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Justify Colt Claims Fastest Quarter-Mile Work in Timonium Wednesday

TIMONIUM, MD – Four juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :10 flat, while a colt by Triple Crown winner Justify (hip 322) zipped a bullet quarter-mile in :21 2/5 during the second session of the under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Wednesday.

The first of seven sets opened around 8 a.m. with a brisk tailwind–which prevailed throughout the day–and a bevy of :10 1/5 works before a colt by Bolt d'Oro (hip 287) became the first of the session to hit the :10 flat mark. The dark bay is out of stakes-placed Masasi (More Than Ready), a full-sister to multiple graded winner Custom for Carlos. He is consigned by Raul Reyes's Kings Equine, as agent for his breeder, Spendthrift Farm.

“We expected a professional work,” Reyes said. “We didn't know it was going to be :10 flat, but we knew he would work well.”

The colt RNA'd for $160,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

The very next horse to work, a filly by Take Charge Indy (hip 361), equaled the :10 flat time for De Meric Sales, agent. The bay, a full-sister to graded winner Take Charge Paula, was purchased by Tami Bobo and Fernando De Jesus's First Finds for $100,000 as a weanling at the 2021 Keeneland November sale.

The bullet furlong time was equaled again by back-to-back workers in the day's second set. First up, Golden Rock Thoroughbreds sent out a filly by Into Mischief (hip 328, video).

“She's a filly who has shown her quality throughout the whole process,” said Golden Rock's Keiber Rengifo. “From breaking her and seeing her every morning, we expected that she was going to be a really fast filly.”

The juvenile is out of Nefertiti (Speightstown) and is a full-sister to graded stakes winner Engage, who stood his first season at stud at nearby Northview Stallion Station in 2022. She was purchased by Marc Tacher's Elusive Thoroughbreds for $250,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Wednesday's work was the filly's second appearance at an under-tack show this spring. She also worked in :10 flat when consigned by Top Line Sales at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, but did not go through the ring at that auction.

“She had a high hip number and was really late in the sale,” Rengifo said of the decision to scratch from the March sale. “She did a :10 flat with Top Line Sales, but we decided to scratch her and aim her for this dirt track. We expected way more from her on the synthetic, but she just didn't show a lot of speed. We thought we would bring her here to Maryland because it's a completely different surface. As a rider, I have a good opinion of this dirt track and I am a big fan of the Maryland sale. I was working for Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo for five years and we always had a good horse to bring over here and show up on the dirt track like she did this morning.”

Rengifo was aboard for the filly's bullet drill Wednesday.

“I think the track was a little tighter today,” he said. “Yesterday, it was kind of soft. But you still have to have a quality horse to go that fast. I didn't have to use my whip with this filly. She is a medium-sized filly with a big heart. She has galloped out well all through the winter. And today, she did :10 flat and she was rolling all the way out. For me, as a rider, that impressed me even more than the :10 flat.”

A colt by Twirling Candy (hip 249) consigned by Grassroots Training and Sales had the final :10 flat of the day. The bay is out of Lady Mamba (War Front), a half-sister to Grade I-placed Luminance (Tale of the Cat) and multiple graded-placed Stellar Sound (Tapit). His third dam is multiple Grade I winner Versailles Treaty (Danzig), dam of George Vancouver and Saarland. He was a $65,000 purchase by Grassroots at the Keeneland September sale last year.

Wednesday's third set got a jolt when Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds sent out a long-striding son of Justify to work the week's fastest quarter-mile of :21 2/5.

“He's been able to run all year long,” said Randy Hartley. “We don't usually prep very fast, we kind of just show them where to go. But when we prepped him here, I had to catch my kid–and he's a big guy. I don't usually do quarters, but he is a big, tall, two-turn looking horse. The farther he goes, the better he gets.”

Out of the appropriately named My Fast One (Elusive Quality), the bay colt was purchased by Hartley/DeRenzo for $155,000 as a weanling at the 2021 Keeneland November sale. He RNA'd for $185,000 at Keeneland the following September and was sent through the ring again at Fasig-Tipton October where he sold for $175,000.

“We bought him as a baby and we buy all of our weanlings to re-sell as yearlings,” Hartley said. “[At the September sale], Justify hadn't quite hit yet. And he was a tall, gangly horse.”

Of the return to the sales ring in October, Hartley explained, “One of our clients bought into our package. Sonny Stokes, who has passed away now, he owned a piece and he was selling everything. So one of my other clients bought in.”

