Hopeful Could Be Next For Defend

The connections of Defend (American Freedom), a romping winner in his Aug. 5 debut at Delaware Park, have yet to pick out his next race, but they aren't afraid to tackle a tough spot, including the GI Hopeful S. It's clear to see why.

“His race was phenomenal. It looked like he was on cruise control,” Susan Montanye said of his debut. Montanye bought the colt as a yearling and still owns a small percentage in partnership with Nick Sanna.

Montanye was among the first to discover his potential talent. She bought the colt in October of his yearling year, paying just $16,000 for him at OBS. She then entered him into this year's Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic 2-year-old sale, where he RNA'd at $72,000. Shortly after the sale, she sold a majority interest in the horse to Sanna, who sent the horse to trainer Cal Lynch.

Early on, Lynch also saw that there was some talent there.

“My son, Anthony, had him at Fair Hill and he was very keen on him,” Lynch said. “We worked him on the Tapeta there and he worked really well over it. I brought him to Delaware and worked him out of the gate and he worked really well. We loved the way he went and thought he did everything right. He was very professional. For a young horse, he had a great mind and that's what sets him apart. I never breezed him super fast. He does everything easily.”

Sent off at 4-1 in his debut, Defend went right to the lead and soon sprinted clear of his seven rivals. Under wraps through most of the stretch run, he won by eight lengths and covered the 5 1/2 furlongs run over a fast track in 1:04.27. The race was split and the other half went in 1:06.68. Defend earned a 75 Beyer figure.

Lynch is optimistic that Defend will be even better in his next start.

“We were optimistic that he would run a good race,” he said. “He had trained really well. So we thought he'd run well. But I don't think I've ever taken a 2-year-old over there for their first start and thought they were really ready or cranked. He surprised us a little bit, but we knew he was talented.”

Defend's win was just the latest for the Airdrie stallion, American Freedom, who has gotten off to a fast start with his first crop. He's had five 2-year-old winners so far, including American Bound, a filly who won a maiden special weight race at the Keeneland spring meet. The list also includes American Sanctuary, who, after breaking his maiden at Prairie Meadows, came back to finish second in the Prairie Gold Juvenile S., also at Prairie Meadows.

With his horse having a promising pedigree and coming off an impressive win, it's no surprise that Sanna's phone has been ringing from prospective buyers. Lynch said that, for now, his owner prefers to enjoy what he has.

“We are getting calls,” Lynch said. “Nick Sanna is a good sport and he really likes him. He wants to take a ride and see where it leads. He's had some good horses over the years but nothing like this.”

In the meantime, Sanna and Lynch will try to figure out what's best for their horse. It looks like he can handle a race like the Sept. 6 Hopeful, but that would mean taking on divisional leader Wit (Practical Joke). After breaking his maiden by six lengths, Wit won the GIII Sanford S. by eight lengths.

“The Hopeful is a logical spot, but we're just going to see how he trains,” Lynch said. “He worked good Saturday. After another couple of works we will decide. We always let the horse dictate things. The Hopeful is a spot we'd like to go in. There are a bunch of other2-year-old dates for him. I'm not sure we want to go up there and take on Wit. But it's a definite possibility.”

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Consignors Talk First-Crop Sires Ahead of 2-Year-Old Sales

As the calendar inches inexorably towards March and a spring-long series of 2-year-olds in training sales, consignors are putting the finishing touches on juveniles heading to auction, paying particular attention to youngsters representing their stallions first crop to hit the track. The TDN is reaching out to consignors with 2-year-olds heading to the sales rings at OBS and Gulfstream Park next month to find out which freshman sires have impressed them.

EDDIE WOODS

Prolific consignor Eddie Woods has 24 juveniles catalogued for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, which will be held Mar. 16 and 17, and a further 17 head catalogued for the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, which will be held Mar. 31.

“The Gormleys are very nice,” Woods said when asked which freshman sires had impressed him. “They are quick, agile horses. They look like they will be pretty precocious and early.”

Winner of the 2017 GI Santa Anita Derby, Gormley (Malibu Moon–Race to Urga, by Bernstein) stands at Spendthrift Farm for a 2021 stud fee of $5,000.

Woods will offer a pair of 2-year-olds by Gormley at the OBS March sale (hip 371 and hip 531).

Practical Joke (Into Mischief–Mystic City, by City Zip) has been much-hyped in Ocala this winter. Woods will offer a colt by the multiple Grade I winner–who stands at Ashford Stud for a fee of $22,500 this year–at OBS March (hip 113).

