Tag: patti reeves

Fireworks For Hard Spun Colt As Momentum Continues Into Fasig-Tipton NY-Bred Sale

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The momentum from last week's record-setting Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Selected Yearlings Sale carried into the first of two sessions of the company's New York-bred Yearlings Sale in Saratoga Sunday night, with a colt by Hard Spun bringing a record-tying final bid of $600,000 from owner Al Gold.

“It was an outstanding session tonight,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “It was a great start to the New York-bred sale. The place was full of people and full of energy again, just like it was for the selected sale. There was broad participation across the board. There was just very, very good trade and enthusiastic bidding. It's a tribute to the quality of the program. It continues to be unquestionably the best state-bred program in the world. The quality of the program increases each year, in terms of pedigree and presentation.”

A total of 64 yearlings sold Sunday for a gross of $6,900,000. The average was $107,813 and the median was $77,000. The buy-back rate was 23.8%.

During last year's opening session of the New York-bred sale, 62 horses grossed $6,497,500. The average was $104,798 and the median was $80,000. The buy-back rate was 24.4%.

Agent Joe Hardoon made the session's highest bid of $600,000 when he acquired the colt by Hard Spun from the Perrone Sales consignment. That figure matched the highest price for a colt at the sale which was set by a Pioneerof the Nile yearling in 2018. The auction's record price was set by a filly by Malibu Moon who sold for $775,000 in 2019.

The Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearlings Sale continues with a final session Monday. Bidding begins at noon.

Hard Spun Colt All Gold At Saratoga

Owner Al Gold, through bloodstock agent Joe Hardoon, went to a co-sales record $600,000 to acquire a colt by Hard Spun (hip 378) from the Perrone Sales Ltd. consignment late in Sunday's opening session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearlings Sale.

“He is a big, beautiful chestnut colt with a lot of size and leg to him,” Hardoon said. “For how big he is, he was very light on his feet. He was a beautiful mover. It looks like he will be a nice two-turn horse. He was really everything we look for in a colt and he's a New York-bred on top of that.”

Gold has enjoyed top-level success this season with GI Arkansas Derby and GI Haskell S. winner Cyberknife (Gun Runner).

“When you have a horse like Cyberknife, you always have to try to find the next one,” Hardoon said. “Al has put so much into this game and he's waited so long for a horse like Cyberknife, we'd like to try to find the next one and not make him wait as long until he can get the next one.”

Consignor Jim Perrone watched the sale of the colt from the periphery of the auction stand while a pair of grooms stood in the ring doing a celebratory dance as the yearling's price continued to escalate.

Perrone was consigning the chestnut on behalf of his breeders, Bill and Jane Moriarty's Apache Farm.

“Bill and Jane Moriarty are unbelievable horse people,” Perrone said. “They are in Camden, South Carolina, they have a little farm. Their son has a farm in New York, it's called Apache Farm North. And Jane, she does everything herself. She foals them all herself. She brings them up there, they stay up here a while and then she brings them right back to Camden. She raises them and preps them. They are great people.”

The yearling, bred in partnership with Godolphin, is out of Passe (Dixie Union) and is a half-brother to the Apache-bred multiple stakes winner and multiple Grade I placed Wonder Gal (Tiz Wonderful).

“This colt has done everything right from day one,” Perrone said. “His name at the barn was 140 because he was 140 pounds when he was born. He was a monster, this guy.”

Of expectations for Sunday's sale, Perrone said, “We kind of felt like $300,000, in that vicinity, would be really good. The kind of people we had on him, we thought he would be ok. We never expected that. It was a great night for everyone.”

 

 

 

More Saratoga Magic for Reeveses

Dean and Patti Reeves, who made the highest bid at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale last year, were back in action at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion Sunday, going to $370,000 to acquire a filly by Good Magic (hip 341).

“I loved her,” Patti Reeves said after signing the ticket on the yearling. “When I saw her, I thought she looked fabulous. They had her on the short list, but I hadn't seen them at all. When I saw her, I said, 'If you're going to get one, get that one.'”

The Reeveses have recently acquired a farm in Micanopy, Florida, which is managed by Nellie and Chetley Breeden, along with Jimmy Gladwell.

“She'll go down there and get in with the rest of them,” said Dean Reeves. “We will be able to get her started early and look forward to how she stands up to the rest of the crop.”

