Wednesday's third session of the Keeneland September sale produced back-to-back seven-figure yearlings when Larry Best bid $1.4 million to acquire a colt by Into Mischief (hip 604), just one hip after Mandy Pope purchased a Tapit filly for $1.1 million. The first foal out of stakes winner and multiple Grade I placed Dawn the Destroyer (Speightstown) was consigned by Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck's Summerfield on behalf of his breeder, Barbara Banke's Stonestreet. The colt was the fourth of the day to bring seven figures and brought the three-day total for the sale to 26. Last year's sale produced 15 million-dollar yearlings.
1st-DMR, $80K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, post time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Michael Petersen and Willow Grace Farm, who campaign last year's GI Del Mar Debutante winner Grace Adler (Curlin) in partnership, team up for the Sunday opener at Del Mar with $950K Keeneland September acquisition CARLA (Medaglia d'Oro). The February foal is the first produce from Naples Princess (Distorted Humor), a full-sister to SW Banker's Buy and a half to SW City Dweller (Carson City) and SW Glacken's Gal (Smoke Glacken), the dam of GII Davona Dale S. victress Live Lively (Medaglia d'Oro). The hugely productive cross of Medaglia d'Oro over Distorted Humor mares has yielded the likes of two-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Aus) and additional Grade I winners Elate and New Money Honey, while extending to Forty Niner-line dams brings in the likes of multiple champion Songbird and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. TJCIS PPs
2nd-KD, $150K, Msw, 2yo, 1mT, post time: 1:58 p.m. ET
The debuting Carnaby Street got American Pharoah on the board in the opening race of the meet Thursday afternoon and ON THE TEAR looks to continue the momentum here. A $350K KEESEP purchase, the Springhouse Farm-bred is a half-brother to this year's Star Shoot S. heroine Beautiful Empire (Classic Empire) and his dam, purchased by Springhouse for $260K in foal to Shanghai Bobby at Fasig-Tipton November in 2016, is a half-sister to successful young sire Practical Joke (Into Mischief). Life At Sea (West Coast) is the third foal to race out of Irish Jasper (First Defence), three times a graded winner sprinting on the main track. TJCIS PPs
6th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, post time: 3:20 p.m. ET
It's been an outstanding meet for Curlinand Stonestreet homebred PURE PAULINE will attempt to open her account at first asking Sunday. Inheriting the chestnut coloring of both her sire and of her GII Black-Eyed Susan S.-winning dam Keen Pauline (Pulpit), the Apr. 24 is bred on a variant of the cross over A.P. Indy-line mares that has tossed up Malathaat, Nest and Cody's Wish, each a Grade I winner during the current meet at Saratoga. Curlin is also represented by the rail-drawn third-time starter Take Charge Briana, whose dam Take Charge Tressa is a full-sister to MGISW and Spendthrift sire Omaha Beach (War Front). TJCIS PPs
7th-SAR, $105K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, post time: 3:53 p.m. ET PROUVER (Justify), a $310K graduate of last year's Keeneland September sale, is a daughter of Ready to Act (More Than Ready), who won her maiden at first asking sprinting over the local turf course and was well on her way to victory in the 2013 GII Natalma S. when she abruptly ducked in and unseated jockey Rajiv Maragh. The gray filly would go on to win the 2014 Sweetest Chant S. over the Gulfstream turf course and the GII Beaumont S. at Keeneland when the race was contested on the Polytrack. This is the extended female family of GI Hollywood Gold Cup hero and GI Pacific Classic third Mast Track (Mizzen Mast). Writteninthestars (Malibu Moon), a $110K KEESEP yearling turned $500K Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile (:10 2/5, see below), is out of a half-sister to GSW Sparky Ville (Candy Ride {Arg}) and hails from the family of GISWs Harmony Lodge and Pinehurst and MGSW Graeme Hall.TJCIS PPs
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — Just a mere mention that Clairiere (Curlin) might be underappreciated, brought a quick, robust reaction from Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.
“Not by us,” Asmussen said, shaking his head.
Asmussen promptly made the case for the 4-year-old filly, a Stonestreet Stables homebred daughter of Cavorting (Bernardini), who will seek her third win in four starts this year in the GII Shuvee S. Saturday at Saratoga Race Course.
“She's a multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire by one of the greatest horses of all time out of one of the greatest horses of all time,” he said. “I do not believe Clairiere has ever been underappreciated or ever will be underappreciated. Because of who she is, she's more than a little special.”