The under-tack show concludes with a final session beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday. The Midlantic May sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday. Bidding begins each day at 11 a.m.

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Army Mule Filly Swiftest at OBS: ‘She’s Always Flying’

A filly from the first crop of Grade I winner Army Mule (hip 437) zipped a quarter-mile in :20 2/5–fastest of the week so far–during the third session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June 2-Year-Olds Sale under-tack show Wednesday in Central Florida. Consigned by Larry Mejias's appropriately named Fast Horses, the gray filly is out of the unraced Super Holiday (Super Saver) and from the family of graded winner Double Honor.

“I am really happy with that work,” Mejias said. “That filly had been working really fast at the farm. She's not too big, she's medium-sized, but she's always flying. I am very happy with the work.”

The Florida-bred filly, purchased for $19,000 at last year's OBS October sale, was entered in the OBS Spring sale where she worked in :9 4/5, but came up short on the gallop-out, according to Mejias. She RNA'd for $95,000 in April.

“I entered her [in April] because she's fast, but you need a good gallop out,” Mejias said. “There is a difference if you work in :10 flat and you gallop out in :34 and change, people don't like that.”

Of the filly's gallop-out Wednesday, Mejias said “She worked good–:20 2/5 and then :31 3/5 and :44 4/5. I think it was the best gallop-out of the day.”

Mejias continued, “I want to train the horses the best I can. Some people like :10 flat, some people like :9 4/5, but in my opinion some horses work in :10 2/5 and do a great gallop-out and that's different than when you work in :10 and the gallop-out is no good. There is a difference when you come into an OBS sale and you can do what people like best, :10 flat or :9 4/5, but some horses work in :10 2/5 and do a good gallop out. There is a difference from when you train a horse for racing and from when you are training for pinhooking. For pinhooking, they have to go fast, but you also have to train the horse to race. That's my opinion.”

Mejias's Barn 15 at OBS is just across from the Golden Rock Thoroughbreds consignment of his nephew Keiber Rengifo.

“I started my Fast Horses consignment last year,” Mejias said. “I had been selling with my nephew Keiber's Golden Rock. I sold all of my horses with him. But Keiber had so many horses, so I started my own consignment and I've been doing great so far. Last year, I had 10 or 11 horses for myself and I sold them all.”

Also during Wednesday's session of the under-tack show, a filly by Flatter (hip 560) became the first of the week to shade :10 seconds when she worked in :9 4/5 for Julie Davies. The gray 2-year-old is out of the unraced Wicked Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}), a half-sister to Grade I winner Wickedly Perfect (Congrats).

Davies purchased the filly for $95,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning at 7:30 a.m. daily. The June sale will be held next Tuesday through Thursday. Bidding begins each day at 10 a.m.

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Five Share Furlong Bullet at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Tuesday

TIMONIUM, MD – The three-day under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale began shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday morning under cloudless blue skies and temperatures hovering around 60 degrees and by the conclusion of the day's seventh and final set shortly before 3 p.m., with temperatures approaching 80 degrees, five horses had turned in the co-fastest furlong time of :10 flat. A filly by Collected had the day's fastest quarter-mile work of :21 1/5.

A filly by Nyquist (hip 150) was the first to hit the :10 flat mark while working during the second set for consignor Randy Miles. The chestnut is out of Westside Tapstress (Lookin at Lucky), a half-sister to graded stakes winner Discreet Hero (Honour and Glory).

“We knew she could do it, but your nerves take over as you're leading her up there, hoping that nothing happens,” Miles said after the work. “She performed the way she was supposed to and I'm glad she represented herself well.”

Miles is consigning the filly on behalf of her breeders, Todd and Chad Frederick and Carl Thomas Potter.

“We've had some horses for them in the past and they entrusted us with two really nice horses this year,” Miles said of the breeders. “The first one sold well in April and this is the second one.”

Miles admitted he is a big fan of the Midlantic May sale.

“We love this track and when you get a week like this of great weather, it's so fun to come here,” he said. “This filly got over the track great all week and she loved the weather, the low humidity and cool weather. When Mother Nature cooperates, it's a wonderful place.”

Miles sent out four horses to work throughout Tuesday's session and said he had found the track to be consistent from start to finish.

“The track was beautiful,” he said. “They did a great job with the 25 horses and then a break. They kept it so consistent. It doesn't matter whether you go early or late.”