The couple warmed up for the sale with a dominating score by their Big Invasion (Declaration of War) in the Mahony S. at the racetrack across the street Sunday. Friday evening, their colt Senbei (Candy Ride {Arg}) was named 2021 New York-bred champion 2-year-old.

“We really are enjoying the New York program,” Dean Reeves said of their focus on Empire-breds. “We have been successful in it and we're having a good time with it. The incentives of the New York program, being able to get a lot of the money back out of the horse quickly up here in New York is really a big deal for us. It helps turn the money back over for us. It is an integral part of our stable, right now, New York-breds, whether it's here or at Keeneland or at the 2-year-old sales. If they happen to be New York-breds, that's an added incentive for us.”

Hip 341 was consigned by Vinery Sales on behalf of her breeder, Lere Visagie's Rockridge Stud. She is out of graded stakes winner Majestic Heat (Unusual Heat), a full-sister to Grade I placed Mensa Heat.

Visagie acquired the mare, with this foal in utero, for $130,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November sale after she was originally led out unsold.

“I didn't have a lot of expectations,” Visagie admitted, while accepting congratulations Sunday. “I knew I needed to sell the filly and I knew she was good. Obviously, I didn't expect any of this, but now I feel so much better about buying the mare.”

Visagie, who has around 12 mares, said circumstances helped make his six-figure purchase of Majestic Heat.

“I knew she was the best mare I could afford ever,” Visagie said. “Because of the circumstances–somewhat I have to thank COVID because there were not a lot of people there to buy her.”

Sunday's sale came just a day after champion Good Magic was represented by his first graded winner when his daughter Vegas Magic upset the GII Sorrento S. at Del Mar.

“The timing on this was as good as it gets,” Visagie said. “You just sit and enjoy and savor every minute. This is my highest sale. It's life-changing.”

 

 

 

Bolt d'Oro Sets Early Pace at New York Sale

A colt by Bolt d'Oro (hip 314) set the early pace during the first session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred Yearling sale in Saratoga when selling for $355,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent Gregory Martin. Martin signed for the ticket in the name of Jay Provenzano's Flying P Stable.

“He was just a gorgeous individual,” Martin said of the yearling's appeal. “He's put together really nicely and it looks like he will develop into a really nice horse. I love the Bolt d'Oros. He is an all-around beautiful animal.”

Flying P campaigns last year's GII Brooklyn S. winner Lone Rock (Majestic Warrior), as well as last year's GII Bernard Baruch H. winner Tell Your Daddy (Scat Daddy).

Martin admitted the team was almost at its limit with his final price tag.

“The market, I know, is going to be strong,” Martin said. “So we knew what our budget was going to be and we stayed very close to it.”

Consigned by Gainesway, the gray colt is out of Judge Lee (Street Cry {Ire}), a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Euro Platinum. The yearling was purchased by Carolyn Cannizzo's Willow Brook Stables for $120,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton New York Mixed Sale.

“He was a likeable horse,” Gainesway's Brian Graves said of the colt. “That was a little bit more than I thought we would get for him. He was vetted three or four times. I guess it's just a sign of the strength of the main sale and the carryover. Bolt d'Oro is doing well.”

Graves agreed with the sentiments of many horsemen on the grounds.

“I looked around at all the horses and I would say it is a really solid group of physicals,” he said. “It's a little stronger than what I've seen here in the past. Hopefully they all sell this well.”

 

 

 

Blue Chip Gets on the Board

Tom Grossman and wife Lisa D'Angelis, whose Blue Chip Farms is well known in the New York Harness-bred industry, made their biggest Thoroughbred yearling purchase Sunday in Saratoga, going to $350,000 to acquire a filly by freshman sire Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy) (hip 392).

“This is the first big one that I bought as a yearling,” Grossman said. “I have bought some mares and bred and raced, but it's the first yearling that I really stepped up to buy. We want to play on the high end. I think we started there.”

Grossman continued, “We are New York breeders and we understand the value of the program. We breed quite a few Harness horses and have sold some Thoroughbreds well. We love the program, love the filly and love the team.”

 

 

 

Bloodstock agent Conor Foley of Oracle Bloodstock signed the ticket on the filly on behalf of Blue Chip Bloodstock, West Paces, and Flying Partners.

