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Siblings of Successful Saratoga Grads on Offer at Fasig

There have been several horses over the past 100 years of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale to summon big price tags, eclipsing the $500,000 mark, in the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion and then go on to be quite successful on the racetrack. The siblings of four such Thoroughbreds are part of the catalogue for the famed auction's centennial edition to be held at the Spa Aug. 9-10.

The 2017 GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (Tapit) summoned $1.2-million at the Saratoga Sale back in 2015 from a partnership comprised of Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbreds and Robert LaPenta. Prior to the Belmont, the gray captured the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and retired with a record of 13-4-1-1 and earnings of $1,362,402. He retired to stud at Gainesway and is represented by his first yearlings this season.

Tapwrit's Grade I-winning dam Appealing Zophie (Successful Appeal) is also the dam of MGSW & GISP Ride a Comet (Candy Ride {Arg}) and SW Inject (Frosted). Barronstown Stud purchased the mare for $1.2 million carrying a foal by Tapit at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Appealing Zophie's most recent foal is a colt by Justify, who is offered as Hip 41 with Eaton Sales.

“He is beautiful. What I have found pretty unique about him is he has a great, long, well-angled shoulder and incredible depth up front, much like his brother,” said Eaton's Reiley McDonald. “The mare is by a really underrated broodmare sire in Successful Appeal. She has been outstanding with a very limited pedigree, but she could run herself. She has two graded stakes winners, including a Belmont Classic winner. When I looked at this one on the farm back in April, I wrote down two things: an A and Saratoga.”

MGSW Travel Column (Frosted) sold at the most recent edition of the Saratoga Sale in 2019, bringing $850,000 from OXO Equine's Larry Best. She justified her price tag pretty quickly, earning the 'TDN Rising Star' moniker for her impressive debut win at Churchill in September and was third in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. next out. Closing 2020 with a win in the GII Golden Rod S., the gray was second in the GII Rachel Alexandra S. in February and won the GII Twinspires.com Fair Grounds Oaks in March. She was fifth in both the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks Apr. 30 and the GI Acorn S. June 5.

Fasig-Tipton's Bayne Welker and his wife Christina purchased Travel Column's MSW dam Swingit (Victory Gallop)–who is also responsible for MGISP Neolithic (Harlan's Holiday)–for $50,000 in foal to Bodemeister at the 2016 KEENOV sale. The resulting colt brought $310,000 from LaPenta's Whitehorse Stables at the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion in 2018.

Travel Column summoned almost three-times that the following year in Saratoga and her year-younger brother would have eclipsed that number if the 2020 renewal of the sale had not been canceled due to COVID-19. The son of American Pharoah, now named Corton Charlemagne, was re-routed to Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase–a combination of the Saratoga, New York-Bred and July Sales held in Lexington in September–where he sold for $1.25 million to Speedway Stables. Swingit's 2020 colt from the first crop of City of Light will be the second-to-last horse through the ring in Saratoga this year as Hip 209.

“This colt is a very typical Swingit in that we think he is a pretty special horse,” said Conrad Bandoroff of Denali Stud, which consigns the colt. “Bayne and Chris Welker, who are two very high-caliber horsemen, think he is the best foal Swingit has given them. That is pretty high praise and I would have a hard time arguing with them. He is just a very forward, very attractive, well-balanced, strong individual. Corton Charlemagne, the horse we sold for $1.25 million at the Fasig-Tipton Yearling Showcase [in September], was a May foal. This colt is a little more progressive and forward-looking than he was.”

He continued, “Obviously, Travel Column was a great success. By a freshman sire in Frosted, she sold for $850,000 at Saratoga two years ago. There is a little bit more to this colt in terms of substance and strength, but he has that fluid walk and athleticism Travel Column had. What was great about her whole story was there were people shopping the sale, who, before the sale, said they were looking for colts by proven stallions, but every time they came by the consignment, they kept seeing this gray filly and fell in love. That is what happened with Larry [Best]. We are thrilled that it worked out and we are hoping this colt is going to come up here and continue Swingit's Saratoga success. We sold Travel Column up here. We sold a Bodemeister very well up here, and, had there been a Saratoga Sale up here last year, the American Pharoah would have come up here and been the sale-topping colt.”

