Peter O'Callaghan | Horse Racing Free Tips

Breeders’ Spotlight: In Response to Evolving Landscape, Woods Edge Builds Reputation as a Breeder

We know it as a tried-and-true consignment that has been making headlines at the Keeneland September Sale for over 20 years now. And we know its figurehead Peter O'Callaghan as one of the sharpest pinhookers in the game–flipping a $400,000 American Pharoah colt into a $2.2 million Keeneland September yearling in 2018 and before that, pinhooking a $180,000 War Front weanling into a $2.5 million yearling at the same sale back in 2013. But what's relatively new for us, when considering Woods Edge Farm, is finding the operation listed as the breeder of a growing number of accomplished racehorses.

In recent years as Woods Edge has turned its focus toward selling its own foals, more and more of their six and even seven-figure Keeneland September scores are coming from their own homebreds. The results are showing up on the racetrack too. Just this month, Woods Edge celebrated its first Grade I winner.

Du Jour (Temple City) had been knocking at the door of Grade I status for some time before his victory in the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. He came on the scene with a win in the GII American Turf S. in 2021 and since then has been a competitive turfer first in New York and then back in California, but the Bob Baffert trainee finally earned his breakthrough victory in his 6-year-old debut in the Kilroe on March 3.

It was almost a Grade I double for the farm that day because in the next race at Santa Anita, Reincarnate (Good Magic) came up only a few lengths short in the GI Santa Anita H., finishing third behind fellow Baffert trainee Newgate (Into Mischief).

The winner of the 2023 GIII Sham S., Reincarnate was Woods Edge Farm's first Kentucky Derby starter. He didn't perform as hoped at Churchill Downs, but came back to win the Los Alamitos Derby later last summer.

O'Callaghan picked Reincarnate's dam Allanah (Scat Daddy) out of the back ring at Keeneland in 2018. She was in foal to Street Boss and he bought her for $105,000.

Reincarnate as a yearling ahead of the Keeneland September Sale | Thorostride

“She was a nice Scat Daddy mare, a big, strong gray mare and a good walker,” O'Callaghan recalled. “She was a stakes winner herself and she had a bit of family. She's the kind of mare we're looking for in Book 2–in our budget but has some credentials. $105,000 was about the top of what we would give that year.”

O'Callaghan sent Allanah back to first-crop sire Good Magic and the resulting foal was Reincarnate, who was a show-stopper from the start and sold for $775,000 at Keeneland September to the partnership of SF Bloodstock, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables.

“He was a killer,” the Irishman said proudly. “Really just an absolute stunner, this big, beautiful gray horse. Every time you looked at him he was better. He looked like a horse who would win a Grade I, so I hope he can eventually get it done.”

While Reincarnate was a knockout for Woods Edge, Du Jour proved to be a bit of a head-scratcher.

O'Callaghan bought his dam Guiltless (Bernardini) at the 2015 Tattersalls December Mares Sale. He tried to flip the maiden mare in the U.S. the following spring, but ended up buying her back for $60,000.

“She was a Bernardini and she was from the family of Ghostzapper, but she was small,” he recalled. “If you're small at Tatts, you're definitely small for here.”

The horseman wasn't all the sorry about keeping the young mare and just two years later, she produced Du Jour. He was a big, strong-looking colt and O'Callaghan had high hopes for him, but an injury that had left a scar in a joint kept him off many buyers' lists come September.

“I remember coming back down from the ring after selling him for $19,000 thinking, 'How the hell did I just sell that horse for $19,000? What's going on here?' He had a clean sheet and he was a great-looking animal. But Carlos Morales and Joe Appelbaum bought him in the back ring and they were rewarded.”

Du Jour would go on to sell for $280,000 the following spring as a 2-year-old, but looking back now, O'Callaghan doesn't mind being on the unprofitable end of the deal. He's been on the other side of a good pinhook many a time and as a consignor, understands the importance of being practical when it comes to his clearance rate.

“It's important to peg it right,” he said. “You don't have to give 'em away, but you can't be looking for the last penny either. Set them where you think they'll sell and just go on with it. Let people bid for them. If you're in the selling game, I believe it's important to be known as a seller.”

O'Callaghan, a trusted source for many buyers at the Keeneland September Sale, has long been regarded for his eye for horseflesh and the record of his yearling program. Graduates include the likes of future Grade I-winning stallions Knicks Go, Drefong, Eskendereya and Street Boss.

The variation in focus from pinhooks to homebreds was slow at first, but it gained momentum after positive early results. The commercial operation is now up to foaling out 40 of their own mares this spring.

The reasoning behind the shift? O'Callaghan noticed the market's demand for quality increasing and knew the pinhooking game at the level he hopes to compete at would only become more challenging as the trend continues.

“We don't want to be too one dimensional,” he explained. “It's a quicker turnaround with the pinhooks and a slightly better cashflow situation, but it's just becoming a very high risk, expensive game to play with the way the market is going. I'm not trying to criticize the market. There's a lot of money out there and a lot of demand for quality, but the buyers want it all. When you have a lot of those expensive foals, some of them won't quite finish out like you maybe thought they would and then you'll always come up with a few veterinary issues so all of a sudden you're in trouble with a quarter-million dollar foal. Your back is to the wall.”

