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Kentucky Value Sires for 2021–First Juveniles, Part II

This is the second part of the latest instalment in our ongoing series assessing stallion options for the new covering season, now tackling sires who have just sold their first yearlings. The first part, which appeared in Tuesday’s edition, can be read here.

Dixie Union has achieved quite a legacy as a broodmare sire and, following on from Mohaymen (Tapit), two other stallions in this group are out of his daughters.

KLIMT (Quality Road-Inventive by Dixie Union) has maintained an industrial output through his first three books at Darby Dan, entertaining 222, 187 and 172 guests, duly pegged at $10,000. That volume comes at a risk, of course, and anyone who fancied a Klimt yearling could choose from no fewer than 108 into the ring. Of these, 81 found a new home at $29,890.

Klimt at Darby Dan | EquiSport

Himself a $435,000 Gulfstream 2-year-old, you can certainly picture him landing one or two pinhook coups: he reiterated his precocity by looking the fastest youngster out west, notably as four-length winner of the GI Del Mar Futurity in 1:21.8 (94 Beyer). His sire can’t have had too many juveniles quite like that and, while Klimt himself did not last at three, he does have the genetic base for his stock to progress: his hard-knocking, graded stakes-winning third dam is a sister to Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Concern (the pair out of another Grade I winner). First things first, however—and, with such volume behind him, he surely needs to put himself in the shake-up for the freshman title.

The other who shares the same damsire is UNIFIED (Candy Ride {Arg}-Union City by Dixie Union). Lane’s End launched him at $10,000, which fee he retains after selling 62 of 83 yearlings offered at $43,390, an average magnified by the $450,000 home-run colt who topped a session at Keeneland September.

Unified has very attractive roots, his third dam being a Storm Bird half-sister to Dehere and the next two by Secretariat and Damascus. Though himself unraced at two, his mother is a sister to a Grade II-winning juvenile and Unified certainly landed running with a 99 Beyer on debut before consecutive Grade III and Grade II wins, clocking 1:47.14 in the Peter Pan. Though ultimately confined to seven starts, he missed the GI Carter H. only by a neck and he’s a lovely physical.

Though down to 68 mares in his third season, he has ample ammunition (opening books of 152 and 102) to resume momentum now. In the same, exemplary barn that has housed his sire and damsire, Unified has every chance of making the grade.

Likewise, his chum CONNECT (Curlin-Bullville Belle by Holy Bull) who started alongside at twice the fee after formally gilding a career of similar span and dash with a Grade I in the Cigar Mile. Having maintained numbers at 112 and 114 after an opening book of 165, he gets a friendly clip to $15,000 after selling 49 yearlings (of 84 into the ring) at $52,975.

Another very natural racehorse, Connect packed six wins and four six-figure Beyers into just eight starts and helped to elevate the GII Pennsylvania Derby to elite status by holding the maturing Gun Runner. While of adequate caliber, his family has a conspicuously accommodating outcross quality.

Competition among sons of Curlin is heightened by a cut from $20,000 to $12,500 for KEEN ICE (Curlin-Medomak by Awesome Again). Some such action, admittedly, was looking pretty urgent. Calumet amassed as many as 176 mares for his opening book, and 55 yearlings sales (of 70 into the ring) achieved a lower average than his fee ($15,069). Pretty disastrous, on the face of it, but to me this more realistic tag brings a truly admirable racehorse right back into play.

I’d especially recommend Keen Ice to anyone who might look to retain a filly, as he doubles down that mighty distaff influence Deputy Minister 3 x 3 and his fourth dam is the Emory Hamilton matriarch Chic Shirine (Mr. Prospector). If overstating his GI Travers S. defeat of American Pharoah risks faint praise, then he parlayed these genes into a resilience and durability—24 starts, including 15 at Grade I level, for earnings of $3.4 million—that any breeder should be eager to replicate.

There are some grassy roots in the family, too, so at his revised fee Keen Ice absolutely deserves a fresh look by flexible end-users. That big first book will give him a legitimate platform over the next couple of years to renew traffic that has meanwhile slackened to 73 and 43 mares.

