The Richard Shultz homebred is a three-time winner and entered the sale off a second in the City of Laurel S. Nov. 26 for trainer Dale Capuano. He was consigned by Northview Stallion Station.

Trainer Mike Maker was very active, purchasing four racehorses, including the second highest-priced offering Heldish (Great Notion) (Hip 243), who summoned $160,000. His four purchases totaled $437,000 with an average of $109,250.

The highest-priced weanling was a $75,000 filly (Hip 139) from the first crop of Grade I winner Global Campaign, bought by Wellspring Stables LLC. The most expensive broodmare was In My Time (Scat Daddy) (Hip 113), who sold in foal to Practical Joke for $62,000. She was purchased by trainer Wayne Potts, acting as agent for Barak Farm.

In total, 172 horses grossed $3,233,600 with an average of $18,800 and median of $10,000. Fifty-six horses failed to meet their reserves for an RNA rate of 24.5%.

During last year's sale, which was bolstered by the 86-horse dispersal of Joseph Becker, 261 of the 332 horses on offer sold for $3,905,100. The average was $14,962 and the median was $10,000. Seventy-one horses failed to sell for an RNA rate of 21.38%. The 2021 renewal was topped by maiden 2-year-old Safalow's Mission (Mission Impazible), who brought $130,000 from New York-based trainer Linda Rice, acting on behalf of Thelma and Louise Stable.

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The catalogue is comprised of 279 yearlings, which will sell first, and 55 horses of racing age. The majority of the horses are California-breds, but there are several yearlings by Kentucky-breds sired by the likes of Mineshaft, Outwork, Coal Front, Tapwrit, West Coast, Tiznow, Frosted, etc.

“We have a very strong group of Cal-breds,” said Fasig-Tipton's Michael Machowsky. “If you race mostly in California, this is the place to get your horses. We have over 200 Cal-breds in the sale and sometimes they go and compete against the open. We also have a group of Kentucky-breds in here to give the buyers a bit of variety.”

The sale comes on the heels of the two-week long Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which saw very strong trade across the board.

“All the sales have been very strong this year, from OBS through us,” Machowsky said. “I think horse racing is so resilient through everything. After last year, the confidence is coming back a little bit.”

During last year's banner sale, 177 head brought $6,933,550 with an average of $39,173 and median of $20,000. The 2021 sale was topped by a $350,000 daughter of Triple Crown hero American Pharoah, purchased by Tom Beckerle. She was followed by a $300,000 Practical Joke filly.

“We expect a strong sale once again,” said Machowsky. “California has been improving their breeding program, bringing new, solid stallions out here. Breeders have also been investing in mares in Kentucky, in foal to Kentucky stallions and bringing them out here. We expect the solid trade we had last year.”

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Turns out Livingston was wrong. After two years of sifting through the massive collection, she said the truly “impossible task” ended up being having to select some 60 images out of more than two million for a just-opened exhibit titled “Jim Raftery: A Turfotos Retrospective” at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

James Joseph Raftery (1915-1994) won his first race as a jockey at age 20 at the Marshfield Fair in Massachusetts. He grew out of that profession and took work as a hot dog vendor at East Coast tracks. As an amateur photographer with only a cheap camera, Raftery caught a break one afternoon when a customer left behind an expensive camera at his Tropical Park stand. According to the bio that accompanies his Hall of Fame exhibit, Raftery brought that camera to the lost and found booth. When it went unclaimed, he was allowed to keep it.

That stroke of fortune started Raftery's half-century run as a track photographer. After fighting overseas in the Army during World War II, he parlayed an assistant's job at Hialeah into eventually operating the winner's circle and publicity photo businesses at all the major tracks in Florida and New Jersey, plus numerous smaller meets up and down the Eastern seaboard.

During the sport's glory decades, his venture, Turfotos, fed the insatiable appetite of the nation's newspapers, whose readers were hungry for images of Thoroughbred action and celebrities who attended the races. Raftery's archives are not only replete with equine and human stars, but are brimming with hidden-gem portraits of unheralded backstretch workers from a bygone era.

Livingston, when not shooting as Daily Racing Form's chief photographer, has evolved into racing's most passionate curator of historic images. In a conversation on the eve of the exhibit's June 14 opening, she spoke about the Raftery collection as part of TDN's occasional series on equine photography. An edited and condensed transcript follows:

TDN: I had assumed you knew Raftery pretty well long before you acquired his staggering trove of work. But-somewhat humorously-that's not the case, right?