“The Practical Jokes are the talk of the town,” Woods said. “I have some of them and they are quite nice. Most of them–apart from one–all look the same. They lean towards that Into Mischief-ey thing–bay horses with white stripes down their faces and a white sock here and there and that kind of build to them. And they've trained well.”

Of the other 2-year-olds by freshman sires at his Ocala farm, Woods continued, “The Connects (hip 164 and hip 530) are nice. I don't think they are the first few months of the racing year, but they will be nice horses at the end of the day. They are good movers. And the Masterys are (hip 513) nice horses, too.”

Connect (Curlin–Bullville Belle, by Holy Bull), winner of the GI Cigar Mile, stands at Lane's End for a 2021 fee of $15,000. Grade I winner Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}–Steady Course, by Old Trieste) stands at Claiborne Farm for $25,000.

Woods will offer a son of 2-year-old champion Classic Empire (Pioneerof the Nile–Just Parker, by Forest Camp) (hip 142).

“The Classic Empire is very smooth, he's a beautiful horse,” Woods said. “He's a very likable horse and a good mover.”

While he doesn't have many to sell, Woods said he has been impressed by the first crop by champion Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}–Quiet Giant, by Giant's Causeway), who stands at Three Chimneys Farm for $50,000.

“I think I might have only one going to a sale, but the Gun Runners have come around really well and they act like nice horses,” Woods said. “They have a lot of class and a lot of scope. The thing I like the best about them is how much they've changed since the Fall. We're heading into the spring and it's like night and day on some of them. They've strengthened up, gotten stronger across their backs and they train really well. And they are just good, solid horses. They are all mentally stars and they act like nice horses. I was a little negative on him at the yearling sales because of their back ends, but I'm liking them quite a bit right now.”

The 2020 juvenile sales season, which had only just begun when the pandemic caused mass lockdowns across the globe, suffered through a series of cancellations and postponements, but Woods said he sees positive signs ahead of the 2021 auctions.

“I think the vibe is pretty good right now,” Woods said. “The farm visitations are pretty lively and plentiful. We are in a different mindset than last year. We went to the sale in March last where the bomb had just got dropped and not knowing where we were at. We were fortunate the sale went well and after that, it was just a very much hang-on-to-your-britches kind of year. This year, we kind of believe we know where we are at. Our sales are going to go on and things are more positive. And hence, everything is more positive. If you look at the breeding stock sales in the early part of the year, they were very, very good for what they are. So everything is in a really positive mode and we've got that feeling here on the farm with the phone calls and the people wanting to come look at the horses. So hopefully, it continues on to the sales. It will probably be the same as ever, all top end, but at least there will be people there for that.”

GENE RECIO

You can count Gene Recio among the consignors excited about the first 2-year-olds by Practical Joke, who won the GI Champagne S. and GI Hopeful S. at two and added the GI H. Allen Jerkens S. at three. Recio will offer a colt by the Ashford stallion at the Gulfstream sale (hip 106).

“I have two Practical Jokes,” Recio said. “One of them is going to OBS April, a filly, and I have a colt out of Do the Dance (Discreet Cat) going to Fasig-Tipton Miami. They were both really good movers and very, very forward horses from the get-go. Even before we breezed, they galloped like they had a purpose, like they were going somewhere. So he's my pick right now for the earlier type horses and the Saratoga-type maiden special weight type horses. Both the ones I have are medium-sized, strong, very good moving and, touch wood, they have been very sound thus far.”

Recio has a pair of colts by American Freedom (Pulpit–Gottcha Last, by Pleasant Tap) (hip 58 and hip 446) among the 17 head he has catalogued for the OBS March sale.

“The American Freedoms are beautifully made horses,” Recio said. “I have two of those and both are really well-made. They both have great attitudes. He is by Pulpit and they seem to both have a lot of energy–a lot of good energy, the kind that wants to go out and go to work every day. Physically, they are just well balanced, bigger-than-average sized horses, with very pretty necks and good hips and good shoulders. They are kind of the shape that everybody seems to like.”

Winner of the 2016 GIII Iowa Derby, American Freedom stands at Airdrie Stud for a 2021 fee of $6,000.

At the Gulfstream sale, Recio will offer a colt from the first crop of Mohaymen (Tapit–Justwhistledixie, by Dixie Union) (hip 75).

