John Sikura | Horse Racing Free Tips

Adena Stallions Moving to Hill ‘N’ Dale at Xalapa

Horse of the Year Ghostzapper (Awesome Again), Mucho Macho Man (Macho Uno) and Point of Entry (Dynaformer) will join the stallion roster at John Sikura’s Hill ‘N’ Dale at Xalapa outside of Paris, KY, according to a release from the farm. They are being relocated from Adena Springs. The fees for the three stallions are: Ghostzapper – $85,000 LFSN; Point of Entry – $7,500 LFSN; Mucho Macho Man – $7,500 LFSN.

“I have known John since he was a young man in Canada and his rise as a pre-eminent horseman is something I respect very much,” said Adena Springs’ Frank Stronach. “Two of the sires we are relocating to his new facility represent the epitome of what we have looked to achieve with our racing and breeding operations. Homebred and GI Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Ghostzapper is the best horse we’ve bred to date. The power of his pedigree has made the performance of Ghostzapper’s progeny predictable and outstanding. Champion Mucho Macho Man is another Breeders’ Cup winner who is by a Breeders’ Cup winner that we bred and raced. His two Grade I winners in 2020 prove his ability to sire the type of runner that we are all looking to campaign.”

Stronach continued, “Anyone who has seen the work that John Sikura has done at his new facility at Xalapa will know that it was born from a respect for the land and a passion for excellence. We are partners in this venture and I have no doubt that the great legacy of Ghostzapper will be enhanced under his care.”

Added Sikura: “These three new additions to our roster for 2021 are significant. Ghostzapper has sired five champions and 12 GI/G1 winners. He is a broodmare sire of huge importance being the broodmare sire of Triple Crown winner Justify. We will support him with top mares and we expect breeders will do the same. It is an honor to stand such a great sire.

He continued, “Point of Entry was a serious racehorse who comes from a deep Phipps family and the best is yet to come with him. Mucho Macho Man is a stallion that the more you study, the more you love. He is the sire of GI Pegasus World Cup winner Mucho Gusto as well as Mucho Unusual, winner of the GI Rodeo Drive S. at Santa Anita.”

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Bast the Highest of Highs for Baoma Corp

Only a few years after first becoming involved in Thoroughbred ownership, Susan and Charles Chu watched their first Grade I winner also become a Breeders’ Cup Champion when ‘TDN Rising Star‘ Drefong (Gio Ponti) crossed the wire first in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Sprint under their Baoma Corporation banner.

While they’d had several graded stakes contenders come along prior to Drefong’s campaign, after the millionaire took his third Grade I in the Forego S. for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert in 2017, Baoma Corporation went through a bit of a dry spell as they searched for their next big winner.

“[Susan] was getting to the point where we would lose a big race, and she’d get really down,” Baffert said. “I would say, ‘You know, you have to get through this. This is what it is.’ She had been kind of spoiled when she started winning right away.”

Then the next summer in Saratoga, Baffert got word from agent Donato Lanni on a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale that could be worth a look.

“When we got up there, Donato Lanni said, ‘There’s a filly here that you are going to love,'” Baffert recalled. “So we went back there and sure enough, she was a no-brainer. Susan was there and we told her we found a really good filly and she said, ‘Please don’t look at it too much. We don’t want people to know you like it.'”

The Uncle Mo filly was the first foal out of the Arch mare Laffina, who hailed from the family of Grade I performers Fault (Blame) and Mananan McLir (Royal Academy). The youngster was purchased by Baoma Corp for $500,000 and was later named Bast.

“I actually thought she was going to bring a lot more,” Baffert said. “She looked like one of the best fillies there. I happened to see a picture of her going through the ring and you could tell she was like the perfect image of what you want a racehorse to look like. She was just a standout from day one.”

