Fasig-Tipton July Catalogues Come Up Rose Hill

When the Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings catalogue came out, Tony Ocampo admitted it was exciting to see Grade I winner Chocolate Gelato (Practical Joke), a graduate of his Rose Hill Farm, on the cover. It was not until a few weeks later, when the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Race Age Sale catalogue came out with Stilleto Boy (Shackleford) on the cover, that Ocampo realized the operation had completed a rare double.

“I didn't know it was going to happen,” Ocampo said. “The yearling catalogue came out earlier and we saw Chocolate Gelato was on the cover. That was very exciting. But then the Horses of Racing Age came out and all of a sudden we were like, 'Wow, look, Stilleto Boy is on there.' It's very rewarding because we aren't a large farm with a huge budget, but I am surrounded by great clients and great staff. I've been at it for a long, long time and it's nice to see two of your graduates be on those catalogues.”

Chocolate Gelato was bred by longtime Rose Hill client Vincent Colbert. She sold for $165,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton July sale and was acquired by Repole Stable for $475,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale before winning the GI Frizette S.

“She was always a very nice filly, very athletic and we loved the sire,” Ocampo said of the future Grade I winner. “We were happy with what she brought in July.”

At that same July sale, Rose Hill sold a filly by Mendelssohn, who the operation bred in partnership with John Trumbulovic, for $185,000. Named Opus Forty Two, she was second in the July 1 GIII Delaware Oaks.

“Those are the two fillies that we took to that sale,” Ocampo said. “So we are happy to see that, too.”

Stilleto Boy won the Iowa Derby for his breeders, the late John Kerber and his wife Iveta, and partners just days before selling for $420,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale. The chestnut gelding was second in the GI Awesome Again S. and third in the GI Malibu S., GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational and GI Santa Anita H. for the new connections before earning his first graded victory in the GII Californian S. He added a top-level victory this March with a win in the GI Santa Anita H.

The Kerbers added another graded winner from there breeding operation when Mr. Wireless (Dialed In) captured the 2021 GIII West Virginia Derby and GIII Indiana Derby.

“Stilleto was born, foaled and raised and then we also broke him, so that was pretty neat,” Ocampo said. “And that was special because John Kerber had been with me since the early '90s and he just recently passed away last year. It was bittersweet, but he put so much into this business and he was so passionate about it. Towards the end, he was very sick and lo and behold, he gets two of his yearlings that he kept become graded stakes winners. All of a sudden, he had two graded stakes winners out of his crops, so that was great.”

Rose Hill will be represented by three graduates at the July yearling sale next Tuesday. Bred by Colbert, hip 170 is a filly by Maclean's Music out of Salad Mood (Malibu Moon), a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Pacific Ocean (Ghostzapper) and to the dams of graded winners Blamed (Blame) and Litigate (Blame).

“She is a nice, big filly,” Ocampo said of the yearling, who sells with the Paramount Sales consignment.

Also consigned by Paramount Sales, hip 320 is a Rose Hill homebred colt from the first crop of Grade I winner Promises Fulfilled.

“We just got back his X-rays and they are clean and he's got a good throat, so we are very excited,” Ocampo said. “He is peaking at the right time. He is very athletic, good sized. He's by a sire who is a little bit of a question mark because he's by Shackleford. But I think he's going to be a useful horse. I think people will like him and I think he'll do well.”

Warrendale Sales consigns hip 322, a filly by Gift Box out of Flatter Me First (Flatter) who is bred by Beth Miller's ThoroughBred by Design.

“She is a really nice filly,” Ocampo said. “Also foaled and raised at Rose Hill for one of our good clients. [Miller] is a doctor at UK. We are excited about her, too.”

Miller is an allergy and immunology specialist and director of asthma, allergy and sinus clinics at University of Kentucky.

While Rose Hill will not be represented by any graduates in the July Horses of Racing Age Sale, the operation does have a connection through trainer John Ennis, who breaks the Rose Hill stock.

Ennis, who topped the 2020 auction with the $475,000 County Final (Oxbow), will offer five maiden-winning 2-year-olds at Monday's sale: Gewurztraminer (Collected) (hip 402); Intermittent Fast (Tapwrit) (hip 419); Laugh Now (Vino Rosso) (hip 431); Let's Go Mark (American Freedom) (hip 434); and Woodcourt (Ransom the Moon) (hip 528).