Another now at a still more compelling fee is LORD NELSON (Pulpit-African Jade by Seeking The Gold). Halved to $10,000 by Spendthrift, he is definitely back on the agenda after making plenty of appeal even when opening at $25,000.

His yearlings sold in a good ratio, 37 of 46 offered, at $84,972. Remember that he was knocked out by laminitis when lined up for his debut book and he has been spared the “mass transit” service since, numbers through his first three years controlled at 127, 131 and 123.

Lord Nelson offers an interesting blend. He has all the commercial speed you could ask for, as winner of three consecutive Grade I sprints including the Bing Crosby in 1:07.65, the fastest six furlongs ever clocked electronically at Del Mar. Though he only achieved his peak form at four, that was partly down to experimentation in stretching his speed and he was actually a seven-length stakes winner at two. But he also has a most interesting pedigree: very fast, plainly, for a grandson of A.P. Indy, he evidently kindles a lot of speed from the 3×3 duplication of Mr. Prospector (as Pulpit’s damsire and as grandsire of his own dam). Yet the bottom line balances that with a classy Argentinian family, with all that means in terms of versatility and the robustness we saw in Lord Nelson’s recuperation.

Though himself a speedball, Lord Nelson’s build also suggests that he may be able to draw out some of the stretch latent in his pedigree. We have become accustomed to premium newcomers at Spendthrift, since this guy first arrived, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to have as much influence as any.

AMERICAN FREEDOM (Pulpit-Gottcha Last by Pleasant Tap) comes from the final crop of the same sire of sires and, as a $500,000 yearling, must have been just about the prettiest. Launched at $10,000 by Airdrie, he has every chance to build fresh momentum from an opening book of 152 mares (if on the customary slide since, to 96 and 54).

That’s a tribute to his physique though, albeit as many as 82 yearlings into the ring gave purchasers ample choice: 60 sales averaged $27,266. More important, perhaps, is the fact that his owners and Airdrie have fired up his engine with 133 mares from their quality herds. Interestingly, moreover the drums seem to be beating quite loudly among 2-year-old consignors.

Now that he’s down to $6,000, American Freedom might prove a timely gamble. After all, he claimed the scalps of Gun Runner plus all three Classic winners in his crop, and got closest of Arrogate’s pursuers in the GI Travers. And a stakes-winning Pleasant Tap mare can only bring in the good stuff, as she had already shown in producing MGSW and Grade I runner-up Gottcha Gold (Coronado’s Quest).

There’s a lot to like about MIDNIGHT STORM (Pioneerof the Nile-My Tina, by Bertrando), down to $7,500 at TaylorMade from an opening $12,500. He offers a mixture of the traditional assets we need to preserve—he won Grade II races four years running in the course of a 10-for-27 career, banking $1.78 million—with the versatility that should be at an increasing premium as the turf/synthetics program expands. He registered multiple triple-digit Beyers on both dirt and turf, and sealed his Grade I by wiring the Shoemaker Mile field, holding off subsequent Breeders’ Cup winner Tourist (Tiznow) in 1:33.55.

Books of 119, 88 and 69 provide a solid enough base and likewise his sales debut: 36 of 48 yearlings sold at $39,856. It’s a fashionable sire-line—and remember that his lamented sire was also versatile, in terms of surface—but there’s no denying that the family adds a genetic dimension to his overall air of flexibility.

Turf was an option never explored by GORMLEY (Malibu Moon-Race To Urga by Bernstein) but it’s certainly something to keep in mind for his stock. His second dam was Classic-placed in Europe and his fourth is champion turf mare Estrapade, while his own sire was out of a top-class French juvenile.

Not that there appeared to be any particular need to leave the main track with a horse who won Grade Is at both two (ended Klimt’s unbeaten spree in the Frontrunner S.) and three (beat Battle Of Midway (Smart Strike) in the Santa Anita Derby). Unfortunately he soon derailed but Spendthrift herded up the customary numbers for a first book of 180, ample to put him in the conversation for the freshmen’s championship—something to keep in mind, now that he is down to $5,000 from an opening $10,000.

