5th-Saratoga, $88,000, (S), Msw, 8-10, 2yo, f, 6f, 1:11.93, ft, 3 lengths. MISS D'OR CHERIE (f, 2, Bolt d'Oro–Above Fashion {SW & GSP, $188,590}, by Paddy O'Prado) was drawn widest in a nine-strong field for Thursday's state-bred maiden at Saratoga and turned in a most professional debut effort to open her account at first asking. Outsprinted through the opening exchanges by Snarky (Redesdale), who won the break from the rail, the $300,000 OBS April acquisition showed ample early pace to sit right off the leader's flank from second. Inching closer still at the midway point of the turn, the dark bay eased to the front with a bit more than a quarter-mile to travel, pinching a break entering the final furlong and went on to score by three lengths as the 14-5 favorite. Book of Wisdom (Solomini) ran on gamely for second while no menace to the winner. Miss d'Or Cherie also sold for $72,000 as a weanling at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November Sale and again at that auction house's Kentucky July Yearling Sale, where she fetched $160,000. Christopher Shelli, who operates Fort Christopher's Thoroughbreds in Fort Edward, New York, purchased Miss d'Or Cherie's dam for $27,000 on behalf of Jon Stillman's Caliburn Farm in foal to Star Guitar at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale and they began upgrading her breeding record when mating her with Bernardini that season. He sold the resulting foal, a filly, for $90,000 as the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Sale in 2021 and the mare has since been represented by a Vino Rosso colt of 2022 that sells as hip 494 during next Monday's session of the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale and a McKinzie filly foaled this past Apr. 7. Above Fashion was subsequently covered by Epicenter. Stillman and his wife Margaret Davenport made the short drive from their farm to watch the race in person Thursday afternoon. “It was a magic moment, just great,” Stillman said. “When she hit the ground, she just had this maturity about her to go along with her physical appearance. As if she knew more than she really did. She looked like she'd been there before and she's shown that from the time she was a foal.” Stillman said that the decision to breed Above Fashion to Bolt d'Oro was his advisor's. “That was Chris's idea, he really nailed it.” Stillman maintains a broodmare band of six at Caliburn Farm. Sales history: $72,000 Wlg '21 FTKNOV; $160,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $300,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $48,400. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Reeves Thoroughbred Racing & Steven Rocco; B-Caliburn Farm LLC (NY); T-Christophe Clement.
#9 Miss d'Or Cherie breaks her maiden in R5 at Saratoga under Manny Franco for trainer @clementstable!
In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Behind Enemy Lines (GB) (Sioux Nation) in the Cutler Bay S. at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
Rockingham Ranch, Talla Racing, LLC and David Bernsen's Behind Enemy Lines (GB) (Sioux Nation) ran like a 1-9 favourite should to give his Coolmore sire his fifth stakes winner and first Stateside in the Cutler Bay S. at Gulfstream on Saturday (video).
Trained by Jack Sisterson, the son of the once-raced Autumn Snow (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was bred by The Brigadier Partnership. An 88,000gns weanling when picked up by Alex Elliott from Barton Stud at the Tattersalls November Foal Sale, the bay made 90,000gns from J B Bloodstock when re-offered by The Castlebridge Consignment as a Tattersalls October Book 2 yearling. Sent through the ring yet again, this time he did not meet his reserve as a €173,228 Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale buyback (breeze video). As noted by colleague Alan Carasso, Behind Enemy Lines is the second stakes winner to emerge from the inaugural Goffs Dubai Breeze-Up Sale.
Unplaced for Justin Casse and Joseph O'Brien at the Curragh in August, he put it all together over the Dundalk synthetic to win by 4 3/4 lengths in January. Purchased privately by these connections, the Cutler Bay was his American bow.
The second foal, first runner and first winner out of his dam, Behind Enemy Lines is followed by the colt Looking Bere (Fr) (Le Brivido {Fr}), who is catalogued as lot 247 in the upcoming Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale by Dolmen Bloodstock, and a yearling half-brother by Whitecliffsofdover. Second dam Epic Similie (GB) (Lomitas {GB}) was placed in the G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, while her Manduro (Ger) half-brother Ultra (Ire) won that race in 2015 before standing under the Darley banner in France. Eclipse champion Modern Games (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) is also under the third dam.
