Elite to Enter Yearling Consignment Business

Elite Sales, the Thoroughbred consignment business of Liz Crow and Bradley Weisbord, will begin selling yearlings in 2023, adding to their existing business of breeding and racing stock, according to the pair.

“Elite Sales launched in 2017 with the goal of being the number-one consignor of horses of racing age and broodmares/broodmare prospects,” said Weisbord. “With six years under our belts, we have experienced a wide range of success including selling 21 off-the-track broodmare or racing prospects for $1 million or more.”

The addition of yearlings to their lineup is the latest news from Elite, who sold their first two weanlings at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, including a Gun Runner filly for $675,000. They also were represented with a consignment at Tattersalls December for the first time in 2022.

“Since launching Elite, our team has enjoyed building relationships with the most prominent buyers and sellers of bloodstock around the world. We believe that these relationships along with our boutique model, top client support, and ambitious marketing have led to our success,” Weisbord said, “The move into yearlings has been long-planned. Liz and I have some of our own homebreds we will sell, we will sell for our existing clients, and we hope to add some large breeding farms into the mix.”

Elite has hired Beth Bayer, the former director of sales for Woodford Thoroughbreds, who has 20 years of experience in the industry, to run the day-to-day consignment, leaving Liz Crow free to continue her scrutiny of yearlings on the sales grounds.

“Liz is one of the leading agents purchasing yearlings each year and we feel her knowledge of the market along with her great eye will be a huge asset to our clients. She will be available for farm inspections as we lead into yearling prep and sales time. We also feel that since our team sees every single horse on the sales grounds at every single yearling sale, she will have a great understanding of where yearlings most appropriately fit in each catalogue and sale.”

Fasig-Tipton July would be the first sale the company will target, followed by Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, Keeneland September, and Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings.

Weisbord said he would continue to handle client and buyer relationships on and off the sales grounds. Katelyn Jackson, Samantha Bussanich and Jake Memolo will remain with Elite as well, and that the company would continue to be run as a boutique consignment operation.

In its six-year history, Elite has sold over $135 million in horses, averaging over $295,000 per horse. Those sales include Monomoy Girl for Michael Dubb, Monomoy Stables, The Elkstone Group and Bethlehem Stables, who brought $9.5 million at Fasig-Tipton November 2020; and Paris Lights for WinStar Farm, who topped the 2021 Keeneland November Sale at $3.1 million.

“Elite Sales has done an outstanding job in the mixed sale and horses-of-racing-age marketplace and I'm sure that they will do an excellent job as they enter the yearling sales marketplace,” said Fasig-Tipton President and CEO Boyd Browning. “They have an excellent group of people on their team and Beth Bayer has great knowledge and will be a valuable addition.”

“It's always good to welcome consignors that have great connections like they do,” said Keeneland's Vice President of Sales, Tony Lacy. “They've done a wonderful job over the past few years with their mixed sales business, and it's a natural evolution for them to move into the yearling market.”

The post Elite to Enter Yearling Consignment Business appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Kentucky Derby Starter Attachment Rate Joins Moquett Barn After Fasig-Tipton July

Attachment Rate, a multiple Grade 3-placed runner who ran in last year's rescheduled Kentucky Derby, will move to the barn of trainer Ron Moquett after selling to owner William Sparks for $160,000 on Monday at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale.

The 4-year-old Hard Spun colt was previously trained by Dale Romans for Jim Bakke and Gerald Isbister, winning three of 16 starts for earnings of $236,422.

“I think he's a nice 4-year-old that's got plenty of life left,” Sparks said after signing the ticket. “We're going to hopefully find a spot for him by the end of the year, then look forward to taking him to Oaklawn. We're going to look around and find something at seven-eighths or a mile, and see how he does. I don't know if we've seen the best of him yet.”

After breaking his maiden at Gulfstream Park in February of his 3-year-old season, Attachment Rate earned his first Kentucky Derby qualifying points with a third in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes. When the Derby was postponed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he was redirected to Gulfstream Park, where he finished second in the Unbridled Stakes. He then returned to Kentucky for the rest of the summer, where he finished fourth in the G3 Matt Winn Stakes, fifth in the G2 Blue Grass Stakes, and second in the Ellis Park Derby before entering the gates for the 2020 Kentucky Derby.

One of the longer-priced horses in the Derby, he broke inward and bumped with rivals early on, and was stuck wide in the middle of the pack for most of the race before fading to 14th.

Attachment Rate was re-committed to shorter races after his classic try, and he came back to win a Churchill Downs allowance race the following month. He ran fourth in the G3 Discovery Handicap to finish his 2020 campaign.

The colt's 2021 season started on a winning note in a one-mile optional claiming race, then he finished third in the G3 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland. Later that month, he ran sixth in the G2 Alysheba Stakes. His final start for Bakke, Isbister, and Romans came on June 4, when he ran third in a Churchill Downs optional claiming race.

“I would say that his form earlier this year was good enough, and the owner's trying to revamp his stable,” said Jake Memolo of consignor Elite Sales. “He's got 2-year-olds that are coming in that are getting ready to run, he's going to be buying yearlings, so this is one of the horses that he can take that has some value and see what he can get for him at this point in time.

“He ran third, beaten a length and a half, behind Flagstaff in the Commonwealth earlier this year,” Memolo continued. “Flagstaff came back later in the year to win a Grade 1. His form around one turn has been pretty good.”

The novelty of having a former Derby horse, even one that finished at the back of the pack, wasn't a particular selling point for Sparks, and Memolo said it wasn't something people brought up while shopping ahead of the sale.

Bred in Kentucky by Mr. and Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin III, Attachment Rate is out of the winning Afleet Alex mare Aristra, whose four foals to race are all winners. He hails from the family of champion Caldeonia Road and Grade 1 winners Hymn Book and Data Link.

The post Kentucky Derby Starter Attachment Rate Joins Moquett Barn After Fasig-Tipton July appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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