Though there was plenty of choice at the yearling sales, he found customers for an excellent ratio (59 of 73 offered) at $37,544. Subsequent books of 127 and 72 suffice to keep him in the game if he can get one or two early headliners, something he is perfectly entitled to do with the depth of Classic influences through his pedigree. Virtually a bet to nothing at his new fee.

Speaking of turf, reverse shuttler ASTERN (Medaglia d’Oro-Essaouira {Aus} by Exceed And Excel {Aus}) is down again to $7,500 from $10,000, after being cut last year from an opening $15,000 at Darley. Albeit he has somewhat puzzled the local market to this point, with 23 of 38 yearlings sold at $35,617, now he gets the chance to show whether they can actually run.

He’s certainly been priced to engage the attention of breeders lacking the regard of their Australian counterparts for a horse who—trading in speed, as an interesting instance of the way this cosmopolitan sire-line obeys the predilections of each local industry—matched the Group 1 success of his half-sister Alizee (Aus) (Sepoy {Aus}), not to mention of their third and fourth dams.

He’s half a year deeper into his career than his Kentucky rivals, with a handful of runners already in his native land. Down there a lot of people would be pretty offended, on Astern’s behalf, by his relative valuation in Kentucky. But we’re about to find out which hemisphere has him right, and books of 116, 90 and 90 are sufficient to permit a rising tide for any breeder enterprising or audacious enough to take a chance on him now.

A Southern Hemisphere import that was able to parade his wares on American tracks is Calumet’s BAL A BALI (Brz) (Put It Back—In My Side {Brz} by Clackson {Brz}). Horse Of The Year in Brazil, he recovered from laminitis after his migration to win a couple of Grade Is on U.S. grass. He proved much too exotic a proposition for the domestic yearling market, 34 of 39 selling at just $7,302, but he does have early numbers behind him (books of 125 and 74 before falling right off to 22 last spring) and also has dirt strains to draw upon in his outcross pedigree. It’s obviously over to him, but he is now realistically priced at $5,000 (started at $15,000) and would hardly represent the first transfusion of South American blood to invigorate the gene pool here.

In contrast the same farm hosts a couple of young stallions trading primarily on very familiar pedigrees. The third dam of MR. Z (Malibu Moon-Stormy Bear, by Storm Cat), indeed, is a Ribot (GB) half-sister to Mr. Prospector himself (who also figures on the page as damsire of Malibu Moon). His own mother is a half-sister to the prolific Canadian turf champion Chief Bearhart (Chief’s Crown) and, while Mr. Z only won twice, he stood up well to aggressive campaigning to become a millionaire. A handful of his yearlings sold mostly for no money but he has now been halved to $2,500 so maybe his first book of 61, more than he’s managed in the two seasons since, can give him a foothold.

Barnmate WAR CORRESPONDENT (War Front-Tempo West, by Rahy) also has a noble pedigree, as a brother to Declaration of War out of a half-sister to Union Rags, and he won a couple of graded stakes on turf. The half-dozen yearlings he sold, of nine offered, averaged $18,576 and he’s now $5,000 from an opening $7,500, again with small numbers behind him.

Though ultimately rescued more or less from oblivion, for a roll of the dice at stud, WILDCAT RED (D’wildcat-Racene, by Miner’s Mark) was a legitimate dasher in his time, as a dual graded stakes winner who was beaten only a neck by Constitution (Tapit) in the GI Florida Derby. He has only covered small books at Buck Pond Farm, but that won’t necessarily stop him outlasting one or two who started with a higher profile. Of just three yearlings sold, after all, one made $180,000 to become the top colt at the OBS Selected Yearling Sale, some yield on a $7,500 fee. Bravo, Wildcat!

That’s the beauty, when we reach this stage of the game. It’s now up to their runners, and nobody can know what will happen once the gates open.

