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Thunderous Affair Named Makeover Champion

Thunderous Affair (Liaison), trained by Lindsey Partridge, was selected by the panel of judges of the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America, as the 2020 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion, sponsored by Churchill Downs. The 4-year-old, who was bred in Kentucky by Jim Williams, never made a start, but did train to race. Thunderous Affair was placed through CANTER Michigan.

Lindsey Partridge, a professional based in Pontypool, Ontario, is no stranger to the Thoroughbred Makeover–she won the overall title back in 2015 with Soar–but she admitted her partnership with Thunderous Affair had its challenges.

“She didn't trust me in the beginning,” said Partridge. “I really had to slow down and just go to events, and just not make it about competing. Just the fact that she was so calm and relaxed here and able to trust me to do everything–gosh, I'm going to start crying!”

Partridge, who has made a name for herself with her unique brand of horsemanship and crowd-pleasing freestyle routines, trained Thunderous Affair to not one but two discipline championships–Freestyle, in which the pair played with Partridge's signature big blue tarp and other props, and Competitive Trail.

“It's all about putting that relationship first,” Partridge described, reflecting on her past Makeover performances and her road to success. “I've done ranch and field hunter and trail and freestyle, but it all comes back to that partnership first.”

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Fasig Saratoga Fall Sale Returns Monday

The Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Sale of breeding stock returns Monday after a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic. A catalogue of 292 broodmares and broodmare prospects and New York-bred weanlings will be on offer at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion beginning at 10:00 a.m.

The 2019 renewal of the sale saw 134 horses change hands for gross receipts of $3,384,700, at an average of $25,259 and median of $15,000. A $160,000 Practical Joke colt from the RFHF Bloodstock consignment topped the sale on a winning bid from Steven Weston. A filly by the same now fast-starting sire of first runners sold for $150,000 the same day.

This year, another freshman stallion could feature prominently on the results sheet, as first foals from buzzed-about McMahon of Saratoga resident Solomini come to auction. The son of Curlin has 19 weanlings catalogued, plus another five mares in foal to him on offer.

A $270,000 KEESEP yearling, Solomini was a debut winner at Del Mar for Bob Baffert before runner-up finishes in the 2017 GI FrontRunner S. and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, book-ended by now in-demand Kentucky-based stallions Good Magic (Curlin) and Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro). He crossed the wire first in the GI Cash Call Futurity the following month, only to be controversially placed third by the stewards behind stablemate McKinzie (Street Sense). Solomini was second in the GII Rebel S. and third in the GI Arkansas S. on the Triple Crown trail in 2018, and after amassing $834,993 from 16 career starts, was acquired for stud duties ahead of the 2020 season by a group led by Joe and Anne McMahon's McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, Raymond DeStefano and Chris Bernhard.

Solomini has led all New York-based stallions by mares bred in both of his first two seasons at stud, covering 123 mares this past season–eight more than barnmate and the Empire State's top sire, Central Banker.

“They appear to be pretty consistently correct, good-looking babies and well balanced. They're also pretty mature looking,” said Joe McMahon of Solomini's produce. “I would think that, with his race record and the fact that he's a Curlin, who's doing so incredibly well this year, that there will be above-average interest in them.”

In addition to standing Central Banker, McMahon was also part of the syndicate that owned another recent New York success story in Laoban. The 2016 GII Jim Dandy S. upsetter was relocated from Sequel Stallions to WinStar Farm ahead of the 2021 breeding season after leading all New York freshmen last year and finishing second among North American stallions thanks to the exploits of GI Darley Alcibiades S. winner Simply Ravishing and GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. winner Keepmeinmind. Laoban died unexpectedly in late May.

There are 12 Central Bankers in the catalogue (plus 10 more in foal to him), and eight Laobans.

“Looking back at Laoban, he was hard to sell seasons to early on,” McMahon said when asked to compare the reception for Solomini thus far to Laoban and Central Banker at this same stage in their careers. “He never got the support that Central Banker or Solomini have gotten. We owned a significant part of him, so we were pretty close to the situation and what was going on with him… The Central Bankers were popular from the get-go. Then they came out running, and we kept good books going to him, so he was able to kind of avoid the slump that a lot of stallions have in their third year. We'd love for Solomini to be as successful as either one of those two, that's for sure.”

