Meg Levy | Horse Racing Free Tips

Industry Voices: Revised Schedule for KEESEP Sale

Two weeks ago, the TDN reported the news that Keeneland would offer a two-day Book One with Day One RNAs offered at the end of Day Two. Tuesday, Keeneland revealed the entire schedule for the sale, including a shift of the dark day from after Book 1 to after Book 2. We checked in with a mix of industry participants to see what their reaction to the schedule changes were.

Meg Levy, Bluewater Sales
I am very proud of the CBA, and the president, Allaire Ryan, who was instrumental in gathering consensus among consignors and telling Keeneland about it. I think Tony Lacy has been great. He has been very “boots on the ground,” and able to listen. This is something we have been wanting to happen for many years. It's great that the whole place wants to listen and wants to hear your opinion. I've been personally frustrated over how they kept changing the format over the past few years. From a momentum standpoint, this used to be the way that it was done many years ago. The most important thing, I told Allaire, was that the momentum for the buyers be preserved and the way they're doing their business is preserved. The motto of the CBA is “your seat at the table,” and it really feels that way. So, I'm proud of Allaire for doing this. It's so nice to have fresh air in the CBA and fresh air at Keeneland.

Sean Tugel, Director of Stallion Recruitment, Gainesway Farm & Board Member, Consignors and Breeders Association
I think it shows that Keeneland is being more flexible with the industry as a whole. I think it shows the commitment that Keeneland now has in working with the people who fuel the sales. As a member of the CBA board, I know that the CBA is working closely with them and they are listening to what the CBA is telling them as far as what consignors and breeders are wanting to see. So they have their ears open.

Liz Crow, BSW-Crow and Elite Sales
I think it's great. I think Keeneland would have preferred a three-day Book 1, but that's a hard balancing act, getting the right amount of horses between Book 1 and 2. We'll see how it goes. I think they're doing the best they can. I love the dark day being moved between Book 2 and 3, because it goes from around 200 a day to 400 a day really quickly. You get really backed up because it's ship in, show, sell from Book 2 on. As an agent or owner, you only have one day to look at a horse before you have to decide if you're going to buy them the following day. So moving the dark day is a really good idea. A new set of buyers come in after Book 2, so having that dark day makes sense. It's like a shift of one sale to the next. It's a totally different vibe from Books 1 and 2 and Books 3 to 6. It feels really good from my perspective to feel like we're all in this together to make this sale as good as it can be from a buying and selling standpoint. So that they're willing to listen and pivot is really important. I think they want to get to the point where we get a totally set format, but we're not there yet, and I think it's great that they're tinkering. Ideas like the RNAs from Day 1 at the end of Day 2 were tossed around at the CBA meetings, and they took that idea and ran with it. So props to Keeneland for listening and trying. It's so nice to see collaboration between consignors, buyers and the sales company.

Chad Schumer, Schumer Bloodstock
While always happy to see forward thinking and innovation, I'm somewhat unsure about the RNA resale move. I wonder if it would be better to offer these horses late afternoon on the dark day, after buyers have finished looking at Book 3 horses for the day.

Lesley Campion, Paramount Sales
We are very pleased with the new schedule for the Keeneland September Sale. Having the dark day after Book 2 makes complete sense and we welcome it. We would love to see consistency going forward and will do all within our means to make this format work for everyone. We recognize that Keeneland has an arduous task each year with placement, but consistency will help sellers better place and target their horses for their optimal book. We look forward to a strong market this year and can't wait to get started.

Conrad Bandoroff, Denali Stud
As far as the format goes, I have to tip my hat and give Keeneland credit. When they announced they were consolidating a three-day Book 1 into a two-day Book 1, there was a lot of feedback from sellers and buyers about having a dark day after only selling two days. I think buyers were pretty vocal about putting more horses in front of them before taking a break and letting them crack on with it. It affects us because we sell in the first session of Book 2. It affects people in Book 1 and the first part of Book 2. You still have a very important group of horses and you don't have that much time to be with those horses in the barn. We're fortunate that we can divide and conquer, whether it's my dad with one group and me with the other, and I think at the end of the day, even though it puts a little strain on you, it's the right thing to do and it's going to establish some momentum for the sale and keep it going. They listened to the feedback from their customers, both their sellers and their buyers, they took our opinion on board and they made a change after they heard that feedback. We all have the same goal–to put on the best show when you're selling and if we feel this is a change that will establish momentum and help commerce, we're all trying. The fact that they were willing to make that change is a positive sign.