Four Wheel Drive, a colt from the initial crop of Triple Crown hero American Pharoah, proved quite popular at the 2018 edition of the Saratoga Sale, bringing $525,000 from pinhookers Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo, who were acting on behalf of Breeze Easy. He RNA'd for $825,000 the following March at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, but made up for it on the racetrack. Opening his account with a win in the Rosie's S. at Colonial Downs, the bay followed suit with a victory in Belmont's GIII Futurity S. and won the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint S. to take his juvenile record to three-for-three.

His stakes-winning dam Funfair (More Than Ready), a 'TDN Rising Star', did not produce foals in 2018 or 2019, but her 2020 foal, a full-sister to Four Wheel Drive, is Hip 102. She sells under the same Paramount Sales banner that her brother did.

“We are very pleased to have the full-sibling to BC Juvenile Turf Sprint and Futurity S. winner Four Wheel Drive,” said Paramount's Lesley Campion. “She is from an incredibly fast family with two siblings having set new course records [Four Wheel Drive and Born Great (Scat Daddy)], the family is hugely precocious and this filly looks to have that same physical forwardness to her. Four Wheel Drive got that clever name when Dean DeRenzo commented, here at the Saratoga sale, on his walk being like a four wheel drive, powerful action from each limb, and his sister shows the same. She has quality, strength and balance, coupled with a cool head, a filly anyone would love to add to their stable.”

While 'TDN Rising Star' Flightline (Tapit) has not won a stake yet, most people would agree it's only a matter of time. Purchased by West Point Thoroughbreds for $1 million at the 2019 Saratoga Sale, the bay has made just one start so far, but he made it count, romping by 13 1/4 lengths and stopping the clock for six furlongs in 1:08.75 at Santa Anita in April. Trained by John Sadler, the bay races under a partnership that, in addition to West Point, includes Hronis Racing, Siena Farm and breeder Summer Wind Equine.

Summer Wind owner Jane Lyon purchased Flightline's Grade III-winning and MGISP dam Feathered (Indian Charlie) for $2.35 million in foal to War Front at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale. Flightline is her second foal and second winner from two foals of racing age. Her fourth foal is Flightline's yearling full-brother, who is Hip 92 in the Lane's End consignment.

“This colt is very well put together,” Lyon said. “I think he is stockier and has a little more bone than Flightline had. We are hopeful that the buyers will like him for his own physicality and will appreciate that the mare if capable of producing a runner.”

The 100th edition of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale gets underway Monday at 6:30 p.m.

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Copano Kicking Edges Hard-Luck Matera Sky As Japan 1-2 In Riyadh Dirt Sprint

Japanese horses claimed a one-two in Saturday's US $1.5 million Riyadh Dirt Sprint sponsored by Saudi Arabian Airlines as Copano Kicking (USA) overhauled the luckless Matera Sky (USA).

Matera Sky had looked the likely winner for much of the way last year before being collared by the home-trained New York Central and was travelling ominously well at the front under Keita Tosaki.

However, Copano Kicking and William Buick, who was towards the rear of the field and still had lengths to find with 200m to go, found the necessary gears late on to deprive the runner-up by a quarter of a length.

The 6-year-old gelding by Sprint At Last, bred in Kentucky by Reiley McDonald, is a multiple Graded winner in Japan and Buick had come in for the ride after he had partnered another winner for owner Sachiaki Kobayashi when on a short-term contract in the country.

Quotes:

Akira Murayama, trainer, Copano Kicking, 1st: “He is a very talented horse but he's not easy to train, he's temperamental, very edgy and overexcited and he didn't do too much work this week before the race.

“I called the owner before the winner's ceremony, he was very happy, he spoke to William and asked him to ride his horses again in Japan when he comes back. He will go to Dubai, hopefully for the Golden Shaheen. I thought it was going to be a tough race and I'm pleased that we beat last year's winner.”

William Buick, jockey, Copano Kicking: “He was slowly away but I was soon on the tails of the leaders coming into the bend and he picked up really well.”

Keita Tosaki, jockey, Matera Sky, 2nd: “I think Matera Sky ran his race. I thought he won and made revenge as last year's runner up. But he toughed it out.”

