Tag: serengeti empress

With $3M Into Mischief Topper, Keeneland September Sizzles from Start to Finish Tuesday

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis

LEXINGTON, KY – With the very first horse through the ring bringing $1.3 million, the second session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale was off to the races Tuesday and the action didn't slow down throughout the day as the second-to-last offering brought $1.25 million. In between, 13 other yearlings sold for seven figures, including a colt by Into Mischief who brought top price of $3 million from the partnership of Chuck Sonson, West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford.

With eight million-dollar yearlings Monday, the two-session Book 1 section concluded with 23 yearlings bringing $1 million or more.

“It was a great day with lots and lots of different buyers, the partnerships were active, it was active from the domestic side as well as the international side,” said Keeneland President Shannon Arvin. “The 15 top prices were bought by 13 different buyers. And there was also a real diversity among the consignors, which was really nice to see. There were a lot of consignors who had a lot of success today.”

Figures for the marathon auction continue to track very closely with its record-setting 2022 renewal. In all, 221 yearlings sold during Book 1 this year for a total of $116,925,000. During last year's Book 1 section, 220 yearlings grossed $113,660,000 as the auction was well on its way to recording its first-ever gross over $400,000,000.

“Going in, I didn't think it would be fair for us to expect that we could replicate last year,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “But I think when you look at the numbers–obviously the median is down a little, the average is up a little bit–but overall the fact that the gross is up over $3.5 million from last year is incredible. When you look at the numbers through the ring that got sold, it's very, very comparable.”

The Book 1 average of $529,072 is up 2.41% from a year ago, while the median dipped 11.11% to $400,000.

From a catalogue of 392 yearlings, 302 went through the ring with 81 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 26.82%. It was 21.99% a year ago.

“A lot of people don't have to sell,” Lacy said. “When you have a purse structure and people are enjoying it so much, they are happy to race.”

Gainesway was the book's leading consignor with 29 horses sold for $20,920,000. The farm sold eight of the book's 23 million-dollar yearlings, with five coming from Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm broodmare band.

“We had high expectations coming in,” Gainesway's Brian Graves said. “I wasn't sure we had as many million-dollar horses to sell as we actually did. The market proved to be really strong. But we knew we had a really good group of horses for our clients. The market is alive and well.”

Mike Repole continued to lead all buyers at the auction. On his own, the New Yorker purchased 21 yearlings for $8,135,000, while in partnership with Spendthrift Partners, he acquired an additional two yearlings for $1.2 million.

In addition to his activity buying, Repole also bred and sold the section's $3-million topper through the Lane's End consignment.

Into Mischief continued to dominate the top of the market. The Spendthrift stallion had 11 seven-figure yearlings and a total of 31 head grossing $27,910,000. Coolmore's Uncle Mo, with four seven-figure yearlings, had 17 Book 1 horses sell for $12,495,000. The duo were represented by nine of the book's top 10 yearlings.

The Keeneland September sale continues with Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday beginning at 11 a.m. Following a dark day Friday, the auction continues through Sept. 23 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

$3M Into Mischief Colt Heads Day 2

Continuing to underscore the sheer sire power of Into Mischief on this year's yearling market, Hip 261, a colt by the Spendthrift sire out GISP Nonna Mia (Empire Maker) landed a $3-million final bid from the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing and Chuck Sonson.

“This is a beautiful colt. This is a young family [and] with Into Mischief, you don't have to say much. He was always in the hands of Lane's End, so we knew a little about his upbringing,” said Terry Finley, who handled the signing duties from inside the pavilion. “We are really excited and have a new group of partners who are in on him. We will try to get to the Derby in 2025.”

Terry Finley & Chuck Sonson | Keeneland

Of the session-topping yearling, Finley added, “I thought he'd bring a significant amount of money. You never know. After they bring $1.5-$2 million, you never really know where you're going to stop. I was just glad that we got to a point where I thought it was a 'reasonable' amount of money, if you can in fact call $3 million reasonable for a racehorse that has never had a saddle on his back.”

The buying partnership also combined to purchase Hip 220 and Hip 225, a pair of $800,000 colts by Candy Ride (Arg) and Quality Road.

The Feb. 11 foal was consigned by agent, Lane's End.

“When you bring an individual like him to this sale, you hope to be rewarded and that's what happened today,” said Lane's End's Allaire Ryan. “Over the past decade, of the horses we've raised at the farm, he is right up there. He's always been a forward individual from Day 1. He's been a special horse for us.”

She continued, “All the top players you think would be interested in a future stallion prospect like him. I'm just thrilled for everybody on the farm. To be entrusted to a mare like this for Mr. Repole means a lot in and of itself but to be able to raise a horse and bring him to an auction is rewarding for everybody.”

While showing moderate ability on the track, Nonna Mia has already proved her mettle in the breeding shed, producing GI Wood Memorial winner Outwork (Uncle Mo), in addition to SP Nonna's Boy (Distorted Humor).

Day 1 Leading Buyer Repole Returns Tuesday with Breeding Score

Mike Repole was busy spending through Book 1, purchasing 11 yearlings, alone or in partnership, for just a tick under $3.945 million. Recouping some of that cash during Tuesday's session, Repole sat front and center with his team when a homebred colt out of a horse he campaigned, Nonna Mia, lit up the board.

“She was named after my grandmother,” he said. “I named the horse in 2009. My grandmother passed away in 2020. So she's very special to me.”

A half-sister to MGSW Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile), Nonna Mia was a $200,000 purchase by Repole from the Mill Ridge consignment at the 2008 renewal of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

According to Repole, the 16-year-old mare currently resides at Lane's End.

“Nonna Mia is getting up in age, maybe she has one more in her, maybe not,” he said.

The pedigree received a significant bump at Saratoga when Repole homebred Fierceness (City of Light), a son out of Nonna Mia's daughter Nonna Bella (Stay Thirsty), blew the doors off to earn 'TDN Rising Star' status Aug. 25.