O'Callaghan is still busy buying weanlings every November, but the homebreds growing up back at the farm give him the flexibility to find the right additions for their program.

“We were giving yearling prices year on year for these foals and a couple would work, but then you'd have to eat a couple that really hurt you,” he said. “We were under too much pressure to have to fill the barns with bought foals. At least this way we have 20 or 30 homebreds at home and we can be a bit more selective on what we're buying and more disciplined on what we spend. We don't have to chase them as hard.”

One of the early success stories as O'Callaghan began making a pointed effort to develop his own broodmare band was the Speightstown mare Nefertiti, whom he bought in foal to Into Mischief for $125,000 in 2014. That resulting foal was Engage, who sold for $200,000 as a yearling and became a two-time graded stakes winner and earner of over $800,000.

But O'Callaghan found it difficult to work the breeding stock sales shopping for both mares and pinhook prospects, trying to catch mares in the back ring while also chasing down weanlings. Luckily he soon obtained a secret weapon of sorts in his wife Jenny.

Du Jour scores in the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. | Benoit

A graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start program who also hails from Ireland, Jenny was working at WinStar Farm when the pair got to know each other. They were married in 2017 at Woods Edge.

Jenny began helping O'Callaghan at the November Sale each fall, focusing on finding mares that would fit their program. There were several years where she herself was pregnant, due right after the first of the year, so she planted a chair in the back ring at Keeneland and did her shopping from there.

“We called it the mare chair,” Jenny recalled with a laugh. “I would sit in the back ring and Peter would be back and forth chasing after foals going to the barn. I'd be in the mare chair and call him every time there was a nice mare in the back ring. Later on when I wasn't pregnant, we wanted to make it a priority. So I would go look at the mares and create a shortlist. That made it much tidier and we were able to stretch a little bit more because we had done our homework.”

The results from the team's new sales strategy are starting to show. In 2021 when Reincarnate brought 775,000, they had two more homebreds sell for half a million in September. A City of Light colt out of Miss Mo Kelly (Congrats) brought $500,000 and another colt by the same sire and out of Ghostslayer (Ghostzapper) sold for $1.05 million. Ghostslayer, a $110,000 Keeneland November buy for Woods Edge in 2018, also produced a $700,000 Arrogate colt in 2022.

Their numbers are growing too. In 2013, 9 of the 50 yearlings Woods Edge sold at Keeneland September were homebreds. Last year, there were 18 homebreds from 51 sold. Also last year, Woods Edge purchased eight mares out of Keeneland November.

“We've been getting more aggressive the last two or three years,” Jenny noted. “We stay within our budget and we can compromise on most things, but we never compromise on looks. We always try and get the sire line, the race record, the family and the looks, but that's a million-dollar mare. We'll never sacrifice the looks, so sometimes we have to go all the way down to the maiden-winning fillies in the racehorse section.”

“I think everybody is migrating toward that,” O'Callaghan added in reference to making the physical aspect a priority. “All the people who used to flip mares and cover them, they've all learned that too. Unless the mares are good-looking, those guys really don't get much profit on them now. If they are good-looking, they get well-paid for them. I think the game has changed in that direction.”

O'Callaghan had plenty of experience developing his eye for a good physical long before Woods Edge opened its doors. Back home in Ireland, his parents Gay and Annette O'Callaghan own Yeomanstown Stud, home of the ultra-successful sire Dark Angel (Ire). When O'Callaghan was growing up, his father would travel to Keeneland every year to shop for mares and pinhooks. After finishing school and spending three seasons at Ballydoyle, O'Callaghan came to the U.S. upon his father's suggestion. He worked a season at Nick de Meric's and then came up to Lexington to learn from his father's longtime friend Gerry Dilger.

In 2001, O'Callaghan was set to come back home. But his father proposed that he stay an extra week or two to look around for a farm to lease. Gay joined him when he got to town for the November Sale and they went searching for properties with realtor Arnold Kirkpatrick.

“They were all quite nice, but it was difficult to find anything particularly outstanding,” O'Callaghan recalled. “Then Arnold said he was going to show us one more place, but that it was not for lease. So we drove to Woods Edge and did a handshake deal with him on the spot to buy the place. It was a stunning farm and a great location. Everything came with it; it was absolutely turnkey. So all of a sudden we were going from leasing a hundred acres to owning 350.”

Peter and Jenny with Ghostslayer's 2024 filly by Flightline | Sara Gordon

Woods Edge quickly grew from there. They purchased an annex to the property on Old Richmond Road a few years later and then added a 300-acre location next to Juddmonte Farm on Jacks Creek Pike.

With Woods Edge now foaling over 60 mares each year between their own broodmare band and client mares, the ample space of the farm's sprawling pastures provides an ideal setup to raise their foals on open, rested pasture space.

O'Callaghan jokes that the farm is “horse heaven” because any member of the equine species that resides on the property far outlives their life expectancy. When he purchased the original Woods Edge acreage, the farm came with two ponies. He was told not to worry about them because they were already quite old. One pony lived for another 15 years and the other, Misty, still resides on the farm today at the age of 34. The tiny old mare earns her keep as an excellent babysitter for the weanlings and a reliable source for snail-paced pony rides for the O'Callaghan clan.

The O'Callaghans have three boys ages five, four and two and they also have a daughter on the way.

