Beloveda, Saguaro Row Top Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale

The Kentucky Winter Mixed sale, the final breeding stock sale before the breeding sheds open, ended Tuesday with gains across the board. The sale took place at Fasig-Tipton's Newtown Paddocks in Lexington, Ky.

Beloveda (Hip 328), a daughter of Ghostzapper in foal to Street Sense, topped the sale when sold for $510,000 from the consignment of Gainesway, agent.

A graded stakes placed winner herself, Beloveda is the dam of two winners from three to race, including stakes placed Mistress of Love (Scat Daddy). The chestnut mare is a half-sister to graded stakes winner and stakes producer Golden Mystery, as well as of All Saint's Day, whose six winners to date include stakes winners Holywell and Sinister Brew.

The sale's top racing/broodmare prospect was multiple stakes winner Saguaro Row (Hip 675), a six-year-old daughter of Union Rags.

The bay mare was purchased for $500,000 by Catherine Hudson, agent from the consignment of Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services, agent. A two-time stakes winner and graded stakes placed runner, Saguaro Row earned $342,354 for owners Newtown Anner Stud Farm and Mark D. Breen and trainer Michael Stidham. She is a half-sister to stakes winner Pinnacle Peak out of a half-sister to champion filly and Grade 2 winner My Wandy's Girl.

Stakes winner Whoa Nellie (Hip 625) was the best-selling broodmare prospect, purchased by $450,000 by St Elias Stables from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Fox Hill Farms. A twice graded stakes-placed stakes winner, the daughter Orb won six times for owner Fox Hill Farms and trainer Larry Jones, with earnings of $353,830.

Other broodmare prospects sold for $400,000 or more include:

  • Gold Standard (Hip 671), a multiple stakes placed winner by Medaglia d'Oro sold for $435,000 to Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings from the consignment of Gainesway, agent for Stonestreet and LNJ Foxwoods; and
  • Fiftyshades Ofgreen (Hip 640), a stakes placed daughter of Bernardini, sold for $400,000 to St Elias Stables from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent.

The sale's top short yearling came in the form of a Nyquist colt (Hip 480) out of multiple Grade 2 placed winner Honey Chile. The chestnut colt was purchased for $170,000 by Machmer Hall from the consignment of Bill Reightler, agent. The West Virginia-foaled colt's second dam is multiple stakes winner Christmas Time, who also produced his dam's multiple stakes winning full brother Prince of Time.

Last-out Jimmy Winkfield Stakes winner Hello Hot Rod (Hip 672) sold for $335,000 as the top racing and/or stallion prospect. The dark bay Maryland-bred colt by Mosler was purchased by George Sharp from the consignment of ELiTE, agent. Hello Hot Rod is a half-brother to five-time stakes winner Hello Beautiful, from the immediate family of Grade 2 winners Hello Liberty and Significant Form.

During the two-sale sale, 425 horses sold for a gross of $12,506,700, up 28 percent from $9,777,100 for 368 sold in 2020. The average was $29,428, an 11 percent increase over last year's average of $26,568. The median rose 18 percent from $8,500 in 2020 to $10,000 this year. The RNA rate fell 6 percent from last year to 18.9 percent.

Full results are available online.

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Nyquist Filly Romps to Aqueduct Maiden Score

4th-Aqueduct, $77,600, Msw, 2-8, 3yo, f, 1m, 1:38.47, ft, 15 1/2 lengths.
MO DESSERTS (f, 3, Nyquist–Frozen Treat, by Dynaformer) was third behind Monday's Ruthless S. third-place finisher Dealing Justice (Commissioner) and the reopposing O'Gotten Girl (Competitive Edge) in her six-furlong debut at this oval Jan. 10. The 6-5 second choice prompted the pace from the rail as 4-5 favorite O'Gotten Girl was narrowly in front. Mo Desserts grabbed command nearing the far turn and, while the favorite kept her company on the bend, she shrugged off that foe at the top of the lane and stormed home to graduate by 15 1/2 lengths. Mo Desserts, a $300,000 FTSAUG yearling, is a half-sisterto Ketel Twist (Dixie Union), GSP, $192,477. She has a 2-year-old half-brother by More Than Ready. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-1, $53,600.
O-Late Night Stables LLC; B-DJ Stable, LLC (KY); T-James A. Jerkens.

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‘Just Tickled To Be Able To Race’: Lieblongs Enjoying Early-Season Success At Oaklawn

Prominent Conway, Ark., owner Alex Lieblong said he spent a lot of time late last year at his vacation home in the Florida Keys.

Understandable.

Lieblong, among other things in 2020, broke his foot, contracted coronavirus and as chairman of the Arkansas Racing Commission was in the middle of a bitter legal fight to award a casino permit in Pope County.

“I just said, 'I'm going to hide down there,' ” Lieblong said.

Lieblong is back and so are the horses he and wife JoAnn own and now campaign at their home track, Oaklawn, with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

The Lieblongs recorded their first career Oaklawn triple Jan. 24, when Asmussen saddled favorites Earner ($3.80), Willful Woman ($4.20) and unbeaten Abrogate ($3.60) to win races 2, 3 and 8, respectively.

“I felt good and they were training well,” said Alex Lieblong, 70, who watched the races from home. “It was a good day to do it.”