“She also gave me Outwork and a horse I think is the best 2-year-old, Fierceness, who is going to the GI Champagne S.,” he confirmed. “So, we're lucky to have her.”

Underscoring the importance of the recent update to the colt's catalog page, Finley added, “I was up at Saratoga when Fierceness ran. I was awestruck by that performance.”

During Tuesday's session, Repole was also an active buyer, securing an additional 12 yearlings, 11 alone and one in partnership, for a gross of $5,390,000.

“I want to be the leading buyer and leading seller one day,” he quipped. “But I am passionate about all aspects of this game. Stallions, stallion shares, broodmares, buying, selling, weanlings, yearlings, even claiming horses for $12,500.

“I just enjoy the game. I like to play it at every single level I can and try to as well as we can do. I enjoy winning.”

Asked whether he will be back for Book 2 and 3, Repole laughed, “We'll be buying today, tomorrow, and the next day. Don't forget, we bought [juvenile champion] Forte in [Keeneland's] Book 4. Winners can come from anywhere.”–@CbossTDN

Stewart Strikes for Uncle Mo Filly

John Stewart, who made a big splash during Monday's first session of the Keeneland September sale, took his biggest swing of the week when going to $2.5 million to acquire a filly by Uncle Mo (hip 337). While Stewart was at the sale in person during the first session, he left bidding Tuesday to agent Gavin O'Connor and farm manager Chelsey Stone.

“She's an unbelievable filly,” O'Connor said after signing the ticket on the yearling who was consigned by Denali Stud as agent for breeder, WinStar Farm. “Uncle Mo is the sire of incredible fillies.”

The yearling is out of Starship Warpspeed (Congrats) and is a half-sister to GI Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil).

“I know the family personally,” O'Connor said. “I used to work for WinStar. I spent five years under Dave [Hanley] and Elliott [Walden]. So I have had babies out of the mare. They have a full-brother in training and he looks very promising as well.”

O'Connor, who was on the phone with Stewart during the bidding, admitted they had to stretch to get the filly.

“It was a little bit more than we wanted to go, but like we've said, John is a buyer,” he said. “I thought we were going to have her at $2.2 there, and then it went 3, 4, 5, and I thought, 'How far can we go here?'”

He added, “She's just an unbelievable broodmare prospect. She's an incredible filly. And the residual value is there. We just feel we have a safe asset at that price.”

Stewart purchased 10 yearlings during Book 1 for a total of $7,750,000. In addition to his $2.5-million acquisition, the Lexington financier also paid $1 million for a colt by Into Mischief (hip 147), a colt by Constitution (hip 135) for $850,000 and another son of Into Mischief (hip 83) for $800,000.

“We are done now,” O'Connor said. “We've got a really exciting stable of horses to go on with.” @JessMartiniTDN

Into Mischief Colt Rewards St George Team

Archie and Michelle St George, along with pinhooking partners Tony and Roger O'Callaghan of Tally-Ho Stud, hit a home run Tuesday at Keeneland when selling a colt by Into Mischief (hip 283) for $1.8 million to Coolmore's M.V. Magnier. The team had acquired the dark bay for $550,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

“I'm kind of speechless at the moment,” Archie St George admitted as Magnier signed the ticket on the yearling. “We're just very fortunate to have a horse as good as him. It's a huge team effort, with everyone at home, Roger and his dad and my wife Michelle and all the lads. A lot of work has gone into the horse and this is a huge thrill.”

Arthur St George | Keeneland

The yearling is out of Princess Haya (Street Cry {Ire}) and is a half-brother to stakes winner and Grade I placed Lady Kate (Bernardini).

Asked about the nerves associated with buying a pinhook prospect for $550,000, St George said, “It's nerve-wracking, but it's high risk-high reward. It's the quality of the horse. It's a huge team effort. I'd like to thank Coolmore and their partners and wish them the best of luck.”

Magnier, who purchased a son of Uncle Mo for $1.35 million Monday, was making his second purchase of the Keeneland sale. Magnier later added a $1.25-million Gun Runner colt late in the session.

“He is a very good mover and Into Mischief is a very good sire and [his son] Practical Joke is doing really well [as a sire] at the moment,” Magnier said of hip 283. @JessMartiniTDN

$1.35M Not This Time Colt Gives Airdrie Sentimental Score

Offering a small but select group of yearlings in this year's Book 1, Airdrie Stud once again showed quality over quantity often wins the day when it comes to the sales. Underscoring that point this week, Hip 344, a colt by Not This Time, drew a tidy $1.35 million final bid from Jacob West, who was bidding on behalf of Robert and Lawana Low. Over the course of two days, Airdrie sold all three of the yearlings it offered, amassing $2,475,000 in gross receipts while averaging $825,000. Airdrie also sold a Nyquist filly (Hip 31) for $750,000 on Day 1 and a $375,000 colt (Hip 356) by Complexity Tuesday.

After selling its priciest yearling so far this season, Airdrie's Bret Jones, who also bred the colt, said, “Special is the right word. A little overwhelming. I'm feeling a little sentimental right now, thinking about dad [Brereton C. Jones] and thinking how many memories we get from these great horses, these horse sales, horse races.”

Bret Jones | Keeneland

The Mar. 8 foal is out of Street Mate (Street Cry {Ire}), dam of Grade I winner Bell's The One (Majesticperfection) and GSW King Cause (Creative Cause). The 15-year-old mare, who was a $35,000 purchase at Keeneland November in 2012, is a half-sister to GSW and GISP Tap Day (Pleasant Tap)

Jones continued, “The colt has always been beautiful. He is by the right stallion. And the mare has been incredible to us. It's a really special family. He has always lived up to that family. He is just so good looking and makes you think he can be a special horse on the racetrack. The horse vetted perfectly clean which is always nice.”