Wigberto 'Wiggy' Ramos, jockey, Faz Zae, 3rd: “I'm very happy. That's the way he runs. He starts with the horses then he hangs back, then at the 400m he comes again. Today he was closer than before so I gave him a little break at the 600m and then I kicked. It's been a great meeting for me – I had a winner yesterday and today and I was very happy with this horse.”

Rest of jockey quotes:

Mickael Barzalona, Switzerland, 4th: “I had him in a good position. He travelled well. When he came next to (Matera Sky), I thought we would be close. He just got a little bit tired in the end. He ran a good race and the owner should be happy with that. It would've been better if we would've been third.”

Alexis Moreno, Maypole, 5th: “The race was too speedy. I tried to do my best but you know they bring champions over. My horse ran well.”

Ryusei Sakai, Justin, 6th: “He missed the break and did not have his run.”

Cieren Fallon, Oxted, 7th: “It was obviously an unknown on the dirt. He is by Mayson and has a lovely knee action and he ran well on the soft ground at Ascot so we thought we would give it a go.

“Today he really struggled. He came off the bridle after the first two furlongs, which is very unlike him. He is a horse that travels well, very strong. We came here on the unknown and we chanced it and it didn't pay off. But he will have a great season on the turf back home in England. You never know, the Breeders' Cup on the turf at the end of the year could be on the cards but we are definitely not going to take our chances on the dirt any time soon.”

Mohammed Aldaham, Raaed, 8th: “Too fast. Nice horses, all the horses are good. All of them are Group 1 horses.”

Hollie Doyle, Brad The Brief, 9th: “He jumped and travelled really well, and I was surprised how much pace he showed. The only problem was he hit a flat spot three out (600m) and got a bit disunited, and once they've done that it's hard to recover on the dirt. But he tried, that's the main thing.”

Gavin Ryan, Harry's Bar, 10th: “There was quite a lot of kickback. My horse could never get competitive. There was a strong pace and I was never really in the race.”

Luis Morales, Raucous, 13th: “At least I broke well. The race was so fast. They can run.”

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Book Three Concludes at Keeneland

LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale’s two-session Book 3 section concluded with another day of steady trade Friday in Lexington. Bill Betz made the day’s highest bid, going to $270,000 late in the day to acquire the racing/ broodmare prospect Divine Queen (Divine Park) from the Trackside Farm consignment. The mare was one of four to bring $200,000 or more during the session. While only 292 of the 401 catalogued head went through the ring Friday, 235 sold for a buy-back rate of just 19.52%.

Through the two Book 3 sessions, Keeneland sold 462 head for $26,185,000. The average was $56,677–down just slightly from last year’s figure of $57,032–and the median of $42,000 dipped 6.7% from $45,000 a year ago. Fifteen horses sold for $200,000 or more during Book 3.

During last year’s Book 3 section, 499 head sold for $28,459,200. The book’s top price was $325,000 and there were nine offerings who sold for $200,000 or more.

“It was a lot better than I anticipated,” Summerfield’s Francis Vanlangendonck said of the November market. “For the babies, it’s been really, really good. The weanlings sold much better today than earlier in the week. Yesterday we averaged about 80 showings per weanling for horses we were selling today. The buyers were pretty aggressive. It seems like for these lower-valued weanlings there is a world of people wanting to buy. With people worried about what the markets were going to be like, there were a lot of scratches. Those well-conformed weanlings that vetted good sold really well. Even some that had issues are starting to sell. I looked at the outs, so by the time we got to the sales ring, I knew where we were. I knew there would be a market, but thought it would be a little timid… when the supply started lowering, I felt we might do OK. Even with the mares I thought they did well. We sold every horse we put through the ring. We had gotten beaten up pretty good in September and October and we were having to sell to make sure we had money for stud fees and to keep going.”

Reiley McDonald of Eaton Sales said there was still demand for the right type of mares and weanlings.

“The mares that are legitimate, there are buyers here for them and Book 3 has still been good,” McDonald said. “There are horses that just have holes in them, they are a little old or the foals don’t vet right, there is no market for those. The weanling buyers are not putting up with any veterinary flaws. That always happens in a tight market. If you jump through the hoops–you’re a nice physical and you’re clean–then you will get as much here as you will for a yearling. There is money out there and people get hungry. Everybody gets shuffled back by the earlier higher-priced horses and get hungry in Books 3 and 4 because the pinhookers make their living reselling the foals.”

