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SF Backing Young French Sires

SF Bloodstock is one of the largest and most successful investors in stallions in the Thoroughbred business worldwide. So when SF throws it support behind a young sire, it's worth taking notice.

SF owns stallions in the U.S., Australia and Europe, and this year the group will find out if its backing of the 2016 champion 3-year-old Almanzor (Fr) will bear fruit, with that three-time Group 1 winner soon set to be represented by his first runners. Meanwhile, SF has continued its patronage of the French breeding business, and in particular the de Chambure family's Haras d'Etreham, by purchasing shares in Etreham's two new flat sires for 2021: Group 1 winners Hello Youmzain (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and Persian King (GB) (Kingman {GB}).

“Our working relationship with Etreham started with Almanzor after [Etreham's Nicolas de Chambure] presented us with an opportunity to purchase an interest whilst he was still in training,” said SF's Tom Ryan. “Nico and his team do a wonderful job at Etreham. He has an energetic, youthful team around him and momentum on his side.”

Hello Youmzain covers his first book this season at an advertised fee of €25,000, and Ryan said of the G1 Haydock Sprint Cup and G1 Diamond Jubilee S. winner, “Hello Youmzain is a particularly beautiful specimen with all the attributes the commercial market looks for in a stallion prospect. His gate speed was electric–that's one of the many invaluable weapons in his arsenal, as demonstrated last summer at Royal Ascot, when he led gate to wire to win the Diamond Jubilee. His looks and sire lines should serve him well. Kodiac and [damsire] Shamardal both continue to leave an indelible mark on the breed.”

Persian King, a Group 3 winner at two who went on to win the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the G1 Prix d'Ispahan and G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp last year at four, is available for €30,000.

“Persian King, on his best day, was simply brilliant,” Ryan said. “His sire Kingman is well on his way to becoming a dominating force amongst the ranks of the leading Europeans sires. Persian King was remarkably versatile and held in the highest regard by Andre Fabre. He will be supported by some of the most influential European breeders.”

SF's European stallion portfolio also includes the Irish National Stud's G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), and Ryan noted that the operation is supporting its young sires in Europe with its select broodmare band based there. Chief among those is Black Dahlia (GB) (Dansili {GB}), whose stock was considerably bolstered in 2020 when her G3 Round Tower S. winner Lope Y Fernandez (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) picked up placings in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas, G1 Prix Jean Prat, G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest and GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Black Dahlia's G2 Vintage S. scorer Dark Vision (Ire) (Dream Ahead) won last year's G2 Oettingen Rennen as well as Royal Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup.

“Black Dahlia is arguably our flagship mare in Europe,” Ryan said. “She is a three-time stakes producer and is coming into this season off the back of a phenomenal 2020. She foaled a beautiful filly by Wootton Bassett this month and will be bred back to Hello Youmzain.”

SF is also supporting Hello Youmzain with the maiden mare Malakeh (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}), who was a listed winner and Classic-placed in Germany and third in Woodbine's G2 Nassau S.; and Sumthingtotalkabt (Mutakddim), whose Grade III-winning daughter Lady Shipman (Midshipman) is the dam of last year's GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Golden Pal (Uncle Mo).

“Malakeh is a maiden mare for 2021,” Ryan said. “Nicolas de Chambure purchased her at Keeneland in November of 2020 [for $115,000] and we were delighted to partner with him and her racing owner Sol Kumin. She was bred and began her racing career in Europe and then raced and ultimately retired in the U.S. She is in foal to Hello Youmzain.

“Sumthingtotalkabt is a mare that we have owned in the U.S. for a number of years. She is the dam of Lady Shipman, making her the second dam of Golden Pal, the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner who was also second in the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot. She's a great example of a proven mare that we think can really bolster the book of a young sire so we sent her to France to be bred to Hello Youmzain.”

Persian King, meanwhile, will have the support of Eversmile (Theatrical {Ire}), the dam of four stakes horses including Grade I winners Coil (Point Given) and Chiropractor (Kitten's Joy), and young listed-winning mare Northern Eclipse (Northern Afleet). Eversmile, who is also a half-sister to American champion turf mare Possibly Perfect (Northern Baby) first visited Europe in 2014 to be covered by Galileo (Ire), a mating that resulted in the Grade III-placed Decorating, and she returned last year to visit Almanzor (Fr), to whom she is due to foal soon.