Balancing a hectic schedule with three young kids and a business with several dozen employees is no easy task, but the O'Callaghans appreciate the family aspect of their chosen industry.

“I think we work really well together,” Jenny said. “We do all our matings together and we make major decisions together. Peter is the day-to-day and definitely the talent, but I learn from him every day. I think with this industry, you just have to live for it. It's all-consuming. We're on the farm every day and the kids love it. We hope that they can enjoy it as much as we do. When we go past Keeneland on the way to school they ask if we can go to the sales. They associate Buckles the Keeneland mascot with Santa.”

“Every year after we finish up the November Sale, we go to the farm and go through the homebreds,” she continued. “We're so proud of the stock that we have and just pinch ourselves because of the job that Peter and his team do every day. [Our farm] is just huge, open fields. All day, every day, the horses come up for a couple of hours in the morning just to be checked and handled and then they go straight back out again. They are big and strong and fluffy and everything a beautiful horse should be. We go through the stock and think, 'This is just the dream.' Not everything is perfect, but on the whole we're really pleased with where our program is going and what we're producing.”

There's plenty to look forward to as the year progresses. While Du Jour continues to make a name for himself in the turf division and Reincarnate searches for that Grade I victory, a pair of Woods Edge-bred sophomore fillies have bright futures ahead. Midshipman's Dance (Midshipman) won the Mockingbird S. early this year and was fifth in the GIII Honeybee S. while Our Pretty Woman (Medaglia d'Oro) is two for two for Courtlandt Farms and Steve Asmussen and is pointing for the GII Fair Grounds Oaks.

While their strategies may evolve, the foundation that Woods Edge was built on hasn't cracked. The philosophies that were set in place more than 20 years ago, when Woods Edge first hung its banner out at Keeneland, still hold firm today.

“I've always been very forthright and honest with all the clientele that buy off Wood Edge for the last 20 plus years,” said O'Callaghan. “It's important to feel that they know that they can trust what we're offering and trust what we tell them.”

“It's a small business, but it's also a relationship business,” he continued. “We've kind of stood the test of time, but it's only because we have good relationships with people. We are as straight as a gun barrel with anyone that asks us anything about any of the animals. We're not going to sell anyone a horse with an issue. We just won't. We want to come back the next year and be able to look whoever it is in the eye and know that we did right by them.”

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Value Sires For 2024, Part 4: Into The Teens

Today we'll consider some of the sires standing between $10,001 and $19,999. For a long time, I called this the Lookin At Lucky zone. But don't worry, we won't be deploring his neglect yet again: he's staying in Chile, where they evidently appreciate him rather more.

Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the equation–we gave them a separate assessment, to open the series–we're left with three groups still untested on the track: those expecting their first foals; those who have just sold their first weanlings; and those actually about to dip a toe in the water with their first runners.

Pending that crossroads, many find themselves somewhat adrift against a bunch of older sires who have survived that test. These fit this tier either because they are losing stature or, more cheerfully, because they have carved out a viable niche as an affordable source of winners.

First the young guns. Of those who sent their first yearlings to auction this year, the ones who really nailed it, unsurprisingly, vaunted the kind of speed that pinhookers crave.

VOLATILE burned brightly in a light career, not seen again after confirming his Grade I caliber against a small but select field in the Vanderbilt. His 112 Beyer in the Aristides S. (1:07.57) was the highest of 2020 and duly secured 181 mares the following spring. Himself an $850,000 yearling, with a GI Test/GI Ballerina winner as granddam, his $125,431 average was boosted by a spectacular $1.15 million docket for a Book 1 filly at Keeneland in September. Nudged back up to $15,000 (from $12,500), Volatile has three hefty books behind him and will be the horse to beat for the freshman title next year.

But not even his median yield of 4.3 on his opening fee ($75,000/ $17,500) could match that of COMPLEXITY, whose $65,000 median (never mind his average $90,400!) multiplied his $12,500 fee by 5.2. Complexity started with some serious volume by the restrained standards of his farm, and then followed through with another three-figure book in his second season. He was clearly in the same vicinity as Volatile as a mature horse (110 Beyer in the GII Kelso) but was the more accomplished juvenile, wiring a Saratoga maiden (90 Beyer) before a decisive success in the GI Champagne S. on his second start. His half-sister ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, so their unraced dam is obviously channelling the good stuff.

VEKOMA is meanwhile working the Spendthrift system with remarkable efficiency, having started out (at $20,000) with staggering volume, entertaining at least 200 mares in each of his first three seasons. This year he processed 102 of his first yearlings at $98,432, albeit was unsurprisingly stretched somewhat thinner by a median of $60,000. Though confined to eight starts across three seasons, he was class from beginning to end, posting big numbers for his Grade I double in the Carter and Met Mile. From a stallion-producing family, he's a horse I've liked all the way through and everything is in place for him to look after many (albeit probably not all!) of his (very many!) clients at $15,000.

Knicks Go | Sarah Andrew

Among those in this intake offering rather more stretch, one or two suffered horrible yearling medians relative to conception fee. But one who made a solid start off $12,500 was Bolt d'Oro's half-brother GLOBAL CAMPAIGN: 74 yearlings sold at $63,195 (median $43,500). This was a more talented animal than generally appreciated and I can see him proving himself a bargain gateway to Curlin. A closer look at his family shows that it tends to produce faster types than are associated with the seeding sires, and Global Campaign's first crop of 126 live foals may surprise a few people with their dash.

