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Where Are They Now: Blindwillie McTell

In this TDN series, Christie DeBernardis will tell the stories of accomplished and/or popular former racehorses who are now enjoying second careers as show horses, track ponies, etc.

This “Where Are They Now” story is a bit of a personal one for me. I first met popular New York-bred stakes winner Blindwillie McTell (Posse), affectionately known as Willie, back in 2018 when he was just a 2-year-old.

I was there the day he made his debut, finishing a game second at 19-1 in a state-bred maiden special weight at Aqueduct. The gutsy little bay impressed trainer Linda Rice enough for her to enter him in a stake next out and he proved worthy of her faith, splashing home to a good-looking graduation in the NYSS Great White Way S.

Willie opened his 3-year-old season in similar fashion, taking the Rego Park S. in his next outing, much to the delight of his exuberant owner/breeder Jerry Zaro. He took the Mike Lee S. two starts later and, once again, I stood in the winner's circle with Willie and his proud connections.

Willie's talent on the racetrack made him a fun horse to be around throughout his career, as did his winning personality. A very friendly and happy horse, he always tried his heart out and did so with plenty of enthusiasm, making him a barn favorite during his four seasons in the Rice barn and a personal favorite of mine.

In April of 2021, Willie let Rice know he had enough. She refused to run him for a low claiming price and Zaro agreed, so the decision was made to retire him. Being a gelding, the best option for the three-time stakes winner was finding a new home as a show horse.

I had recently assisted Rice in placing a horse named Mental Model (Into Mischief) with a friend of mine, who now successfully competes him as an eventer. So the conditioner turned to me to find a home for the lovable Blindwillie McTell.

I always knew Willie was special. I also knew he would love to have his own person and would give that individual his all in any discipline they tried together. I wanted to make sure Willie found a person who would recognize how special he was and would give him the best chance to thrive in his new career. So, I turned to one of my best friends, Caroline Letts, a hunter and jumper trainer based in Colts Neck, New Jersey, who had plenty of experience with off-track Thoroughbreds.

Letts was quick to say yes and we brought Willie to her facility in May of 2021. Under her guidance, my favorite little racehorse-that-could blossomed into a talented hunter and jumper. Her 16-year-old working student successfully competed him in Thoroughbred classes at a recognized horse show that September.

Since then he has taught lessons to kids as young as 12 and competed successfully in a variety of horse shows in both the hunter and jumper divisions. He even helped me achieve one of my dreams of climbing aboard one of the racehorses I had the privilege to follow or work with during my career. He is still as much of a perfectionist and overachiever in his new career as he was on the racetrack.

Willie continues to gain fans everywhere he goes. He is a barn favorite at MCL Equestrian and has a leaser, who adores him. His fans from his racing days, those that love New York racing and fans of Bob Dylan, for whom Blindwillie McTell was named, still follow him diligently. As expected, my old friend Willie is still a winner in everything he does and I'm just thrilled to still be a part of it.

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Where Are They Now: Ninety One Assault

Lousiana-bred Ninety One Assault (Artie Schiller) was a bit of a hometown hero at Fair Grounds, where he scored seven of his eight lifetime victories, including three stakes wins for trainer Tom Morley. However, he was also a familiar face in New York as well, calling Belmont home for part of the year.

The hard-knocking gelding was a family favorite for Morley, his wife Maggie Wolfendale and their two daughters, Grace and Willow. So, when it came time for him to retire, there was no question that he would remain in the family, becoming Wolfendale's personal riding horse and top toddler babysitter.

“He was very special to both Tom and I because we owned most of him,” Wolfendale said while standing beside the now-9-year-old gelding just after a ride. “When he won his first Louisiana Champions Day Turf S., we were in England. Obviously, it was late there. We all stayed up and watched it, sitting around his dad, who struggled with Parkinson's disease. It was this big eruption of joy when he got up and won. He has truly been our family horse. He is a very special horse to us, so we always knew when it was time to call it quits on his racing career, that he would come home with us.”

The Morleys privately purchased Ninety One Assault in partnership with Paul Braverman after he broke his maiden in his 13th start at Belmont in March of 2017.

“We bought him because he was a Louisiana-bred and we were going down there,” Wolfendale said. “He became this horse that we all loved. He won several stakes at Fair Grounds and most of his other races, except his maiden score, which was at Belmont.”

Ninety One Assault, or Boo as he is affectionately referred to by Wolfendale, quickly became a barn favorite for the Morley team.

When asked if she galloped him in the mornings, Wolfendale said, “If I won the fight to gallop him! He was literally the horse that when you went in and looked at your set list and had him, everyone else went, 'Oh man, you got Ninety today!' Everybody wanted to ride him because he was such a lovely gallop. He was very easy. Everybody got along with him.”

Ninety One Assault thrived on his annual trips home to Louisiana. He won seven times during his five seasons in NOLA, including two editions of the Louisiana Champions Day Turf S. and the 2020 renewal of the Dixie Poker Ace S. The bay made his final start at Pimlico in April of 2021.

“He developed a little bit of a suspensory issue when he was coming back in 2021,” Wolfendale said. “He had already had ankle surgery at that point too. Tom decided that he wasn't going to push on him to get him back as a 9-year-old [in 2022], so that is when we decided to retire him.”

The lifelong horsewoman continued, “It is very expensive to keep horses in Long Island and we didn't live where we do now, which is 10 minutes from the farm. So at first, we sent him to Kentucky with Jamie Hernandez. She turned him out for six months to recover from the suspensory issue. She started him back in early March of this year and did a lot with him. She took him to shows and took him to lessons every week, so he got a nice, well-rounded start and education. I figured I could afford to keep him in Saratoga and, weirdly, have the time there because we had a split schedule with the [NYRA] T.V. [show]. Then we moved to the North Shore and Boo got to come with us.”