Allaire Ryan, Lane's End
I'm pleased with the schedule for this year's September sale. I know I am not alone when I say I appreciate being able to put our best horses in front of buyers for four consecutive days before a break takes place in the sale. This momentum is vital to everyone involved in the sale process including sellers, purchasers and the auction company. The delayed start times of these four sessions are equally as valuable in my mind. This allows consignors, like us, who sell in back-to-back sessions to effectively manage multiple barn setups and it ensures that potential buyers have time to inspect and vet a range of horses on the sales grounds. I hope that it also translates to longer stays for those buyers, be they domestic or international, who intend to travel to the sale.

Marette Farrell
I am in favor of the new format because it allows people to see more horses over the four days. There are many good horsemen out there who don't need to be shown what Keeneland thinks are the best horses, because as we all know, good horses come from anywhere and everywhere. It is my belief that the more horses we put in the front of the book the better. Therefore, I am a big believer in thinking about a week one and a week two, like in England. The trainers/owners can go home and race their horses on the weekend or attend to their various affairs. Training horses is seven days a week and it's hard to get away for an extended period of time. This move is definitely a step in the right direction.

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Ryder Finney Continues Family’s Racing Tradition

While Memorial Day weekend is thought of as the kick off to the beginning of summer, for Ryder Finney, it also serves as the unofficial start of sales prep season.

Early mornings of bringing in the yearlings, lengthy handwalking sessions under the hot summer sun and tedious hours monitoring the walker. All while analyzing every minute change in each yearling at Bluewater.

It's his favorite time of year.

“This time of year you see an unbelievable transformation in a lot of them,” Finney said. “Their winter hair falls off and they really start to mature and come into themselves. Watching them do that and helping bring them along is my favorite part of the process. It's constant vigilance and observation and if any little thing comes up you've got to be on top of it fast, but it's one of my favorite parts of the business.”

With rich family ties to racing, Finney has been invested in the sport for as long as he can remember.

“My mom [Meg Levy] runs Bluewater Sales, my dad was a bloodstock agent when I was younger and his dad, [longtime Fasig-Tipton President] John Finney, kind of built Fasig-Tipton Kentucky as we know it today,” Finney explained. “On the other side of my family with my stepdad Mike Levy, his family has been involved in the racing business through racetrack ownership, breeding, the whole thing. So I've been very spoiled and got to grow up around it every day.”

Finney didn't fully grasp his unique situation until his teenage and college years, when he left Lexington to attend Lawrenceville Prep School in New Jersey and the University of Pennsylvania.

“I would talk to my friends there whose families were not in the business and it would sort of blow their minds, just the whole concept of the horse industry,” he recalled. “They helped me realize just how cool it was, so I came home and I'm in it every day now.”

The 30-year-old now serves as the Bloodstock Specialist at Bluewater, playing a role in the day-to-day management on the farm while also advising clients with mating plans and at the sales.

One of his closest relationships is with Kirk and Debra Wycoff's Three Diamonds Farm. A longtime client of Bluewater, Kirk Wycoff sent his son Jordan down to Lexington for several summers years ago to work on the farm and learn the ropes of horsemanship. Similar in age, Finney and the younger Wycoff hit it off as they spent summers enjoying their two shared interests: horses and golf.

Finney's relationship with the Wycoff family continued to grow over the years and today, he helps Three Diamonds in a bit of each aspect of their business, from matings to pinhooks to layups.

“Kirk is really involved in the business at every level, which I think is tremendous,” Finney said. “He loves the game from top to bottom.”

Last spring, Wycoff owned a piece of a 2-year-old filly in the catalogue for the OBS Spring Sale. She was by Declaration of War, a stallion Three Diamonds was just starting to enjoying success with through their stakes winner Empire of War. They also had a juvenile colt by the same sire who would be named Fire at Will and later win that year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.

Wycoff wasn't sure if he was ready to part with this daughter of Tread (Arch), so he had Finney visit the Grassroots Training and Sales consignment at OBS and take a look at her.

“She checked every box physically and she worked outstanding,” Finney recalled. “We're always confident buying from Grassroots. Kirk has had horses with Dave and Jody for many years and we know how great a job they do, so he decided to buy her out and the rest is history from there.”

Army Wife strides out of the sales ring after fetching $190,000 at OBS. | Photos by Z

After Finney signed the $190,000 ticket, the bay filly was sent to Mike Maker and named Army Wife.

After three unsuccessful tries on the turf last year, she switched over to the main track and broke her maiden in October. When she came back in an allowance at Gulfstream in March, dueling to get the win by a nose, she had her connections' attention.