CHRIS McGRATH’S VALUE PODIUM

Gold: Mastery ($25,000 Claiborne)

Always looked the goods and sales debut did nothing to alter that

Silver: Lord Nelson ($10,000 Spendthrift)

What a generous cut for a very fast horse with stretchy genes

Bronze: Gormley ($5,000 Spendthrift)

Bumper first book could give him freshman momentum

The post Kentucky Value Sires for 2021–First Juveniles, Part II appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Kentucky Sires for 2021: First Juveniles–Part I

And so we come to the group standing on the brink. The group facing the moment of truth, when their most precocious stock enters the gate and offers some initial indication as to their competence for the task for which, ostensibly at least, they were bred.

As such, this should perhaps be the moment we double down. That’s what we would do, at any rate, if we had real faith in the choices we have made for our mares. If we have selected their mates well, then people will be wanting more of the same at the 2023 yearling sales–and we can hope to be rewarded for meeting increased demand with what tends to be diminished supply.

As it is, the imminent exposure of young stallions’ “commercial” credentials to the unsparing examination of the racetrack instead prompts most breeders to flee in terror, sending their mares to those safely unproven rookies who have replaced them on the conveyor belt.

Their logic is perfectly coherent. The whole premise of backing an unproven new stallion is that he will not have been tested by the time you take your yearling to market. And the value of 2021 covers is bound to appear very different, one way or another, in the 2023 sales ring: these sires will by then have a third crop of juveniles on the track, and their slower-maturing, two-turn types will also have shown their hand. As I say, that should actually be an advantage…if, that is, we really believe that we might be catching a wave. But I guess very few breeders can afford the risk of trusting their own opinions to that extent.

Even at the best of times, then, you could expect farms to help this group over the imminent bump in the road. In the prevailing environment, with fee cuts being made across so many rosters, there will surely be particularly good value to be found among stallions whose abrupt loss of commercial traction is every bit as capricious as the hectic subscription of their debut books. After all, those best equipped to sire the type of Thoroughbred we should covet most–namely, one that can run a second turn on the first Saturday in May–will hardly disclose their full potential even now their first crop is being broken and trained.

Nor, as we noted of the weanling market in the previous instalment of this series, can we put too much faith in the reception of these youngsters at the sales. Yes, professional horsemen have at least had the chance to draw some inferences from living, breathing stock presented to their inspection. Moreover, they have been able to assess a much wider sample. Much as with weanling averages, however, those rare occasions when the market challenges the premium implied in stallion fees–whether for better or worse–do not tend to work out very reliably.

As with his weanlings, for instance, the most conspicuous disappointment of the 2018 yearling market, relative to his opening fee, was Constitution. From much the biggest offering of the intake, 98 yearlings, his average sale could not match those of Carpe Diem, Bayern, Tonalist and Lea, to name four whose fees have slipped even as Constitution has meanwhile soared from $25,000 to $85,000.

Admittedly, the yearling market “found” Cairo Prince the year before, elevating animals he had conceived at $10,000 to second place in the averages. But he was sandwiched between two horses whose returns slavishly obeyed the assumptions invited by their fees: Will Take Charge was top, having started out at a class-high $30,000; and Verrazano was third, having similarly started higher than almost all the rest at $22,500. Those two are respectively now down to $5,000 and Brazil.

Once again, then, let’s be wary of drawing too many conclusions, whether positive or negative, from the “performance” at the yearling sales of those stallions who will launch their first runners in 2021.

Sadly, of course, the most expensive recruit of the intake is no longer with us. The tragic loss of Arrogate (Unbridled’s Song) leaves GUN RUNNER (Candy Ride {Arg}–Quiet Giant by Giant’s Causeway) as its outstanding prospect after starting out at Three Chimneys as Horse of the Year at $70,000.

He gets a generous clip to $50,000 to keep the door revolving. Opening books of 171 and 166 struck a balance between numerical opportunity without totally inundating the market, and he maintained numbers last spring at 156. Of 71 yearlings into the ring, he found a new home for 46 at a class-high $246,413.