The yearling is out of Reachfortheheavens (Pulpit) and is a half-sister to Grade I winner Real Solution (Kitten's Joy) and graded-placed Ava's Kitten (Kitten's Joy). She was bred and consigned by Jonathan Thorne of Thorndale Farm, who purchased the mare for $100,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale.

“She probably had the best pedigree and the best physical in the sale,” Foley said. “I thought she was exceptional. It was tough to find anything wrong with her. When they walk and act like that and have a pedigree like that, it gives you a lot of confidence. Oscar Performance's start helps a lot. She's a half to a Grade I winner. But even if she didn't have that kind of pedigree, she was still exceptional just as an individual.”

 

The post Fireworks For Hard Spun Colt As Momentum Continues Into Fasig-Tipton NY-Bred Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Tax Team Hoping Perseverance In Pegasus World Cup Will Finally Pay Off

No owners have supported Gulfstream Park's Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational program more than Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and R.A. Hill Stable.

With Tax in Saturday's $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) for the second straight year, Dean and Patti Reeves and Randy Hill will have competed in the headliner four of the five years since the stakes was transformed from the Donn Handicap into one of the world's most lucrative races for older horses. The only year the partners weren't in the Pegasus, they were represented in the 2019 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) with Channel Maker.

Now, they just need to hit the board for the first time in a Pegasus event. Tax finished ninth last year after stumbling badly at the start of the 2020 edition. He's raced only twice since, finishing fifth in the May 2 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) and returning from a 7 1/2-month hiatus for a dominating front-running 4 1 /2-length victory in Gulfstream Park's Harlan's Holiday (G3) Dec. 12. Luis Saez has the return mount for the Pegasus.

“I think he's as good as anybody in the race, and I think we'll be very competitive,” said Dean Reeves, who campaigns his large stable with wife, Patti. “I think this is the best shot for Randy and I, hopefully, to get some of our money back that we put into the Pegasus. Because we've had a horse in it every year since they started it, and maybe perseverance will pay off for us.”

Trainer Danny Gargan claimed Tax out of a $50,000 maiden claiming race in his second career start with owner Hugh Lynch. Gargan offered part of the horse to Reeves and Hill, but they decided they had enough horses and weren't interested. After Tax finished third in Aqueduct's 2018 Remsen Stakes (G2), “We called Danny up and said, 'We just became interested,'” Dean Reeves recalled with a laugh.

The gelded son of the late Claiborne Farm stallion Arch has been a terrific acquisition, including winning Aqueduct's Withers (G3) in his next start for his new owners and taking second in the 2019 Wood Memorial (G2) to land in the Kentucky Derby (G1). While he languished home 15th in a quagmire that day, Tax rebounded to be a close fourth in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and went on to capture Saratoga's Jim Dandy (G2). If he finishes in the top seven in the Pegasus, he'll become a millionaire.

After the Oaklawn fifth-place performance that Gargan says was deceptively good, Tax was given time off with the goal of pointing to the Breeders' Cup. A particularly untimely temperature kept him out of a Breeders' Cup prep race, with the Pegasus then becoming the objective.

“It seems like the best thing we did was giving him some time over the summer,” Dean Reeves said. “He ran as good as we've ever seen him run in the Harlan's Holiday.”

Gargan, who could win his first Grade 1 race in the Pegasus, agrees.

“He's doing tremendous,” he said. “The time off helped him grow up. He's a better horse than he used to be. I think this year is going to be the best of his career. He's bigger, he's stronger, he's doing better, eats better. He looks phenomenal. When he was a young horse, he had some issues, little things that plagued him through his 3-year-old year that have gone away with time and the layoff.”

The Reeveses were fairly new to horse racing, and definitely new to the sport's top echelon, when they bought into a 2-year-old named Mucho Macho Man, whose eventual nine victories and $5.6 million in earnings included the 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Santa Anita. He also finished third in the 2011 Kentucky Derby.

If the Reeveses quickly were at the top of the sport, they subsequently learned how difficult that is to achieve.

“I want to say it was five years before I won a graded stakes again,” Dean Reeves said. “I thought you just go down there and buy you another one, and they're going to be like Mucho Macho Man. It really showed me what a great accomplishment that horse had in his career, what he was able to accomplish with [trainer] Kathy (Ritvo) and the work everybody did. I realized five years later, when Classic Rock won a Grade 3, just how difficult it was. Looking back, it's tough to win a Grade 1. Those are few and far between.”

Mucho Macho Man got better with age, and Dean Reeves believes the same is true for Tax.