“I have only one by Mohaymen, but if he is any indication of what the Mohaymens are like, I wish I had a whole barn full of them,” Recio said. “He's a big, scopey horse with a very pretty neck on him and as good a mover as I have. And he's very good-minded for a Tapit bloodline.”

Winner of the 2016 GII Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth S. and GII Lambholm South Holy Bull S., as well as a pair of graded wins at two, Mohaymen stands at Shadwell Farm at a fee of $7,500.

Asked about his expectations ahead of the 2-year-old sales, Recio said, “Same old story. I think if you jump through all the hoops–you breeze fast, vet clean and look good at the end of the shank–you'll do extremely well. If you don't, it's sometimes  hit or miss in those areas.”

SUSAN MONTANYE (SBM Training and Sales)

Susan Montanye's SBM Training and Sales has a small but select group of juveniles by freshman sires heading to the auctions this spring.

“They are all going to the select sales, so I love them all,” Montanye said of the group. “I've told everyone who has called about them.”

Among SBM's offerings next month is a colt by Gormley (hip 44) and the operation has a second colt waiting in the wings for a later sale.

“I have one mare, and I'm going to breed her to Gormley, because of what I've seen and you can get to him fairly inexpensively,” Montanye said. “I have two of them–one I am taking to Miami and the other one I'm taking to April or Maryland, they just wanted a little more time with him. But they are both very, very nice. I think there is a lot of Malibu Moon in them. Both are pretty good-minded colts. Neither one of them are going to be my bullet, my fastest that I have in my barn, but I think both of them are more than just sprinters. They are both fast, don't get me wrong, but I think they are horses that can stretch out.”

Montanye continued, “My Classic Empire and Arrogate are both double-nominated, however the Arrogate (hip 78) is 100% sure going to go to the Miami sale. He is a super, super nice horse. It's a shame that the sire is no longer around because I think he would have made one hell of sire, just based off of what I see.

“The Classic Empire (hip 77), I have one in my barn and I know of a couple others that are very nice,” she continued. “I do have him double-nominated and I don't know where I'm going to take him yet. He is cool as a cucumber. I breezed him myself the other day. I try to get on them all at least a couple of times throughout the year. I had not been on my Classic Empire yet until last Thursday when I breezed him. He was flat-footed, walked out there like an older horse. I asked him to work, he worked. I asked him to pull up, he pulled up. Walked him home, never got fired up. Just as quiet as a mouse.”

Montanye admitted there were still uncertainties in the marketplace, but also signs for optimism.

“I don't know what to expect, truthfully,” she said. “I've heard the Koreans won't buy or can't buy. That's going to be a big blow to the industry as a whole, I think. Because it's not just about what they buy, but it's a matter of what they drive up. As far as who is coming to buy and what the market looks like, I thought it was hard to buy yearlings. And if you look at the November and January sale on babies, I thought it was extremely solid. All you kept hearing was tough, tough, tough. I thought it would be an opportunity to buy, but it was tough.

“Last year, we had the shitty end of the stick,” she said. “This year, I think as a whole you do need to be on the upper end with a nicer horse. The middle market might take a hit. I hope not because I had horses I bought that I didn't pay a lot for for the middle market. So I sure hope there is a market for them. Now that the election is behind us, at least we can move forward from that, and the stock market seems to be doing well. Gas prices are coming up, so oil is going to be better. All of that in itself is a reflection of what the industry does. I hope everybody is ready to come buy, because we have some nice horses.”

DAVID SCANLON

David Scanlon will offer a colt by Practical Joke (hip 148) at the Gulfstream sale and has another youngster targeted at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale in May.

“We've been really high on Practical Joke,” the consignor said. “There has been a good buzz on him around town. And we've got a couple going. We have one big, precocious colt going to the Miami sale that I'm very high on. And we've got another horse with Bruno DeBerdt, with our syndicate, that we've got going to Maryland that we are very high on. They have good hind legs and very strong bodies. They are built very tough, kind of rugged-looking and very precocious. Both horses look like they are going to be very quick and early. They have a strong build to them.”

Scanlon Training and Sales will offer a filly by Classic Empire (hip 72) at the Gulfstream sale.

“We have a couple of Classic Empires that I am very impressed with,” Scanlon said. “We have three of those that we will be selling. They are very elegant looking, very pretty horses. And they are also training very well and they seem very precocious, like they are going to be quick and early.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘What Kind Of A Person Am I?’