When asked about the reserve, Jones didn't miss a beat.

“[The bidding] went past his reserve as fast as I hope he passes horses in a Grade I.”–@CbossTDN

Best Packs $1.3M Punch to Land Constitution Colt

The name Into Mischief seemed to be on nearly everyone's lips following a buying blitz of the sire's offspring during the first two days of selling. And while not generating the same headlines, at least not by sheer volume, WinStar's Constitution paved a slightly more subtle road while still packing a punch with five yearlings realizing $2,980,000, yielding a robust $596,000 average on Day 2. Leading the fray Tuesday was Hip 324, a bay colt who realized a $1.3 million final bid from Larry Best's OXO Equine. The purchase was Best's sole purchase on the afternoon.

“I thought he was one of the best colts in the sale,” said Best. “I paid more than I would want to. This particular auction I've never seen one quite this strong. I knew he was going be around $1 million to get him. But he's a beautiful specimen of a Constitution. He looks very racey, very athletic.”

Bred by Kindred Stables, the Mar. 26 foal was consigned by Indian Creek. The bay is out of the unraced Solo Uno (Medaglia d'Oro), a half-sister to MGSW and GISP Tom's Ready (More Than Ready).

“When you buy colts it's a high risk game,” Best said. “And when you saw some of the other colts that I liked in the sale they went for $2-million plus. There is only so much money I want to invest in a colt. This was a good shot. We'll see how it works out.”

@CbossTDN

Serengeti Empress's First Foal in Demand

The first foal out of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress (Alternation), a son of the omnipresent Into Mischief, was scooped up by the partnership of WinStar Farm's Maverick Racing, Siena Farm and CHC, Inc. for $1.2 million Tuesday at Keeneland.

“If he didn't break his ribs as a foal, he might have topped the sale,” said WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden. “We saw him on the farm and David [Hanley] and I both loved him. He's out of an Oaks winner on a Distorted Humor cross. Hopefully he can do some great things on the racetrack.”

Serengeti Empress was one of the first yearlings Joel Politi purchased when he decided to purchase young fillies with the goal of raising his own broodmare band from scratch. Politi and trainer Todd Amoss purchased the future Oaks winner for $70,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale.

After watching the mare's first foal go through the ring Tuesday, Politi admitted, “It was emotional watching him go through the ring. I had a lot of second thoughts in the back ring. I was thinking, 'My goodness, he is so good-looking.' But we set a price that we would be ok with him moving on. I am being practical about the whole thing. So you can't argue with it really. He's going to a great place. WinStar is a first-class operation. They will take good care of him and they will have him here in Kentucky and we can come visit him, so it's a win-win.” @JessMartiniTDN

A Racing Prospect for Hartley/DeRenzo

Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo are typically active in the pinhooking sphere, but with new partner Rich Mendez expanding his footprint in the industry, the Ocala horsemen acquired a racing prospect in a $1.2-million daughter of Into Mischief (hip 316). Also partnering on the yearling is John Bellinger and Brian Coelho's BC Stables.

Bred and consigned by Gainesway, the gray filly is out of Silver Colors (Mr. Greeley) and is a half to GI Alabama S. winner Eskimo Kisses (To Honor and Serve) and a granddaughter of GI Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors.

Hip 316 Into Mischief–Silver Colors filly | ThoroStride

“For us, she was the pick filly of this book,” Hartley said. “It's just such a great female family and we just felt like if we put enough guys together, we could get her. To have a half-sister to a Grade I Alabama winner and the grandmother a Kentucky Derby winner, you just don't get those pedigrees that often. So she was a filly we thought we really needed to have in the barn.”

A Miami music titan, Mendez has been on both sides of seven-figure transactions this year. He purchased an Into Mischief colt for $1.3 million at the OBS April Sale. Now named Urban Legend, the juvenile is in training out west with Bob Baffert. Mendez was also involved in seven-figure pinhooks with Hartley/DeRenzo at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale and at last month's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

Asked if the purchase of this well-bred filly indicated Mendez would consider getting into the breeding side of the business, Hartley said, “We are thinking about it for sure. This would obviously be one you'd want in your barn. My favorite saying is black cats have black kittens and she's a beautiful filly, so I think she would definitely have beautiful babies. It was just a pedigree that you very rarely get and we felt like we really had to stretch to get her. But we were taking her home.” @JessMartiniTDN

All Into Mischief, All The Time

Continuing the feeding frenzy for colts, specifically those by Into Mischief, a son of the Spendthrift sire joined the millionaire's club when reeling in a $1.2-million final bid from Team Coolmore at Keeneland Tuesday. Led by M.V. Magnier, the group held their customary spot out back, picking up their fourth purchase, also the fourth seven-figure buy, of Book 1. Offered as Hip 331, the flashy grey was consigned by Machmer Hall, who also bred the colt.

“I'm overwhelmed,” said Carrie Brogden, standing alongside her mother, Sandy Fubini. “I had no idea he was going to bring that much money. Personally, that is our most expensive yearling. We've sold 2-year-olds for more, but that is our most expensive yearling. We are overjoyed.”

Commenting on the price, she admitted, “Our reserve was well below $500,000. We're sellers and breeders. We're here to sell our horses.”

Sandy Fubini & Carrie Brogden | Keeneland

The Feb. 26 foal is out of Special Me (Unbridled's Song), who failed to distinguish herself on the racetrack, allowing Craig and Carrie Brogden to swoop in to secure the mare for a mere $6,000 at Keeneland January in 2009. Subsequent to that most fortuitous purchase, the mare produced GI Santa Anita H. winner Gift Box (Twirling Candy), MGSW and GISP Stonetastic and MGSW Special Forces. She is also responsible for GI QEII Challenge Cup S. heroine Gina Romantica (Into Mischief), herself a $1.025 million purchase at Keeneland September in 2020.