Ninety One Assault has been as much of a pleasure to handle in his new career as he was on the racetrack and has transitioned beautifully, according to Wolfendale.

“I've mainly had the war horses throughout my career,” she said. “It is so individual and depends on their personality as to whether the transition will be easy or not. He was an easy racehorse to handle and ride, so the transition was pretty easy for him. The things it sometimes takes a while for racehorses to get used to, like cross ties and mounting blocks, he took to with no problem.”

She continued, “As far as riding him, he is so smart and wants to please. He loves when you tell him he's a good boy. If you show him something once and he messes it up, he is not likely to mess it up again. He's just that kind of horse. Tom and I always joke that he may not come from much pedigree wise, but he is the star athlete, straight A student, prom king-type. Boo has a lot of class to him and he makes all of us happy. The girls can go out and graze him and stuff like that and he is very respectful to them too.”

As for what's next, Wolfendale hopes to take her trusty mount to the show ring, if she can find the time between assisting her husband with his racing stable and working as one of NYRA's on-air analysts.

“I've been taking lessons,” Wolfendale said. “He has been responding so well to that. I think we could get to the point where maybe next spring we could go to shows and be competitive in jumpers or eventing.”

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Keeneland September Establishes All-Time Record Gross

At the conclusion of Thursday's 10th session, the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale became the highest-grossing auction in Keeneland's history with total sales weighing in at $399,940,000. The previous record of $399,791,800 was set during the 2006 September Sale.

With two sessions remaining, a total of 2,488 yearlings (through the ring) have sold for $399,940,000, an increase of 14.63% over the same period last year when 2,428 horses sold grossed $348,885,500. Average price of $160,748 is up 11.87% from $143,693, while the median of $85,000 is 13.33% above $75,000 in 2021. RNA rate was down a tick from 20.21% to 19.32%.

Heading yesterday's action, a colt by red-hot young sire Girvin (Hip 3504), who has his first runners this year, topped the second of two Book 5 sessions of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Thursday when hammering for $290,000. Bred and consigned by Brookdale Sales, he was bought my Mick Wallace, agent for St. Elias Stables.

The Seitz family purchased Hip 3504's dam, SP Into Summer (Into Mischief), for $60,000 at last year's Keeneland January Sale with this colt in utero.

“He has developed really well,” said Brookdale's Joe Seitz. “My brother Freddy [Seitz] bought that mare down at OBS carrying this colt and brought her back home, so that is why he is a Kentucky-bred. He has been really nice all along. Girvin started to take off here with his 2-year-olds, which was nice. It was great watching him develop all summer and fill out just as those horses were running. The sire moved up to Kentucky, which gave the yearling even more profile. When we got up here, he stood out. People on the sales grounds started talking, word spread and everyone came for him.”

The horseman continued, “He was very exciting. He had a whole lot of vetting. He was shown 92 times in one day of showing. In Book 5, that is incredible. He handled it like a champ. He walked really great and covered a lot of ground. He never got tired.”

Keeneland ringman DeJuan Smith, profiled in Thursday's TDN, successfully pinhooked his $23,000 Palace Malice colt for $50,000 (Hip 3452).

For Thursday's session, 308 yearlings summoned $10,335,000 compared to the equivalent 2021 session when 303 youngsters grossed $9,194,000. Average was up from $30,343 to $33,555 and median was up from $23,000 to $25,000. RNA rate was about even at 12.75% compared to 12.17% in 2021.

“It has been non-stop at the barn,” Seitz said. “When I go up to the ring with a horse, all of the people in the back ring are all over me for information. It feels good.”

The two-day Book 6 begins Friday at 10 a.m.

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Echo Again Becomes Sixth Rising Star for Gun Runner

Echo Again (Gun Runner) was no secret coming into this debut and ran to the hype, becoming the latest 'TDN Rising Star' for his sensational young sire with an eye-catching graduation at Saratoga. Away quickest of all from the center stall, the 3-5 chalk seized the early advantage and seemed well within himself as he coasted along through opening splits of :22.39 and :45.66. Turning for home with a head of steam, the gray opened up with ease while under a hand ride from Ricardo Santana, Jr. to win for fun by 6 3/4 lengths. Summonyourcourage (Practical Joke) was best of the rest in second. The Winchell homebred is the sixth 'TDN Rising Star' for last year's leading freshman sire and Horse of the Year Gun Runner, who was campaigned by the same connections.

Echo Again is a fourth generation Winchell homebred. Current stable principal Ron Winchell's father, Verne Winchell, acquired and campaigned the colt's fourth dam Carol's Christmas (Whitesburg) back in the early eighties. The winner's SP dam Teardrop also walked the Asmussen shedrow, as have her older offspring SW & GSP Pneumatic (Uncle Mo) and SP Costa Terra (Gun Runner). Teardrop is a half-sister to GI Forego S. winner and sire Pyro (Pulpit), GSW War Echo (Tapit), SW & G1SP Farrier (Tapit), and MSW & GSP Longview Drive (Pulpit). The 11-year-old mare produced a filly by these connections' Copper Bullet in 2021 and had a Gun Runner colt Apr. 24 of this year. She returned to that dual Eclipse Winner this season.

7th-Saratoga, $105,000, Msw, 8-20, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:15.89, ft,
6 3/4 lengths.
ECHO AGAIN, c, 2, by Gun Runner
                1st Dam: Teardrop (SP), by Tapit
                2nd Dam: Wild Vision, by Wild Again
                3rd Dam: Carol's Wonder, by Pass the Tab
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $57,750. O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen. *1/2 to Pneumatic (Uncle Mo), SW & GSP, $275,390. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree, or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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