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Catalina Cruiser Filly Tops Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale, canceled last year due to the pandemic, returned to the Humphrey S. Pavilion Monday with a weanling filly from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Catalina Cruiser (Union Rags) (hip 215) bringing top price of $195,000. The filly, bred by Robert Chasanoff's Gentry Stable and consigned by Sequel New York, was purchased by Dean and Patti Reeves, in partnership with Steven Rocco.

“That's as balanced and as solid a looking filly as I've seen in a long time,” Dean Reeves said of the weanling. “She seems to be pretty special. We can just imagine what she'll look like as a 2-year-old when we get her back up here to New York to run.”

The sale-topper is out of stakes winner Catcha Rising Star (Red Giant), who was purchased by Chasanoff for $85,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November sale.

The Reeveses also purchased the weanling's half-sister by Liam's Map for $260,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred Yearling Sale in August.

“We really like that mare,” Reeves said. “We are excited to have this family, we think it's going to be a pretty solid family.”

Catcha Rising Star, in foal to Honest Mischief, also sold Monday. She was acquired by Thorndale Farm for $53,000.

The Reeveses will be heading to the Breeders' Cup with another graduate of the Saratoga Fall Sale. The couple purchased Dakota Gold (Freud) for $83,000 at the auction's 2019 renewal. The juvenile is now two-for-two and punched his ticket to championship weekend with a win in the Nownownow S. at Monmouth Park Sept. 26.

“I think it's a great value sale and I think when you look at it, the really superlative horses stand out,” Reeves said. “I have found that that translates into a nice runner and you get a really great bang for your buck. We are up here in the summers and we like racing in the New York program and having these runners. Then sometimes you get one like Dakota Gold that steps outside of the New York-bred program that shows he's got some talent and here we are with him in the Breeders' Cup.”

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing purchased four weanlings at the Fall sale Monday. In addition to the sale topper, the operation also acquired a colt by Freud (hip 256) for $100,000, a colt by Malibu Moon (hip 159) for $95,000 and a filly by Mucho Macho Man (hip 92) for $40,000.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Jimmy Gladwell who helped me look at these horses,” Reeves said. “He's got a great eye. He's been up here helping Patti and me look at the horses and talked about what we need in the stable to try to be competitive in the next couple of years.”

The weanling purchases weren't the only successes for the Reeveses in upstate New York Monday. The couple was represented by Senbei (Candy Ride {Arg}), impressive winner of the New York Breeders' Futurity at Finger Lakes.

“I love him,” Reeves, who watched the race between bidding in the upstairs lounge in the sales pavilion, said of the two-time stakes winning juvenile. “He's just a really competitive young horse.”

The sale-topper was one of seven weanlings to bring six figures at the Fall sale. Vinnie Viola's St Elias Stables purchased three of those seven lots, led by a colt by Kantharos (hip 199) who sold for $120,000 and a pair of colts by the operation's GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso (hip 292 and hip 214) who each sold for $100,000. St Elias also purchased a filly by Connect (hip 185) for $95,000.

The 5-year-old Nice Smile (Smiling Tiger), in foal to multiple Grade I winner Vekoma, was the auction's top-priced mare when selling for $70,000 to Goose Wickes.

In all, 163 head sold for $3,657,800 for an average of $22,440 and a median of $10,000. With 69 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 29.7%.

“As usual, it's a competitive market for those horses who are pretty good standouts,” Reeves said of the market in Saratoga Monday.

During the 2019 Fall sale, 134 lots grossed $3,384,700 for an average of $25,259 and a median of $15,000. The buy-back rate was 38% and six horses sold for six figures.

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The Lieutenant’s First And Last Yearling At The Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale

Potential is the bedrock of the Thoroughbred industry, especially in the bloodstock game. The promise of what a horse could do is often as valuable as what he or she has already done, and that proves itself to be true every time horses are gathered for an auction.

That's what makes it especially jarring when potential is snatched away suddenly, before the horse has the opportunity to live up to it. The fragile nature of the Thoroughbred has left many horses seemingly destined for stardom with incomplete resumes. When it's taken away violently, the shattered potential goes from tragic to traumatic.

There's no other way to describe the brief stallion career of The Lieutenant, a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify who stood one season in New York, shuttled to Haras Barlovento in Peru for the Southern Hemisphere breeding season, and was one of four stallions killed by marauders during a December 2019 raid on the Peruvian farm.

The attack left Haras Barlovento so devastated, it exited the breeding industry shortly afterward.

The Lieutenant, a Grade 3-winning son of Street Sense, left 34 Northern Hemisphere foals from his lone season at Sequel New York. From that group, one filly was cataloged in this year's Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale, making her the first, last, and only foal by The Lieutenant to ever be offered in the Empire State's signature sale.