BDL: At the time, every photographer knew who Jim Raftery was. And he could be a little scary. He was always dressed in a suit jacket, and he was very serious about his work. Even though he apparently had a fantastic sense of humor and everybody loved him, for somebody like me, who was young and getting started, I was too scared to talk to him.

Around 1990, I went to Hialeah with my boyfriend at the time, also a photographer. We got credentialed for the day, but my boyfriend had dressed very casually. We showed up at the track, and the only thing I remember was Jim Raftery verbally dressing us down for how my boyfriend had literally dressed down. Jim basically told us your attire needs to reflect respect for photography and respect for the sport. And that was the only conversation I ever had with him!

It's funny, because last year I spoke with my then-boyfriend, and he said, “Barbara, I learned from that!” And I did too! I might wear blue jeans on the backstretch in the morning. But if I'm caught like that at the track in the afternoon, I'd be horrified. So 32 years later, that's the one personal impact Jim had on me. I was scared of him and it wasn't his fault. He was right.

TDN: So fill in the blanks, then. How did you eventually connect with Raftery's photographs?

BDL: I've been collecting horse racing photographers' negatives since the late 1990s. A gentleman by the name of Jim Sames had the last image ever shot of Man O' War. He only photographed horse racing for maybe a decade, but had some remarkable images. I went and met him because I wanted to buy a print. And he ended up selling me his negative collection, which was something I had never even thought of. He didn't have any children to leave the collection to. I didn't want it to end up in a dumpster. So I drove home with three boxes full of negatives of Whirlaway, Man O' War and Citation. It felt like I had history in my front seat.

Since then, I've acquired maybe four or five photographers' collections, but nothing of the scale of Raftery's work. Jim's family had kept the collection safe after his death. A couple of years ago I was speaking with his granddaughter-I don't remember quite why, but I'm sure it was because someone was looking for a historic image that I thought the family might have. I learned they were at the point where they knew they'd done all they could with the collection as far as getting it out to the world. But they wanted to get Jim's name seen again, and wanted to make sure his collection carried on. So we worked out details, and I acquired it because they were ready for it to go to the next place.

TDN: You live near Saratoga and the collection was down near Miami. Transporting it must have been no small task, especially in the middle of a pandemic.

BDL: I rented a huge U-Haul. Three of Raftery's family members helped with loading some 300 boxes onto it, and I also recruited four racetrackers to help. One of them was Walter Blum Jr., and his father, the retired Hall-of-Fame jockey, had been very dear friends with Jim Raftery. Many of the very boxes he was moving had images of his dad in them! So that was a fun aspect of racing history that was involved. The U-Haul ended up not being big enough, so I also rented an SUV and filled that up, and then another carload.

TDN: What state of organization were the archives in, and give us an idea of the scope and size.

BDL: It made me realize how badly my own collection is organized! I came up with a rough count of somewhere between 2.5 and 3 million negatives. But it will take you just a minute to find, say, Never Bow's 1970 Widener H. win. You can go right to the date of the race, and there they are: Six or eight images of that race that were shot by a 4-by-5-inch camera, and the negatives are 4-by-5-inch. And by the 1970s, Jim had 35 millimeter cameras involved, so you could easily have 25 or 30 negatives per race.

There's also boxes like “1958, Waterford Park” that had the whole season's programs, rubber-banded, in date order, with the order of finish and results handwritten for each race. He also kept hand-written notebooks that cross-referenced the dates when individual horses won races so he could look them up if somebody wanted a print in the future. His handwriting is so precious, so beautiful.

I think 1949 was the first full box. Some of the earlier stuff seems to have been lost, which is a terrible shame. But believe me, 1949 to 1994 is enough to deal with.

TDN: What's your process for sifting through it all?

BDL: For the first week or two, I just grabbed a box that I thought, “This is going to be loaded with good stuff! Like, 1964 at Hialeah-this is going to have good treasure!” And there's no doubt that was true. But then I started feeling guilty for the 1958 Waterford boxes. And those horses, even though I had never heard of them, their histories became all-encompassing. So I went through every single one of the boxes-it didn't take that long because I was so obsessed with it.