“We don't have any graduates in the racing age sale this year,” Ocampo said. “John Ennis has a few horses that he is selling, 2-year-olds, in that sale. The only connection is, he purchased them, but he broke them here at Rose Hill.”

The way Ocampo rattles off pedigrees and race records, it is clear graduates of Rose Hill never really leave the farm.

“We have them all on our stable mail and the owners are very involved–they tweet every time there is a work,” Ocampo said of keeping track of the farm's graduates. “So we are very involved. They are like your kids growing up. We do follow them and it's incredible when they start being so successful.”

Ocampo served as farm manager at Gleneagles Farm for nine years before he and his wife Lisa bought the operation and renamed it Rose Hill Farm in 1999. The main base of operations for the farm is 400 acres on Rice Road just behind Keeneland and it also includes 275 acres on Parkers Mill Road.

“This year, we foaled 45 mares and then we had about 20 maidens and barrens,” Ocampo said of the farm's resident broodmares. “So we have 70 or 75 total.”

While it's primary focus is on working for clients, Rose Hill does have a small number of its own broodmares.

“We probably have five or six mares that are owned by Rose Hill 100% and then we probably have another 10 mares that we have in different partnerships,” Ocampo said. “Our goal is to breed to sell. Every year we end up, for one reason or another, having to keep something. If it's a horse that we really like, but it has an issue and needs more time, or something that we didn't get what we wanted at the sale and we end up keeping. Usually those are horses that are out of a young mare and we want to help the mare, so maybe it will be a partnership with a trainer or between us we will keep it and race. But really our goal is to sell them all.”

The Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale will be held Monday at Newtown Paddocks with bidding beginning at 2 p.m. The Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings will be held Tuesday beginning at 10 a.m.

The post Fasig-Tipton July Catalogues Come Up Rose Hill appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Colonial Downs To Feature Three Stakes On Monday Card

A trio of open turf stakes highlight Monday's nine-race card at Colonial Downs as the New Kent, Va., track ushers in week number two of its summer racing season on the heels of a record-breaking handle during opening week.

The $150,000 Buckland Stakes, to be run at 1 1/16 miles, attracted a ten-horse field, eight of which have earned $190,000 or more. The $100,000 Andy Guest Stakes for fillies & mares lured a dozen entrants and the $100,000 Da Hoss has an impressive seven-horse field. The final pair will be contested at 5 1/2 furlongs.

Godolphin, LLC's Pixelate, with wins this past year in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby, Woodchopper, and Prince George County Stakes, is the early 7-2 choice in the Buckland. The 4-year-old City Zip colt also finished a respectable fifth in January's Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. The Kentucky-bred has five wins overall, six seconds, and three thirds with $493,350 in earnings. Pixelate is trained by Michael Stidham and will be ridden by Joe Bravo.

WSS Racing and Hooties Racing, LLC's Mr. Dumas, next at 4-1, has been idle since last October when he was best in a Keeneland Race Course grass allowance. The John Ortiz trainee also prevailed in a 2020 Churchill Downs allowance and finished a close second in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga Race Course last July. In 2019, Mr. Dumas captured the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs. The 5-year-old Majesticperfection horse has accumulated $358,479 in earnings from 14 starts. He will be ridden by Julian Pimentel.

Blackout Racing's Megacity, third early favorite at 9-2, is fresh off a pair of turf allowance wins at Belmont Park and Monmouth Park. The Michael Tomlison trainee was bred in Kentucky by Virginian Maggie Bryant, who recently passed away. Joe Rocco Jr. will be in the irons.

Team Valor International's Beantown Baby, looking for her fourth straight win, headlines the Andy Guest Stakes field. The 5-year-old Artie Shiller mare returns to Virginia after recent convincing turf sprint wins at Delaware Park and Pimlico Race Course, and another at Laurel Park last July. The Arnaud Delacour trainee captured a maiden claiming race in New Kent in 2019. Mychel Sanchez will ride on Monday.