New York has had a rough go of high-ceiling stallions departing too soon in recent years. Grade 1 winner Effinex died of an acute rupture of the pulmonary artery in 2017 after just one season at stud. Grade 2 winner Laoban was a revelation with his freshman crop in 2020, and he promptly left New York for WinStar Farm in Kentucky the following year, where he covered one book of mares before dying suddenly.

This all goes to say that New York's buying bench is used to a limited edition.

The spotlight filly by The Lieutenant went through the ring on Monday as Hip 564, a flashy chestnut out of the winning Henny Hughes mare Sister Mimi. Bred in New York by Jacob West, the filly's family includes Belmont Stakes winner Union Rags and multiple Group 1 winner Declaration of War.

“She is very big, great bone, a lot of size and stretch,” said Jay Goodwin of consignor Eaton Sales. “It's funny, if you thought about what a good Justify would look like, that's sort of what she looks like – a chestnut, a lot of bone. She's a big filly, but she doesn't look that big until you step up to her, and then she looks big, because she's so balanced.”

Becky Thomas of Sequel New York also noted the resemblance The Lieutenant's foals had to Justify, even though the link between the two isn't as obvious as it might seem.

“I have four, and they're all chestnut, which I thought was interesting, because (The Lieutenant) was bay,” she said. “I like that if they're going to follow a pattern, that they'd be like Justify.

“They have quite a bit of stretch to them,” Thomas continued. “You see more of the Street Sense, instead of the Ghostzapper on the dam's side.”

Goodwin knew the story of how The Lieutenant met his end, and he said there was definitely a curiosity factor among the shoppers that asked to see the filly.

However, he said her scarcity in the catalog as the only yearling by the stallion was much more of a driving factor in the number of times her number was checked on the call card.

“Her being the only one in the sale has helped a bunch,” he said. “We had a lot of people just want to see what she looked like because she was the only one here. This is the only one I've seen, which is sad, because if they all looked like her, I'd love to see a bunch more.”

The filly went through the ring late in the auction's closing session, and the hammer fell to Roger “Rocky” Rashall Jr.'s Respect The Valleys for $17,000.

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“We going to go end-use with her, so she's going to race,” Rashall said. “We will place her in Kentucky for a couple months, and then she'll end up over in the Maryland area, probably with Brittany Russell. She'll probably be broken in Virginia, then start out in Maryland and see where it goes from there.”

Sarah Brown, who assists Rashall in the selection process, said the filly was helped by her resemblance to another stakes-placed Respect The Valleys runner.

“She actually reminds me of a Mizzen Mast filly that I bought off of Jay a few Septembers ago, Sailing Into the Wind, that's done really well,” she said. “We got her for about the same price. I just liked the way she walks. She's a bigger filly, but she's light on her feet. She's got good angles, good strength, so we'll see what happens. We got the right price for her.”

Rashall said the “Respect The Valleys” nom de course was a nod to the many ups and downs of the Thoroughbred industry. You don't have to love the valleys when you descend from the peaks, he said, but you have to respect them.

The end of The Lieutenant's story is one of the ultimate valleys, but even in that, there is an epilogue. He has 34 chances to find the runner that will define his brief legacy at stud, and perhaps extend it into future generations.

Rashall hoped his new purchase would be up to the challenge.

“Hopefully, she can pick up in his footsteps and make a happy ending to a bad story.”

The post The Lieutenant’s First And Last Yearling At The Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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WinStar Farm Sire Laoban Dies Unexpectedly

Laoban, a leading second-crop sire, has died unexpectedly, WinStar Farm announced today.

The 8-year-old son of Uncle Mo had relocated to WinStar Farm last year from Sequel Stallions in New York and was standing his initial season at WinStar.

“It is with heavy hearts that we have to announce that we lost Laoban this morning,” said Elliott Walden, WinStar's president, CEO, and racing manager. “He had quickly become one of our favorite stallions, and it's sad that we will not have the opportunity to see how influential he could have been as a sire. His passing will leave a tremendous void for all of us, and he will be greatly missed.”

As a sire, Laoban is represented by Grade 1 winner Simply Ravishing, a 6 1/4-length winner of the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland, and Grade 2 winner Keepmeinmind, winner of the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, multiple Grade 1-placed and most recently fourth in the Preakness Stakes, among others.

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Laoban Receives Warm Bluegrass Welcome

The buzz started around this time last year. The first crop of 2-year-olds from Sequel New York's Laoban were fast.

In a TDN series last spring polling various juvenile consignors and buyers, the son of Uncle Mo was on several shrewd observers' lists as a predicted under-the-radar stallion.

“Laoban is a sneaky one that I'm not sure if a lot of people will notice,” Brandon Rice had said last March. “I can see that there's guaranteed speed, and I could see him having a break out year…They all have a pleasing physical type. Horses that stamp their progeny this way usually have at least some level of success.”

“There's been some buzz surrounding him by the breeze-up consignors,” Justin Casse had echoed. “He's by Uncle Mo, which should help with precocity, and he has the numbers. I think he has a chance to be a premier stallion in New York going forward.”