The Lieblongs were Oaklawn's third-leading owners last year with 11 victories and the triple pushed their career total in Hot Springs to 117. They entered the game in the early 1990s and won their first race at Oaklawn in 1999, although JoAnn Lieblong, in partnership, recorded several victories earlier in the decade with noted Little Rock, Ark., owner Patricia Blass.

Now established owners and breeders, the Lieblongs normally keep roughly 20 horses in training – the bulk are now at Oaklawn with Asmussen – and have approximately 14 broodmares at Ocala Stud in Florida, where they stand their Grade 1 winner, The Big Beast.

The trio of Jan. 24 winners were all purchased at auction – Earner for $425,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Willful Woman for $400,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale and Abrogate for $270,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Abrogate, who cleared her first allowance condition in the sprint for 3-year-old fillies, is from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Outwork. She is 2 for 2 in her career (both sprints).

“I watched the gallop-out two or three times and it didn't seem like she was just collapsing after the line, I'll put it that way,” Lieblong said, referring to a potential future route attempt. “She's got a good mind and she's not a run off. She was so gorgeous at the sale. To pay that for an Outwork – that was at the outer limits for an Outwork filly, although I think Outwork is going to prove himself to be a pretty nice sire.”

Willful Woman, another 3-year-old filly, is from the first crop of champion Nyquist. She is a half-sister to the Asmussen-trained Ever So Clever, winner of the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies in 2017 at Oaklawn.

Willful Woman was making her third career start after running third twice last fall in Kentucky. She broke her maiden at a mile.

“We knew (Abrogate) was a good filly,” Lieblong said. “The other one needed to show a little something and she did. She's had a growth spurt. I can tell that. She's gotten big, that Willful Woman. I was worried that the mile might be a tick too short for her, but she looked pretty impressive herself.”

The Lieblongs have two other horses at Oaklawn with trainer Steve Hobby of Hot Springs and another with trainer Ron Moquett of Hot Springs. The Lieblongs also have had a long business relationship with trainer David Fawkes, who is based in south Florida. Skip Intro, a 3-year-old half-brother to 2020 male sprint champion Whitmore, is with Moquett. The trainer also conditions Whitmore, a seven-time Oaklawn stakes winner.

The Jan. 24 triple vaulted the Lieblongs into the top spot in the Oaklawn owner's standings after the first three days of the scheduled 57-day meeting. They have at least one victory at every Oaklawn meet since 2001, including a career-best 12 in 2019. The Lieblongs were Oaklawn's third-leading owners in 2019.

“I always remember David Fawkes telling me one time that everything can be going so good and then all of sudden somebody just kind of rolls a hand grenade down the center of your barn,” Lieblong said on the eve of 2021 Oaklawn meeting. “I thought, 'That's about like it is.' About the time you think you have things lined up, here comes the hand grenade. We're just tickled to be able to race. You've got to hand it to Oaklawn to get it done. They've jumped through a lot of hoops to get it done.”

Oaklawn raced, uninterrupted, through the COVID-19 crisis last year, though without spectators for the final 29 dates of the 57-day meeting. Oaklawn's 2021 meeting began Jan. 22 with limited spectators, owing to Arkansas Department of Health guidelines.

In addition to The Big Beast, the Lieblongs have campaigned Grade 1 winners Wicked Whisper, Embellish the Lace and Telling, Grade 2 winners I Spent It and High Dollar Woman and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Spring Included. They still race Bye Bye J, another multiple local stakes winner who is scheduled to make her 2021 debut Feb. 4 at Oaklawn. Bye Bye J is among the top Arkansas-bred female money winners in history. The Lieblongs also raced millionaire Duke of Mischief, winner of the $500,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) in 2010, in partnership with Fawkes and the horse's breeder, Marilyn McMaster.

Alex Lieblong heads Lieblong & Associates, Inc., a financial advisory firm in Little Rock, Ark.

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Vequist & Essential Quality Take Home Juvenile Championships

Vequist (Nyquist) cemented her status as the leader of what appeared to be an open division earlier in the fall with a decisive score in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Nov. 6.

The dark bay finished second in her July 29 debut at Parx, but her connections clearly had plenty of faith in her after that effort, sending her to Saratoga for the GI Spinaway S. Sept. 6. She demolished the field that day, earning her diploma by 9 1/2 lengths and becoming her freshman sire's first Grade I winner. Second to Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief) as the favorite next out in Belmont's GI Frizette S. Oct. 10, Vequist turned the tables on that rival next out at the World Championships at Keeneland, winning by two lengths at odds of 6-1.

Essential Quality (Tapit) started on his path towards the roses and stamped himself as the top juvenile male of the year with a perfect 2020 season. Tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' off a dominant graduation in his Sept. 5 unveiling at Churchill Downs, the Brad Cox trainee scored another good-looking win in Keeneland's GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity S. Oct. 3. The gray returned to that venue for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 6, where he rallied from well back to register a 3/4-length victory.

Owned and bred by Godolphin, Essential Quality is out of GSP Delightful Quality (Elusive Quality), a half-sister to champion juvenile filly Folklore (Tiznow), whose own half-sister Rhodochrosite (Unbridled's Song) is the dam of 2020 Japanese Triple Crown hero Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

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