As I did this, I changed them over from the cardboard boxes they were in and I put them in plastic boxes so they would be better protected. I've been scanning them in my spare time. I've scanned somewhere between 16,000 and 18,000 of them so far. The eventual goal is to have all of these be seen online.

TDN: Although the general public would probably want boxes full of prints, I'll bet as a photographer, you must have been thrilled to find original-source negatives.

BDL: Some people might say, “What are you going to do with these things? It's an envelope with a strip of film that says Nashua or Bold Ruler. What's the point?” And obviously, to me, the point is just to preserve the history, and hope that someone someday will take that time to turn them into pictures again. They're like cocoons, and they're waiting to get changed back to butterflies.”

TDN: Have people contacted you in search of long-lost images?

BDL: A really neat example just happened a week ago. A young woman sent me an email that said, “My father was a jockey in the 1980s, and I didn't know if you happened to have any images of him, because I really have nothing.” So I looked him up and he only raced for a decade, but mostly in New Jersey. I found the shot of his first win, and his first handicap race win. He seems to have won only about 250 races, but I'm guessing by the dates that I have about 150 of them. So now she's going to have some photos of her dad as a jockey.

TDN: Which images in the collection stand out for you?

BDL: I'm extra-fascinated by things that took setup. Jim liked to set up shots because back then the news agencies would pick up these pictures and run them all over the place, and I would think there would be incredible inspiration in knowing that would happen. But later in his career, newspapers were not publishing racing images so much.

So possibly my favorite is Nashua and Swaps being posed together [presumably prior to their 1955 match race]. You don't see pictures of them together, other than racing. So that kind of picture–Carry Back touching noses with Kelso. Moccasin and Thong–two fillies who ended up being among the greatest producers we've had. They're full sisters. Moccasin was a champion. Thong was not a champion. So to have a picture of those two together, that kind of picture to me is absolutely doubly fascinating and fun, because it's something we just wouldn't do now these days. When Mr. Raftery was shooting, horse photography was a different thing.

TDN: How so?

   BDL: I mean, Raftery shot everything. He shot social changes. There's an image in the exhibit of jockeys sitting in the jockeys' room watching the moon landing on television in in 1969. By the 1960s, his photo IDs say things like “patrons in hot pants” or “women in pantsuits.” It's sort of hilarious-sad and wonderful-to see the changes. He said female jockeys were the best thing that ever happened, and the negative files are often identified as “jockette” or “girl jockeys.”

TDN: Can you spot fundamental changes in the way photographers worked, too?

BDL: At one point, Raftery said, “I will not shoot a winner's circle picture of anyone obscuring a horse. The horse did it; the horse is a beautiful thing.” And that was a later-career quote, because in the early days, you only had the groom in the shot. Possibly the owner. And if you had the valet, they were way off on the side trying not to be in the photo. And now, sometimes you barely see the horse's head, because there are 200 people surrounding the horse. Jim would not have taken kindly to that.

TDN: What do you think Raftery's reaction to having an exhibit in the Hall of Fame would be?

BDL: I read a magazine profile of Jim from the 1950s or '60s, and he said something to the effect of, “I'll never be in the Hall of Fame, but my horse pictures might end up on the wall of a sick child's room.” I don't remember the exact quote, but what he said was very thoughtful and kind and empathetic to humanity. He really loved people, and he loved what he did.

I don't have words to explain how great this man was. And I don't think there's any American racing photographer who had nearly his scope of work, basically a half century covering six racetracks where he was a full-time photographer. So the breadth of his work, and the debt that racing owes him-it's more than we could repay. I'm just really grateful he was in the world, and that I could help protect this collection and see it on to its next destination, wherever that may be

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“Last year with the dispersal, it kind of sparked the concept,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “And you know, we had some people this year who reached out to us and said they'd like to try it again. You know, I think what we're seeing in the world that we live in is people are looking for trading opportunities and looking for liquidity options. There's a time and a place and often times circumstances change for every owner or particular consigner. It just creates an opportunity in the marketplace for a person to sell their horse and those horses were well received last year. I think that's why we've got another group this year.”

There are 216 horses catalogued to Monday's sale, 27 of which were late supplements added last week. There are several black-type winners on offer including graded stakes winners Newgrange (Violence), Ete Indian (Summer Front), Enforceable (Tapit), Easy Time (Not This Time) and Risk Taking (Medaglia d'Oro).