Juveniles from the first crop of Bolt d'Oro have been in demand at the auctions all spring and a son of the Spendthrift stallion (hip 30) was the second to work in :10 flat during the session's fourth set. Consigned by Pike Racing, the bay is out of stakes-placed Shine Softly (Aldebaran), a daughter of champion Soaring Softly (Kris S.) and also the dam of stakes winner The Grass is Blue (Broken Vow). Al Pike purchased the youngster from Peter O'Callaghan's Woods Edge Farm for $90,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale. O'Callaghan had acquired the colt for $65,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November sale.

“He was beautiful,” Pike recalled of the colt as a yearling. “He was in Book 2 with Woods Edge and he was a little immature at the time, because he's young, and Peter had a stunning group of Book 2 horses. So I think he got a little bit overlooked. I was very fortunate to get him. We've liked him all winter. He's done nothing wrong. We came here thinking he was capable and hoping that he would perform and we were pleased with him.”

Pike's consignment topped the 2020 Midlantic sale with a $1.1-million son of Uncle Mo.

“This is one of our favorite spots,” Pike said of the Maryland auction. “We always try to bring a good horse here because you'll get rewarded.”

Grassroots Training and Sales sent out a filly by Neolithic (hip 9) to work one of three :10 flat works during the day's fifth set. Out of multiple stakes placed Sarahline (Northern Afleet), the chestnut was purchased for $8,500 at last year's OBS Winter sale.

Hip 20, a son of More Than Ready, turned in his :10 flat work for Keiber Rengifo's Golden Rock Thoroughbreds. A $12,000 Keeneland September purchase by Jose Silva, the bay is out of Seeking Sheba (Seeking the Gold) and from the family of champion Perfect Soul (Ire).

Completing the :10 flat works was hip 36, a New York-bred gelding by Practical Joke consigned by Scanlon Training and Sales. The bay is out of the unraced Silken Lily (Grand Slam), a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes winning sire Upstart (Flatter). He sold for $30,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearling sale last August.

“He is a horse we took a little bit of time with,” Dave Scanlon said. “I don't know that they announced it during the breeze, but he is a gelding now. We bought him privately after the New York sale and he always looked fast. He had a great hip and body, but he was just a little bit tough through the breaking. So around December, we just decided, let's make life easier on me and you and everybody else. So he became a gelding. And then we took our time with him. He's always had a great hip, he just needed to level out. My assistant and I were just talking about how he is just looking better and better. Every work, he's just been getting better.”

The Scanlon team comes into the Midlantic sale off a strong OBS Spring sale, which included a $1.3-million Mendelssohn colt.

“It's been great,” Scanlon said of his 2021 results so far. “We've had a really good year. We were pretty excited last year when we bought these horses. We thought we had done a good job picking them out and it's been a great group all year. We were excited for OBS, but we've been excited about coming here. I love to bring my New York-breds here. Horses that we find quick and precocious–horses like Army Mule–we've always done really well with here.”

A filly by Collected (hip 202), the first horse to work during the second set, turned in the fastest quarter-mile work of :21 1/5 for Jesse Hoppel's Coastal Equine. Out of Aurore (Arch), the dark bay is a half to stakes-placed Orageuse (Broken Vow) and Boreale (Makfi). Her dam is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Interactif (Broken Vow). She was purchased by Larry Zap, Hoppel and Amanda Murphy for $47,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.

The Midlantic under-tack show continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. The auction will be held next Monday and Tuesday with bidding commencing both days at 11 a.m.

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Classic Empire Filly Sets Quarter-Mile Mark at OBS

The under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training continued Tuesday with a livelier track that saw six horses break the :10 flat mark and a filly by Classic Empire turn in the fastest quarter-mile work of the week so far.

Working early in the day's first set Tuesday, a chestnut filly from the first crop of juvenile champion Classic Empire (hip 317) zipped her quarter-mile in :20 2/5. The juvenile is consigned by Keiber Rengifo's Golden Rock Thoroughbreds on behalf of breeders Gabriel and Aisling Duignan of Springhouse Farm.

“She worked really well today,” Rengifo, who was aboard for the work, said. “She just repeated what she had been doing the last couple months at the farm where she showed a lot of talent on the dirt. So we weren't surprised by the time she did over here at OBS because she was working unbelievably the last couple months. The way she worked today is the way she was training the last 60 days.”