That has to go down as a very solid start and, while you can’t expect a horse that reached his peak at four to be siring sprint winners at Keeneland in April, nor should we forget how he came to the boil at the Fair Grounds before running third to Nyquist (Uncle Mo) in the GI Kentucky Derby. It spoke well of his substance that he was still on the go in late November, winning the GI Clark H.; and he emerged much stronger than did Arrogate from their clash in the desert the following spring, going on an unbeaten spree of five Grade Is.

The appeal to breeders, aside from his class and constitution, was that it all had such an obvious source: his dam is a Grade II-winning half-sister to another Horse of the Year in Saint Liam (Saint Ballado) with a plenty of supporting quality close up. In broader brushstrokes, his page entwines two branches of the Fappiano dynasty, both away from the Unbridled highway: obviously he extends the line through Candy Ride, but he also brings in Fappiano’s son Quiet American (with his dynamic genetics) as sire of his second dam.

All told, Gun Runner looks abundantly qualified to build on whatever promise he can show in what will, after all, only be his opening skirmishes.

Candy Ride’s growing stature as a sire of sires helped another of his sons emerge as the standout performer of the intake at the yearling sales. Yes, we’ve urged circumspection about the market’s verdict, but Claiborne priced MASTERY (Candy Ride {Arg}–Steady Course by Old Trieste) very fairly at $25,000 and, being no less reliable in the conservative management of his books (139/143/138), they have given their clients a platform for a most rewarding debut at the sales.

Mastery was gold on our “value podium” last year and it feels very hard to dislodge him after he sold as many as 64 of 79 yearlings into the ring at a knockout yield of $129,421–surpassed only by Gun Runner and Arrogate–with mares commensurate with their fees.

There’s no doubting the terrific natural talent exhibited by Mastery in a career that contrasted poignantly with that of the teak Gun Runner, derailed as he was in the very act of announcing himself the horse to beat in the Derby. It plainly serves his cause, commercially, that he was a seven-length Grade I winner at two, but his pedigree underpins his appeal to all breeding agendas, including any that might be disposed to retain a filly.

For his dam is a three-parts sister to the Pennsylvania stalwart Jump Start, and their mother, in turn, is by one broodmare sire legend (Storm Cat) out of a full-sister to another in Miswaki. You couldn’t ask for better seeding of the bottom line, once you get past a dam by one of A.P. Indy’s less fashionable sons: Storm Cat, Mr. Prospector, Buckpasser, Princequillo, Nasrullah. With looks to match, Mastery demands fidelity even among those generally inclined to back off stallions at this precarious stage in their careers. It just feels like the force is with him.

The other stallion to break six figures with his yearling average was PRACTICAL JOKE (Into Mischief–Halo Humor by Distorted Humor), who parlayed a $30,000 opening fee at Ashford into 74 sales (of 92 offered) at $120,243.

This was another Grade I winner at two, in both the Champagne and Hopeful. He stretched out for fifth in the GI Kentucky Derby, but reiterated that Into Mischief speed was his trademark when dropping back for his sophomore Grade I in the H. Allen Jerkens S.

No less than Mastery, Practical Joke has conformed to the standard formula of his host farm with no fewer than 220 mares in his first book and 200 in his second. He maintained turnover with another 188 guests last spring, so he certainly has numbers behind him. That brings its customary risks, but these are acknowledged by consecutive cuts to $25,000 last year and $22,500 this time round.

We know that the usual rules don’t apply to Into Mischief, whose promising start as a sire of sires doubtless contributed (along with his own physical allure) to the popularity of Practical Joke at the sales. But it must be acknowledged that the champion sire’s alchemical powers are well demonstrated by his ability to get such a proficient racehorse from a family as plain as this one.

Practical Joke was well held in third when CLASSIC EMPIRE (Pioneerof the Nile–Sambuca Classica by Cat Thief) just denied Not This Time the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The runner-up has set high standards in their new career and Classic Empire, having joined Practical Joke at Ashford, looks pretty eligible to meet them.