John Kerber, Iveta Kerber, and Jon Lapczenski's Ain't No Elmers is the second choice at 4-1 and is fresh off a solid gate-to-wire performance in a Churchill Downs dirt allowance. The 4-year-old Goldencents filly was runner-up in the Grade 3 Miss Preakness Stakes in 2020. She has only made one turf start in 13 career outs. Ain't No Elmers is trained by Bret Calhoun and will be ridden by Adam Beschizza.

Six of the seven Da Hoss entrants have a bankroll of $220,000-plus including Michelle Lovell and Griffon Farm's Just Might, the 9-5 early favorite. The 5-year-old Justin Phillip gelding captured the Mighty Beau Stakes at Churchill Downs last out and earlier this year, powered home to a five-length win in the Colonel Power Stakes at Fair Grounds in New Orleans, La. In 2020, Just Might was stakes placed in a pair of Grade 2's — the Woodford Stakes and Twin Spires Turf Sprint. In all, he has bankrolled $400,309. Colby Hernandez will ride.

Ed Orr and Susie Orr's Virginia-bred Boldor, conditioned by Steve Asmussen, is the early second choice at 7-2. The 5-year-old Munnings gelding prevailed in the King Cotton and Sam's Town Stakes earlier this year at Oaklawn Park and Delta Downs in back-to-back starts. Jockey Sheldon Russell gets the call Monday.

Jim and Susan Hill's Holiday Stone, the top money earner in the field with $521,159, is the third early pick. The 7-year-old Harlan's Holiday horse has a turf allowance victory in each of the last three years. Feargal Lynch will ride for trainer George Weaver.

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First post on Monday is 1:45 PM. The Da Hoss is the fourth race on the card followed by the Andy Guest (Race 7) and Buckland Stakes (Race 8). For the opening race week that ran from July 19-21, Colonial handled a combined $7,100,435.

Colonial Downs also presents its first-ever online Handicapping Challenge on Monday. Two seats to the 2022 National Horseplayers Championship and one entry into the 2021 Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge are up for grabs. Details are at colonialdowns.com/wagering.

The post Colonial Downs To Feature Three Stakes On Monday Card appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Iowa Derby Winner Stilleto Boy Headed to California After Bringing $420,000 At Fasig-Tipton July Sale

Ten days after stunning the Iowa Derby as the longest-priced horse on the board, Stilleto Boy hammered for $420,000 on Monday at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale, with Del Mar as his next destination.

Steve Moger was the winning bidder on the 3-year-old Shackleford gelding, placing just one bid over Fasig-Tipton's online platform to secure the horse. His brother, Ed Moger Jr. will train the horse.

“Del Mar has the 'Ship and Win' program, and I figured I'd give it a shot,” Steve Moger said. “He'll be going up against some nice horses out there, so we'll see what happens.”

Del Mar's “Ship and Win” program incentivizes horses that race at the Southern California track for the first time after previously running out of state with a $4,000 starter's bonus for their debut start. Eligible horses can also receive a 50 percent bonus on purse earnings throughout the remainder of the meet for starts on the dirt, and a 40 percent bonus for turf races.

Stilleto Boy came into the sale with a record of two wins in seven starts for earnings of $249,675, only missing the board once to date. He raced as a Kentucky homebred for John and Iveta Kerber, with trainer Doug Anderson joining a racing partnership that also included Michael Coleman and Aaron Kennedy.

The gelding has been based in the middle of the country throughout his career, racing once as a juvenile at Prairie Meadows in a runner-up effort. He was then moved to Oaklawn Park, where he finished third or better in a trio of maiden special weight races before graduating in his final start of the season at the track.

Stilleto Boy then returned to Prairie Meadows for the summer, where he finished fourth in the Prairie Mile Stakes on June 4.

That effort helped him leave the gate in the July 2 Iowa Derby at odds of 16-to-1, the highest price of the six-horse field. He led at every point of call in the 1 1/16-mile race, and drew off under jockey Jose Ortiz to win by 4 1/2 lengths.

Stilleto Boy is out of the winning Marquetry mare Rosie's Ransom, whose nine foals to race are all winners, including stakes winner Rosie My Rosie and Condo Closing.

Paramount Sales consigned Stilleto Boy, as agent.

The post Iowa Derby Winner Stilleto Boy Headed to California After Bringing $420,000 At Fasig-Tipton July Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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