Although his eldest foals are just 3-year-olds, Sioux Nation has sired 58 winners from 106 runners worldwide (55%). Stateside, he has three runners and Behind Enemy Lines is his first winner (33%) among that trio.
How Sweet The Sound
Amazing Grace (Ger) (Protectionist {Ger}) is no stranger to black-type victories, and, bearing the Moyglare Stud silks, secured a half-length victory in the GIII Orchid S. in Florida on Saturday (video) for trainer Christophe Clement.
Profiled in Emma Berry's Seven Days column earlier this week, the German-bred is starting to pay back her €850,000 Arqana December purchase price. Bred by Dr. Christoph Berglar, she won the G2 Diana Trial in 2021 and the G2 T. von Zastrow Stutenpreis last term. Also Group 1-placed in the G1 Preis von Europa, Amazing Grace is the second foal out of German stakes winner Amabelle (Ger) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}). Her dam foaled her winning full-sister, Ad Astra (Ger), the year after producing the Orchid winner, while her 3-year-old full-brother, Astaire (Ire), has yet to race. Amabelle's juvenile has already been named Alvorada (Ger) (Gleneagles {Ire}), and she has a yearling filly by the 2014 G1 Melbourne Cup hero.
From limited crops, Protectionist has sired 33 winners from 64 runners worldwide (51%). His other stakes winner besides Amazing Grace is G3 Bavarian Classic hero Lambo (Ger). In America, he's been represented by two runners total, and Saturday's winner is his only scorer.
An Island Of Breathing Space
The third and final stakes-winning European to prevail at Gulfstream on Saturday was Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Steven Rocco, and Tango Uniform Racing's Breath Away (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), who scooped the Sanibel Island S. by 2 1/2 lengths (video).
Part of the Highgate Stud breeding programme, she caught the eye of Canirola Bloodstock as a 92,000gns foal at Tattersalls November, and blossomed into a 230,000gns yearling at that venue's October Yearling Sale Book 1 when offered by Taroka Stud. Stephen Hillen was the buyer that day. A winner of her Gulfstream debut back in January, she missed by only a nose in an allowance optional claimer a month later for trainer Christophe Clement.
A full-sister to GIII Wilshire S. heroine Simply Breathless (GB) (Bated Breath {GB}), Breath Away is a daughter of Darling Grace (GB) (Nayef), who scored her lone victory as a 3-year-old. Her latest foals are fillies by Advertise (GB) and Bated Breath, foaled in 2021 and 2022, respectively. G1 Falmouth S. heroine Giofra (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is under the third dam.
From just 29 runners in the U.S., Juddmonte's Bated Breath has 17 checks in the winners' column (58%). He's firing in stakes winners at a rate of 38% (11 from 29 runners), with his leading light the 2016 filly Viadera (GB), heroine of the GI Matriarch S. at Del Mar. She is supported by GII Edgewood S. heroine Gift List (GB), the aforementioned Grade III winner Simply Breathless, and Tezzaray (GB), successful in the GIII Jimmy Durante S. and fourth in the GI Del Mar Oaks.
Emperor Of The Mill
Team Valor International's Tuddenham Mill (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) eked out a head victory in a maiden special weight at Tampa Bay Downs on Sunday. Third in a pair of starts for Hankers and Maccas and trainer Kevin Philippart de Foy, Tuddenham Mill switched to the ownership of Team Valor for start three and was eventually transferred Stateside. The 3-year-old was bred by the Imperial Crown Syndicate.
A £29,000 Tattersalls Ireland September yearling, Tuddenham Mill was picked up by Troy Steve Bloodstock from The Castlebridge Consignment. His dam, who won as a juvenile and is a full-sister to GI Suburban H. hero and sire Frost Giant (Giant's Causeway), has a 2-year-old filly by Magna Grecia (Ire) still to come.
Coolmore Stud stallion Holy Roman Emperor sports 25 winners from 49 runners in America (51%). Besides his 11 stakes horses in that jurisdiction, six of his progeny have won stakes (12%), led by top-drawer winners Glorious Empire (Ire), Rockemperor (Ire), and Rich Tapestry (Ire).
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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(@TwinSpires) August 10, 2023