He consolidated his 2-year-old championship in the GI Arkansas Derby, and was only denied the GI Preakness by the head of Cloud Computing (Maclean’s Music). Unfortunately, that proved to be his final appearance, but there’s a beguiling shape to his page: rather like Mastery, his dam is by one of the less glamorous sons of an iconic broodmare sire but the next three dams are by Miswaki, Hoist The Flag and Princequillo–and in this neighborhood it becomes an ancestry shared with Harlan’s Holiday, Boldnesian and Ride the Rails. The second dam was Grade I-placed, so there’s plenty to be working on here.

Nonetheless, Classic Empire has just taken his fourth consecutive cut, now half his opening fee at $17,500. Respite on the fee helped him maintain 122 mares last spring after an opening book of 185 had slipped to 104 in his second year. That big first crop obviously produced plenty of traffic into the ring, with 92 yearlings offered, and he rehoused 66 of them at $89,613. Like all these stallions, he’s at a crossroads now, but recycling his juvenile prowess would certainly keep him in the game.

Starting alongside Practical Joke and Classic Empire at Ashford, CUPID (Tapit–Pretty ‘N Smart by Beau Genius) corralled a staggering 223 mares in his debut book. No less breathtaking, however, was his giddy descent to just 53 mares the following year. I don’t know which of these numbers is more absurd. There’s no way he had done anything like enough to earn a book surpassed nationally only by Into Mischief himself; but nor, when his first foals were barely slithering into the straw, were there any grounds for deserting him with equal haste. What an example of the panicked, neurotic herd instincts of commercial breeders today!

Cupid steadied the ship at 75 mares last spring and, now trading at $5,000 from an opening $12,500, he’s still entitled to show that those who backed him in his first year were right. His yearlings were processed efficiently enough, after all, a very healthy ratio of 68 sold from 82 offered at $46,786.

No surprise, perhaps, in one who himself made $900,000 as a yearling; and his Grade II-placed dam has produced three other stakes/graded stakes winners. After such a dazing start to his stud career, it’ll be fascinating to see which way things go from here. Unraced at two, he won his Grade I around two turns at four, so he’s hardly standardized to the industrial model. But I like a second dam by Vice Regent when Cupid’s damsire is out of a mare by his brother Viceregal, so Cupid could yet land his dart.

Another to join growing competition for the legacy of Gainesway’s champion sire is MOHAYMEN (Tapit–

Justwhistledixie by Dixie Union). Shadwell clients made the most of a very generous price, realizing an average $52,506–seven times his $7,500 fee–for 31 sold of 40 offered.

This is a pretty interesting horse: an unbeaten and accomplished juvenile, including in the GII Nashua S. and GII Remsen S., he went on to Florida and won the GII Holy Bull S. and GII Fountain of Youth S. before running fourth in the Derby. Unfortunately, he lost his way thereafter, but the looks and page that qualified him as a $2.2-million yearling stand undiminished, and his half-brother New Year’s Day (Street Cry {Ire}) obviously has somewhat more resonance than a couple of years ago. Their dam was a dual Grade II winner, also Grade I-placed, and Tapit doesn’t tend to get too many who land running quite like Mohaymen did at two. (And the page has a nice little knot between Tapit’s third dam and her brother Relaunch, whose son Honour and Glory sired Mohaymen’s granddam).

With 121 mares in his first book, Mohaymen could well make his presence felt in the freshmen’s table. Obviously he is not on the most commercial of farms, down to 51 mares in his second year and 59 last spring, but he definitely has potential to renew momentum from here.

This instalment of our ongoing series will be completed in tomorrow’s edition. Part II includes stallions like Klimt, Unified, Connect, Keen Ice, Lord Nelson, American Freedom, Midnight Storm and Gormley, along with our latest value “podium”.