It may have been “just” a West Virginia-bred maiden race at Charles Town on July 16, but there was a time that 54-year-old owner Bill Goodman considered it a win just that Eternal Heart was still alive.

The filly, a 3-year-old daughter of First Samurai, has already endured and overcome more adversity than most horses face in a lifetime. As a yearling, Eternal Heart's nervous system was attacked by a parasite, Sarcocystis neurona, the culprit behind the debilitating and often deadly disease Equine Protozoal Myeloencephalitis (EPM).

Her recovery is a story about perseverance, about faith, and, above all, about the people who work incredibly hard to do right by the animals with whose lives they are entrusted.

“This business gets a really bad rap, but I've seen some people do some amazing things,” Goodman said, his voice wavering as the emotion overwhelmed him. “They get this horse, this West Virginia-bred with these issues, and just treated her like she was Ruffian or something. That's just the kind of people who are in this business. People like this need to be known. And the little guys don't get the chance for these good horses, and they should, because she would never be where she is if she had been in any other barn.”

Like any good blockbuster film, the journey began with a midlife crisis.

In 2011, Goodman was managing an Irish pub for a friend in Miami, Fla., and had never worked around horses. He loved the races, however, and spent many an afternoon playing the ponies at Gulfstream Park.

“One morning at like six a.m., as I was putting the night deposit in the bank, I just had this thought, 'I don't want to be here, I don't want to do this anymore,'” Goodman explained. “I said to myself, 'I think I'll go to Gulfstream Park, and I'm gonna get a license, and I'm gonna get a job there. So I walked through the back gate, having never walked a horse in my life.”

Goodman was told no at almost every barn, but trainer Peter Gulyas saw him walking the backside and quickly agreed to show Goodman the ropes. That lasted for several months, but when Gulyas got down to just four horses, he had to let Goodman go.

Ever the pragmatist, Goodman called the phone number on trainer Todd Pletcher's website, and got connected with assistant Whit Beckman at Keeneland. Beckman hired him to hot-walk over the phone, and Goodman drove up to Lexington that very night, arriving at Keeneland at three in the morning.

“I worked for Todd for just three weeks, and then I got to go to the Derby at Churchill with Gemologist,” Goodman said. “I was just in heaven. We went from there to Saratoga, and I started asking about learning how to groom. By the time we went to Florida, I had my first four horses.”

Goodman cared for some top horses for Pletcher, attending three Kentucky Derbies and three Breeders' Cups with his charges. Among his favorites were We Miss Artie, My Miss Sophia, Competitive Edge and Ectot.

“I learned a lot from Todd,” said Goodman. “I was very lucky.”

Tragedy struck in 2017 when Goodman's father died. Pletcher told the groom to take as much time off as he needed, that he would always have a job when he was ready to come back.

Goodman had been thinking about shifting into the bloodstock business anyway, and his father's passing allowed him to step back and start working toward that goal. In 2018, he started looking for his first horse, and he finally found her at the October Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling sale at Timonium.

Under the banner WJG Legacy Equine (his father's initials), Goodman purchased Eternal Heart for $50,000. He'd gone a bit above his budget, but he just felt there was something special about the compact chestnut filly.

Eternal Heart was sent to Susan Montanye's farm in Florida for her early education, and everything proceeded according to schedule for the first several weeks.

On Oct. 28, Goodman got the call.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Goodman said. “It was 11:31 in the morning, and the phone rang and it was Susan. I knew right away something was wrong. I remember picking up the phone, and I just said, 'Uh oh.' And she said, 'Yeah, Uh-oh.'”

Eternal Heart's right ear was at a 90-degree angle to her head, her right eye wasn't blinking, and the skin was sagging on the right side of her face.

“She looked like she'd had a stroke, basically,” said Goodman.

Veterinarians quickly diagnosed the filly as neurologic, and started treating her intensely right away. She regained the blinking in her right eye after 24 hours, but two weeks later Goodman got another call.

The parasite, which had originally attached to the filly's brain stem, had migrated to her spinal cord after the aggressive treatment. Now, Eternal Heart was losing control of her hind end, and the prognosis wasn't good.

Goodman was told that euthanasia was the best remaining option, and his insurance company called to offer him a full payout for the filly's $50,000 value.

“I couldn't make the decision, and the vet said she wasn't in pain,” Goodman said. “So I put my head in the sand like an ostrich and said, 'Keep treating her.'”