Of those who sold their first weanlings this fall, meanwhile, the one that will sort out the sheep and the goats is KNICKS GO. No questioning his talent, it was just never quite obvious where it all came from–albeit his dam maintained stakes speed through four seasons. Those who didn't require a more familiar pedigree were delighted to see a Horse of the Year introduced at just $30,000. Well, now they can get him for half that, even though he's still nearly 18 months away from the opportunity to demonstrate whether or not he can replicate his brilliance! At this money, some people will surely want to roll the dice.

Even as it is, his weanlings sold a little better than those of SILVER STATE. But it's very early days for the latter, whose pedigree in contrast elucidates all the class he manifested as a runner. A friendly clip to $15,000 should hopefully keep him in the game because this horse equipped to prove a really wholesome influence.

The subsequent intake features some truly frightening books, but I will resist dwelling on that here. Suffice to say that those playing a longer game might quite like a filly by either SPEAKER'S CORNER or MYSTIC GUIDE. Both have taken an early trim at Darley, respectively to $17,500 and $12,500, and their pedigrees shout distaff influence.

We'll have to see how many of the youngsters will endure even in this relatively modest tier, a few years from now. Nor does a flying start bring any guarantees, as UNION RAGS could caution them. The halving of his fee to $15,000 acknowledges the way he has faltered, having stood at $60,000 between 2018 and 2020. Trade for his latest yearlings made this further cut imperative, but he's still the same horse that so quickly came up with five Grade I winners. Hopefully he will find a little oxygen now that he has descended to more accessible altitudes.

Studmate DAREDEVIL has taken his second cut since returning to the U.S., now down to $15,000, but of course it's only in 2024 that we'll get to assess the first juveniles conceived after Swiss Skydiver prompted his urgent repatriation. Their sales performance demanded a mild trim in fee, but he could easily be poised for fresh momentum.

MENDELSSOHN has also taken consecutive cuts, similarly now available at $15,000. He has so far been more about quantity than quality but his supporters will hope that he can still emulate four others, standing at the same fee, who have all done admirably to create a lasting foothold in this most slippery of markets.

The first of these, DIALED IN, is something of a blue-collar hero. He maintains such high volume–corralled 175 mares last spring, his 10th at stud–that it will always be hard, with the raw materials available at this level, to make his ratios “sing”. But Defunded has once again shown the caliber within his competence as his third elite scorer. Dialed In gets his work done at a fair tariff, and will keep plugging away to leave behind many of those now starting at multiples of his fee.

Cairo Prince | Sarah Andrew

CAIRO PRINCE has also created a sustainable brand for himself through six crops, as attested by a solid book of 129 mares last spring. A set-your-clock black-type producer throughout, he's now entering the territory where he can legitimately prove a mare–and of course he gets such a nice type, the average ($54,194) and median ($40,000) of his latest yearlings duly best among this proven quartet.

MIDSHIPMAN is a true yeoman and it's typical of this business that he should have had a quieter year (by his very special standards) both on the track and in the sales ring after finally doubling his fee to $20,000 last year–due recognition for having punched above weight for so long. His lifetime stats remain ridiculous for a stallion who has largely been a four-figure cover: 47 stakes winners at 6.4 percent of named foals, nine at graded stakes level; and 101 black-type performers overall, at 13.7 percent. The trim back to $15,000 brings him back towards the reach of breeders who most appreciate just what he can do for their mares.

KANTHAROS, who has really pulled himself up by his bootstraps, had another very solid year on the track. He has made the same slip in fee, reflecting a tepid book of mares last spring and a challenging yield on yearlings conceived at $30,000. But that was an experience shared by many sires exposed to a porous middle market, and the fact is that Kantharos lurks only just outside the top 10 in the 2023 general sires' list with a dozen stakes winners, including a couple at graded level. His lifetime ratio of stakes runners–11 percent of named foals–remains outstanding for a horse whose first five books were compiled in Florida at just $5,000.

He sired two Grade I winners at that fee, and now has another millionaire in Grade II winner Bay Storm. The first of his two $30,000 books were juveniles this year, and we know how they will keep thriving. That guarantees Kantharos imminently entry into the top 20 active sires on lifetime earnings. All he needs to do is supplant… Lookin At Lucky!

VALUE PODIUM

Bronze Medal: CONNECT
Curlin–Bullville Belle (Holy Bull)
Lane's End $15,000

Connect | Sarah Andrew

Amid all this talk about stud fees being too high, credit is overdue to Lane's End for anticipating the mood in the room. From Flightline down, the farm made 11 cuts across their 2024 roster. All were meaningful, and some nearly brutal, effectively conceding that one or two stallions were drifting into trouble and needed some decisive help. Bravo! The very opposite of burying your head in the sand, and in the present environment I hope it works out both for the farm and its clients.

One stallion who can certainly benefit is Connect, restored from $25,000 to his 2021 fee of $15,000 after the crop conceived that year returned a tepid median (albeit a perfectly acceptable $45,774 average) at the yearling sales. He'd also suffered a real slump in his book last spring, down to 45 from 172 in 2022! But we're accustomed to seeing horses treated like this, once they have served their commercial purpose, and should sooner marvel at the impression he must have made with his first crop to get such a big book (up from 93 in 2021) in his fifth year at stud.