The Saratoga Fall sale comes on the heels and in the midst of an extremely competitive yearling sales season, including very strong trade at Fasig's New York-bred Yearlings sale here in August and at the recently concluded Midlantic Fall Yearlings sale, which is heavy on New York-breds.

“If you look at the popularity of New York-breds, relative to the amount of purse money that's available, you've got to think that this is a good investment for people, and a good hedge for people who want to be in the breeding business; with these purses being so high and the amount of racing we have in New York. Those are very positive things,” McMahon said. “I think in the economy we have now, and in the sales economy right now where the highs are so, so high… It's still hard to sell a middle-priced horse, but I think the New York-bred program gives people a great edge because of the awards and the purses. I think the market [at Saratoga] is likely to be pretty good.”

Visit www.fasigtipton.com for more.

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Streaking Shantisara Gives Brown Fourth QEII and Another Graded Exacta

Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and Bob LaPenta's Shantisara (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) underscored the sheer domination of trainer Chad Brown in the nation's turf races with an emphatic victory in Saturday's GI Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup S. at Keeneland. Also representing the four-time Eclipse Award winning trainer in the nine-furlong test was dual graded-winning Technical Analysis (Ire), however, early favoritism went to Coolmore's Empress Josephine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), hailing from another behemoth of the turf world, Aidan O'Brien.

Delayed a few minutes after the gate scratch of Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown), Shantisara, who was sent off at 5-2 behind the slightly more fancied 2-1 European invader, settled just off the early pace as stablemate Technical Analysis led into the first turn while under mild pressure from Empress Josephine and Burning Ambition through a :23.91 quarter. Inching her way forward following a half-mile in :48.63, Shantisara started to put the screws to the front runners midway on the far turn. Overtaking the weakening favorite turning for home, she collared the pacesetter in early stretch and drew off with ease to score by five lengths. Burning Ambition rounded out the trifecta. Empress Josephine faded to last of nine.

Shantisara's margin of victory is the largest in the history of the race, eclipsing the 4 1/2-length victory by Hot Cha Cha in 2009. The win also gave Brown his record fourth victory in the race following Dayatthespa (2012), Rushing Fall (2018) and Cambier Parc (2019) to break a tie he held with Jimmy Toner and John Veitch. Brown also won the GII Sands Point S. with Fluffy Socks at Belmont Park earlier in the afternoon.

“It was a good run and I was really pleased with the draw [post 3],” said winning rider Flavien Prat. “She broke well and I was able to tuck her in right away and she switched off nice. I thought the good horses were around me, and I was able to keep tracking them. She made a really good move around the turn–and when I asked her to make a move, she responded well. I was traveling super and, when it was time to go, she was there for me.”

Jose Ortiz, who partnered runner-up Technical Analysis, added, “She broke good, went to the lead and was a little keen early on. We set pretty decent fractions and I had plenty [of horse left] turning for home, but the other horse was just better. My filly was very relaxed [when they had to back the field out of the starting gate]. She's always a little nervous, but actually when they backed them up she was able to stand a little bit behind the gate and she relaxed a little bit better. I have no excuses; she ran her race.”

As for the beaten favorite, John Velazquez said, “It was going well until I [asked her for more] and she didn't go anywhere. She didn't have it. She didn't show up today.”

Shantisara, a winner of two of five starts for trainer Frederic Rossi in France, launched her U.S. campaign with a runner-up finish in Monmouth's Boiling Springs S. in June before breaking through with a three-length score in Arlington's nine-furlong GIII Pucker Up S. Aug. 14. Stretching out to 11 panels for her latest, she came home a 1/2 length on top in Belmont's Jockey Club Oaks Invitational Sept. 18.

“I expected her to run really well because of the way she breezed last time [five furlongs in 1:03.40 over the turf at Keeneland a week earlier],” explained Baldo Hernandez, assistant to winning trainer Chad Brown. “She improves all the time. She's coming along. This filly, she has a really good talent. She handled the turf really well here.”