“Eversmile is another anchor broodmare for us in Europe,” Ryan said. “She is a Theatrical mare from a beautiful family and is a four-time stakes-producing mare. She is in-foal to Almanzor and will be bred to Persian King.

“Northern Eclipse is a newer addition to our broodmare band in Europe. She is a stakes-winning mare by Northern Afleet. We purchased her off the track in the U.S. and sent her to Europe to be bred to Phoenix Of Spain. She foaled a big, strong filly by him in January and will be bred back to Persian King.”

With stallion shares and broodmares stationed on three continents, one can imagine SF's matings planning to be something of a jigsaw puzzle. Ryan said key factors taken into consideration include conformation and getting young sires off the ground.

“We try to keep our matings process as straightforward as possible,” he said. “I think it's easy to get lost in the weeds and there is a lot to consider. For us, physicality is a big component; I don't think mating ill-matched physicals is ever a good idea, so we pay attention to previous progeny and what they have taught us. Oftentimes, though, we are mating with our stallions in mind and so we come at it not only from the angle of getting the best mating for our mares but also trying to give our stallions some solid support, especially the younger ones.”

Ryan acknowledged the importance of SF supporting its young sires especially during their second, third and fourth years in light of the market's bias towards first-season or proven sires.

“The market certainly is favoring top proven and first-season horses, so for us I think it's important that we support the young sires we're invested in to ensure that they have plenty in the pipeline when their first runners hit the track, and also to make sure that they're well represented at the sales with progeny out of both proven established broodmares and also younger mares that excelled on the track,” he said. “We understand what draws breeders to top proven horses and to first-season stallions, but there are plenty of excellent young stallions like Almanzor in subsequent years at stud that are being well supported and deservedly so. We know that if we want breeder support of our stallions in their second, third, and fourth seasons, we have to show that we believe in them too.”

SF, which typically offers its European stock at public auction, has partnered with de Chambure to race an Almanzor colt bought for 160,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2019.

“By virtue of our smaller numbers in Europe we haven't typically retained to race, however we did purchase an Almanzor weanling colt in 2019 with Nicolas de Chambure,” Ryan said. “Now a 2-year-old, he is named Faro de San Juan (Ire) and is in training with Francis Graffard. We are very excited about Almanzor; he has all the makings of a top sire and is poised to follow in his sire Wootton Bassett's footsteps.”

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Taking Stock: Nashville, Charlatan, and Speightstown

Speightstown (Gone West)’s highly promising 3-year-old colts Nashville and Charlatan are set to square off in the Gl Malibu S. over seven furlongs on opening day at Santa Anita Dec. 26, and the race already has the feel of an anticipated prize fight to it, all the way down to their respective heavyweight connections, who were once together on the same team that celebrated Justify (Scat Daddy)’s Triple Crown. But an important focus of this race belongs to their top-class sire, himself a champion sprinter, because it’s quite a feat for a stallion to get two colts of this caliber in the same crop, forgetting for the moment that Grade l-winning sprinter Echo Town, recently retired to Ashford Stud, is also a member.

In brief careers, Nashville, bred by Breffni Farm and out of Veronique, by Mizzen Mast; and Charlatan, bred by Stonestreet and from the Quiet American mare Authenticity, have been utterly brilliant to date, and there hasn’t been a horse that’s finished in front of either one. Neither, however, is officially (or “recognized as”) a graded winner yet, and it is December already. Keep that in mind as you read on, and note that Speightstown didn’t become a black-type winner until he was six.

Trained by Steve Asmussen, Nashville is undefeated in three starts. He made an eye-opening ‘TDN Rising Star’ debut in early September at Saratoga, winning a 6 1/2-furlong maiden special in 1:14.48 (six furlongs in 1:07.92) by 11 1/2 lengths. That race was followed in October by a 9 3/4-length romp in a NW2L allowance at Keeneland in 1:09.10, which appeared downright modest next to his last start at the same track on the Breeders’ Cup undercard. He won the Listed Perryville S. easy as pie by 3 1/2 lengths in 1:07.89, geared down from some ways out. For context, Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect) won the Gl Breeders’ Cup Sprint later that day by about the same margin in a driving finish in 1:08.61.