“We're never going to get another mare like her,” Brogden said. “We have a Twirling Candy filly for 2023 and it'll be a hard decision whether she comes up here or not because we can buy a lot of new broodmares for a million dollars. She is tough as nails. She is in foal to Flightline right now, but we might have to send her back to Into Mischief after this.”

Armed with both top-class runners on both the dirt and turf, Brogden admitted she doesn't see any limitations to what this colt will be able to do.

“I wouldn't be surprised if he is a great dirt horse or if he is a great turf horse,” she said.

Seeming to have the knack for coming up with pricey sales prospects out of inexpensive mares, Brogden explained Machmer Hall's overall breeding philosophy.

“We just try to go with the families we like and understand what we can afford,” she explained. “For example, I bought Stonetastic's daughter for $400,000 because I can afford that. I can't afford Stonetastic even though we bred her. You have to know the families you are dealing with.”

“And I have to thank Unbridled's Song once again. [Monday] we sold six yearlings, three of them out of Unbridled's Song mares.”

While the Machmer Hall team can credit hard work, commitment and diligence to much of their success, Brogden is quick to point out that sometimes the intangibles can also come into play.

“We had two yearlings struck and killed this year and [the Into Mischief colt] was in the same field with them,” she said. “And there were only 14 of them. We got lucky it wasn't him.”–@CbossTDN

Volatile Filly Sparks Three Chimneys' Day 

Three Chimneys Farm, which hit it out of the park with the fast-starting stallion career of Gun Runner, could have another stallion success in the making after a first-crop daughter of Volatile (hip 215) sold for $1.15 million to the bid of Mike Rutherford Tuesday at Keeneland.

“I don't think you could write it out any better than to have a $1.15-million filly in the first crop, but those are the kind of mares that we bred to him,” said Three Chimneys' Chris Baker. “That's the kind of confidence that we have in him.”

The filly, consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, was bred by Three Chimneys and is out of multiple Grade I winner Love and Pride (A.P. Indy).

“She was a spectacular filly,” Baker said of the yearling. “She deserved that kind of recognition. She is that special. We wish Mr. Rutherford all the luck in the world with her.”

Three Chimneys purchased Volatile (Violence) in partnership for $850,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. The gray won the 2020 GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. and stood this season at Three Chimneys for $12,500.

“Volatile has consistently produced great physicals, horses with scope and substance that look fast,” Baker said. “And he was fast. It's really been pleasant to see how consistently he has race horse physical types. So we are as excited as we can be right now.”

Of the stallion's first seven-figure yearling, Baker said, “With a horse that started at his initial stud fee, it is a pleasant surprise–it's not shocking, but it's a pleasant surprise.”

Three Chimneys came right back with another seven-figure yearling when a colt by Into Mischief (hip 218), co-bred with Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm, sold for $1.1 million to the SF/Starlight/Madaket partnership.

Consigned by Gainesway, the yearling is out of Magical World (Distorted Humor) and is a half-brother to multiple Grade I winner Guarana (Ghostzapper). Guarana's Into Mischief colt sold for $1.4 million during Monday's first session of the September sale.

“Nothing would have surprised me with him,” Baker said. “I think he is an exceptional colt. He's a great-moving colt with a great pedigree–by a top sire out of a top mare. So I think he is well sold and I expect to hear more about him in the future.”

Also Tuesday, Three Chimneys sold a filly by Munnings (hip 280) for $700,000 to Shadwell. The yearling is out of Princesa Carolina (Tapit). @JessMartiniTDN

Gun Runner Filly to Speedway

Marette Farrell, bidding on behalf of Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner's Speedway Stable, went to $1.2 million to acquire a filly by Gun Runner (hip 222) from Jody and Michelle Huckabay's Elm Tree Farm consignment. The Huckabays were selling the youngster on behalf of Dell Ennis, who purchased the filly for $625,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale.

“She is so athletic and so light on her feet and has an amazing demeanor,” Farrell said. “I believe she is a runner and I hope Peter and K.C. are lucky with her.”

The bay is out of Mama Yay (Mineshaft), an unraced full-sister to Dialed In and a half to Broadway Gold (Seeking the Gold). The yearling is a half-sister to stakes winner Empire House (Empire Maker).

“It is a pedigree that Peter Fluor himself loved,” Farrell said. “We now have three stallions–Collected, Roadster and Corniche–so we are trying to do things with a view towards buying fillies [to breed to them]. We were the underbidder on this filly when she sold as a weanling. So we followed her and saw her here.”

Ennis said the filly's pedigree was what attracted him to her at Fasig-Tipton last November.

“I loved her,” Ennis said. “I loved the pedigree. I love Miss Doolittle and I love Mama Yay.”

The filly was Ennis's lone pinhook of the year and the Virginian admitted to some pre-sale jitters.

“I woke up at 2:22 this morning and couldn't sleep,” he said. “She is so classy and confident in herself. You are going to be writing about her again.”

Tuesday's seven-figure transaction was an emotional one for veteran horseman Jody Huckabay.

“I've been doing this for 35 years and this was my first million-dollar horse,” a visibly moved Huckabay said after watching the filly sell. “We thought she was a very, very good filly and obviously a lot of people thought she was nice. But you never know.”

Huckabay and Ennis were enjoying their first collaboration at the Keeneland sale.

“Dell bought this filly and called me and said, 'I hear you raise a good horse,' and he sent her to me. I met him yesterday [for the first time]. So I didn't know him. But things worked out. It's a very exciting day.”

Of the decision to send the weanling to Elm Tree last November, Ennis said, “I interviewed several farms and at the time, [Huckabay] checked the boxes for us. He could take the filly right from the sale, so he checked the boxes. I have a very good rapport with several other farms in Kentucky and I love them as well. Jody and Michelle are very hands on and they pay attention to detail. And that's what it takes to get a horse in that ring from a weanling.”