Cavorting, a former 'TDN Rising Star' trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, won six graded stakes, three of them Grade I, and earned just north of $2 million.
The nine-furlong Shuvee will be the fifth round of the cross-country series between Shadwell Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) and Clairiere, both of whom were bred by Stonestreet. Malathaat finished in front of Clairiere in each of their three meetings as 3-year-olds–the GI Kentucky Oaks and the GI CCA Oaks and GI Alabama S. at this track–but Clairiere prevailed in their most recent showdown, winning the GI Ogden Phipps by a head June 11.
“It was where she finally turned the tables on the champion, Malathaat, the deserved 3-year-old filly champion last year,” Asmussen said. “We competed well against her, but did not come out on the right side of it. Obviously, things have changed now.”
In the 1 1/16 mile, one-turn Phipps, which was part of the GI Belmont S. program, Malathaat and Clairiere sat far back off the torrid pace set by champion Letruska (Super Saver) and Search Results (Flatter). They launched their rallies pretty much in tandem approaching the half-mile pole, ran past the tiring Letruska at the top of stretch and caught Search Results inside the sixteenth pole. Malathaat had a slight lead, but Clairiere finished just a bit better under Joel Rosario.
Asmussen said her talent has always been evident–carrying her to a 5-4-2 record and $1,799,592 in earnings in her 13 career starts–and feels that she is getting better.
“She is first class all the way. Always has been. Never been anything but,” he said. “First time out, two turns, broke her maiden against an eventual graded stakes winner and has never done anything but keep the best company. I do think that with maturity she has broken through to a new level.”
Asmussen noted that Clairiere is the top-ranked female in the weekly NTRA poll, putting her at the top of the division.
Despite her sterling record, because she has consistently been in top races–seven of them Grade I–Clairiere has only been the favorite twice. She won both, the GI Cotillion S. in September, and her season-opener, a stakes-quality optional claimer in March at the Fair Grounds.
In addition to Malathaat, Clairiere is likely to face two other millionaires, Bonny South (Munnings) and 'Rising Star' Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map) in the $200,000 race for older fillies and mares that is on the undercard of the GI Coaching Club American Oaks. Together, those four have earned over $5.9 million and won 13 graded stakes, five of them Grade I.
“It's Saratoga,” Asmussen said. “It's the best in the world.”
In winning her maiden by almost ten lengths on debut at Keeneland, Queen Mary favourite Love Reigns (Ire) (US Navy Flag) tore to shreds what many people thought possible for an unraced 2-year-old filly in the month of April.
There would have been more competition had Real Madrid taken to the field against a bunch of schoolboys such was the authority of the display. Love Reigns burst into the lead from stall one, powered home to win unchallenged, and the clock backed up what filled the eye.
Not even Golden Pal (Uncle Mo), who won the G2 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint over the same course and distance in 2020, could run a quicker time than Love Reigns did in that scintillating debut.
“Any time Ben McElroy vets your horse, you know you have something special, so I was delighted that Ben bought her. When you breed horses, all you can hope for is that they go to the best trainers, and we couldn't have dreamed of better connections buying Love Reigns,” – Eoghan Grogan
Now her breeders, the father and son team of Pat and Eoghan Grogan at Killourney Mor Farm in County Offaly, are rightly dreaming about what the filly might go on to achieve at Royal Ascot.
“It's not often you see 2-year-olds win maidens by about ten lengths, especially over five and a half furlongs, and we were gob-smacked watching it,” said Eoghan, who works full-time on the farm alongside his Dad.
“I watched it with my father and, as soon as she crossed the line, I turned to him and said, 'this is a monster.' She looked incredible at Keeneland and it's the stuff of dreams to have bred one like her.”
He added, “We always loved her and she was the pick of that crop in 2020. She was a tank, a real ball of muscle.
“For her to go on and do that, it was just unreal. There has been a fantastic buzz around town and we're really looking forward to Royal Ascot now.”
Pat Smullen put Offaly on the map. The Faithful County, as it is known, is also famous for being home to Open Championship-winning golfer Shane Lowry as well as the internationally recognisable Irish whiskey Tullamore Dew.
Love Reigns may soon join that list of famous Offaly produce which is all the more remarkable given the Grogans never set out to become breeders.
Pat, a builder by trade, was once owed money by a man who settled the debt with a horse. While that horse was never much use, it sparked a love affair with the sport that burns bright to this day, and the family are keen to capitalise on their recent run of success.