Montanye suggested that it might not be a bad idea to have Nieke Mailfat, an Eastern medicine specialist, take a look at the filly. Goodman agreed.

“Nieke looked at the filly and she told me, 'I can't make her a racehorse, but I think I can make her a horse,'” Goodman remembered. “Right then it was like, what do I do now? If I put her down now, what kind of a person am I? Yeah, I could get my money back, but how am I gonna live with that?

“I thought I was prepared for it, but you're now in charge of this life. I knew right away when they told me, I knew it was going to be a moral decision.”

Prior to treatment, Eternal Heart registered about a 4.5 on the neurologic scale, which runs from 1 to 5 with 5 being the worst. Mailfat told Goodman that if there was no improvement in three weeks, the filly would never get better.

In just four days, though, Eternal Heart was showing marked improvements. She'd moved to about a 3.5 on the neurologic scale, and after two weeks she was able to go out in a little round pen.

“She was wobbly but she never fell, and she was just happy to be out,” Goodman said. “I was down there constantly, and she didn't look like the same filly. She's always been a good keeper, though. She'll eat you out of house and home, so that probably saved her.”

In January 2019, Montanye called to say the filly was doing so much better that she wanted to put a saddle on her and tack walk her. Taking small steps forward, Eternal Heart progressed to walking around with a rider on, lunging in the round pen, then jogging on the track by mid-February. In March, they started to let her gallop a bit.

“She was still a little bit unsteady, but she never tripped or stumbled, she just continued to get better,” Goodman said. “Still, the thought process was, 'She can one day be a horse.'”

By May, Eternal Heart told her caretakers that she was ready to stretch her legs in her first “breeze.” By July, the filly showed off her improvement with a work in company, going a quarter in 25 ½ seconds.

“Now the thought process changes to, 'Wow, maybe she can race,'” said Goodman. “Susan said it was time for her to move on, and I decided to send her to Caio Caramori.”

The son of trainer Eduardo Caramori, Caio operates out of the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington. The two met because Goodman had become friends with Pletcher assistant Byron Hughes. Hughes and Caio Caramori were childhood friends, and Hughes brokered the introduction shortly after Goodman started working for Pletcher.

Goodman and Caramori started playing golf together and talking horses. Eventually, their friendship progressed to the point that Goodman would stay on Caramori's parents' farm whenever Pletcher's string was based in Lexington, and Goodman even lived there for a while after his father died.

“Sending her to Caio was unquestionably the best decision I've made, because she would never be where she is today without him and his wife, Emma,” Goodman said. “They're just good people.”

Emma Caramori and baby Cora visit Eternal Heart

Eternal Heart arrived in Lexington on July 17, and Caramori quickly suggested treating her for EPM once again. The trainer warned Goodman that treating the filly might cause her to regress in the short term, but he felt strongly that it was the best thing for her moving forward.

She did regress, but after a week Eternal Heart started going the right way again. Caramori was almost ready to start looking for a race for her in December, but since she'd missed out on so much early training, Eternal Heart just hadn't had the physical preparation to be ready to race at two.

Caramori turned her out for 90 days over the winter in Florida, then started to bring her back again. She'd jog one day, then be turned out the next day for nearly a month before Caramori resumed full training with her in April.

“Caio just treated her like she was his own horse,” Goodman said. “I was in the stall a lot, but when I had to leave Florida to go work for Dermot (Magner), I knew she was in good hands.”

When Eternal Heart was ready, Caramori set up a breeze with company, a filly who had won at first asking. Working from the gate, Eternal Heart was a couple steps slow at the start and got out-breezed.

“Caio called me and said, 'Don't be disappointed,'” remembered Goodman. “It was hard not to be, but the next week he called again and said, 'Eternal Heart told me she wants a rematch.'”

In their next matchup, Eternal Heart blew the doors off her rival. It was time to enter her in a race.

Goodman drove down to West Virginia on July 16 to watch Eternal Heart win at first asking, racing without Lasix and topping her nearest rival by three-quarters of a length to earn $16,125.

“I'll never forget when she turned into the paddock at Charles Town, she had this look on her face like 'I'm not in Kansas anymore,'” said Goodman. “In the race, she split horses and then she just never let anybody get by her. The jockey, J.D. Acosta, told me after the race, 'Man, she is so green but she has so much talent.' His agent called the next day and said he wants to keep riding her!”