This is not the first time the bay filly has rewarded her connections in the sales ring. She was bred by Mark Erlandson, who purchased Mama Yay for $20,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November sale. Erlandson sent the Gun Runner filly through the sales ring at Fasig-Tipton last year through the New Hill Farm consignment. @JessMartiniTDN

Into Mischief Continues Powerful Run Into Day 2

Picking up where he left off Monday, Into Mischief was represented by his first seven-figure yearling of the session when Hip 218 reeled in $1.1 million from agent Donato Lanni. Tom Ryan signed the ticket on behalf of prolific partnership of SF Bloodstock, Starlight and Madaket.

“There is no mystery about the stallion,” Ryan said. “It's a very unique pedigree. Just a fantastic piece of paper. And it's rare you have the opportunity to buy into that sort of bloodline. So we're glad to be involved.”

According to Ryan, the colt will go to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

“Donato loved him and so did Bob. Our own team, John Moynihan was involved too. We're excited to have him.”

Whisper Hill Farm and Three Chimneys Farm bred the colt in partnership. The Apr. 20 foal is out of Magical World (Distorted Humor), most notably the dam of GI Acorn S. winner Guarana (Ghostzapper). The colt is also half to SW Beatbox (Pioneerof the Nile) and SW and GSP Magic Dance (More Than Ready). The family includes GI Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Pleasant Home (Seeking the Gold).

Following a lucrative streak, Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill, in partnership with Three Chimneys Farm, extended to $5.2 million to secure Magic World while carrying this foal at Fasig-Tipton November in 2021. Last term, the partnership dipped into the family again to purchase Magical World's colt by Quality Road for $1.1 million. Guarana herself was a $4.4-million purchase at Fasig-Tipton November in 2021.

The family had its desirability in full display Monday when a son of Guarana, also by Into Mischief, brought $1.4 million.

During Tuesday's session, Lanni also secured Hip 207, a colt by Into Mischief out of Late Night Pow Wow (Fiber Sonde) for $900,000 and Hip 243, a colt by Justify ($625,000) for the same partnership. —@CbossTDN

Seven-Figure Book 1 Parade for Pope

Mandy Pope, who has steadily been building a high-octane broodmare band, reaped the benefits of her investments during Book 1, selling five seven-figure yearlings over the two sessions. Leading the way was a $1.7-million son of Into Mischief (hip 162) who sold Monday. Pope got Tuesday's second session of the auction off to a quick start when the first horse through the ring, a daughter of Tapit (hip 202), sold for $1.3 million to the internet bid of Sinandigan Stable. Also Tuesday, Pope, in partnership with Three Chimneys Farm, sold a colt by Into Mischief (hip 218) for $1.1 million to the SF/Starlight/Madaket partnership; and a colt by Curlin out of champion Songbird (hip 325) for $1 million to Grandview Equine.

Mandy Pope | Keeneland

“It's been a lot of hard working buying the right mares,” Pope said. “We worked hard buying excellent race mares and trying to reproduce them. This has been an awesome day for us.”

Asked how the results in the sales ring matched up to her expectations, Pope said, “We thought a couple of them would sell that well. A couple of them were surprises for the better and one or two were not. The usual thing.”

Pope's Book 1 yearlings were at the forefront of a big two days for the Gainesway consignment.

“Mandy has invested a lot of time and a lot of money and it's starting to yield dividends,” said Gainesway's Brian Graves. @JessMartiniTDN

The post With $3M Into Mischief Topper, Keeneland September Sizzles from Start to Finish Tuesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Politi ‘Excited, Proud and Nervous’ as Serengeti Empress’s First Foal Set to Sell at Keeneland

Joel Politi was still a relative newcomer to racehorse ownership when Serengeti Empress (Alternation) took him to the winner's circle of the 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks. The dream ride could continue when the mare's first foal, a colt by Into Mischief (hip 309), goes through the sales ring Tuesday during the second Book 1 session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale through the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

“I am excited, proud and nervous, how about that? Probably a lot of emotions,” Politi said ahead of next week's auction. “Serengeti Empress means the world to me and my family. And then because of that, her first foal means a lot to us as well. He's a beautiful, good-looking, athletic colt, so I would love to keep him. But I also understand that, if I am going to stay in horse racing for a while, then I am going to have to stick to my basic philosophy of keeping my fillies and selling my colts. I intend to stay in horse racing for the long term, so it's a very practical thing to sell him, but it's also an emotional thing to sell him.”

Politi, an orthopedic surgeon living in Columbus, Ohio, grew up around horses on his father's farm in Youngstown. He first began his own racing stable in 2005 with claiming horses owned in partnerships, but he decided to strike out on his own in 2015.

“In about 2015, I decided I wanted to start a broodmare band with the idea of racing horses and trying to create a broodmare band from scratch,” Politi explained. “Honestly, the first horse that we bought at the sale was Serengeti. And all of the credit goes to [trainer] Tom Amoss. We picked her at the sale–when I say we–Tom picked her.”

Politi purchased Serengeti Empress for $70,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. Under Amoss's tutelage, the filly proved an immediate success, romping by 13 1/2 lengths in the 2018 Ellis Park Debutante and by 19 1/2 lengths in the GII Pocahontas S. She returned at three to win the GII Rachel Alexandra S. before her Oaks victory on the first Friday in May. Runner-up in the GI Acorn S. and GI Test S., she ended her sophomore campaign with a third-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

At four, she added the GII Azeri S. and GI Ballerina S. to her resume, was second in the GI Derby City Distaff S. and concluded her racing career with a runner-up effort behind Gamine (Into Mischief) in the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint. All told, she earned $2,175,653 on the track.

Her success on the racetrack made her a valuable commodity in the breeding shed, but Politi never wavered in his desire to retain the filly once her racing career was over.