Sure enough, only Gun Runner and Practical Joke banked more prizemoney as freshmen in 2021, and only Gun Runner had more winners. Unfortunately Connect did not then consolidate especially well, but he has made a timely return to form this year with eight stakes winners, three at graded level, plus a GI Kentucky Oaks third in The Alys Look. Moreover, his first-crop flagship, the juvenile Grade I winner Rattle N Roll, failed by just half a length to add another elite score in the GI Stephen Foster S. That horse was a $55,000 weanling but has now banked $1.7 million across three seasons.

Connect's pedigree is not without its challenges but he's another to bring Curlin within range and had real prowess as a racehorse, a blip in the Travers his only defeat in seven starts (four triple-digit Beyers) up the grades after debut. He outkicked none other than Gun Runner in the GII Pennsylvania Derby and, while he won't be doing that again any time soon, he's actually siring winners at a higher percentage of named foals.

With that bumper crop of weanlings in the pipeline, and now a lenient fee, this looks a good time to re-Connect.

Silver Medal: KARAKONTIE (Jpn)
Bernstein–Sun Is Up (Jpn) (Sunday Silence)
Gainesway $15,000

Karakontie | Sarah Andrew

How pleasing to see this undervalued stallion moving his book back up last year, up to 86 from 48. Perhaps his hour has come at last, now that the minority prepared to breed to a quality turf sire in the Bluegrass have been deprived of English Channel and Kitten's Joy.

If you're enlightened enough to see the growing need for turf quality in the U.S., then you might also recognize that you don't always have to fly first class to Tattersalls. With a fifth crop on the track, Karakontie has still only had 174 starters, but seven have won graded stakes. For the second year running, moreover, he had an elite scorer in She Feels Pretty, winner of the GI Natalma S. before failing by barely half a length to overcome a wide trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Karakontie's premier earner Princess Grace meanwhile continued to thrive in Australia, missing Group 1 scores by a neck and half a length.

Even after a hike from $10,000, Karakontie is an awful lot of horse for this fee. He converted some of the most regal blood in the book–his third dam is Miesque herself–into a turn of foot that won him a Group 1 at two and then a mile Classic, before doing all he could to endear the American market in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Don't forget that he restores Sunday Silence to the Bluegrass through his dam, herself out of a half-sister to Kingmambo. His international pedigree and participation alike are a measure of our debt to the program that produced him.

The American market has not really grasped its privilege, with this horse, but the elevation in his fee tells you everything you need to know: he's being used by people who want to breed a runner, whether in their own silks or to boost a mare. Actually, Karakontie is perfectly capable of a home run at the sales, including the $525,000 filly at Keeneland in September whose buyers will have been delighted to see her full-sister (who herself made $280,000 the previous year) win the Tepin S. last month. His lesser specimens may struggle commercially, until the environment improves, but that won't trouble those eccentrics who calculate value according to the odds of ending up with a runner.

Gold Medal: MITOLE
Eskendereya–Indian Miss (Indian Charlie)
Spendthrift $15,000

How naïve of me to imagine that all those commercial breeders who flocked to the new sires in 2020 wanted nothing more than to land on the champion freshman of 2023. Because Mitole, as he closes in on those laurels, finds himself the only one of the four Spendthrift sires dominating this table to remain on the same fee in 2024.

Mitole | Louise Reinagel

Now, clearly this farm needs no help in how to make their remarkable machine run smoothly. The Spendthrift team know that Mitole was the one who took the biggest slide of the quartet, in the inevitable slackening of demand for their second crop of yearlings. But they had already ensured that these were conceived more affordably, trimming him from $25,000 in his debut season to $15,000. That was partly a concession to the Covid market, but it also offered such obvious value about a champion sprinter that he maintained the enthusiastic support of 184 mares even last spring, after topping 200 in each of his three previous seasons.

In other words, the system is functioning smoothly and Mitole has played his part so well that he approaches the winning post with a narrow advantage over Maximus Mischief (my serial “gold” pick, I might add, after starting at $7,500!) by prizemoney and also a wafer-thin one by individual winners (32 from 79 starters).

Whether or not he holds out, Mitole is the only one of the four to have a graded stakes scorer–and so joins Flameaway and Solomini in what has been a weirdly unproductive group, by that measure-in GIII Pocahontas S. winner/GI Alcibiades runner-up V V's Dream.

The precocious Maximus Mischief has shown a lot more of his hand (77 starters from 122 named foals) and remember that Mitole (79 from 145) himself only squeezed in a single start at two, in late November. It was as a 4-year-old that he racked up his four Grade Is–including that resonant Met Mile/Breeders' Cup Sprint double, and a stakes record at the intermediate distance in the Forego. So it seems fair to suggest that he has only just got started.

By now Mitole has surely stifled misgivings about his sire, himself after all a brilliant performer and a conduit of corresponding genes. Eskendereya's fifth dam is Cosmah, and doubles up her half-sister's son Northern Dancer top and bottom. It was presumably his unfashionable sire that confined Mitole to $20,000 as a yearling–but then along came kid brother Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), himself a $17,000 short yearling, to reiterate the merit of a family cultivated by the late Edward A. Cox Jr.

