse, the whole quest should be about the finish line.

“People say, 'Oh, I have a commercial broodmare band, therefore I should only breed the first-year sires.' I mean, I appreciate that. But if everyone has that attitude, then nobody stands out. And I think it also makes you question your horsemanship, your judgment. So maybe we should just get back to believing what we believe in, and going for it–above all, like I said, because purses are really good.”

Bell, of course, has a heartening example front and center in the thriving Oscar Performance.

“Our shareholders believed in him and look how well they've been rewarded,” he remarks. “Oscar Performance was pigeonholed. He didn't really have much support from pinhookers, because they were like, 'What am I going to do with a turf horse?' But then he starts having 2-year-olds winning six-furlong stakes on dirt. So now he's being supported because he's exceeded expectations.

“And for Aloha West and Eclipse Thoroughbreds, it's always been the same: believe, and believe big. We really believe in this horse, in his brilliance and his opportunity to contribute to the breed. And that's why we want to reward those who believe with us.”

The horse's obvious challenge, commercially, is that he didn't race until the February of his 4-year-old campaign. But Bell points out that he was routinely posting bullet works as a juvenile, before being sidelined.

“So while it doesn't show in the form line, when you look at his work pattern, there's no doubting his 2-year-old quality,” he says. “And he's a gorgeous horse: not a typical Hard Spun, maybe, I think he gets more from the Speightstown mare: he's really typey and beautiful. So he's got the pedigree, he's got the brilliance, and then he has the great partners and other breeders who believe in him.”

The paradox is that second-season sires actually face one question mark fewer than the rookies who enjoy such clamorous attention: breeders have at least had the chance to see what kind of stock they're putting on the ground. But even that will have its limits: Lookin At Lucky could never overcome the lack of physical glamor in his stock even after he produced winners of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic. In the end, different people pin their belief on different things. But where there is authentic belief, then it's logical for both sides of the deal to keep the faith and share the rewards.

“I mean, we're all looking for the golden ticket,” Bell concedes. “Maybe we need to recalibrate our expectations a little, and not always be searching for the lottery win. But I do think that if you're breeding a horse, you should at least believe that they're going to win a maiden race, right?”

Contribute to the debate: Do you have something to add about the first-year/second-year sire conundrum for publication? Email suefinley@thetdn.com.

The post Seeking Solutions When The Rookie Buzz Has Gone “West” appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Mar. 9 Insights: Big Ticket Purchases Unveiled in California

6th-OP, $115k, Msw, 3yo, f, 1m, 4:18p.m. ET
Half-sister to last year's GIII Withers S. winner Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), FLASHY DANCER (Curlin) will be unveiled here for Gary and Mary West. Out of two-time Graded winner Actress (Tapit), who has also produced the winning Hot Rumor (Medaglia d'Oro), the second dam is Canadian champion Milwaukee Appeark (Milwaukee Brew). Riding a healthy work tab and picking up the services of Manny Franco, the morning line has Flashy Dancer tabbed at 8-5 odds. TJCIS PPs

4th-SA, $65k, Msw, 3yo, 6 1/2f, 5:03p.m. ET
In a well-met maiden field, PONY EXPRESS (Gun Runner) will be one of several high-priced auction horses to open his career here. Racing for Talla Racing LLC, Three Chimneys Farm and West Point Thoroughbreds, the chestnut was acquired for $500,000 at KEESEP and is a half-brother to MSP Collaborate (Into Mischief), who had been sent to contest the 2021 GI Florida Derby after breaking his maiden by over 12 lengths. In addition to being a half-brother to two other multiple winners, Pony Express hails from the extended female family of champion Heavenly Prize. John Sadler sends this one to post.

To that one's outside, Santarena (Omaha Beach) will jump for Muir Hut Stables, LLC, Saints or Sinners and Dan J. Agnew from the barn of Mark Glatt. A $425,000 in-training purchase at EASMAY, the colt's second dam tallies daughter Catch the Moon (Malibu Moon), whose claim to fame is as the dam of GSW & MGISP Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow); GISW Girvin (Tale of Ekati); GSW Cocked and Loaded (Colonel John); and GSW Pirate's Punch (Shanghai Bobby). Santarena himself is a half-brother to SW & GSP Dubini (Gio Ponti), SW What A Catch (Justin Phillip), and SP Cancel This (Malibu Moon). This is the extended family of GISW Silver Max (Badge of Silver) and GSW & MGISP Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby).

Farthest of them all will be Winterfell (Arrogate), a $400,000 KEESEP purchase trained by Bob Baffert for the ownership group of SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Dianne Bashor, Robert E. Masterson, Waves Edge Capital LLC, Catherine Donovan, and Tom J. Ryan. The colt is a half-brother to two other winners and hails from the family of G1 Epsom Oaks victress Casual Look. TJCIS PPs

The post Mar. 9 Insights: Big Ticket Purchases Unveiled in California appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Breeding Digest: Another Week Full of Mischief

The racing year is only just doing up its laces, but already Into Mischief is on the march. Last week we examined the GI Kentucky Derby candidature of his son Timberlake and now, with a little help from the evergreen Dettori, he has a 19th Grade I scorer in Newgate. I must admit that my heart went out to connections of Subsanador (Arg) (Fortify), who led every step bar the last, and would have been John Sadler's fourth winner of the storied Santa Anita Handicap-still dearly cherished by some of us, outflanked as it has been-in seven years.

While the modern booty plundered in the desert by a son of the venerable Mineshaft is temporarily distorting his latest title defense, the opening skirmishes of 2024 have already seen Into Mischief overtake Medaglia d'Oro in the all-time earnings table. He now stands cents shy of $170 million with only Giant's Causeway ($178 million) dividing him from Tapit ($204.5 million). The latter obviously has much unfinished business-and we fervently hope that he can still come up with the Derby winner he so deserves-but the industrial model at Spendthrift means that Into Mischief is about to overtake Tapit's aggregate of lifetime starters, from four fewer crops. And, as often remarked, he's only lately started to bring his elite mares into play.

Newgate himself was conceived at $150,000, but made that investment pay for Town and Country Farms-besides the $360,000 they gave for his graded stakes-placed dam Majestic Presence (Majestic Warrior) at the 2017 November Sale, already amply defrayed by the Runhappy foal she was carrying there and a couple of others-by realizing $850,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. The same farm gave us Adare Manor (Uncle Mo), who similarly made her Grade I breakthrough in her third campaign for Baffert, so they can take credit for raising horses that persevere. (Majestic Presence, incidentally, was returned to Into Mischief to produce the $500,000 yearling Denim and Pearls, who won her first two and has now run second in consecutive stakes.)

Life is hard enough for rival sires without Into Mischief again enlisting Dettori to clinch another narrow verdict in the GII San Felipe S. through Imagination. This colt is yet another tribute to Peter Blum's patient curation of a dynasty tracing to his foundation mare, Mono (Better Self), identified as a priceless conduit of King Ranch blood way back in 1975.

Mono was out of a sister to 1946 Triple Crown winner Assault, from the family of Man o' War himself. But she was actually being sold from the estate of the King Ranch farm manager, and had duly been confined to less expensive covers. The young Blum noticed that she had nevertheless produced good runners, and vowed that he would not leave the Keeneland January Sale without her. He'll never know where he might have stopped, but was able to do so at $17,500.

Blum, of course, has in recent years bred a Horse of the Year. But Authentic came from a rather younger line in his program, and possibly he's deriving no less satisfaction from the emergence of Imagination at a time when GI Preakness winner National Treasure (Quality Road) is also consolidating his own reputation. For both trace to Mono's daughter Mine Only.

Blum's first choice of mate for Mono had been an unproven Florida sire named Mr. Prospector. When the resulting colt won on debut at Del Mar, he resolved to send her back to the stallion at his new base at Claiborne. Their second tryst produced Mine Only, who won no more than a maiden but set a pattern for this family by proving a much better producer. Her three graded stakes scorers (all on turf) included Good Mood (Devil's Bag), who won the GIII Miss Grillo S. and is third dam of Imagination.

National Treasure | Adam Coglianese

Before that Mine Only had already produced a daughter by Secretariat, Chosen Lady, who failed to win but produced not only GI Ashland winner Well Chosen (Deputy Minister) but also the third dam of National Treasure. So while Blum always emphasizes the help he gets from the likes of Doug Cauthen and Bridie Harrison, he must accept the compliment implied to his own patient stewardship by the elite investors who target his program at the sales.

National Treasure made $500,000 at Saratoga, and Imagination $1.05 million at Keeneland September. The latter sum partly reflected the Grade II sprint success of his dam Magical Feeling (Empire Maker), who has always been given nothing but the best: she had four foals by Tapit before more recently being sent to Into Mischief and producing first Occult, sold as a yearling for $625,000 before winning the GIII Monmouth Oaks last year; and now Imagination.

Yes, Nysos (Nyquist) was the specter at this particular feast. But even the supporting roles on this circuit demand real caliber, and it might not require that much more Imagination to aspire to the mature deeds of National Treasure or Newgate this time next year.

Mage Page Paying Many a Wage

Let's not get too glum about these sophomores. After all, most enter their single year of Classic eligibility as little more than gawky adolescents. In fact, however diffident a crop they may seem for now, recent history suggests that there's probably a Horse of the Year lurking among them somewhere.

At this stage of his career, Cody's Wish remained unraced and he would only break his maiden, at the fourth attempt, in October. Flightline was also weeks short of his debut. Knicks Go had admittedly established his caliber at two, but at this point was bombing out in the GIII Sam F. Davis and then the GIII Gotham.