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Veronique a Timely Purchase for Holmes

Tony Holmes has enjoyed sales success with mares he has purchased in partnership with employees of his Marula Park Stud in the past, but next week the native New Zealander and a 22-year veteran of the farm may have success on the next level when they send Veronique (Mizzen Mast) (hip 244D) through the ring during Monday’s first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Holmes purchased the mare, in foal to Mastery, privately after she RNA’d for $22,000 at last year’s Keeneland November sale. It was 10 months later that her son Nashville (Speightstown) made a smashing debut at Saratoga (video), earning the ‘TDN Rising Star’ designation. When the 3-year-old colt romped home by an effortless looking 9 3/4 lengths in a Keeneland allowance (video) Oct. 10, Holmes and his partner decided to supplement the mare to the November sale.

“There is a really nice man who has worked for us for 22 years and I was looking for a mare for us to own together,” Holmes explained of Veronique’s purchase last fall. “I financed the mare and that was the whole objective. He’s been the backbone of our operation and he’s a really nice guy. The plan was to sell babies out of this mare for an income. But things have swung around in our favor, so you’ve got to take them when they do that.”

While Nashville hadn’t made it to the races yet, the colt had made a good impression in the sales ring where he sold for $460,000 to WinStar Farm and China Horse Club at the 2018 Keeneland September sale.

“Obviously, her babies had sold well and I knew that, at that time, Nashville was having a spell,” Holmes said of the mare’s appeal. “I had heard that he had ability and I knew he was at WinStar and having a spell there. I knew there was still hope.”

Nashville was pre-entered in both the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint and GI Breeders’ Cup Big Ass Dirt Mile, but it was announced Monday he would instead target Saturday’s Perryville S. on the championship undercard.

Holmes said Nashville’s impressive victories, and more importantly his potential successes, will likely take his dam’s popularity to the next level in the sales ring.

“I think it’s huge,” he said of Nashville’s promise. “I’ve had mares before and sometimes they win a nice race, but with him, it’s just the way he’s done it. And then Elliott Walden said he’s one of the fastest horses WinStar Farm has ever had. I’ve been in the position before, but not with a horse with this much talent.”

Veronique’s page received another update last week when her 2-year-old Market Cap (Candy Ride {Arg}) graduated by seven lengths at Laurel Park Oct. 30 (video).

The 9-year-old Veronique will sell Monday in foal to GI Pacific Classic winner Collected (City Zip).

“He was a horse who had won nearly $3 million, he was a good-looking horse that [Bob] Baffert trained,” Holmes said of the choice of matings. “I thought he was attractive at that price with his looks and his race record.”

Veronique’s weanling filly (hip 885) by Mastery will sell during Wednesday’s third session of the auction.

“She’s beautiful,” Holmes said of the weanling. “The man that works for us–he obviously owns half of her too–and we have four weanlings in the sale, but she gets the most grooming. Put it that way.”

The unraced Veronique is out of Styler (Holy Bull), a full-sister to GI Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, and she is a half-sister to stakes winner Almond Roca (Speightstown) and graded placed Calistoga (Speightstown). She will be consigned to the November sale by Paramount Sales.

Holmes purchased Crystal Shard (Mr. Prospector) for $23,000 at the 2010 Keeneland November sale, also on behalf of a partnership of his farm workers. Her yearling colt at that time would go on to be GI Wood Memorial S. winner Gemologist. The mare was sold privately at a hefty profit.

Asked what another success would mean for his longtime employee, Holmes laughed and said, “I hope he shows up the next day.”

He continued, “There was another time there we bought a mare together and it was the dam of Gemologist. So he’s been on a bit of a home run, but after he sold that mare, the next night he was out there working overtime. But it could be a real life changer for him. They are nice people. So, hopefully. Could be.”

The Keeneland November sale opens with a single Book 1 sessions beginning at noon Monday. The auction continues through Nov. 18 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

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Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Hopeful Crazy Beautiful Among 14 Horses Supplemented To Keeneland November Sale

Keeneland has announced that Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies candidate Crazy Beautiful along with the dams of Breeders' Cup hopefuls Jackie's Warrior and Mutasaabeq are among the 14 horses supplemented to the November Breeding Stock Sale, which covers 10 sessions from Monday, Nov. 9 through Wednesday, Nov. 18.

Keeneland will continue to accept approved supplements until the November Sale begins.