Like Nashville, Charlatan was a debuting ‘TDN Rising Star,’ winning a Santa Anita maiden special for Bob Baffert by 5 3/4 lengths in 1:08.85 in February. Stretched to a mile in an AOC next out at the same track in March, Charlatan won so impressively by 10 1/4 lengths that he was promptly put on the Triple Crown trail by the trainer of the last two Triple Crown winners, who’d followed an almost identical path with Justify to that point. Then the pandemic struck.

In a normal year, Baffert would have used a graded prep in April, as he did with Justify, to set up the trip to Louisville for the first Saturday in May, but he didn’t have to rush this year with a skewered Classic schedule that began with the Gl Belmont S. in June, followed by the Derby in September and the Gl Preakness S. in October. And though his stable was at the time loaded with talents such as Nadal (Blame) and Authentic (Into Mischief), Charlatan appeared to be his favorite, the one he waxed the most lyrical about in talent and physique.

Charlatan’s most recent start confirmed that view. Baffert sent both Nadal and Charlatan to Hot Springs for split divisions of Oaklawn’s Gl Arkansas Derby over nine furlongs in May, and though Nadal won his race in slightly faster time, Charlatan’s score by six lengths was the more visually impressive of the two and the one that conjured the Classic imagery of Justify. Unfortunately, Charlatan was since disqualified from the race for a medication violation, and he didn’t make the Classics after a flake in an ankle was subsequently discovered and removed.

The Malibu is his chance for redemption, which adds to the intriguing storyline for a prestigious race that not only pits Baffert again Asmussen–two top trainers that at one time or another have been publicly vilified for medication and welfare reasons–but also the principal ownership interests of the two colts against the other.

Connections

The principals in this match are WinStar and SF Bloodstock, two of the most formidable players in the game at the moment, and both are major shareholders in Speightstown, who is soon to be 23 and stands at WinStar for $90,000 S&N in 2021.

CHC, INC. (formerly known as China Horse Club) and WinStar purchased Nashville for $460,000 at Keeneland September, while SF Bloodstock and Starlight bought Charlatan for $700,000 at the same sale for a partnership that also includes Madaket, Stonestreet, Fred Hertrich lll, John D. Fielding, and Golconda Stables.

WinStar, CHC, and SF Bloodstock had a three-year run buying yearlings a few years back that yielded some extraordinary results, most notably Justify, but also Grade l winners Improbable (City Zip) and Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}), among others. After Justify was sold to Coolmore for massive dollars, WinStar and CHC stayed together, but SF left and joined some of its minor associates in Justify like Starlight and Madaket to form another buying group, which has struck gold not only with Charlatan, but also with Derby and Gl Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic and Grade l winner Eight Rings (Empire Maker)–a colt bred by WinStar–among others. The breeding rights to Charlatan, Eight Rings, and Authentic have all been sold for substantial returns.

WinStar, meanwhile, has kept clicking on all cylinders, both as a breeder and owner. The farm bred the Daredevil fillies Shedaresthedevil, first in the Gl Kentucky Oaks; and Swiss Skydiver, winner of both the Gl Alabama S. and the Gl Preakness–a race in which she defeated Authentic (thereby snuffing a sizeable kicker WinStar’s ex-partners could have earned with an Authentic win).

Either alone or in a variety of partnerships, WinStar has also raced several Grade l winners and promising youngsters this year, including with CHC, which most recently yielded promising juvenile Prime Factor (Quality Road), a ‘TDN Rising Star.’ The $900,000 Keeneland September yearling won his debut at Gulfstream Dec. 12 by 8 3/4 lengths and looks like a Classic colt for next year. So, too, does the partnership’s Life Is Good (Into Mischief), a $525,000 buy at the same sale that won a Nov. 22 maiden special at Del Mar by 9 1/2 lengths for Baffert in another ‘TDN Rising Star’ performance that has garnered even more praise.