“The composition of a racehorse sale changes from year to year, but there are certainly a lot of attractive offerings as you go through the catalog or go online and evaluate,” said Browning. “The great thing about the horses of race age sale is that there are horses that fit in every circuit that's racing, both in the United States and internationally. So if you're looking for a horse that might be able to run a starter, we've got some of those. If you are looking for potential candidates for Grade I races or graded stakes races down the road, or even in the near future, we've got some of those too. It's a great composition in terms of variety of offerings and it continues to gain more and more momentum every year that we have the sale and more acceptance.”

The timing of the sale is key, just days before the start of two prestigious and very popular meets, Saratoga and Del Mar. With the big purses offered at this meets creating increased demand and the strong markets at the juvenile and breeding stock sales earlier this year, Browning said he expects the momentum to carry right into the July auctions.

“Racing is pretty good right now,” Browning said. “Purses are very, very strong on several of the key circuits. People seem to be generally enthusiastic about buying racehorses and racing prospects. So we think, hopefully, the positive momentum that we've seen in the last 18 months will continue.”

The July sale has had some pretty successful graduates, such as last year's second highest-priced horse Stilleto Boy (Shackleford), who brought $420,000 and has placed in four Grade Is and won the GII Californian S. for his new owners. The sale has also produced the likes of GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint winner Wavell Avenue (Harlington) and GIII Westchester S. winner Nicodemus (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Bidding begins at 3 p.m. Monday at Newtown Paddocks and will be followed by the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale Tuesday.

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“Ciaran went to Royal Ascot last year and said, 'Goldie, this was some sort of fun. We've got to do it.' I said, 'Sounds good. How are we gonna do it,” Goldthorpe said. “The plan was to buy yearlings and try our damnedest to get one to Royal Ascot and, at the end of Royal Ascot, take these horses to the sale. It was a different style pinhook. We were going to race them as opposed to blowing them down the lane [in a 2-year-old sale]. We were going to race them, show what we have and give them to a trainer that doesn't beat them up, Rusty Arnold. That way, there's a lot of meat left on the bones when somebody else wants to come by them.”

Dew Sweepers not only got one horse to Royal Ascot, they got two, Late September (Munnings) (Hip 550) and Grand Oak (Ire) (Speightstown) (Hip 521). A well-beaten fourth after hopping at the start of his main track debut at Keeneland Apr. 20, Late September earned his diploma next out on dirt at Churchill exactly one month later. Sent across the pond, the $60,000 KEESEP buy failed to fire when trying the grass at Royal Ascot, finishing 17th in the G2 Coventry S. June 14.

Grand Oak checked in second when unveiled on the dirt at Keeneland Apr. 21 and wired the field for a 4 1/4-length graduation when switched to the lawn at Churchill May 20, the same day Late September broke his maiden. Unfortunately, the $105,000 KEESEP purchase did not fair much better than her stablemate at the Royal meeting, checking in 18th in the G2 Queen Mary S. June 15.

Despite those poor finishes, the Dew Sweepers thoroughly enjoyed their Royal Ascot experience, according to Goldthorpe.

“It was awesome, even though the horses ran like shit,” the founder of Lexington Equine Insurance said. “We had a blast and we checked the box. The partners were like, 'Wow, what an experience.' We have to give a lot of credit to Royal Ascot. They treated us like we brought Secretariat over there. They rolled out to red carpet. They are so happy to have the Americans come over there and participate in their greatest show on Earth. It made us feel great.”

The Dew Sweepers is comprised of six partners and they made a total investment of around $700,000. They acquired seven yearlings, four fillies and three colts, shopping at both Keeneland and Tattersalls.

In addition to Late September and Grand Oak, their dispersal includes:

• Tituba (Good Magic) (Hip 437), filly, $125,000 KEESEP yrl, unraced
• Alcazaba (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}) (Hip 455), colt, 40,000 gns TATOCT yrl, a maiden of two starts
• Buttons (Twirling Candy) (Hip 474), filly, $110,000 KEESEP yrl, won on debut on grass at Indiana June 28
• Castle Rising (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) (Hip 480), colt, 58,000 gns TATOCT yrl, unraced
• Just a Care (Ire) (Australia {GB}) (Hip 542), filly, 105,000 gns TATOCT yrl, fifth in lone start on turf at Belmont June 30

“These horse can take the new owner to Royal Ascot next year; to Kentucky Downs and run for all that money; or they can take them to the Breeders Cup,” Goldthorpe said. “That gives them an opportunity and I think they will bring a pretty good bunch of money because of that.”