“It's mad really, because if he [Pat] never got that first horse, I don't know if he'd have come down this route at all. I had no interest in horses at the time either,” explains Eoghan.
“That horse he got as part of the deal didn't work out but he was bitten by the bug and then he bought Don't Care (Ire) (Nordico) a year afterwards. She was a very good producer and got things going for us which caught my interest. I saw that you can make a good living out of this game if you have the right stock and that's what it's all about really.”
He added, “We've eight mares of our own and there's six boarders for other clients. Myself and my father are at it full-time and it's starting to take off in the past three or four years but it has been 20 years in the making. Some of the families are starting to develop as we wanted so it's great.”
Love Reigns is out of Humble And Proud (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), whose career at Ballydoyle was cut short through injury, but she has become a proven producer on the farm. Not that things have been all plain sailing with her second career as a broodmare. They haven't.
Before her most prolific son, Glorious Empire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), became a Group 1 winner in America, Humble And Proud didn't go in foal for three years but, after having one of her ovaries removed, has gone in foal in each of the last four seasons and is bidding for a fifth in the coming weeks.
Grogan explained, “She's gone from being written off to one of our best broodmares and it wasn't as if her progeny were a massive success in the sales ring at the start either. They weren't. I think the best price we got for one before Love Reigns was £40,000.”
In Love Reigns, the Grogans certainly brought something special to the Orby Sale last year and were rewarded when Ben McElroy went to €160,000 to secure the filly on behalf of Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables.
Grogan remembers, “There was loads of interest in her. She was vetted five or six different times and all of the good guys were on her. Any time Ben McElroy vets your horse, you know you have something special, so I was delighted that Ben bought her. When you breed horses, all you can hope for is that they go to the best trainers, and we couldn't have dreamed of better connections buying Love Reigns.”
He added, “She was a stunning individual with a temperament to match her looks. She actually had a colic on the Saturday of the Orby Sale and I was wondering if it was going to work out or not with her but she settled down pretty quick. She tightened up a good bit and didn't show herself as well as she can on the Saturday but, she bounced back great on the Sunday, and from then on she was great. She has always had a great temperament and nothing really fazed her.”
It is that bombproof temperament which should stand to Love Reigns when she makes the trip over to Royal Ascot for the Queen Mary.
One of her last pieces of work was reported to have gone well at Keeneland, according to McElroy, who is predicting a big performance from the filly in the Queen Mary, provided she gets her ground.
He said, “She worked on Sunday and it's all systems go for Royal Ascot now. The ground was actually soft at Keeneland and I definitely think she will want it firm at Royal Ascot. Hopefully we get lucky with the weather and, if we do, I'd be very happy about her chances in the Queen Mary.”
McElroy knows a thing or two about what a Royal Ascot winner looks like. Dual Royal Ascot scorer Campanelle (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), who returns in Ward's raiding party for the this year, was also sourced in Ireland by McElroy on behalf of Stonestreet for 190,000gns and the renowned agent recalls how Love Reigns was just what he looks for in sourcing a royal runner.
He explained, “Barbara Banke loves Royal Ascot so, when we go to the sales, we're looking for something that's going to be a precocious 2-year-old that will suit Wesley Ward and be out in April or early May. That sets you up, if you are good enough, to take a tilt at one of the 2-year-old races at Royal Ascot. Obviously in her case, she always showed herself to have a lot of potential and Irad Ortiz rode her in two or three pieces of work before she ever ran and relayed to Wesley that she was his best 2-year-old, never mind Stonestreet's.”
McElroy added, “We were excited for her debut at Keeneland but she was drawn one in a 12-horse field, which is always a worry, but she proved Irad right on that performance. One of the reporters from the DRF told Wesley that it was the fastest 2-year-old performance in Keeneland, which encompasses Breeders' Cup races, meaning she ran faster than Golden Pal did as a 2-year-old. Visually, it looked very impressive, and the clock backed it up.”
Humble And Proud, the rather aptly-named broodmare, gave birth to a Mehmas (Ire) colt last week, and the Grogan family are now contemplating a return to US Navy Flag (War Front) on the strength of what Love Reigns did on debut.
She may only have graced the track once, but it's not often that a filly has left such an impression. Like McElroy, the Grogans will be hoping that Love Reigns can prove their eyes-and the clock-right in the Queen Mary.