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

Divine Score for Bradley

Bill Betz struck late to secure Divine Queen (Divine Park) (hip 1764) for a session-topping $270,000 Friday at Keeneland, signing for the mare in the name of Avout Bloodstock. Tom Evans’s Trackside Farm consigned the 5-year-old racing or broodmare prospect on behalf of co-owner/breeder and trainer Buff Bradley.

“We bred her, foaled her, raised her and raced her and we just sold her,” said Bradley. “Pretty much like we did [two-time sprint champion] Groupie Doll. We were very excited to race this filly and then sell her as a mare and know she was going to go somewhere good.”

Racing for Bradley and co-breeder Carl Hurst, Divine Queen won the 2019 Open Mind S. and 2018 Dogwood S. She won six of 23 starts for earnings of $339,344.

“She had a lot of class,” Bradley said. “She showed it in the ring, walking up here, she’s just all class. And a very sound race mare. Never once did she have a problem. I think we are very proud of that. We bred a nice, sound racehorse.”

From the same family, Bradley and Hurst bred stakes winner and graded placed Queen’s Award (Medaglia d’Oro), a half-sister to Divine Queen, and also bred and campaigned multiple graded winner The Player (Street Hero), who is out of a half-sister to both mares.

“We have a lot of the family and we have to keep the cash flow going and get ready for the young ones coming along,” Bradley said of the decision to sell the mare.

Of the mare’s session-topping final price, Bradley said, “It was a bit more than what we were thinking, but we’re very happy with it.”

Gottahaveaholiday to Coteau Grove

Bloodstock agent Andrew Cary remained busy buying mares for the account of Keith and Ginger Myers’s Coteau Grove Friday at Keeneland, going to $240,000 to acquire the broodmare prospect Gottahaveaholiday (Harlan’s Holiday). The 6-year-old got a big update when her juvenile half-sister Dayoutoftheoffice (Into Mischief) won the GI Frizette S. and finished second in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last week.

“The update is just huge,” Cary said after signing the ticket on the mare, who was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency. “That filly ran such an amazing race in the Breeders’ Cup and winning the Frizette. It gives us a nice filly to root for next year.”

Gottahaveaholiday was purchased by Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable for $230,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She finished second six times in 10 starts.

“The mare was gorgeous,” Cary continued. “She was an expensive yearling herself. We will breed her to a really nice stallion and have options moving forward.”

As the November sale continued through Book 3, Cary said there was still plenty of competition.

“There are still a lot of top agents and buyers here,” he said. “It’s been that way throughout the sale. You just have to follow them up and some you get and some you don’t. You just hope you land on the right number on some of them. We got outbid on probably 10 horses yesterday. It’s very competitive for these kind of long-term mares. There is a lot of competition for those and it bodes well for the bloodstock industry down the road.”

Cary has signed for 11 mares on behalf of the Lousiana-based Coteau Grove Farms for a total of $3,195,000. His purchases are led by a pair of $500,000 acquisitions: Miss Hot Legs (Verrazano) (hip 66) and Contributing (hip 958).

Nyquist Colt Joins Pinhooking Partnership

Headley Bell purchased a colt by Nyquist for $225,000 and the weanling (hip 1586) is part of a pinhooking partnership he has been busy buying for at the Keeneland November sale.

“I liked that he was an athlete and I liked the family,” Bell said. “And obviously we like Nyquist. It’s hard to ignore the start he has made. We put together a partnership and we are just trying to put some athletes in the bucket and see if we can get lucky.”

The chestnut is out of the unraced Senorita Corredora (El Corredor)–a $150,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase in 2010–and he is a half-brother to multiple stakes-placed Holiday’s Angel (Harlan’s Holiday). Bred by Gary and Anne Smith’s Elm Racing and Mulholland Springs, the weanling was consigned by Mulholland Springs.

“The sire is obviously doing well with the Breeders’ Cup winner [Vequist],” said John Mulholland. “It all fell into place. The colt vetted well and presented himself well, and we had all the right buyers on him. We bred him in partnership with some clients of ours, Gary and Ann Smith of Elm Racing. I actually bought the mare for the Smiths as a yearling and she got a tendon injury and never made it to the races. She was a breeze or two away from running. They have raced all the foals and want to do more racing, perhaps claim some horses or buy some 2-year-olds, and that is why we went ahead and sold the mare and the foal. Happily, I found another client to buy the mare and keep her on the farm, which makes me happy.”