Pedigree Notes:
With a Grade I win under her belt, Shantisara (Ire) moves to the head of the class for young sire Coulsty (Ire) and revives a previously prolific female line that had recently fizzled. Second-crop stallion Coulsty, who stands in Ireland's County Kildare at Rathasker Stud, has another Group winner in Santosha (Ire), as well as two additional listed winners, all in his first crop of 45 foals. Shantisara's broodmare sire, European Horse of the Year Dalakhani (Ire), will be far more familiar to Americans with the 41 stakes winners out of his daughters including 2019 English, French, and Irish champion Pinatubo (Ire) (Shamardal). Shantisara is the only runner out of her dam, the unraced and late Kharana (Ire). Interestingly, Kharana's dam was also unraced and her only winner was in Greece. Shantisara's third dam was a listed winner and Group-placed in Ireland, but also produced little of note. However, Shantisara's fourth dam was French champion Kozana (GB) (Kris {GB}), who counted U.S., Irish, and English champion High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) among her grandsons.

Saturday, Keeneland
QUEEN ELIZABETH II CHALLENGE CUP S. PRESENTED BY DIXIANA-GI, $500,000, Keeneland, 10-16, 3yo, f, 1 1/8mT, 1:48.86, yl.
1–SHANTISARA (IRE), 121, f, 3, by Coulsty (Ire)
                1st Dam: Kharana (Ire), by Dalakhani (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Khantala (Ire), by Zafonic
                3rd Dam: Khanata, by Riverman
1ST GRADE I WIN. (10,000gns 2yo '20 TATGBR). O-Michael
Dubb, Madaket Stables LLC & Robert V. LaPenta; B-Mr Oliver
Donlon (IRE); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $300,000.
Lifetime Record: 9-5-2-0, $788,108. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Technical Analysis (Ire), 121, f, 3, by Kingman (GB)
                1st Dam: Sealife (Ire), by Sea The Stars (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Bitooh (GB), by Diktat (GB)
                3rd Dam: Sitara (GB), by Salse
'TDN Rising Star' (200,000gns Ylg '19 TATOCT). O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc.; B-Rabbah Bloodstock Limited (IRE); T-Chad C.
Brown. $100,000.
3–Burning Ambition, 121, f, 3, by Uncle Mo
                1st Dam: Do You Remember (Saf) (G1SW-SAF,
                GSP-Aus, $166,603), by Silvano (Ger)
                2nd Dam: Festive Occasion (Saf), by Casey Tibbs (Ire)
                3rd Dam: Noble Feast (Saf), by Al Mufti
O/B-Michael De Broglio (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $50,000.
Margins: 5, 1 3/4, 2 1/4. Odds: 2.50, 3.10, 10.50.
Also Ran: Nicest (Ire), Queen Goddess, Closing Remarks, Cloudy Dawn (Ire), Flippant, Empress Josephine (Ire). Scratched: Lady Speightspeare. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Practical Joke Represented By First Japanese Winner

Coolmore America's successful first-crop sire Practical Joke (Into Mischief) was represented by his first Japanese winner and 15th overall when Dugat validated even-money favoritism in a 1200-meter turf maiden Saturday afternoon at Hanshin Racecourse.

Bred in Kentucky by Erv Woolsey and Ralph Kinder, the son of the mutiple stakes-placed Untraveled (Canadian Frontier) was knocked down to trainer Hideyuki Mori for $190,000 from the McKathan Bros. draft at this year's OBS March Sale after the Mar. 31 foal breezed an eighth of a mile in the bullet time of :9 4/5. So highly though-of was the colt that he made his career debut in allowance company, finishing third in testing conditions at Kokura Racecourse Aug. 14. Dugat just missed the placings in the G3 Kokura Nisai S. when making his second trip to the races Sept. 5 and was returning to the turf Saturday after finishing unplaced in a seven-furlong dirt maiden Sept. 25.

The heavy favorite bounced well from gate nine beneath Yutaka Take and crossed and cleared his rivals, covering the opening quarter mile from a standing start in :23.3 and the first 800 meters in :45.6 while well in hand. Under no urging whatsoever, Dugat widened his advantage in upper stretch and was gathered up in the final 50 yards, scoring by four lengths in 1:09.3 (see below).

Dugat is the only of his sire's first-crop runners to have started to date in Japan. Mori also paid a sales-topping $750,000 for a Practical Joke filly out of Peruvian champion Valiant Emilia (Per) (Pegasus Wind) at OBS March. The filly, from the family of GII Tampa Bay Derby hero Helium (Ironicus) and now named Clos de Mesnil, is in steady training and is likely to debut before the end of 2021. Dugat is the third of Mori's eight OBSMAR purchases–seven of which have started–to salute this fall.

WATCH: Dugat graduates easily at Hanshin

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