After running second in her first start, Bast ran back in the GI Del Mar Debutante S. a few weeks later, soundly defeating the filly who had beaten her on debut and winning by almost nine lengths. She then made the quick trip north to Santa Anita in September to claim a second Grade I in the Chandelier S.

Considered one of the top choices going into the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita last year, the bay went to the head of the field early, and after getting caught in a speed dual with longshot Two Sixty (Uncaptured), she ended up placing third.

The juvenile filly bounced back soon enough by sneaking in another win at two in the GI Starlet S., defeating Juvenile Fillies runner-up and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Donna Veloce (Uncle Mo) and becoming the only horse of her foal crop to win three Grade I races as a juvenile.

A few days after the calendar turned to 2020, Bast made her sophomore debut a winning one in the GII Santa Ynez S.

It was announced the next month that a minor injury would force the filly to retire.

“She came up with a small issue on her hind end and she was going to need 90 days off,” Baffert said.

The team of Baffert, Susan Chu, and John Sikura of Hill ‘n’ Dale put their heads together to decide the best route for the new broodmare prospect.

“Susan loves to race,” Sikura said. “Before she sells the mares, she covers them to the best stallion possible. We try to create the most value in the fact that she’s in foal. She’s not just a prospect, she’s ready to be a producer.”

It was decided to send the daughter of Uncle Mo to fellow Baffert trainee and Triple Crown hero Justify (Scat Daddy).

“We all talked about it and I just really thought with Justify…I mean she’s picture perfect and he’s picture perfect,”Baffert said “It’s going to be a home run.'”

Sikura added, “I think you have the best of both worlds. You have the precocity and brilliant 2-year-old speed of Bast, and then in Justify you have a Classic-distance horse with precocity, speed and brilliance.”

The Chus will part ways with their three-time Grade I winner this November as Bast is offered as Hip 245 through the Hill ‘n’ Dale consignment at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Baffert said he is anticipating that Bast will be a hit at the ‘Night of Stars,’ where her dam Laffina sold for $1.5 million in foal to Ghostzapper last year.

“Certain horses, when you pull them out of the stall, [people say], ‘Wow, she looks expensive.’ And those are the kind of mares that people are going for because you know they’re going to throw a beautiful foal. Those mares are priceless to come by.”

“Bast has been a Fasig-Tipton favorite for a long time,” said Fasig-Tipton’s Boyd Browning. “Since we saw her on the Saratoga sales grounds, she had that wow factor as a yearling. I think the greatest compliment I’ve ever heard about Bast was that Bob Baffert said she was one of the top five fillies he’s ever seen at a yearling sale.”

He added of the foal she is carrying, “The foal really represents a brilliance of one of the finest 2-year-olds in the country coupled with the dominance of an undefeated Triple Crown winner in Justify. It’s just a remarkable opportunity, and then you keep in mind how young the mare is and just how many opportunities you’ll have to see sons or daughters out of Bast. That gets you really excited.”

“You couldn’t ask for anything more,” Sikura said. “I think every category that a high-end seeker of quality bloodstock would look for, Bast has all of those criterion met. If she were human, she would be driven to school in a limousine and would have gone to private school. She’s the best of the best of the best. We’re excited and proud to represent Susan Chu and we’re looking forward to her not only succeeding in the sales ring, but more importantly to succeeding as a broodmare with whoever is lucky enough to acquire such a fine prospect.”

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Hill ‘n’ Dale Stallions Settling in at Xalapa

A caravan of four massive Sallee Horse Vans journeyed from Fayette County to Bourbon County today to deliver the 13 members of the Hill ‘n’ Dale stallion roster to their new residence: Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa.

While Hill ‘n’ Dale President John Sikura said there was apprehension going into the big move, everything went smoothly.

“It’s kind of like when a horse goes in the starting gate–lots can go wrong,” he said. “But thanks to the quality and class of the horses and the horsemanship of everybody who was all hands on deck, the horses really sort of embarrassed us with our suspense and worry.”