“Mike prefers to kind of race them into shape, so with the first race off the bench like that you don't always expect them to fire their 'A plus' shot,” Finney said. “Mike actually admitted before the race that he thought she was going to be a little bit short, conditioning-wise, so the fact that she gutted it out and won like she did really impressed me and kind of made me go, 'Huh, she might have some real talent.'”

Army Wife next finished third in the GIII Gazelle S. after getting into some trouble in the stretch, but Maker was undeterred and pointed her towards the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico.

With Joel Rosario aboard, the 9-2 choice came from off the pace to win by 2 3/4 lengths and earn her first graded victory on Preakness weekend.

After a quick vacation at Bluewater over the last few weeks, Army Wife is now heading back to Maker's barn to start her sophomore summer campaign.

“Kirk likes to let them be a horse for a second and kind of come back to themselves before they go back to the track, which I think is a very underrated concept,” Finney said. “Getting to eat grass and be a horse for a little while is totally rejuvenating for a lot of them. I think Mike is thinking the GI Alabama S. up at Saratoga. He loves the way she's responded to the increase in distance and thinks she'll get even better. Where she runs between now and then is up for debate, but I'm sure Kirk will have a plan. He always does.”

Army Wife has several traits that make Finney believe she has all the components to produce even more success.

“She's a very masculine filly, which I think carries over to her attitude at the racetrack,” he said. “As a 2-year-old she was a big, raw, forward filly. She's a good mover and has a very good mind, always very focused.”

Finney hesitates in saying that Army Wife is the most accomplished horse he's had a hand in, pointing out Grade II winner Instagrand (Into Mischief), a $190,000-turned-$1.2 million pinhook that he was a partner on. But there is one thing he will acknowledge.

Army Wife gets her first graded win in the GII Black Eyed Susan at Pimlico. | MJC

“As far as a horse that has Ryder Finney written on the ticket, yes, this is the best one.”

When asked of his most favorite purchase he's ever made, Finney mentions the first horse he ever signed for- a filly named Turf War (War Front) that he purchased for Martin S. Schwartz for $425,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Select Sale.

“At the time she was kind of a small, round, plain bay,” he recalled. “But she was a very, very good mover, which is sort of what drew me to her. She had a ton of presence for a smaller filly and a really sharp eye. She was the first ticket I ever signed. With my family's history at Saratoga and my great grandad's [Humphrey S. Finney] name on the sales pavilion, I've been going there every summer since I was born, so it's a special place to me and it was special to get her bought there. It was sort of surreal.”

Turf War went on to win the Christiecat S. at Belmont in 2019.

Another favorite for Finney and his family is last year's GI Darley Alcibiades S. winner Simply Ravishing (Laoban), a New York-bred filly Meg Levy bred from a $500 mare.

“When she came to Kentucky, I was one of the first people to see her and she was just a special physical from day one,” Finney recalled of the future Grade I winner. “She handled everything with so much class and intelligence. I was in tears when she hit the wire in the Alcibiades. It was as emotional as I've ever been for a horse race. Because there were no fans at the time, you can hear me on the feed screaming as she was coming down to the wire. It was one of the best days of my life for sure. I was so proud of her.”

Finney is sure to have many more “best days” in racing if he continues picking out winners.

“The Easter egg hunt of a horse sale fascinates me,” he said. “You show up a sale, especially a place like Keeneland September where there are thousands of horses, and you know that only a few of them can really run. The challenge of combing through that massive quantity of horses and coming up with the right one is a really tough game, but it's so rewarding.”

While Finney aims to continue sharpening his eye as a buyer, he's equally passionate about his role as a seller and continuing to build the Bluewater brand.

“It can be very nerve racking,” Finney said of the sales. “I, like my mom, sometimes get nervous and have to leave the barn and stop watching the horses get shown because if one maybe takes a little bad step I go, 'Oh my gosh, they're not going to like my horse because it took one bad step.' It can be a lot because there's so much time and effort, day in and day out, that goes into each animal and you want to see them do their best. You want to see them live up to their full potential.”

The post Ryder Finney Continues Family’s Racing Tradition appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Simply Ravishing Will Try To Rebound In Saturday’s Golden Rod Stakes

Harold Lerner LLC, Magdalena Racing and Nehoc Stables' $350,000 Alcibiades (Grade 1) winner Simply Ravishing will lead a field of 10 promising juvenile fillies that were entered in Saturday's $200,000 Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill Downs.