Earlier this season, WinStar raced homebred Gl Coaching Club American Oaks winner Paris Lights (Curlin) through its racing club, WinStar Stablemates Racing, and another homebred, Gl Woodward S. winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic third Global Campaign (Curlin), with Sagamore Farm. Global Campaign will stand his first year next season at WinStar along with Improbable, joining Yoshida, who stands his second season in 2021.

Speightstown’s Effect

Before I drop you with an uppercut, let me set up the scene. Speightstown is one of the best stallions at stud in North America and a favorite of mine, one that we recommend the heck out of at the day job at Werk Thoroughbred Consultants. Some of our clients feel the same way, and one, Chuck Fipke, who meticulously plans his matings, is breeding six mares to the WinStar sire in 2021, including his Kentucky Oaks winner and Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Lemons Forever–dam of two Grade l winners, including Eclipse Award winner Forever Unbridled; and Gl Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Perfect Shirl, dam of current 3-year-old Grade lll winner Shirl’s Speight (Speightstown), yet another debut ‘TDN Rising Star’ in July at Woodbine.

Fipke has been a longtime supporter of the stallion and has bred and raced two of the stallion’s 19 Grade l winners: Jersey Town, the sire of Fipke’s Grade l winner Bee Jersey, who’s now at stud at Darby Dan; and current 2-year-old Lady Speightspeare, yet another debut ‘TDN Rising Star’ winner at Woodbine who followed up with the Natalma S. at the same venue. She’s a daughter of Fipke’s homebred Grade ll winner Lady Shakespeare, a half-sister to Perfect Shirl.

Before Lady Speightspeare, in 2019 ‘TDN Rising Star’ Sharing was Speightstown’s only other top-level winner at two, and she, like the Fipke filly, won her Grade l race on turf. Through 13 crops of racing age, Speightstown has yet to sire a Grade l winner on dirt before July of its 3-year-old season, something I’ve labelled the “Speightstown Effect” in past columns (click here to read one from 2019).

It goes without saying, of course, that just because something hasn’t occurred before doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t happen in the future. Sharing and Lady Speightspeare in back-to-back years aptly made the point that the stallion can get Grade l winners at two, albeit on turf, and Charlatan, if not for a DQ in the Arkansas Derby, would have been Speightstown’s first spring 3-year-old Grade l winner on dirt, but all three of these runners have come late in their sire’s career after he’d established a pattern of maturation that’s seen his best blossom as summer and fall sophomores and older horses.

Take a look at his other Grade l horses this year and note that they fit his established profile for later development: The Japanese-based 5-year-old mare Mozu Superflare won the Takamatsunomiya Kinen on turf in March, her first win at the highest level; 4-year-old Lexitonian lost the Bing Crosby by a nose in August at Del Mar, barely depriving his sire of another Grade l winner; on the day of Lexitonian’s second-place finish, however, 3-year-old Echo Town, another debut ‘TDN Rising Star,’ won the H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga; 4-year-old Victim of Love was third in the Ballerina S. at Saratoga in August; and a few weeks ago, 4-year-old Performer was third in the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. Also, note that Sharing came back at three this year to run second in the Coronation S. at Ascot in June. You’ll also note that most of these races were sprints and none was at more than a mile, which is Speightstown’s wheelhouse. He routinely sires fast horses–and his best runners tend to come to hand late.

This isn’t to say, however, that Speightstown can’t get staying horses; he can, when bred right. But they tend to win over a trip at the highest level after June of their 3-year-old seasons, like Haynesfield (Jockey Club Gold Cup at four); Golden Ticket (Travers, in August); Seek Again (10-furlong Hollywood Derby, in December); Force the Pass (Belmont Derby Invitational, in July); and Competitionofideas (American Oaks, in December).

So, here’s the punchline, and it’s no joke: Through 12 crops of 3-year-olds, Speightstown has never had a starter in a Triple Crown race. That’s an astounding stat for a sire of his quality, but in retrospect it fits neatly into the Speightstown Effect.