“I was always going to keep her,” Politi said. “When we raced her, I had offers at every step along the way to sell her. Basically right after her Ellis Park Debutante win, I had significant offers, after her Pocahontas win, I had significant offers, and then I had real offers for her later in her career. And then at the end of her career, everybody kind of assumed that the normal protocol that a lot of people follow is to race their mares and sell them in November at the end of their careers. At that point, I had no interest in selling her. I've grown up around horses and to have a horse as special as her is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I just didn't feel right selling her and letting her go to somebody else, no matter how good of a broodmare she ever became. I was going to keep her and be able to enjoy her for the rest of her life.”

Serengeti Empress has become a permanent fixture in the Politi family.

“We go visit her all of the time,” Politi said. “My family likes visiting her, I like visiting her. And we know she is really well cared for. So that's priceless.”

The family has been watching the mare's first foal since before he was born.

“We had a camera on her stall the entire time she was pregnant,” Politi said. “We watched her every day. We were living and dying with this little guy as he was going through all the trials and tribulations of being born and growing. So we are very invested in him, so it will be emotional to watch him sell, but I am trying to be practical.”

Politi currently has 11 broodmares, including Li'l Tootsie (Tapiture), who was purchased for $105,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale and went on to win a pair of stakes and hit the board in three graded events, including a third-place effort in the 2021 GII Prioress S. Also in the band is Littlestitious (Ghostzapper), who was acquired for $190,000 at that same auction and is also a two-time stakes winner. Both mares are currently in foal to Not This Time.

“We bought five other fillies that have turned into nice stakes horses and a couple of them that never really got to show their potential that I love and I think they'll be great,” Politi said. “So we have a nice group of broodmares and now they are forever part of the little family.”

Politi's young broodmare band had its first Keeneland September offering a year ago when selling a filly by Bolt d'Oro out of Del Mar May (Jimmy Creed) (hip 1778) for $85,000 to pinhooker Tom McCrocklin. McCrocklin sold the filly for $375,000 at this year's OBS Spring sale.

“I am not upset that somebody did much better on her than I did because I own the broodmare,” Politi said with a laugh. “She is a nice mare and I have a yearling filly by Not This Time out of her that I am keeping. So I am rooting hard for that Bolt filly.”

Of his broodmare band, Politi said, “It'll be fluid, but I don't intend to become Stonestreet. My number is going to stay in that seven, eight, nine, 10 range. At some point, I will pare down what I have and just try to curate a really boutique, quality band of broodmares that I am happy to keep the foals and race them if nobody wants them or sell some of them and keep the whole operation going that way, that will be part of the plan.”

Politi currently has about eight horses in training, but he expects to do some shopping as well as selling at Keeneland next week.

“Tom and I will go shopping for some more yearlings,” he said.

“We are doing the same thing. We are buying athletes–physicals first–and try to get a pedigree as far as the dollars will let you go. But physical first.”

While Serengeti Empress failed to get in foal last year, she is back in foal to Curlin with another baby likely destined for the sales ring.

“I certainly was hoping for a filly, but we sexed the baby and it's a colt. They called me with the bad news,” Politi said chuckling. “I was really hoping for a Curlin filly. But it's ok. It is what it is.”

The Keeneland September sale begins Monday with the first of two Book 1 sessions beginning at 1 p.m. Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday begin at 11 a.m. and, following a dark day Friday, the auction resumes Saturday at 10 a.m.

The post Politi ‘Excited, Proud and Nervous’ as Serengeti Empress’s First Foal Set to Sell at Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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How Brookdale Farm’s Fred Seitz Made a Name For Himself

It felt like everything was up in the air; but actually everything was falling into place. Even as a kid, from nowhere obvious, Fred Seitz had discovered an affinity for horses. And the young man stepping onto the tarmac at Lexington airport had meanwhile learned resilience and adaptability with the Marine Corps. Sure enough, all the perplexity Seitz felt about his future was about to evaporate.

“I was wondering what I was going to do when I grew up!” Seitz recalls in his gentle, humorous tones. (He was, by this stage, a Vietnam veteran and closer to 30 than 20.) “So seeing how I had loved the horses when I was younger, I took a trip out here. I'd never been to Kentucky before. They didn't have jetways back then, so as I went down those steps from the plane, it was a very odd sensation. I just said to myself, 'This is it. This is where I'm going to live for the rest of my life.' And I was right. I went down, I stopped, and I knew.”

And here he is, very nearly half a century later, reflecting in his office at Brookdale Farm on a career best measured not just by the scale or diversity of his achievements (raised and sold a Derby winner; pinhooked an Oaks winner; stood a champion stallion; raised a champion stallion) but by the respect of a whole community. In an industry often dominated by dynastic operations, he has literally made his name—to the point that the next generation, in sharing and enhancing its prestige, are themselves evolving into one of those Bluegrass clans whose nurture is a guarantee of trust. Seitz the outsider has become Seitz the patriarch.

“People use the term 'self-made man',” he remarks. “I don't believe in that. When I think of all the people that have helped me along the way—people who taught me, helped me understand, gave me a push, gave me knowledge, encouragement… That's not self-made. That's made by a lot of kind people. So I've been very fortunate.”

One way or another, it has been quite a journey to Versailles from his native Bronx. But he always had the right stuff in his own pedigree: his father had also been a Marine, serving on Iwo Jima; likewise an uncle, lost in a B-25. And when Seitz was five, he was blessed by a transformative change of environment—the family of six having previously squeezed into a one-bedroom apartment in the city—after his father joined the maintenance crew on a New Jersey farm belonging to the social reformer Geraldine Morgan Thompson. It was called Brookdale and, though since swamped by suburban development (for Brookdale University and a county park), Seitz would eventually preserve the name in tribute to the life-changing opportunity he found there. Because the farm, crucially, was divided between agriculture and a training track.