Hot Rod Charlie has now followed Eskendereya to Japan, where they have made a habit of exposing crass commercial trends in Kentucky. But here's a horse making the family assets work even in this less imaginative environment, and his debut at the 2-year-old sales–behind only Omaha Beach in the key freshman medians–suggest that Mitole will be taking out a long lease on the attention of pinhookers.

Sires In The Teens: Breeder Selections

Aidan O'Meara, Stonehaven Steadings

Aidan O'Meara | Keeneland

Gold Medal: Volatile
One of the best angles for success in the commercial breeding field is identifying a future leading stallion in the early stages and this sometimes requires taking a leap of faith breeding when their first runners are about to run. Volatile has been the breakout star at the yearling sales this year, mirroring his sire's first crop results a few years back. He's a beautifully built horse himself and passed his physique on with remarkable consistency. He's been very well supported by breeders and will have plenty of ammo in his first few crops to give him every opportunity. If his offspring have legitimate ability, he will skyrocket up the stallion ranks and $15,000 will look like the deal of the decade.

Silver Medal: Connect
The crop of 2021 has all been overshadowed by Gun Runner's incredible achievements, but Connect has been quietly developing a very solid career for himself. He has shown consistency with three graded stakes winners again this year and a strong supporting cast of stakes horses. He has also shown the ability to get the all-important high-class horse with Rattle N Roll. He measures well in all statistical categories and looks to be a stallion that can establish himself long term in the mold of a Midshipman/First Samurai/Blame type.

Bronze Medal: Audible
The Spendthrift quartet has garnered most of the attention from this year's freshmen and rightly so but one horse is simmering just below these and that horse is Audible. His 14% stakes horses with his first 2-year-olds cannot be ignored and his own racing career suggests there is more improvement to be had as they mature. He's a beautiful horse that can throw the right kind as witnessed by his first crop of yearlings. $15,000 is very intriguing for a horse with some potential future upswing and worst-case scenario has shown plenty of ability for longer term success at this price point.

Peter O'Callaghan, Woods Edge Farm

Peter O'Callaghan | Fasig-Tipton

Gold Medal: Midshipman
This stallion has been very good to us both on the track and in the sales ring. We recently bred first-time-out 2-year-old winner Midshipman's Dance; pinhooked Grade II winner Special Reserve; bred Leucothea and co-bred Amidst Waves, both of whom are multiple stakes winning 2-year-olds. He is a very consistent and well-respected sire, standing for an affordable $15,000. You can sell one well at the sales and he produces winners every weekend at the track.

Silver Medal: Mitole
Obviously a brilliant racehorse and looks to be turning out some good 2-year-old winners this second half of the year. Must be a horse worth a punt at $15,000. We are breeding to him again this year.

Bronze Medal: Vekoma
A brilliant racehorse, a high class 2-year-old who trained on, winning some high-profile races in the GII Bluegrass S. going two turns at three. Then winning the GI Carter H. and GI Met Mile at four in impressive fashion. Furthermore, he is a very well-bred son of Candy Ride (Arg), out of the GISW Speightstown mare Mona De Momma from the family of Mr. Greeley.

He is a good-looking horse who seems to sire plenty of good-looking stock. We have bred to him each year and have bought foals by him in each crop, he has not let us down so far.

I think he is a horse with a legitimate shot to be a sire standing at an affordable fee of $15,000.

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$425K Chameleon On Top As Book 3 Opens at Keeneland November

LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale entered its Book 3 section Saturday in Lexington. Leading the day's trade was the 4-year-old broodmare Chameleon (Candy Ride {Arg}), who sold for $425,000 to the bid of Terri Burch of Stoneway Farm. The mare, in foal to Practical Joke, was bred and consigned by Mt. Brilliant Farm.

During the session, 243 horses grossed $15,012,500 for an average of $61,780 and a median of $50,000. The average was down 27% from last year's opening Book 3 session and the median was lower by 23.08%. With 80 horses reported as not sold, the buy-back rate was 24.77%. It was 26.63% a year ago.

There were just six horses to sell for $200,000 or over Saturday at Keeneland, compared to 16 a year ago.

“It shows how polarized our sales are right now because I came over here today and RNA'd them for $20,000 and then we sold one for $290,000,” said Tommy Eastham, whose Legacy Bloodstock offered two of the horses to reach $200,000 on the day. “The market is good, but it's really selective. It's very polarized. It just makes us better horsemen. We need to be better consignors, take better care of our horses because little penalties that you used to be able to get away with, that were maybe 20% penalty in the past, are fatal for your sale now. I hope it gets a little better and spreads out a little bit, but if you tick all the proverbial boxes, it's still really good.”

Weanlings from the first crop of Yaupon have been in demand all week and two colts by the Spendthrift stallion led the foals Saturday, selling for $220,000 to Brownsboro Racing and for $205,000 to Peter O'Callaghan's Cavalier Bloodstock.

While the weanling market has been competitive all week at Keeneland, O'Callaghan said he has noticed a drop-off in quality from years past.

“Unfortunately, the quality is not here,” O'Callaghan said. “We used to have a big list of horses in Book 3 at Keeneland November every year, but we are in single digits this year. There are not as many people offering the good weanlings as there used to be.”