With hindsight, it’s possible that some foals in his future crops will be bred and managed by breeders, owners, and trainers to be more malleable at two and come to hand earlier at three. Perhaps he’ll get a future starter in the Derby, Preakness, or Belmont–and perhaps even a winner. But in the meantime, we can sit back and enjoy the speed show that the Malibu promises to be, and marvel that the two main protagonists in the race are by the same remarkable sire of high-octane runners.

(Special thanks to WTC’s Megan Hoover Wadley for manually researching the pedigrees of Triple Crown starters from 2009 to 2020, and to researcher Alex Kerstetter for independently confirming the results.)

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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Con Te Partiro a Unique Offering at Keeneland November

When SF Bloodstock and Newgate Farm purchased Con Te Partiro (Scat Daddy–Temple Street, by Street Cry {Ire}) for $575,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November sale, the team was already impressed with her accomplishments, but fast forward two years and it will be an even more imposing mare who goes through the ring during the first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale Nov. 9 in Lexington.

Out of the Grade I placed Temple Street and a half-sister to multiple graded placed Donworth (Tiznow), Con Te Partiro was purchased by bloodstock agent Gatewood Bell for $130,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Campaigned by the Hat Creek Racing partnership, she opened her career with a ‘TDN Rising Star’-worthy victory at Keeneland for trainer Wesley Ward in 2016. Two starts later, she won the Bolton Landing S. at Saratoga and concluded her juvenile campaign with a runner-up effort against the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint S. The following year, she joined Ward’s Royal Ascot contingent and came away with a win in the Sandringham H.

She was winless in six starts in 2018 before going through the sales ring at Fasig-Tipton, but had done enough to make the SF team’s short list that November.

“At the time, she was a stakes winner on two continents, a winner on dirt and turf, and by Scat Daddy–those attributes definitely put her on our list, but on top of that she is a beautiful mare and all class which was evident at the sale,” SF Bloodstock’s Tom Ryan said of the mare’s appeal in 2018.

Despite her winless 2018 season, Ryan said the plan was always to send the then 4-year-old racing in Australia.

“The plan was dual-pronged,” Ryan explained. “We felt, given her obvious talent as a racehorse on the turf, that she would suit Australia and could be very competitive there and then ultimately, being by Scat Daddy, from a lovely female family, that she would be an exceptional broodmare prospect.”

Transferred to Australia and the barn of trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Con Te Partiro found immediate success Down Under, winning the G3 Dark Jewel Classic at Scone in May. Off the board in her next three outings and with the Australian breeding season looming, the decision was made to retire the mare, who had now won stakes on three continents. But the retirement was short-lived.

“Honestly, it was breeding season in the Southern Hemisphere and she was a highly accomplished mare–a Group 3 winner in Australia, and a stakes winner in Europe and the U.S. with tons of appeal,” Ryan said of the decision to retire the mare. “It’s hard to pass up on a breeding season in that scenario, so we decided to go ahead and retire her. When she didn’t take on the first cover there was a lot of discussion–firstly, she was a maiden, so we didn’t want to stretch into a late cover and secondly, she was so talented. Thankfully we decided to put her back in training.”

Returned to training, Con Te Partiro would have her best season of racing in 2020, winning both the G1 Coolmore Classic S. at Rosehill and the G1 Coolmore Legacy S. at Randwick.

“It was outstanding,” Ryan said of Con Te Partiro’s season. “She surpassed all previous accolades picking up two Group 1s at two of Australia’s premier racetracks, Randwick and Rosehill. It was a credit to [Newgate Farm’s] Henry Field and to Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott–they had the belief in the mare and it paid off handsomely.”

In early September, it was announced Con Te Partiro would be returned to the United States for a tilt at the GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Turf before going through the sales ring at the Keeneland November sale two days later. But the 6-year-old suffered a knee injury later that month scuppering plans for an appearance at Keeneland championship weekend.

“It was absolutely disappointing to miss the Breeders’ Cup,” Ryan said. “A mare of that caliber would have been very competitive and we would have loved to end her journey there, especially given her exceptional juvenile performance against the boys at the 2016 Breeders’ Cup.”

While her Breeders’ Cup start was canceled, Con Te Partiro will still be keeping her engagement at the November sale down the hill from the racetrack.