The Golden Rod has helped launch several fillies on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks including eventual Oaks winners Monomoy Girl, Rachel Alexandra and Silverbulletday. The 1 1/16-mile race is carded as Race 9 with a post time of 4:57 p.m. The race shares the spotlight on Saturday's 12-race program with the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2). First post is 1 p.m.

Simply Ravishing, trained by Kenny McPeek, was a dominant 6 ¼-length winner of the Oct. 2 Alcibiades at Keeneland. The Laoban filly finished fourth in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) on Nov. 6 behind Vequist, Dayoutoftheoffice and Girl Daddy.

The three-time winner will be ridden by 2020 Preakness Stakes (G1) winning jockey Robby Albarado from post No. 8.

Among the other rivals to Simply Ravishing in the Golden Rod is Kueber Racing's undefeated $98,000 Rags to Riches winner Coach. Trained by Brad Cox, Coach is a perfect 3-for-3 in her young career. She'll be joined in the starting gate by stablemate Travel Column. Owned by OXO Equine, Travel Column dazzled on debut by 4 ¼ lengths and returned with a third-place effort behind Simply Ravishing in the Alcibiades.

Joe Talamo will have the call aboard Coach from post 3 while Florent Geroux will ride Travel Column from post 5.

The Golden Rod field also includes WinStar Farm, Blazing Meadows Farm and Michael Lewis' three-time Ohio-bred stakes winner Alexandria and Six Column Stables, Randy Bloch, Jim Gladden and Riverview Racing's New York-bred stakes winner No Mo' Spending.

The complete field from the rail out (with jockey and trainer): Lady Lilly (Tyler Gaffalione, Steve Asmussen); No Mo Spending (Chris Landeros, Ian Wilkes); Coach (Talamo, Cox); Farsighted (Julien Leparoux, Rusty Arnold II); Travel Column (Geroux, Cox); Clairiere (Ricardo Santana Jr., Asmussen); Lady Traveler (Corey Lanerie, Dale Romans); Simply Ravishing (Albarado, McPeek); Princess Theorem (John Velazquez, Brendan Walsh); Alexandria (Gerardo Corrales, Tim Hamm).

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Birthday ‘Wishes’ Come True For Meg Levy

Meg Levy can't remember how she heard about the $500 Thoroughbred mare needing a home in February of 2017, but she's incredibly glad she decided to go see “Four Wishes” on the way to the Fasig-Tipton sale that afternoon.

The daughter of More Than Ready had been abandoned by a previous owner after running up a board bill. She had a Revolutionary foal on the ground and was in foal to the same sire, as well, but Four Wishes wasn't likely to be particularly commercial – the mare's catalog page was not inspiring, and she'd raced five times without ever finishing better than sixth.

It was Levy's birthday, though, and something told the founding owner of the Bluewater Sales consignment agency to bring the mare home. Three and a half years later, the $500 rescue mare has turned into a fairy tale success: Four Wishes' Laoban filly, Simply Ravishing, won the Grade 1 Alcibiades at Keeneland on Oct. 2.

“You just can't make it up, truly, we all need a good story right now,” Levy said. “I was lucky enough to be there when she crossed the finish line! Keeneland is kind of strange and spooky without people there, but you can move around so freely and be really close to the racetrack, and we kind of ran with her to the wire.

“Four Wishes really had all the negatives: she couldn't run a jump, and they always say never buy a mare with two blank dams, well, she had them. … It sounds kind of cheesy when I tell the story, but we'd never had anything happen like that for ourselves.”

After purchasing Four Wishes in February of 2017, Levy sent the mare to Stone Gate Farm in New York in the hopes of making her Revolutionary foal somewhat commercially viable. After the mare foaled a colt that April, Levy decided to send her to first-year sire Laoban on her husband's breeding right.

Four Wishes and her colt came home to Kentucky in the summer, and the following April her Laoban filly was born in the New York.

Levy's son, Ryder, saw the filly first. He sent his mother a text message with a photograph of the filly out in the field.

“Looks like a bunch of early breeders awards to me,” he wrote.

Those words proved prophetic down the road, but there were more bumps in the road before Simply Ravishing's long-predicted success.

Four Wishes' Revolutionary colt was not accepted to the New York-bred sale and brought a final bid of just $8,000 when sold at Fasig-Tipton October in 2018. He wound up headed to Peru, and Levy doesn't know whether the now 3-year-old has yet raced.

Four Wishes was bred to Daaher next, also on a breeding right, but she suffered a dystocia due to the foal's large size, and sadly that foal did not survive. The mare was badly bruised, Levy said, and was given a year off from the breeding shed to recover.