Supplemented to the premier Book 1, which opens at noon on Nov. 9, are:

– A weanling filly by Kitten's Joy who is a half-sister to 2020 Grade 2 Sorrento Stakes winner My Girl Red and 2020 Smarty Jones Stakes winner Gold Street (Hip 244A). Out of Morakami, a stakes-placed daughter of Fusaichi Pegasus, she is consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, agent.

– A weanling colt by American Pharoah who is a half-brother to undefeated two-time Grade 1 winner Jackie's Warrior, early favorite for the Nov. 6 TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. The weanling (Hip 244B) is consigned by Beau Lane Bloodstock, agent.

– Unicorn Girl (Hip 244C), dam of Jackie's Warrior who is in foal to Into Mischief. Unicorn Girl is consigned by Beau Lane Bloodstock, agent.

– Veronique, dam of impressive undefeated Keeneland winner Nashville, in foal to Collected (Hip 244D). Veronique is consigned by Paramount Sales, agent. Her weanling filly by Mastery is cataloged in the November Sale as Hip 885, while Nashville, a 3-year-old colt by Speightstown who opened his career with an 11 1/2-length win at Saratoga on Sept. 2 and captured his Oct. 10 Keeneland race by 9 3/4 lengths, is cataloged as a racing or stallion prospect as Hip 3328.

– City Success, a full sister to Grade 2 winner and leading Breeders' Cup Sprint contender C Z Rocket, who is in foal to Distorted Humor (Hip 244E). The daughter of City Zip is consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.

– Crazy Beautiful (Hip 244F), a 2-year-old stakes-winning filly by Liam's Map who is a contender for the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. Consigned by Denali Stud, agent, she won the Runhappy Debutante at Ellis Park on Aug. 9 and was second in both the Sept. 3 G3 Pocahontas at Churchill Downs and Keeneland's G1 Darley Alcibiades on Oct. 2.

– Downside Scenario, dam of 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf hopeful Mutasaabeq, winner of the recent G2 Bourbon at Keeneland and third in this year's G3 Runhappy Hopeful (Hip 244G). In foal to Audible, the daughter of Scat Daddy is consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. Her weanling colt by Uncle Mo is cataloged as Hip 232.

Sessions on Monday, Nov. 16 and Tuesday, Nov. 17 will feature horses of racing age and include these supplements:

– Growth Engine (Hip 3422A), a 4-year-old gelding by Tapit who won his last start at Monmouth Park. Consigned by ELiTE, agent, he has finished in the top three in all seven of his races.

– Love and Peace (FR) (Hip 3422B), a 5-year-old mare who is coming off a front-running 3-length win in California and was stakes-placed in France. She is consigned by Paramount Sales, agent.

– Notary (Hip 3422C), a winning 2-year-old colt by Street Sense. A half-brother to Grade 3 winner Bridgetown and stakes winners Clement Rock and Carnacks Choice, he is consigned by ELiTE, agent.

– Olympico (FR) (Hip 3422D), a 5-year-old gelding who is the 123-pound highweight in Sunday's Knickerbocker (G2) at Belmont Park. The five-time winner, who took the 2019 G3 Fort Marcy at Belmont, is consigned by ELiTE, agent.

– Critical Value (Hip 3422E), a 3-year-old daughter of Bodemeister who has two stakes wins at Belmont Park: 2019 Maid of the Mist and 2020 Bouwerie. From the family of Grade 1 winner Critical Eye, she is consigned by ELiTE, agent.

– Edgemont Road (Hip 3422F), a 4-year-old Speightstown gelding who won an Oct. 3 Keeneland allowance for his fourth victory in his past seven starts. Edgemont Road is consigned by Team V LLC.

– Violent Times (Hip 3422G), a 5-year-old daughter of Violence who won the 2020 Ana T. Stakes at Gulfstream. She is consigned by Ashview Farm, agent.

The entire November Sale will be streamed live on Keeneland.com.

The post Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Hopeful Crazy Beautiful Among 14 Horses Supplemented To Keeneland November Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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