“She arrived back to the U.S. in early October and is in the very capable hands of Neal Clarke and Conor Doyle at Atlas Farm,” Ryan said. “She looks superb, we are very proud to offer her at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.”

Of the decision to offer a mare with clearly international appeal at Keeneland, Ryan said, “It was a hard decision for sure–a mare like that is always going to be hard to give up, but we have to be true to our business and we are sellers in this case. In terms of location, I think we were spoiled for choice in that we could have offered her anywhere, but the international presence and broad buyer bench at Keeneland appealed to us. She is, after all, a U.S.-bred mare and there is something special about bringing her home.”

Ryan said buyers will find plenty to like about the well-traveled mare.

“I think she’s one of very few mares that really has it all,” he said. “She is cosmopolitan in every sense of the word; she was at home all over the world and took everything thrown at her with class and brilliance. A black-type winner on three continents, excelling on turf and dirt, wins from 4 1/2 furlongs to a mile, not to mention a beautiful physical, from an active female family that has also produced top sire Into Mischief, and by prolific sire Scat Daddy.”

Consigned by Bedouin Bloodstock, Con Te Partiro is catalogued as hip 217. (Click for Thorostride video)

The Keeneland November sale opens Nov. 9 with a single-session Book 1 beginning at noon. The sale continues through Nov. 18 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

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Preakness Favorite Authentic, A Book 3 Yearling, Was Worth The Wait

A connection formed with 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify has yielded 2020 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and Preakness (G1) morning-line favorite Authentic.

Starlight Racing bought into partnerships that were racing Justify, Grade 1 winner Audible and this year's top older horse Improbable before subsequently purchasing yearlings with another partner, SF Bloodstock. During the first year together buying young horses, SF and Starlight picked up Authentic for $350,000 at the Keeneland 2018 September sale.

The patience that was involved with the purchase of Authentic has been rewarded. The colt, now racing for Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Starlight and Madaket Stables, has won five of six starts, earned over $2.8 million and tops the field of 11 entered in the Saturday's 145th Preakness (G1) at Pimlico Race Course. Authentic and Thousand Words, both trained by Bob Baffert, are part of a group of Preakness runners that shipped from Kentucky to Baltimore late Tuesday afternoon.

Given the name Authentic by his breeder, Peter Blum, the son of top sire Into Mischief, was not viewed as one of the potential stars of the Keeneland sale, which front-loads talent in its massive catalogue. Jack Wolf, who manages Starlight with his wife, Laurie, recalled that the bloodstock advisors during the initial year of the buying partnership spotted Authentic and were willing to wait for him to reach the ring.

“We didn't buy him until Book 3,” Wolf said. “At the time, the first group of yearlings that we bought we had Donato Lanni, Frankie Brothers, Henry Field doing the short-list work. All three of them liked the horse, especially Frankie and Donato.”

Audible was the last of the 19 colts purchased by SF/Starlight for a total of $9,315,000. Thirteen of the others cost more than Authentic. The partnership purchased its 18th yearling, Ragtime Blues, in the fifth session of the sale and had to wait three days until Authentic, Hip No. 2,616, came to the ring.

“He is typical of the type of horse that those guys look at and buy,” Wolf said. “It's the conformation, the balance. Secondly, would be the pedigree, although this horse has a wonderful pedigree. They look for athletes. Of course, all the horses go to Bob Baffert and Donato has been working with him for years. I don't think Bob was around for Book 3, but Donato knows what Bob likes.”

SF and Starlight are listed as the buyers, but Madaket, managed by Sol Kumin; Fred Hertrich; John Fielding and Golconda Stables, were aboard when Authentic broke his maiden in his debut at Del Mar last November. After he rolled to two stakes wins during the winter in California, Spendthrift Farm stepped up to buy a controlling interest in the colt. Madaket and Starlight stayed in as racing partners. Spendthrift, which owns the breeding rights, sold a piece of its stake to Myracehorse.com, the company that markets in micro shares of horses.

Authentic ended up second to Honor A.P. in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) in his first start for the Spendthrift-led partnership, then won the Haskell (G1) in July and handled Belmont Stakes (G1) winner and heavy favorite Tiz the Law in the Kentucky Derby.

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