“All of a sudden, we'd left the streets of New York for this little hamlet in the country,” he recalls. “A wonderful place to grow up. And I became fascinated by those horses. There were all these different trainers in there, renting stalls, and the place had a great history going back. Regret had trained there—a Whitney farm was right across the road—and Colin was another that came off the place in the old days. And I was walking hots by the time I was 10. Of course, they gave me the easy horses, but I couldn't believe they were paying me: I thought it should be the other way round. A dollar per horse! It was a wonderful opportunity to learn, and I was so lucky to be able to find out, so early in life, what I wanted to do with all my ensuing years.”

Through high school, Seitz worked vacations as a groom and exercise rider at Monmouth Park. To this day he treasures a photograph of a filly named Triple Brook, in the winner's circle at Atlantic City in 1964. He's holding the halter, 17 years old, and couldn't conceive that life might contain any greater satisfaction: he'd helped to break the filly at her owner's farm.

The trainer is not in the picture. Seitz says that was pretty common at the time, to cede the limelight to the owner, though on this occasion Ralph McIlvain might just have been busy at the windows.

“Mr. McIlvain was a gambler,” Seitz recalls. “And he'd tried to hide this filly in the mornings. He knew she was really nice, and he didn't even run her in a maiden special weight, but in a claimer. She won by six. Obviously the word had gotten out, she only paid $2.70. He'd wanted to make a real killing. I didn't know anything that was going on, I was just a kid. But the owner found out that he was gambling with her, and that he could have lost her for $5,000, so he sent her to New York to Ridgely White. After that, she won the Vagrancy, she ran second in the Beldame, third in the Regret—all graded races today. Obviously she was a very good filly.”

Whether in the Brookdale barns or at the track, Seitz was acquiring a diploma in old school horsemanship: not just from veteran Irish trainers like Tom Harraway and Mike Fogarty, but also from other grooms. Seitz was avid to learn, and his vocation seemed plain. But then came two intrusions: college in Western Pennsylvania and then, with his country at war, aviation with the Marine Corps. In Vietnam, they were shooting down pilots as fast as they could be trained. With corresponding urgency, two days out of Officer Candidate School, Seitz married his sweetheart Peppe who had attended a sister school to his own.

Leaving Peppe with her family, Seitz became a bus driver in the sky, flying 50 men at a time in giant H53 Sea Stallion helicopters, first from Okinawa and then off the Vietnam coast with the fleet they called Yankee Station.

“I spent my last two months flying in, flying out,” he says. “I have to be honest, I was very fortunate. I did see some of the results, and I transported some unfortunates, but I never spent a night 'in country', as they called it. I never had those situations to deal with, that were so hard on many people.”

On his return, he became an instructor at the Navy Flight School. It was a traumatic time for the nation, and no less so for a young serviceman who had seen friends maimed or killed. There was much hurt and confusion over the hostility of so many compatriots when his peers had shown such courage and sacrifice.

“It was difficult,” Seitz says. “The country was fed up, and rightfully so by '73, '74. But it was difficult to understand the reaction of some people, it felt like they were shooting the messengers. I grew my hair long as quickly as I could. Aviators have those leather jackets, just like you see in the movies, with the squadron patches and identification. Nowadays I realize how beautiful those are, really it's your history. But I took them off, gave away my uniforms to my children. So I was actually disrespectful myself, because it all just felt so wrong—the way we were treated. Eventually you get over something like that, but I do still remember it very keenly.”

But if Vietnam had proved a white-hot furnace, then immersion in the cooling waters of the Marine ethos had forged a character that would serve Seitz no less well in his civilian career. He never lost his sense of pride, fidelity and resolute humility. “You find out who you are,” he says. “It's a separate culture that very few Marines don't honor. Once a Marine, always a Marine. So many aspects are valuable: fortitude, discipline, camaraderie, excellence. They have a saying: adapt, improvise and overcome. Simple, but very true.”

All the same Seitz was decidedly at a crossroads, back in 1973, when he took that fateful flight to Kentucky. But while he had just one door to knock, that was enough. Peppe's father had encountered a Standardbred man, Francis McKinsey who had managed Walnut Hall and Almahurst, and asked him to look out for a chance for a hardworking ex-Marine.

“He was a very kind, generous man and along with Joe Taylor, who had a Standardbred background also, helped me find this job on a small farm belonging to Tom Collins,” Seitz recalls. “On The Rocks Farm, it was called. Doesn't exist anymore. I was very early to be a farm manager. To put it bluntly, I wasn't qualified. My experience had been with horses in training. But if I didn't know something, which was often, I'd call Francis in the evening and he'd tell me what to do. So if I was often learning by my mistakes, he helped me to learn quickly.”

After a couple of years Seitz extended his education to the rapidly evolving sales scene. First came a stint under Ted Bates at a new subsidiary to the New York firm of Fasig-Tipton, testing out Keeneland's local monopoly. (Today, of course, Seitz's daughter Anna is bringing things full circle as Fasig-Tipton's much esteemed Client Development and Public Relations Manager.)

“It was just Ted, and a secretary, and I was his assistant,” Seitz says. “I did everything from putting on the hip numbers to setting out the chairs, whatever it took. Ted was not just a wonderful horseman but a wonderful man, very open with his experience. The [1976] Derby winner Bold Forbes and Preakness winner Elocutionist had both just come out of their tent sale, for about $15,000 each. Soon after came Genuine Risk, Seattle Slew, and, bang bang bang, they just kept coming.”

Then came a turning point, Seitz stepping into the slipstream of agency pioneer Lee Eaton.

“In my opinion, Lee invented that business,” he says. “He was very good at it, he was selling lots of horses and back then you got five percent for everything, whether you sold or not, so that was very lucrative. I did a few sales for Lee, and then he gave me some of his overflow. And it was amazing, the quality even of his overflow.”

With the help of his former patron Collins, who introduced him to his banker and the concept of debt, Seitz leased a plot and experimented with half a dozen weanlings in a nascent pinhook market.