All three, of course, would only achieve their peak with age. But this time last year even the horse that went on to win the GI Kentucky Derby had just been beaten seven lengths in the GII Fountain of Youth S.

Puca selling at the 2023 Keeneland November Sale

The success of his full-brother Dornoch (Good Magic) in the same race last weekend has elicited some faint praise, thanks to the decimation of the field, but the fact remains that he's far more seasoned than was Mage at this stage. True, the latter was duly on a steeper curve of improvement, but whatever happens John Stewart can be gratified that his $2.9 million investment in their dam Puca (Big Brown) at Keeneland last November has stood up to both its first big tests, in the GII Remsen S. and now here. Just like Mage, Dornoch is advertising the expert grounding he received at storied Runnymede Farm, which raised and then consigned both colts on behalf of breeders Grandview Equine.

Mage proved a fairly marginal pinhook ($235,000 to $290,000) when resold at two, but events in the meantime make the extra investment on Dornoch at the Keeneland September Sale ($325,000 from Oracle Bloodstock) look pretty inspired. Those supporting Mage in his first year at stud, meanwhile, must be feeling similarly comforted by the way his page is evolving. Remember that Puca is a half-sister to a Grade I winner on turf, Finnegan's Weake (Powerscourt {GB}); was herself runner-up in the GII Gazelle S.; while her only previous foal-the Gun Runner filly she was carrying when acquired by Grandview for $475,000 at Fasig-Tipton in November 2018-was herself twice stakes-placed. Not least granted the parallel strides since made by her rookie sire, what a stroke of luck for Grandview that she failed to meet her reserve as a yearling!

By the time Puca sent her son by McKinzie into the Keeneland ring last September, her genetic wares were sufficiently known for Mayberry Farms to have to go to $1.2 million. Yet only that January, Puca's own dam Boat's Ghost (Silver Ghost) had been discarded in the same ring, in foal to Raging Bull (Fr), for just $17,000. That indignity, at the age of 19, was redressed by finding herself on a peerless farm of its type, Nursery Place, where she safely delivered a filly, apparently a good specimen too; and was then given a typically astute covering in Hard Spun.

Lonesome Days Long Forgotten for Pounce

Another interesting mare in Hard Spun's book last year was Bouncy (Twirling Candy), whose daughter Pounce (Lookin At Lucky) won the GIII Herecomesthebride S. at Gulfstream last weekend. In fact, if you ever needed a cross-section of our community to offer its most considered judgement, you could do worse than simply consult those breeders using Hard Spun. In an environment so childishly prey to fashion, those sticking with the Darley stalwart instead prize proven value in the last commercially accessible son of his breed-shaping sire.

Those who sent him Bouncy have four resonant surnames: Pounce's breeders are registered as Bell, Rankin, VanMeter and Hancock. From these familiar clans, it turns out we are dealing respectively with Gatewood, Hunter, Ike and, “the rose among thorns,” Lynn. One or two of them have evidently followed Bouncy from the outset, though along the way she also appears to have caught the attention of a couple of Texas rangers.

Bred and raised by the Hancock family's Stone Farm, she was pinhooked as a $85,000 yearling by Bell's Cromwell Bloodstock Agency; made $170,000 from “Augustus McRae” at OBS the following April; showed plenty of ability in both her starts in the silks of Augustin Stables, winning on debut at Keeneland before a close second to a stakes winner at Belmont; and was then picked up by “Joshua Deets” for just $37,000 in the Covid market of the 2020 Keeneland November Sale.

At that point Bouncy was pregnant to a maiden cover by Lookin At Lucky, an excellent choice to prove a mare despite his appalling treatment by the commercial market. That came at an initial cost, in that Pounce was a $20,000 RNA at the Keeneland September Sale-but in the long run it has paid off handsomely.

For she had caught Mark Casse's eye in the back ring. “When she didn't sell, we approached Mark to work out a deal so we could make sure she got into good hands,” Hancock explains. “And we are fortunate that she did! He trained her up to a certain level, to acquire interest in the filly, and we were partners from there on out. We are very appreciative of Mark for taking a chance on her and obviously he has done a spectacular job.”

Yes, he has: Pounce won on debut at Churchill in November and again at Turfway in February, after which she topped Fasig-Tipton's Digital Sale at $370,000 from Resolute Bloodstock. As with Puca, noted above, John Stewart has been quickly vindicated in a bold investment with Pounce's graded success at Gulfstream, still for the Casse barn, coming just 11 days later.

Hancock says that Bouncy has now delivered a “lovely” Hard Spun filly, but the gang is still debating-or maybe we should say bouncing around-her next cover. Maybe they should ask Woodrow Call what he thinks…

The post Breeding Digest: Another Week Full of Mischief appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post