Future plans for Eternal Heart call for the filly to stay in West Virginia, where there are multiple conditions she can run through.

“Even if she never wins again, just that she did what she did, it's so impressive,” said Goodman. “She's already paid me back, big-time. … She's just got this something about her, she just doesn't want to lose. It's pretty humbling, actually. For two years, she has consumed every moment of my thoughts.”

Working with horses has filled a place in Goodman's life he hadn't known was empty, and the journey with Eternal Heart has reemphasized just how important it is to find the right people and to never give up.

“Caio and Susan and everybody, they've made her into a racehorse,” Goodman said. “They've protected her and they've protected me, and they've put up with me. I've been fortunate to make good decisions, and those good decisions were a product of how I was raised and the people who raised me. Just hanging around people who are good people, and who are going to do the right thing.”

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Wicked Strong Colt Swiftest at Midlantic Under-Tack Finale

TIMONIUM, MD – The three-day under-tack preview ahead of next week’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale concluded Friday under glorious blue skies and temperatures in rising steadily into the 80s through seven sets of workers.

“It was a terrific under-tack show. All of the credit goes to [Maryland State Fairgrounds maintenance director Don] Chief Denmeyer,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “We had challenging weather at the beginning of the week and this racetrack was as good, from beginning to end, as any under-tack show we’ve ever conducted. The first horse worked very, very well on Wednesday and the last horse worked very, very well on Friday. The consignors brought quality horses to the grounds and we are very pleased with what we saw on the racetrack.”

A colt by Wicked Strong (hip 512) turned in the fastest quarter-mile work Friday when covering the distance in :21 1/5. The juvenile, purchased for $9,000 at Keeneland last September, sold for $20,000 to D and B Racing following a furlong work in :10 2/5 at this year’s OBS March sale.

“He was bought in March by a group from California who bought him to pinhook back here,” explained Ciaran Dunne, whose Wavertree Stables consigns the chestnut colt. “They were buying horses that they thought the sale had come maybe too early for or they didn’t fit, but had shown them something on the racetrack. They took him back to California and he was a horse they were very high on all of the time they had him out there.”

Dunne continued, “The plan was originally to sell him out there [at Fasig-Tipton Santa Anita Sale], but obviously that sale didn’t happen, so they rerouted to here. This is not the first time they’ve done this, but it’s the first time they brought a horse here.”

The colt worked four times in May and June at San Luis Rey Training Center, most recently going three furlongs in :37.20 June 12. He worked two furlongs June 2 in :21.60.

“He is a big, two-turn looking horse,” Dunne said. “He doesn’t look like he’d be that fast.”

The colt is out of E Classic (E Dubai) and is a half-brother to stakes placed E Rated (Special Rate).

Also from the Wavertree consignment, hip 443, a colt by Candy Ride (Arg) out of Causara (Giant’s Causeway) worked a furlong in :10 1/5 Friday. Purchased by Ron Fein’s Superfine Farms for $175,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton October Sale, the bay colt had originally been targeted at the OBS March sale.

“He had a little setback through the winter,” Dunne said. “He was originally targeted for OBS March and we could have carried on, but we thought he was such a nice horse that we waited and gave him the time. He’s a great big, two-turn type of horse and maybe wasn’t suited to this track, but I think at the end of the day, he’s got a lot of quality and will be a really good horse down the road.”

Numbers were down at the recent OBS Spring Sale and Dunne said that, while the top of the market remained strong in Ocala, the absence of the usually prolific Korean buyers contributed to much of the declines at the auction which had set records for average and gross the last three years.

“We had a very good sale at OBS,” Dunne said. “The market was down, but a large degree of that was the Koreans. They buy a lot of horses–they will buy 100 2-year-olds a year in that $30,000-$50,000 range, which makes all of the $20,000 horses bring $30,000 to $40,000. And then it makes all of the $50,000 horses bring $60,000-$70,000. It just creates a little bit of demand in that sector that we’re always the weakest in. So they are very important for us in the clearance rate and to give the guys in the lower-to-middle level a bit of a push. When you take them out of there, I think that was probably the biggest factor in OBS’s numbers being off. I think, from our perspective, the top end was as strong this year as it was last year.”

Consignor Clovis Crane, who sent out a daughter of Fed Biz (hip 505) to share the under-tack show’s bullet time of :10 flat Friday, agreed the absence of Korean buyers due to the ongoing pandemic would likely have an impact on his bottom line.