“I wanted to play the game, more than just board horses,” he remembers. “The weanling trade was fairly new. There was Stanley Petter, there was Lee, a few others. So the timing was very fortunate. We spent about $60,000 total on those six and they sold for almost double, November to July, which was outrageous good fortune. Two became New York stakes winners, in races that would now be graded; and a third was stakes-placed in California. So we couldn't have been any luckier, starting out.”

Steadily Seitz expanded his portfolio, while acquiring parcels of land piecemeal: just 10 acres, at first; then another 10, 32, 165. Today Brookdale encompasses over 400 acres on different tracts.

“Which I could never have imagined in a million years,” he says. “When I got off that plane, I'd thought to myself, 'If I work hard here, in a couple of years I might be able to manage a small farm.' But fortune has been amazing for me, especially with my help. Victor Espinoza has been here 35 years. People like him have just been a godsend.”

Another market that then remained usefully immature was the one for stallions. “There wasn't the competition then,” Seitz says. “So I took a shot on a horse called Greinton. Beautiful, beautiful horse. Correct. Mile speed. Good pedigree.” He pauses wryly. “And he was an abject failure, just a dud. But I was in the business.”

In 1988, therefore, his friends Ric Waldman and John Perotta, who managed Deputy Minister, approached Seitz to stand the horse when Windfields closed its Maryland division.

“I believe he had 3-year-olds coming,” Seitz recalls. “And the rest of the story everyone knows. He took off, immediately he came here, and the arrangement worked extremely well. He was a big strong horse, very virile. He was a handful, a strong personality. In fact, one of the first times Victor went in the stall with him, the horse grabbed him by the pectoral muscles, lifted him in the air and threw him down. From that day on, we treated him differently. But he became leading sire in North America twice. He was here until he died [aged 25, in 2004], and is buried up in our cemetery. So, another big strike of fortune.”

Seitz has presided over many changes in the business. He remembers Paul Mellon, as a shareholder in Greinton, ringing to caution against the reckless expansion of his book to 60-odd mares. But he has always moved with the times, always adapted like a good Marine.

By the early 2000s, when stallion recruitment had become prohibitive, Brookdale streamlined back to sales prep and boarding only. Sons Freddy Jr. and Joe, also Marines, were meanwhile progressively given responsibility, in management of the farm and sales divisions respectively. The one constant, throughout, has been results.

Brookdale graduates remarkably include not just I'll Have Another (Flower Alley), the result of a mating recommended by Freddy Jr. to long-time client Harvey Clarke, but also the horse he beat in the Derby, Bodemeister (Empire Maker). Tapit was foaled and raised here before being presented for sale as a $625,000 yearling; Serengeti Empress (Alternation) was pinhooked as a weanling; while the latest champion through this nursery is Vequist (Nyquist), raised for breeders Tom and Sue McGrath of Swilcan Stable.

Yet for all these moments of fulfilment, Seitz admits that nothing has ever gratified him, day to day, more than his six or seven years with a trainer's licence.

“By that stage I had this place running smoothly, with the right people, and my background as a teenager had primarily been with horses in training,” he explains. “I had five stakes winners, never from more than eight to a dozen horses. Keeping horses in training truly is a sport of kings but I loved every minute of it. If the fairy came up with a magic wand, that would be very easy for me. Other than a healthy family, the thing I'd most want is a really good horse.”

One way or another, at 75, Seitz has left very few stones unturned with Thoroughbreds. But his own versatility is matched by the object of his obsession: he sees no golden seam to separate the best from the rest.

“They come in all shapes and sizes,” he says with a shrug. “I like correct individuals, with size and some quality. But I used to go to the spit box at Keeneland to look at the winners cooling out, trying to figure out what makes a good one. And I never accomplished much that way at all!”

Seitz credits David Lambert as a mentor who gets closer than any to finding that elusive formula, and Sally Lockhart among many others for their contributions over the years. Above all, of course, there is the immense satisfaction of having three of his children follow him into the world of Thoroughbreds.

When he first came here, the Bluegrass establishment could still resent perceived interlopers. Seitz feels this to be no longer the case; that commercial breeding has made for a wholesome meritocracy. In the meantime, of course, he has himself created a family brand. Typically, this observation elicits a modest chuckle.

“That's right,” he says drily. “And I think about that. There's an old saying, 'shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations'! I could worry about that, but it's too far down the road. I have 16 grandchildren, no doubt some will stay in the business.

“I've done this so many years now. I'm still here just about every day, but I'm learning to slow down. I try to stay in my own lane. I'm having trouble figuring out where I belong. But I'll get there, because I still love it just like that 10-year-old kid.”

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Alternation Relocating From Pin Oak to Darby Dan

Multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Alternation (Distorted Humor–Alternate, by Seattle Slew), a half-brother to Grade I winner and Darby Dan Farm stallion Higher Power (Medaglia d'Oro) and the sire of multiple Grade I winner Serengeti Empress, is being relocated from Pin Oak Stud to Darby Dan Farm by Steve Belford's Maccabee Farm for the upcoming breeding season, the farm announced today. Alternation is being re-syndicated and will stand for a fee of $7,500 S&N.

“We're excited to bring a horse of Alternation's caliber to Darby Dan,” said Ryan Norton, stallion director at Darby Dan Farm. “He was a top-class horse on the racetrack, he is from an active and accomplished Pin Oak family, and he is already making his presence felt as a stallion, siring the likes of Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress. He is a great-looking horse and possesses all the qualities to be a top sire.”

Alternation was a multiple graded stakes winner of $1,064,727 in his racing career. He captured five stakes races in Pin Oak's famed colors, including the GII Peter Pan S. at three and the GII Oaklawn H. GIII Pimlico Special and GIII Razorback H. the following year at four.

For more information about Alternation, to inquire about shares, or to arrange an inspection, contact Ryan Norton at (859) 254-0424, or by email at ryan@darbydan.com, or visit DarbyDan.com.

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