Casse was correct in hypothesizing Laoban's shot at becoming a premier stallion, but this year the young sire will have the opportunity to take it one step further by hosting his fifth book of mares in Kentucky.

One banner weekend at Keeneland's fall meet last year helped seal his destined Bluegrass move.

First his daughter Simply Ravishing took the GI Darley Alcibiades by over six lengths. Then the next day, his son Keepmeinmind ran second to Essential Quality (Tapit) in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity.

Later that month, it was announced that Laoban would be relocating to WinStar Farm.

“Coming from New York, he stood his last season for $5,000,” said WinStar's David Hanley. “The difference in quality of mares he's getting now off a $25,000 fee, with the kind of physicals that he gets, I think he really has the possibility to be a big success as a stallion.”

Laoban wrapped up the 2020 season in second place on the freshman sire earnings list. His other top performers included Ava's Grace, his first winner from July who ran back to a third-place finish in the GII Adirondack S., dual New York-bred stakes winner Laobanonaprayer and Dreamer's Disease, who broke his maiden on the turf and switched back to dirt to go wire-to-wire and win an optional claimer at Keeneland by 4 1/2 lengths.

“From the kind of mares that he bred to consistently get these kind of runners, I think it speaks a lot to his future as a stallion,” Hanley noted.

Laoban, along with another son of Uncle Mo in Darley's Nyquist, led their class by graded stakes winners last year after Keepmeinmind became Laoban's second when he took the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. in November.

When Keepmeinmind enjoyed a brief freshening at WinStar following his win in the Jockey Club, Hanley said he recalls being awed by the youngster.

“Wow, what a nice horse he is,” Hanley said. “Every time you see him on the track, he's such an impressive physical specimen and a beautiful mover. A disposition just like Laoban himself, really laid back.”

Laoban's momentum didn't stop over the winter as several of his weanlings carried hefty price tags at the breeding stock sales.

A colt out of Dixie Gem (Stonesider) was the highest-priced weanling at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale, going for $150,000 to Machmer Hall.

At the Keeneland January Sale, a colt out of Making a Point (Freud) sold for $120,000 to Cavalier Bloodstock in the first session. Later in the week, a colt out of Jade (Colonel John) sold for $70,000 as the highest-priced short yearling of the third session.

Then at the OBS Winter Mixed Sale, his filly out of Best Reward (Grand Reward) topped the sale, going to Sand Hill Stables for $175,000.

Hanley spoke on visiting this youngest crop at the sales over the past months.

“As they came out, they all had that similar sort of balance. They stand up square and have a beautiful shoulder. They walk off just like he does. Then when you go look at the mares and you see how much he moves those mares up physically, I thought it was quite astonishing because he was literally stamping his stock and they had his qualities. All beautiful horses off a $7,500 stud fee.”

He continued, “Then you look at the horse himself and he's such an impressive individual. He's got such stature to him. He's got the most beautiful shoulder, length of leg and a beautiful long, clean neck. He's such a classy horse to be around. I think that was evident in his stock as well.”

The next few weeks could prove to be defining for Laoban's early success as several first-crop 3-year-olds aim towards a start on Derby weekend.

Keepmeinmind is expected to return to the starting gate in the GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park on Mar. 13 while Simply Ravishing remains uncommitted to her next start, but is ranked highly in Bill Finley's most recent TDN Oaks Top 10. Meanwhile Laobanonaprayer looks to get her first victory against open company in this weekend's Busher Invitational S., where a win would earn 50 points towards the Oaks.

Hanley said Laoban has been well received by Kentucky breeders since his arrival, but that he is confident their new addition will see more success before the first Kentucky-breds hit the track. After filling a book of 122 in his first year, Laoban bred a combined 230 mares in his next three years at Sequel.

“He had very impressive 2-year-olds off a stud fee of $7,500,” he said. “When you look at the pedigrees they're out of, he has really moved those mares up. [His progeny to date] don't have very exciting pedigrees, just very good physicals. When you look at the mares that are booked to him this year, he's got 130 mares booked at a fee of $25,000. If he can continue to stamp his stock and produce the kind of quality that he had out of those lesser mares, I think the future for Laoban is really exciting.”

The GII Jim Dandy S. winner is out of stakes-placed Chattertown (Speightstown) and his half-sister produced Mr. Hustle (Declaration of War), a champion 2-year-old in Canada. His extended family also includes three-time Grade I winner I'm a Chatterbox (Munnings).

“He's out of a Speightstown mare and her second dam is by Danzig,” Hanley noted. “Being an Uncle Mo, he's an outcross for a lot of mares. Physically, he fits a lot of mares. He's a big horse, but he's very well-made. He's a great horse to be around. He's doing great in the breeding shed, has settled in really well and we're very happy with how it's going with him right now.”

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