All that happened shortly before Levy was preparing to send Four Wishes' Laoban filly to the 2019 Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale.

“Laoban foals were really selling well, and they were all pretty athletic looking,” Levy remembered. “I was already at the sale, and the crew at the farm was loading the horses on the trailer to ship them up to me. They sent me a text, as people sending me bad news tend to do, that once she got on the trailer she really wasn't happy and kicked the wall so hard she tore up her hind foot.

“She was going to be just fine, but obviously she had to get off the van and couldn't go to the sale. I was really disappointed and admittedly pretty grumpy about it.”

Levy re-entered the filly in the Fasig-Tipton October sale, and hoped that her impressive physical would be enough to draw the right kind of attention.

“As she was growing up, she just was so simple,” Levy said. “She was always stunning, always in motion, always the right weight, always shiny, always correct. There was none of this messing around business with awkward stages; she just stood out.”

Though she lacked a commercially attractive pedigree, the filly's good looks were enough to draw the attention of trainer Ken McPeek. His final bid of $50,000 was enough to land the filly.

“She was just the kind of filly Kenny likes, real athletic-looking,” Levy said. “He doesn't care about the page so much, and I knew he'd give her every chance.”

Levy had known McPeek since the time she had galloped for John Ward, and then worked with him at 505 Farm. When Levy first opened her consignment business in 1999, McPeek was one of her first successful customers.

Oddly enough, it was with another filly who had two blank dams on her catalog page. This filly had trouble passing the veterinary inspection; of 12 vets who scoped her airway, only McPeek's vet gave the filly a passing grade.

McPeek landed the daughter of Dehere for $175,000 at the 2000 Fasig-Tipton July sale, and the following year Take Charge Lady won Keeneland's Alcibiades.

Take Charge Lady had great success on the track, winning a total of five Grade 1 races and $2.4 million, and she went on to immeasurable success as Broodmare of the Year and dam of two Grade 1 winners, Take Charge Indy and champion Will Take Charge.

The similarities between the two fillies' storylines are the kind of thing that just can't be made up, Levy said, laughing. She remembered attending the 2001 Alcibiades and cheering Take Charge Lady to victory.

“I knew so little [about industry protocols] back then,” said Levy. “I ran across the rail to get to the winner's circle for the photo, and I'm sure everybody in there was like, 'Who is this girl?'”

A more seasoned veteran now, Levy was still emotional after Simply Ravishing's big win in the Alcibiades. Her son Ryder, now 29, had been such a huge fan of the filly's from the very beginning, and he'd surprised his mother by asking the farm manager to name Levy the sole breeder for the first time in her career.

McPeek stayed in touch about the filly through her early training, sending videos of Simply Ravishing's progress ahead of her first start.

“I thought, 'Well, she looks pretty good,'” Levy recalled. “I had taken our farm manager to brunch on that Sunday that she ran for the first time, and I missed her race and then my phone just started blowing up when she broke her maiden at Saratoga.”

After her maiden victory on the turf, McPeek stepped Simply Ravishing up to New York-bred stakes company. The race came off the grass, and the filly won by several lengths.

“I thought, 'Wow, this is pretty crazy,'” Levy said. “When he entered her in the Alcibiades, though, I thought, 'Hmm, could this really happen?'”

Apparently, Wishes do come true.

Simply Ravishing winning the Darley Alcibiades

Simply Ravishing won the Alcibiades by 6 1/4 lengths, completely dominating the competition in an impressive gate-to-wire performance. She's likely to be one of the favorites in the upcoming Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

“After this filly won, I actually ran into the guy who'd had Four Wishes at a reining show,” Levy said. “I tried to ask him about her first filly, by Revolutionary, but I guess he sold her as a riding horse prospect and didn't remember much more than that.”

Levy posted a snapshot of Four Wishes' story on social media following the Alcibiades win, and has enjoyed the excited reaction of so many of her friends. One major Kentucky breeder even told Levy's husband that after learning about the story, he went out and rescued a mare himself.

Four Wishes was bred to Speightster for 2021, and Levy is excited to see what the future will bring with her miracle mare. The entire story reminds Levy of a conversation she had with breeder Helen Alexander when she first got into the business.

“I remember asking her to lunch years ago, because she was someone I've always respected from the very beginning,” Levy said. “I asked if I could pick her brain, said, 'I'm trying to find my way and I really need some advice.' She just kind of said, basically, 'Breed your mares well, take care of them well, and they'll take care of you.' She actually called to congratulate me after Simply Ravishing won!”

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