“I always think that this sale has the truest middle market of any sale that there is,” Crane said of the Midlantic auction. “I really don’t have upper-end horses. I buy in the lower end, so this sale suits me the best. I hope that, as normal, the Penn [National], the Parx, the Charles Town, the Delaware Park and the Marylands–all of those trainers show up. And they will because it’s home for them. There are five or six tracks within two or three hours, so all of those guys are there. So to me it makes this the truest middle market that there is.

He continued, “But we are going to sorely miss the Korean buyers. I have reached out to them and said, ‘If you need any help, I am here to help.’ I do think that those folks have some lookers around, so hopefully they can get into the action. I saw that they bought a few horses at OBS, so I am hoping that they found somebody to help them out here. And if they haven’t, I’m applying for the job.”

Working in Friday’s fourth set, hip 505 was the last of five on the day–and 12th overall at the show–to turn in the :10 flat bullet. Bred by Blackstone Farm, the filly RNA’d for $47,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale and is being sold by Crane in partnership with her breeder.

“We knew she was going to go fast and she showed up today,” Crane said of the chestnut out of the unraced Dream Realized (Awesome Again).

Crane compared the bullet breezer to her look-alike paddock-mate, a daughter of Palace (hip 170) who worked in :10 1/5 Wednesday.

“They are almost identical. The Palace filly has a little white spot on her butt and [hip 505] has a little white on her right hind leg. That’s the only way you can tell them apart,” he said.

Crane said the extra time between sales caused by the reshuffled schedule had helped his horses this spring.

“The extra time gave us plenty of time to get everything exactly right and have everything lined up and the horses all showed up,” Crane said. “And they are coming back good. It gave us a little extra time where we got a few breezes into them, we gave them a little break and then we got a few more breezes in. And our shins are solid and overall, it’s been good for us. And I think the horses have shown it, they have breezed so well and come back well.”

Crane had nothing but praise for the track condition at the Maryland State Fairgrounds this week.

“The track has a little more clay in it than it normally does,” he said. “Which is helpful, it has a little more bounce to it and it feels really nice. And it’s been really consistent. Obviously, my Palace worked in :10 1/5 on the first day, the very last set. And this filly was in the fourth set [Friday] and she worked in :10 flat. Normally, you see the really fast ones early in the day, but it’s been really consistent. I didn’t put my horses in any order, I just threw them in in hip number order and when they went, they went. That’s how we did it. All of my horses were going to show up and do what they were going to do whether they worked in the morning or the afternoon.”

Susan Montanye’s SBM Training and Sales had two bullet furlong workers Friday. During the first set, the operation sent out a daughter of Frosted (hip 518) to work in :10 flat. Out of multiple stakes placed Enchante (Bluegrass Cat), the dark bay filly was purchased privately by Bill and Corrine Heiligbrodt after RNA’ing for $185,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale last summer.

“She was slated to go to the Gulfstream sale and unfortunately that was cancelled,” Montanye said. “She has always been a super nice filly, always fast, always says yes. I brought her up here because I knew she loved the dirt.”

In Friday’s second set, SBM sent out a filly by Dialed In (hip 552) to work in :10 flat. Out of Fall Fantasy (Menifee), the filly was supplemented to the Midlantic auction after scratching from the OBS Spring sale.

“The Dialed In is a ship-in for me that belongs to Kevin McKathan,” Montanye said. “The filly was in the OBS sale and had a good work down there, but they opted to bring her up here and put her in the supplement. They said she was a better dirt filly than she was on the Poly and she obviously proved that today.”

A filly by Maclean’s Music (hip 400), consigned by Scanlon Training and Sales, also turned in a furlong work in :10 flat Friday. Out of Ava G (Afternoon Deelites), the dark bay filly is a half-sister to stakes winner Miss My Rose (Magician {Ire}).

“We’ve liked her all year and we’ve just been giving her time to develop,” said Dave Scanlon. “We had her sister before, Miss My Rose and we really liked her. So we pursued this filly with the breeder, Alex Venneri, and we are partners on her here.”

Rounding out Friday’s :10 flat bullet furlong workers was hip 389, a daughter of Twirling Candy. The dark bay was consigned by David McKathan and Jody Mihalic’s Grassroots Training and Sales which purchased her for $30,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic October sale. She is out of Apple Cider (More Than Ready), a daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Who Did It and Run (Polish Numbers).

The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m.

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