O'Callaghan continued, “It's clear they are holding on to them. But if you're smart, selling the weanlings is a smart business. There are a lot of end-users here, the competition is not nearly as strong as the yearling market and the vetting–there is no comparison to how stringent it is at the yearling sales. I'm starting to think I should start selling a few myself. It's been a hot trade for the quality, there's just not enough quality here.”

The Keeneland November sale continues through Nov. 16 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

Chameleon to Stoneway Farm

Chameleon (Candy Ride {Arg}) (hip 1437) will be joining the broodmare band at Jim Stone's Stoneway Farm after selling for a session-topping $425,000 Saturday at Keeneland. The 4-year-old mare, bred and consigned by Mt. Brilliant Farm, sold in foal to Practical Joke.

“She's a very attractive mare in foal to Practical Joke who just had two double raises in his stud fee,” Stoneway's Terri Burch said after signing the ticket on the mare. “We are looking for big, attractive mares. We lost one of ours this year that was in foal to Jack Christopher, so we were looking to find something to replace her.”

Home to some 15 mares, Stoneway lost the mare Ahh (Saint Liam), dam of multiple graded winner Ahh Chocolate (Candy Ride {Arg}), this year.

“We have a lot of that family, so we were looking for something in a family we didn't have with a lot of winners and stakes horses in it,” Burch said.

Chameleon is a daughter of stakes winner Secret Someone (A.P. Indy). Her granddam is Private Gift (Unbridled), who produced multiple graded winner Private Mission, as well as the dam of Grade I winner Dunbar Road.

Stoneway Farm campaigned multiple graded winner Stonetastic (Mizzen Mast), who the operation purchased for $77,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September sale. The gray mare joined the farm's broodmare band and her filly by Gun Runner sold for $925,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“It's so much cheaper for us to race one of our own and make it a stakes horse then try to come over and buy one,” Burch said. “We've been very successful buying them on the cheap and they turn into graded stakes horses and we bring them home to the farm. So we are hoping we get great babies out of [Chameleon] because she's so beautiful.”

Terri Burch | Keeneland

Yaupon Weanlings in Demand

Weanlings from the first crop of Grade I winner Yaupon (Uncle Mo) have sold well all week at Keeneland, with 20 sold through four sessions for an average of $164,500 and three selling for $400,000 or over.

The top two weanlings to sell during Saturday's session of the auction were colts by the Spendthrift stallion, with Peter O'Callaghan's Cavalier Bloodstock going to $205,000 to acquire hip 1319 from the Grovendale Sales consignment, and hip 1430, from the Legacy Bloodstock consignment, selling for $220,000 to the phone bid of Brownsboro Racing.

“He's a very good-looking horse himself,” O'Callaghan said of Yaupon. “He's out of a Vindication mare, so that's a great influence and it must be coming through, between the Uncle Mo, [Uncle Mo's sire] Indian Charlie, and the Vindication–all of the above. I think he's really a nice horse. I have to hand it to him, they are very consistent. Each session almost, from Fasig, to Keeneland Books 1-3, there has been a couple of star colts and fillies by him each day. It's been impressive.”

Bred by St. Simon Place, hip 1319 is out of the unraced Sunday Driver (Quality Road) and from the family of graded stakes winner Skippylongstocking.

Hip 1430, bred by Scott Pierce, is out of stakes winner Cartwheelin Lulu (Bustin Stones).

“They are really nice horses,” Legacy's Tommy Eastham said of the first crop of Yaupon. “You know how the market is once they figure out the pretty ones. Yaupon is one of the prettiest horses I've seen. Frank Taylor said it best, he's one of the prettiest horses since Unbridled's Song.”

Of the session-topping weanling, Eastham said, “This was colt was great-minded, he did everything we asked him to. Even after he'd been out 111 times, we knew he was tired, but he never failed us. Every horse gets tired, but the ones that keep going are the ones that make a difference. We are really grateful to the people like Scott Pierce who send us these horses.”

Hip 1319 | Keeneland

Opening Act Sets the Pace

Opening Act (Ghostzapper) (hip 1223) went to the lead midway through Saturday's fourth session of the Keeneland November sale when bringing $290,000 on a phone bid from Steve Spielman of Nice Guys Stables. The 3-year-old, who sold in foal to Golden Pal, was consigned by Legacy Bloodstock. Out of Laffina (Arch), she is a half-sister to multiple Grade I winner Bast (Uncle Mo). She raced twice for Michael Tabor and trainer Wesley Ward, finishing third in her debut at Turfway in January.

“She is a beautiful mare,” said Legacy's Tommy Eastham. “She is once covered, carrying a colt. She is beautiful minded and has a big pedigree with an update. Body language counts, even in the horse business and she came out and did everything we asked of her. She had a tremendous following at the barn.”

The mare's 2-year-old half-sister Royal Slipper (Uncle Mo) graduated by a front-running 4 3/4 lengths for Tabor and Ward at Keeneland Oct. 6.

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$500k Justify Colt Paces ‘Solid’ Fasig-Tipton October Opener

LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale, which produced record-setting renewals in 2021 and 2022, opened Monday with solid, if less spectacular figures, than a year ago.

A total of 257 yearlings grossed $11,224,800 Monday. The session average of $43,676 was down 10.5% from last year's opening day and the median of $20,000 was down 25.9%.