As a complete dispersal, all seven juveniles will be there to sell, as per the partnership's contract.

“This was in a contract, that they will all disperse in July,” Goldthrope said. “This was the first time trying it. Some are regretting that we have the July end date and some are happy that we do and we completed the task as the contract set. Now will we adjust it for next year? We will probably tweak it a little bit. The success was giving us second thought. There are more races left in these horses and we knew there would be. I didn't know what kind of quality we would have, but we've got a quality bunch of horses going over there.”

Just because this first class of purchases is set to sell, does not mean the Dew Sweepers are done. They plan to be active at the yearling sales again this fall.

“We will be buying horses, absolutely,” said Goldthorpe. “Whether we buy them and point towards Ascot or something else. Maybe a few bottles of wine and a dinner will decide that. We're going to be invested in the game. The partners had so much fun. This not their last venture. There were some veterans in there that had to share, but for the most part, these were new people in an effort to get them excited about the game. And let me tell you, they are excited! We're not going to let them go. We're going to buy horses. We're going to sell horses. We're going to race horses, even may venture into a mare or two for the guys whose wives want to see babies being born. So it's just a very close-knit group of guys that are financially stable enough to play the game. We got lucky to put them all together and have success the first year. You won't see the end of the Dew Sweepers!”

The Fasig-Tipton Horses of All Ages Sale kicks off Monday at 3 p.m. and will include both racehorses and broodmares. It will be followed by the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale Tuesday.

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Quickly into stride for Joel Rosario, the $375,000 Keeneland September acquisition set the pace in advance of heavily favored Juju's Map (Liam's Map), but last year's GI Darley Alcibiades S. winner and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies runner-up counterpunched and was in front after an opening quarter that was posted in an easy :24.09. 'TDN Rising Star' Shahama (Munnings), who had to pick herself up after a stumbling beginning, raced inside early, but was guided into the three path by Flavien Prat and the bald-faced May foal chased Juju's Map through four furlongs in :46.90. Shahama was asked to come after the front-runner in earnest and looked to be going the better of that duo as they raced into the final five-sixteenths of a mile, but Gerrymander was pushed off the inside to deliver her challenge three wide at the head of the stretch, pinched a break and ran out a facile winner. Juju's Map retreated tamely into third, ahead of Venti Valentine (Firing Line).

“She broke well and it looked like they didn't want the lead,” said Rosario, winning the Mother Goose for the third time in its last five runnings and second in succession. “So, I kind of went and they wanted it [the lead] down the backside a little bit, so I just had to be where I was. She handled everything fine and she was able to come into the last turn and get the jump. She seemed really comfortable and it worked out good. It set up well.”

Gerrymander belied odds of 10-1 to graduate at second asking at Saratoga last Aug. 29, then kept company with 'TDN Rising Star' and future champion Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) in this track's GI Frizette S. before finishing 7 1/4 lengths adrift in second. The bay went one better in the Nov. 5 Tempted S., defeating future GI Central Bank Ashland winner and recent GI Belmont S. runner-up Nest (Curlin) into third, and she was a troubled sixth behind last-out GI Acorn S. romper Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) in the GII Eight Belles S. at Churchill May 6. According to trainer Chad Brown, the near-term objective for Gerrymander is the GI Alabama S. at Saratoga Aug. 20.

Pedigree Notes:

Kiki Courtelis's Town & County Farms teamed with Pollock Farms to acquire Ruby Lips–third in the 2012 Tempted when contested as a Grade III–for $180,000 at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Her first produce is Lone Rock, a multiple graded stakes-winning dirt marathoner, while Gerrymander's year-older full-sister Public Information was an allowance winner at Gulfstream Park June 19. Her homebred 2-year-old half-sister Sivako (More Than Ready) debuted this past Thursday at Churchill Downs.