Bell has purchased six weanlings at the Keeneland November sale for the partnership under the name Sycamore. In addition to hip 1586, he purchased a filly by Constitution (hip 1688) for $140,000; a filly by Distorted Humor (hip 1663) for $105,000; a filly by Mendelssohn (hip 1545) for $100,000; a colt by Malibu Moon (hip 408) for $90,000; and a filly by First Samurai (hip 1511) for $70,000.

“We feel like there is potential opportunity,” he said. “We’ll see. Coming into the sale, we thought it might be somewhat depressed, but I don’t feel that it is at all, to be honest with you.”

Weanling-to-yearling pinhookers have come up against plenty of competition from end-users at this week’s Keeneland November sale, particularly from Larry Best’s OXO Equine, which has purchased eight foals.

“For Larry Best to come into the weanling market as strong as he is, he is obviously very competitive and makes it tough,” Bell said. “But listen, we are all trying to do the same thing.”

Practical Joke Weanlings Prove Popular

A pair of weanlings by young Coolmore sire Practical Joke set the pace for foal prices early in Friday’s session of the Keeneland November sale. Brian Graves of Gainesway went to $185,000 to acquire a colt by the Grade I winner (hip 1512) from the Eaton Sales consignment. Bred by Forging Oaks, the pinhooking prospect is a half-brother to multiple graded winner Secret Gypsy (Sea of Secrets).

“I bought Practical Joke as a yearling, so if anybody was going to be inspired to stretch for them a little bit, it’s me,” Graves said. “They’ve all been well-balanced, good movers and athletic. You’ve got to believe in Into Mischief and Practical Joke has a good chance. Hopefully, he will come out with some early runners and we’ll be in good shape.”

Graves purchased Practical Joke for $135,000 at the 2015 Keeneland January sale and resold him for $240,000 at that year’s Keeneland September sale. The stallion, whose first foals are yearlings, won the GI Champagne S., GI H. Allen Jerkens S. and GI Hopeful S.

“I was happy with the price,” Eaton Sales’ Reiley McDonald said of the transaction. “He is a really nice physical horse and those can go for anything above what you’re expecting when they are that good. His sire has been doing well, with one a couple hips before him that also sold well. He was the best horse we had physically.”

Just a few hips before Graves made his purchase, Larry Best’s OXO Equine went to $150,000 to acquire a filly by Practical Joke (hip 1510) from the Brookdale Sales consignment. The chestnut filly is out of the unraced Miss Prytania (Eskendereya), a half-sister to graded winners Medal Count (Dynaformer) and Garden District (Dixie Union). She was bred by J.R. Ward Stables.

Graves agreed the weanling market has been very competitive this week in Lexington.

“I am not shocked,” he said of the strong weanling market. “Everybody saw there were fewer on offer and maybe the nice ones that have come through have been fewer and farther between. The laws of supply and demand take over.”

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Cupid Colt Tops Midlantic Opener

TIMONIUM, MD – The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale got underway with an abbreviated session Monday afternoon which opened with an offering of 154 catalogued New York-breds and featured the session’s two six-figure transactions. Just minutes into the action, Vicki and Mike McGowan’s Xtreme Racing Stables purchased the day’s top-priced offering when going to $160,000 to acquire a colt from the first crop of Grade I winner Cupid (hip 4). The yearling was consigned by Eaton Sales.

“We put him here because we thought he would be a bigger fish in a smaller pond,” Eaton’s Reiley McDonald said. “I think he was so good physically that he brought as much here as he would have brought anywhere else in the country. When you are in the top 20% of the auction, whether it is this year or any other, you are probably going to do relatively close to the same, except at the very highest levels where you need the principals bidding. So if it’s an agent-driven year, which it has been, we are not going to hit the huge high numbers. At the same time, he was a beautiful colt and a lot of people liked him. He was clean and he sold really well in this market. We’ve never sold here before, so it was a nice experiment and it worked well for us.”