Two-time Horse of the Year and Hill ‘n’ Dale flagbearer Curlin (Smart Strike) settled in quickly in his new stall nearest to the barn entrance.

“As you would expect, Curlin was the leader,” Sikura said. “Within 10 seconds of being in the stall he had his head down eating alfalfa and never turned a hair. Even Kitten’s Joy (El Prado {Ire}), who’s an excitable, high-energy horse hollered once or twice and went to his hay rack.”

For Sikura, today marked the fruition of a dream that has been on his mind for years.

“I first saw Xalapa probably 10 or 12 years ago and when I set foot on the place, it made a lasting impression,” he recalled. “I thought it was the most vivid, natural, spectacular piece of land that I’ve ever seen. I’d often dreamt about this farm and wondered about converting it into a modern, great horse farm. The opportunity came about to buy the place and I thought it was a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Sikura said that the development of their new acquisition has been ongoing for the past year-and-a-half.

“It’s been overwhelming as far as the depth and scope and amount of projects,” he said. “We’ve been working seven days a week, from dark to dark every day for about 18 months now. I think we’ve converted two farms of nearly 1,400 acres and maybe a decade’s worth of work in 18 months. It’s been a labor of love and emotions from overwhelming to challenging to just now starting to feel the satisfaction of seeing it all come together.”

Sikura shared that Xalapa was acquired by breeder Edward Simms after the turn of the 20th century and that Simms focused heavily on the landscaping of the property with the goal of making the estate “the Biltmore of the South.”

When Prince Palatine (Persimmon), winner of the St. Leger S. who was imported to Xalapa Farm for the later part of his stud career, perished in a stable fire, Sikura said that Simms vowed that all the barns on the property would be fireproof and so he made all the buildings of stone and concrete.

Sikura aims to maintain similar architecture in his renovations.

“I’ve done everything in very natural, earthy tones of the highest-quality material,” he said. “We’ve kept that theme without deferring our standards. It’s a lengthy process because everything is handcrafted. It’s not cookie cutter.”

While most of the heavy lifting on the undertaking is complete, Sikura is now enjoying putting on the finishing touches.

“I’ve very excited and proud of the place,” he said. “Not proud of myself, but proud of the opportunity and the stewardship that we’ve undertaken to bring this farm back to a sense of greatness. We look forward to achieving and succeeding with all that we do in a one-of-a-kind setting and the most unique farm that I believe exists.”

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Curlin Colt Leapfrogs Into Lead at KEESEP

A colt by Curlin has no shortage of new owners after Gainesway’s Alex Solis signed the ticket on hip 282 at $1.2 million Monday at Keeneland. The new partnership includes Mike Repole, Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias, Gainesway, John Oxley and Robert Clay’s Grandview.
“We’ve been talking about all the colts we liked and I really liked this colt,” Solis said after signing the lengthy ticket. “I thought his mother was a pretty special filly. All week long I kept seeing him and thought I’d like to find a way to take a piece of this colt.”
The gray colt is out of multiple Grade I winner Midnight Lucky (Midnight Lute) and was co-bred by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, Mike PEgram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. The mare was trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who was an interested observer while standing out back as the bidding escalated.
Pegram purchased Midnight Lucky for $220,000 at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. She went on to win the 2013 GI Acorn S. and 2014 GI Humana Distaff S. for Pegram, Watson and Weitman. The 10-year-old mare produced a filly by Curlin this year and was bred back to Triple Crown winner Justify.
Solis did his bidding while standing in the doorway of the sales pavilion and surrounded by a crowd which included Gainesway owner Antony Beck, Clay and trainer Todd Pletcher.
“I thought he’d be somewhere around there,” Solis said of the colt’s final price. “I didn’t know where. In this market, it’s kind of who you run into.”
Asked if the purchase was made considering a future stallion career for the yearling, Solis said, “Oh yes. When you pay that much money, you’re hoping it’s multiples if they hit.”

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