Ruby Lips is a half-sister to Canadian Classic winner Like a Gem (Tactical Cat), herself the dam of three-time Grade I-winning turf mare Hard Not to Like (Hard Spun), SW Credit River (More Than Ready) and SP Time to Travel (Hard Spun). The mare foaled a Tapit filly in 2021 and a colt by Constitution this season after failing to meet her reserve at $725,000 at last year's FTKNOV sale.

Saturday, Belmont Park
MOTHER GOOSE S.-GII, $232,500, Belmont, 6-25, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:43.74, ft.
1–GERRYMANDER, 122, f, 3, by Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Ruby Lips (GSP), by Hard Spun
                2nd Dam: Its a Ruby, by Rubiano
                3rd Dam: Likeashot, by Gun Shot
1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($375,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Klaravich Stables, Inc.; B-Town & Country Horse Farms, LLC & Pollock Farms (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Joel Rosario. $137,500. Lifetime Record: GISP, 6-3-2-0, $378,000. *1/2 to Lone Rock (Majestic Warrior), MGSW, $1,388,541. Werk Nick Rating: A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Shahama, 122, f, 3, Munnings–Private Feeling, by Belong to Me. ($425,000 2yo '21 OBSAPR). 'TDN Rising Star'. O-KHK Racing; B-SF Bloodstock LLC (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $50,000.
3–Juju's Map, 122, f, 3, Liam's Map–Nagambie, by Flatter. ($190,000 Ylg '20 KEEJAN; $300,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Albaugh Family Stables LLC; B-Fred W. Hertrich (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $30,000.
Margins: 3, 4 3/4, 3 3/4. Odds: 6.50, 2.55, 0.50.
Also Ran: Venti Valentine. Scratched: Midnight Stroll.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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The first two foals out of the mighty Zenyatta, Cozmic One (Bernardini) and Ziconic (Tapit), never reached the winner's circle during their brief careers on the racetrack, but they are both thriving in their second careers as jumpers and ambassadors for off-track Thoroughbreds.

The elder brother, Cozmic One's second career has been well documented in these pages (Cozmic One: Shining New Light on OTTBs and Checking in on Cozmic One) in the past, but we checked in with Hidden Brook Farm's Sergio de Sousa and his daughter Isabela for the latest update.

When Cozmic One first came to the de Sousas, he was Isabela's charge. An accomplished equestrian, Isabela was consistently in the blue ribbons with her OTTBs at the annual Thoroughbred Makeover, which was her first goal with “Coz” back in 2018.

When Isabela started traveling to pursue her career as a professional equestrian, Sergio took over the reins on Cozmic One. The two have been competing in jumper shows, focusing on the Take2 program, which partners with United States Equestrian Federation-rated horse shows that offer C-rated Thoroughbred hunter and jumper divisions, which are restricted to Thoroughbreds registered with The Jockey Club. They will also be competing in the Real Rider Cup for the second time this year in their new Kentucky-based event July 9.

“Isabela is around this summer, so if she wants to jump him she can, but he is basically my fun horse now,” Sergio said. “I just want to continue having fun with him and doing things like the Real Rider Cup. We did the .85 [meter jumpers] last week at the [Kentucky] Horse Park. I hope to qualify for the Take2 finals with him at the Horse Park in September.”

Cozmic One is now 10, which is considered old for a racehorse, but is the prime age for show horses.

“He has really matured,” Sergio said. “He is a much stronger horse now and I have improved my riding. We are just having fun and enjoying each other.”

“Coz is doing great and him and my dad are developing a lovely partnership,” Isabela added. “They both are learning from one another and are enjoying themselves while doing it.”

Ziconic & Sarah Pollock | Told By Film

While Cozmic One is enjoying the lush Kentucky bluegrass, his year-younger half-brother Ziconic remained on the West Coast when he left trainer John Shirreffs's barn three years ago. He was placed under the care of Linda Moss and her husband George Bedar, who already had a former Shirreffs trainee campaigned by Zenyatta's owners, Jerome and Ann Holbrook Moss, in her barn in Milyone (Maria's Mon).

Linda Moss became friends with Ann Holbrook Moss and Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs back in 2011 when she honored Zenyatta at a local conference for women in business.

“I am a board advisor to the Professional Business Women of California and we have a conference every year,” Moss explained. “The theme for our conference in 2011 was connect, explore, inspire and I was responsible for producing the inspire section. I wanted a special woman to represent the inspired section and I chose Zenyatta to do that.”