Fasig-Tipton’s Selected Yearlings Showcase in Lexington last month also opened with an offering of New York-breds to compensate for the company’s canceled Saratoga auction. Eaton’s first Midlantic consignment featured 10 Empire-breds and McDonald said the decision to sell in Maryland was based on both geography and timing.

“We thought if we had New York-breds, it would be tougher to sell them in Kentucky, especially leading off the entire yearling season,” McDonald said. “We had two New York-breds who sold at Fasig-Tipton [Showcase] very well, but they were top 10% physicals. Everything else we had came here because we figured it was 3 1/2 hours down the road and maybe they would get more New York traffic, which turned out to be true.”

During Monday’s session, 162 of 200 catalogued yearlings went through the ring with 122 selling for a gross of $2,983,600. The average was $24,456 and the median was $15,000. A further 374 yearlings are catalogued for Tuesday’s second and final session of the auction.

“I think the market here is limited,” McDonald said. “There is not enough demand to handle the 500-some horses catalogued, but on the whole, in an awful year, it could have been a lot worse. I think it’s been ok and we should all be happy that we’ve been able to trade horses at a time when our world is in a state of–let’s just say–a state of ‘bleep.'”

Pinhookers, who largely found themselves competing with typical end-users on the perceived top offerings at the September yearling sales in Kentucky, were active Monday in Timonium. Among them was David Scanlon, who purchased three lots during the session.

“It’s been a little spotty all year. I still think when you follow the good ones up, ones that you think are going to be pinhook prospects, you’ll find competition,” Scanlon said. “I think there is a strong market for the horses we judge to be fast or early types that we can make good money on. But we don’t have the option not to buy. This is what we do, so we have to have stock.”

Scanlon expects the competition to only increase Tuesday.

“I found Keeneland was hard for the right horse,” Scanlon said. “We got a few bought at Fasig in the New York-breds section and I was really happy with them. But I found the open section was pretty tough to buy a pinhook-type horse. I think here is the same thing. I think momentum will build here tomorrow, so it was nice to jump in early and get a couple.”

Tuesday’s second and final session of the Midlantic sale gets underway at 10 a.m.

McGowans Adds Cupid Colt to Stable

Mike and Vicki McGowan’s Xtreme Racing Stables added a colt from the first crop of Grade I winner Cupid to their burgeoning racing stable when trainer Mac Robertson went to $160,000 to acquire hip 4 early in Monday’s first session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale.

“I think when we go to these auctions, the first thing we do is look at the bloodlines,” Mike McGowan said. “We put a list together that looks like a good fit for us, but at the end of the day it comes down to the hands of our trainer Mac Robertson. He’s the one that is out there. He goes through all the horses. And we all thought this horse was a very athletic-looking colt with some really nice lines. He checked out very well, so we are very excited about him.”

Consigned by Eaton Sales, the yearling is out of Gottah Penny (Stravinsky) and is a half-brother to stakes-placed Brokered (Eddington) and Copper Gem (Gemologist). Alan Quartucci signed the ticket to acquire the youngster for $52,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton New York Mixed Sale.

The McGowans, based in Minnesota, have been involved with racing for about five years now, but which of the couple is responsible for their involvement in the sport is still a subject of debate.

“I would buy every single horse because I love them all,” Vicki McGowan said. “My husband is the one that digs into bloodlines and all of that. He and our trainer Mac Robertson are the ones that try to figure out what is the best one to get.”

Mike McGowan, for his part, said, “My wife really was the one that got into it. I think she has about 12 or 15 horses. We try to differentiate. She usually tries to take the fillies and I take the colts.”

Xtreme Racing Stables was recently represented by first-out Delaware Park maiden winner Sir Wellington (Palace), who was purchased by the operation for $55,000 at this year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. From that same auction, the operation acquired a colt by Bayern for $80,000. Now named Xtreme Mayhem, the juvenile is training at Delaware and is getting positive early reviews.

At the recent Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Xtreme Racing Stables acquired a colt by Not This Time (hip 2685) and a filly by Jimmy Creed (hip 3816), both for $30,000.

“We are probably very skewed to the younger side, we have a lot of 2-year-olds going and we have four or five yearlings right now,” McGowan said. “I think we will continue to grow it as long as we have success with the ones we have.”

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