The filly is out of the unraced Tigress Tale (Tale of the Cat), who is a half-sister to graded winner Stays in Vegas (City Zip). She RNA'd for $37,000 at Keeneland last September.

“I was one of the bidders,” Rengifo said. “I loved the way she was built, she is a nice-looking filly and I loved the way she looked at Keeneland. I bid almost $27,000, but she didn't make it to the reserve and the breeders still own her. We were talking to Spider and Aisling and they gave me the opportunity to train her.”

Golden Rock, which has 21 juveniles consigned to the Spring sale, was also represented Tuesday by a pair of :10 flat workers: a filly by Lord Nelson (hip 368, :10 flat); and a colt by Tiznow (hip 376, :10 flat).

In addition to breezing all his own horses, Rengifo also works horses for Karl Keegan's Lucan Bloodstock, Scott Kintz's Six K's Training and Sales and Juan Centeno's All Dreams Equine.

“The track was a little bit better today than it was yesterday because of all the water from the thunder storms Sunday,” Rengifo said. “There was still a lot of water in the track Monday. I saw a lot of good horses breezing today, it's 100% a better track today. But the fast horses are still going fast. We had a :10 flat in the last set, so it was pretty consistent if you had the right horse.”

While 13 horses shared Monday's bullet furlong time of :10 flat, six broke through that mark to work the co-fastest time of :9 4/5 Tuesday.

Among them was a filly by Into Mischief (hip 288) who worked in :9 4/5 for Mayberry Farm. The bay filly is out of Take Charge (Hard Spun), a daughter of multiple graded placed Hidden Reserve (Mr. Prospector) and a full-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Reload and a half to graded winners Philanthropist (Kris S.) and Defer (Danzig).

The juvenile was purchased for $300,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale by Paul Manganaro, Nice Guys Stable and Steve Hornstock.

“Visually and emotionally pleasing,” Manganaro said of his reaction to the bullet breeze. “She had been under the care of April Mayberry and her team and they had thought highly of her for a long time. So it was nice to see the talent we thought she had come out at the right time. I've been in this business long enough, so I know anything can happen. But it was exciting at the same time. When she crossed that finish line, it was like watching one of your siblings score the winning goal or touchdown in a sports event.”

Of the filly's appeal at last year's September sale, Manganaro said, “The head of our selection team was the legendary John Williams. So the main attraction was John liked her physically. Then obviously being by arguably the hottest stallion in the world right now in Into Mischief sealed the deal. And she's from a wonderful deep family.”

The initial plan was for the partners to race the filly, but high praise from Mayberry convinced them to test the market.

“We bought this filly and a Gun Runner filly at the Keeneland sale last year without any intention of pinhooking, but April's reports were that she was a very talented filly,” Manganaro said. “When we saw the demand for Into Mischief in the marketplace, we decided, if she can bring us there, let's test the market. She brought us to this point, so we are very happy with that.”

Manganaro, Nice Guys Stables and Hornstock do have a horse to look forward to at the racetrack in impressive maiden winner Defeater (Union Rags).

“We have a few horses together,” Manganaro said of the partnership. “We have a pretty nice 3-year-old colt who was with Tom Amoss named Defeater. We were just starting to get Derby fever with him and he got a slight injury, but he'll be back soon.”

A colt from the first crop of Midnight Storm (hip 264) also shared the co-fastest :9 4/5 furlong time for G.W. Parrish's Parrish Farms.

“He prepped really well, so I was expecting him to work well,” Parrish said of the colt.

Parrish and his wife Karen purchased the dark bay colt for $34,000 at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

“My wife picked him out, so she was very happy,” he said with a chuckle. “He had a nice head and a nice eye. I did the bidding, but she liked him, so I kind of listened to her–happy wife, happy life.”

The juvenile is out of Summer of Joy (Sky Mesa), a full-sister to multiple graded placed Spectacular Sky.

Also sharing the bullet furlong time Tuesday were: a colt by Speightstown (hip 232, :9 4/5) consigned by Centofanti Thoroughbreds; a colt by Cairo Prince (hip 253, :9 4/5) consigned by Wavertree Stables; a colt by Twirling Candy (hip 262, :9 4/5) consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales; and a filly by Daredevil (hip 395, :9 4/5) consigned by Eddie Woods.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday and commences each day at 8 a.m. The Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday with bidding beginning each day at 10:30 a.m.

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