“It was a solid opening session,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “I think the results were basically in line with expectations and what we are seeing throughout the marketplace in 2023. There was strong demand on the upper-end horses and less demand than you would hope on some of the lower-end horses.”

The buy-back rate was 26.4%. It was 27.5% last year.

“There is selectivity amongst the buying group,” Browning said. “And it appears from talking to people that there is very close scrutiny on vetting. If you get a little ding here or a ding there, the buyers are basically just passing on your horse rather than offering you a discount.”

The session was topped by a son of Justify who sold for $500,000 to the bid of John Stewart. The Triple Crown-winning sire was also responsible for the day's second highest offering with De Meric Sales purchasing a colt for $300,000. In all, 10 yearlings sold for $200,000 or over. Eleven hit that mark during last year's opening session.

“It's always slow the first day,” said Peter O'Callaghan, whose Woods Edge Farm consigned the session topper. “You have to be a little bit lucky that you are catalogued a little bit into the day almost each day. But there is always a market here. I love this sale. I've had a lot of luck here. It's saved our bacon many times. Fasig-Tipton do such an amazing job here, accommodating everyone in this market. And they do a great job recruiting people to come in for it.”

The Fasig-Tipton October sale continues through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

Stewart Back in Action at Fasig October

John Stewart, who made a splash at last month's Keeneland September Yearling Sale when buying 13 yearlings for $8,425,000, got on the board during the first session of the Fasig-Tipton October sale when going to $500,000 to acquire a colt by Justify (hip 227) for $500,000 from Peter O'Callaghan's Woods Edge Farm consignment.

John Stewart, who purchased the opening night session topper, HIP 227 | Fasig-Tipton

“The horse looked like a beautiful specimen,” Stewart said after bidding for the yearling alongside bloodstock agent Gavin O'Connor and manager Chelsey Stone. “We actually have wanted to pick up a couple more horses at this sale before really coming out strong in November at the breeding stock sales where we have some things planned. We are just trying to balance out the portfolio of horses that we have right now. This Justify colt is a great addition. We just liked everything about the horse.”

The gray yearling is out of Champagne Royale (French Deputy) and is a half-brother to Grade I winners Majestic Harbor (Rockport Harbor) and Danza (Street Boss).

“As I've said, I am a buyer, not a bidder,” Stewart said. “So we were buying the horse regardless. I am happy with $500,000. I think we got a good deal. There is a lot of money left on the table for us.”

O'Callaghan purchased the colt for $250,000 as a weanling at the 2022 Keeneland November sale. He RNA'd for $325,000 at last month's Keeneland September sale.

“I think the six weeks made a difference,” O'Callaghan said. “He was a beautiful animal in September, but he was a 25th of May foal and maybe he just had a slightly young look about him. Even though he was a well-grown horse, he just hadn't got that rugged, robust look about him yet in September. We were just hoping to get our investment back today, but we are delighted with the $500,000.”

Stewart's September haul included a pair of seven-figure yearlings, led by a $2.5-million daughter of Uncle Mo (hip 337).

“Most of them are already broke,” Stewart said of his September yearlings. “Now we are talking with trainers to get the right fit for them. And our first horse, Shiloh's Mistress (Vino Rosso)–who was our first purchase at Keeneland last September [2022]–just ran last Sunday at Keeneland. She ran well.”

Stewart, who is founder and managing partner of the Lexington-based private equity firm MiddleGround, may soon have a new home for his horses.

“We put an offer in to buy Shadwell Farm['s Shadayid Stud],” Stewart said. “So we need to stock that up–800 acres that we've got to fill up with some horses. That's what we are trying to do.”

Stewart came back a little later in the session to acquire a filly by Good Magic (hip 266) for $150,000 from the Indian Creek consignment.

Barber Continues War of Will Buying Spree

Gary Barber watched War of Will carry his colors to victory in the 2019 GI Preakness S. and now the owner is supporting the stallion in his next career at Claiborne Farm. Barber purchased 14 yearlings by War of Will at the Keeneland September sale last month and he added a 15th yearling to his roster when going to $230,000 for a colt (hip 194) from the Denali Stud consignment.

“War of Will has been very good to both Gary and me,” said Mark Casse, who trained the Classic winner. “We are going to give him the best chance we possibly can. The good thing about the War of Wills is that they should be able to do anything–dirt or turf, short, long. We are excited about them.”

Barber and Pantofel Stables purchased a pair of colts by War of Will (hip 844 and hip 2508) for $200,000 to be his top-priced purchases by the stallion in September. Monday's purchase was the owner's most expensive yearling purchase by the stallion.

“I've been fortunate to be around some pretty good sires through my years and I think this horse has great potential,” Casse said. “Gary feels the same way and he is putting his money up to show it.”

Hip 194, bred by Michael Hernon, is out of Callista (Tapit) and is a half-brother to Diamond City (Shackleford). Callista is a daughter of Grade I winner Sweet Talker (Stormin Fever) and a full-sister to stakes winner and graded placed Sweet Tapper.

“The horse that we bought today looks as much like dad as anybody,” Casse said. “But I can tell you they are all really good sized, for the most part they have vetted really well. We've already started breaking. We've got 15 or 20 that are in the early stages of breaking. And they have been extremely smart. They are doing everything right. He was a brilliantly smart horse and could do anything. And so far, that's what we are seeing in the babies.”

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