The next thing Moss did was head to Hollywood Park to meet the queen herself.

“Shortly after the conference, I went down to the track and met Zenyatta,” said Moss, who had owned Arabs in the past, but always loved Thoroughbreds. “My older Thoroughbred Milyone was there, about three stalls down from Zenyatta. He just kept calling out to me as I was walking down the barn aisle. When I went up to his stall, he just put his head in my neck. John said, 'He has never done that with anyone before.' I jokingly said, 'Well if he ever needs a home, he has one.' A year and a half later, Dottie called me and said, 'Do you still want Milyone?'”

Of course, Moss said yes. Then, in June of 2019, she received another call from Ingordo-Shirreffs.

“When Ziconic was ready to be retired, Dottie called me and said John and I feel he should go to you,” Moss said. “We talked about it and that is how we got him exactly three years ago.”

According to Moss, Ziconic is well aware of his royal heritage and enjoys the attention that comes along with it.

“Ziconic is the type of horse who knows who he is and likes to be treated special,” she said. “He is extremely proud. He is probably the smartest horse I have ever been around. He is also very playful and loves an audience.”

Moss said Ziconic has taken to off-track life very well. He started his retraining as a jumper with trainer Sarah Pollock and the pair even won their first show together back in 2020. Unfortunately, Ziconic's show schedule was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and an EHV outbreak in the state of California.

She continued, “He really loves to jump and be in the arena, getting all the cheers and being photographed. It has been a very inconsistent show career for him because of COVID and the EHV outbreak. We gave him the winter off. He is back in a jumping program now with the goal of showing in the fall jumping circuit. We will probably start him back at the .80 or .85 [meter], but he was jumping a meter previously.”

Under the care of Moss and the de Sousas, both of Zenyatta's boys have found their callings. They have taken the athletic ability and winning attitude they inherited from their superstar dam to new venues, shining a brighter spotlight on off-track Thoroughbreds everywhere in the process.

The post Where Are They Now: Zenyatta’s Sons, Cozmic One and Ziconic appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Horses will sell Wednesday, July 13, the day before the 40-day Saratoga meet begins. Entries for the sale will close July 5 and the catalogue will be released the following day.

The NYTB partnered with Wanamaker's for its annual stallion season auction in January.

The post Wanamaker’s to Host Pre-Saratoga NY-Bred Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“Successful results in our initial online auctions are generating substantial interest from sellers in the Fasig-Tipton Digital platform,” said Leif Aaron, Fasig-Tipton Director of Digital Sales.  “This May Digital catalogue features another quality group of breeding stock offerings and some very exciting horses of racing age. Included among the horses of racing age are some impressive recent stakes winners and promising last-out 2-year-old and 3-year-old maiden special weight winners.”

Horses of racing age on offer include Tom's Regret (Tom's Tribute) (Hip 12), an undefeated California-bred 2-year-old filly that defeated colts in the Kentucky Juvenile S. last week at Churchill Downs; and Awesome Strong (Awesome Slew)(Hip 24), a 2-year-old Florida-bred colt that recently won his debut at Gulfstream by six lengths.

Also included among the horses of racing age are Sadie Bluegrass (Bluegrass Cat)(Hip 20), winner of the Camilla Urso S. at Golden Gate Apr. 30; as well as recent maiden special eeight winners Baltasar (Bodemeister) (Hip 17) and Sunny Lane (Mastery) (Hip 21).

The catalogue also offers an attractive group of in-foal mares–including black-type performers and graded stakes producers–in foal to Candy Ride (Arg), Improbable, Independence Hall, Knicks Go, Silver State, Tiz the Law, and Volatile. MSW & GSP Truth Hurts (Tonalist) (Hip 13) is being offered as a broodmare prospect.

Each entry's page features a catalogue-style pedigree, five-cross pedigree, photos, and walking videos. Horses of racing age and racing/broodmare prospect pages offer Daily Racing Form Past Performances, Thoroughmanager past performances, Ragozin speed figures, and race replays. Access to veterinary information and a repository are available on applicable entries.

Location information for entries is also provided, and registered bidders may contact sellers from the entry's page to arrange an inspection or ask for additional information.

The post Bidding Open for Fasig May Digital Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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