“I understand how everybody has to look at it financially,” he said of deals with stud farms. “But we're retiring some of these horses well in advance of them reaching their full potential. I think I saw that in Mucho Macho Man. He ran well as a 4-year-old, finishing second in the Breeders' Cup,  but then won it as a 5-year-old.

“I see a lot of similarities between Mucho Macho Man and Channel Maker, how as they've gotten older how they've gotten so much better,” he added. “And I think they become so mentally tough. I just think Tax is going to have a tremendous year, and I hope we run well in the Pegasus.”

Reeves and Hill finished eighth in the 2017 Pegasus with Breaking Lucky and 12th in 2018 with Toast of New York, while Channel Maker was fifth in the 2019 Pegasus Turf, sparking Reeves to quip, “I'd have loved to have had Mucho Macho Man run in it.”

Mucho Macho Man was sent to stud at age 7 in 2015, his subsequent progeny including 2020 Pegasus World Cup winner Mucho Gusto. With both Tax and the 7-year-old gelding Channel Maker, a leading contender to be voted 2020's male turf champion, Reeves doesn't have to worry about a stallion career.

“Let me tell you: I used to go, 'Oh, it's a gelding. I don't want him,'” Reeves said. “Now, to have a gelding that can run and win money for you for four or five years is great. For Tax, we may run in the Pegasus three times with him or three more times. We may go to Dubai or Saudi Arabia with him. A lot of his competition is retired, so having a good gelding is not a bad deal.

“Channel Maker's another gelding. Look, it isn't all about being a stallion. I mean, we're in it for the races. Hey, if we can win it, they still pay you,” he added.

While Mucho Macho Man retired from the track to a palatial stud home, first at Adena Springs and now at Hill 'n' Dale Farms, most horses don't have such post-racing guarantees. The Reeves' are big supporters of the nonprofit Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, which accredits, inspects and awards grants to its approved aftercare organizations to retrain, retire and adopt out horses using industry-wide funding.

“It's important to make sure retired horses get a good home,” Dean Reeves said. “When you buy them, you think they're all going to be superstars. Some obviously have more talent than others, but that doesn't mean they're not trying. They become like family. When they do leave the nest, so to speak, you want to make sure who they're going to, keeping the (registration) papers so they don't race anymore, just doing your due diligence.

“We've gotten as much satisfaction seeing some of our horses come back as great dressage horses or eventing horses, where people send us pictures of them when they've won ribbons and awards. We just love that. We take a lot of pride in seeing them where they access in a second career,” he added.

The Reeveses also are supporters of accredited TAA facilities such as New Vocations in Lexington, Ky., and South Carolina's Equine Rescue of Aiken and other organizations. They are among the horse owners committing a percentage of any Breeders' Cup earnings, such as Channel Maker's third in the $4 million Longines Turf, to the TAA.

“Patti and Dean Reeves have been very successful in Thoroughbred racing, and they really do care about their horses long term,” said TAA operations consultant Stacie Clark Rogers. “Their stable has been very supportive of the TAA and of our TAA accredited organizations.”

Florida consultant Jay Stone and trainer Kathy Ritvo are instrumental in helping the Reeveses find new homes for their equine retirees. Patti Reeves says she works to spread their horses around and find the best match, including what its new career might be.

She points to Mac Daddy Mac as a prime example. The Reeveses purchased the colt after he won his debut at Santa Anita at 40-1 odds, finishing second in a Grade 3 stakes in his next start. A throat issue compromised his ability, and Mac Daddy Mac was ultimately retired after three more races spread over his 3- and 4-year-old seasons. Now he's finding success in the show world, with equestrian Ashley Keller retraining Mac Daddy Mac into an eventing horse at Chattahoochee Hills Eventing near Atlanta, where the Reeveses live.

“He was a great horse, just loved his job, had great personality,” Patti Reeves said. “We found a new home for him in the Atlanta area at Chattahoochee Hills Eventing. (Keller) taught him dressage, jumping, eventing. What she has done with this horse is amazing. He's just a great example of a horse that just because he couldn't race, he wasn't done. You're involved in racing, but that's just a short part of their life. We care about the entire program for the horse. We don't want to just be good to the horse while they're racing. We want to make sure they end up in good places and are treated well.”

The post Tax Team Hoping Perseverance In Pegasus World Cup Will Finally Pay Off appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights