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‘Rising Stars’ Account for Day’s Top Two Sellers

Yearlings by a pair of this country’s most prominent sires and each the produce of ‘TDN Rising Stars’ sold minutes apart late during the second session at Keeneland September to close the day as the top two lots. First through the ring was hip 435, a son of Tapit out of Tara’s Tango (Unbridled’s Song), who brought the hammer down at an even $2 million. The colt will be campaigned by a powerhouse partnership including Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Robert LaPenta, Gainesway and Ron Winchell. Stonestreet will also retain an interest. Just three hips later, a filly by Into Mischief out of ‘Rising Star’ Taylor S (Medaglia d’Oro) bred by Albaugh Family Stable fetched $1.9 million. Hip 435 was bred by Stonestreet, who raced Tara’s Tango to a victory in the GI Santa Margarita S. The mare’s Medaglia d’Oro colt made $2.15 million from Godolphin here last year. Hip 438 is out of the GSP Taylor S, a daughter of Miss Macy Sue (Trippi), whose distinguished produce include Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song)–himself a ‘Rising Star’–and boom freshman sire Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway). Not surprisingly, Larry Best signed the winning ticket.

Best Gets Into Some More Mischief

Larry Best has been a big supporter of Into Mischief for years, campaigning the likes of GSW Instagrand, Rowayton, Clivetty, Mundaye Call and Center Aisle. The OXO Equine principal added another offspring of the red hot Spendthrift sire to his stable Monday, going to $1.9-million to acquire a well-bred filly (Hip 438) out of ‘TDN Rising Star’ Taylor S (Medaglia d’Oro).

“I like her frame. She looks like a two-turn filly,” Best said. “She has a wonderful family. With my collection of Into Mischief fillies, she has to be one of the best in terms of pedigree. I continue to bet a lot on Into Mischief and so far, so good. I feel good about this one.”

As for the price, Best said, “I didn’t get in til about $1.6-million. I knew she was going to go for between $1.5-million and $2-million. So, it did not surprise me. An earlier filly that doesn’t have this pedigree went for $1.025-million. With that as a marker, I knew I was going to have to be in the $1.7-2-million range. Book 1, I think, has been unbelievably strong. It blew my expectations away. Keeneland should be very happy.”

Hip 438 will certainly carry Best’s red and white silks around the racetrack, but was also bought with his broodmare band in mind, which he began to develop at last year’s November sale. His purchases last fall were topped by GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff heroine Blue Prize (Arg) (Pure Prize), who summoned a whopping $5-million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

“I am up to about 27 fillies and mares [in my broodmare band],” Best said. “I love the breeding process. This filly fits both my racing protocol and my breeding strategy.”

Breeder Dennis Albaugh privately purchased Hip 438’s second dam Miss Macy Sue (Trippi) near the end of her racing career, which was highlighted by a Grade III win and over $867,000 in earnings. Her second foal Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) brought $800,000 at the 2012 renewal of this auction and went on to win the GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and GI Woodward S. before retiring to the Lane’s End stallion barn.

The Albaugh family retained her next foal Taylor S, who was a stakes winner and Grade II-placed. Two seasons later, Miss Macy Sue produced Not This Time (Giant’s Causeway), who carried the Albaugh silks to a win in the GIII Iroquois S. and a second in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He retired to Taylor Made and has his first runners this year, headlined by Grade I winner and $1.5-million OBSAPR topper Princess Noor.

Hip 438 is the third foal for Taylor S. Her first is a now 3-year-old named Four Grands (Honor Code), who won one of four starts for the Albaughs. She is also responsible for an unraced juvenile colt by Bernardini.

“I am so excited,” said a jubilant Albaugh. “This was a horse we loved a lot, but sometimes you need to take some money off the table and we have spent a lot at this sale. We are very happy. Larry Best got a very nice horse. There is a lot of upside for him on this filly. We couldn’t be happier.” —@CDeBernardisTDN

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Another Seven-Figure Baby for Into Mischief

Agent Liz Crow went to $1.025 million late in Tuesday’s Book 1 session to secure an Into Mischief half-sister to GISW Gift Box (Twirling Candy), MGSW Stonetastic (Mizzen Mast) and MGSP Special Forces (Candy Ride {Arg}). Hip 405 was bred by Carrie and Craig Brogden and Dr. Sandra Fubini’s Machmer Hall and offered by their new Machmer Hall Sales.

“We just really like buying from Carrie; I think she and Craig do such a good job of raising really good racehorses,” Crow said. “Obviously, the mare has proven that she can do it time and time again, so we just hope that this is another one of the mare’s good horses.”

When asked to describe the Mar. 23 foal, Crow said, “I went to see her on the farm–I saw her at Carrie’s farm first. She had a great attitude; just the way she carried herself and presented herself with a lot of class. She did the same here. Every time I saw her, she was classier than the last time.”

While Crow has built her reputation as a sharp judge off of value buys like $100,000 superstar Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and $40,000 champion 2-year-old filly British Idiom (Flashback), she and Bradley Weisbord’s BSW/Crow have signed for four horses this week for $2.84 million .

“[These are] for a different client, and we’ll go right back down to buying our $25,000 and $50,000 and $100,000 horses in Books 2, 3 and 4,” Crow said sheepishly. “We haven’t changed our mentality, but when you’re buying that kind of pedigree page, that’s what it costs.”

Brogden’s Special Mare Justifies Her Faith Yet Again

The love affair between Carrie Brogden and the Unbridled’s Song mare Special Me goes back quite a ways. She tried to claim her back in 2008, but her trainer talked her out of it when seeing the mare was only 14.2 hands. Six months later, Brogden saw the mare for herself in the back ring of the Keeneland January sale and found out her petite stature was due to being born six months premature (Click here for a TDN video feature on Special Me & her Into Mischief filly).

Brogden could not ignore her gut feeling on the mare and scooped her up for just $6,000, a price that would prove to be the bargain of a lifetime. Special Me has produced three graded winners, several six-figure yearlings and now her and Brogden’s first million-dollar horse with her Into Mischief filly (Hip 405) selling to Liz Crow for $1.025-million Monday.

“Honestly, it means so much because it’s from the beginning,” an overjoyed Brogden said. “We bought her out of the back ring as a broodmare prospect. This is the little mare that could. We bred her back Curlin.”

The horsewoman continued, “We were just hoping to break our personal farm record for a yearling which is $550,000. But the crazy thing is Craig and I personally own half of this baby. So she’s owned by Machmer Hall [Brogden’s mom, Dr. Sandra Fubini’s, farm]] and we own the other half of her. I’m blown away. It’s been the whole progression through seeing and raising every single foal. She’s a special mare.”

Special Me’s second foal was a fleet-footed filly named Stonetastic (Mizzen Mast), who won two graded stakes and was Grade I-placed with earnings over $856,000. Two years later came Gift Box, her first Grade I winner, and two years after that, she produced GSW Special Forces (Candy Ride {Arg}). Special Me’s now-2-year-old filly Meir Point (Medaglia d’Oro) was purchased by Larry best for $500,000 as a weanling at Fasig-Tipton November. The 14-year-old mare aborted her Quality Road this year, but is back in foal to Curlin.

“David [Hayden] from Dark Hollow [who bred and sold Special Me] came up and talked to me [Sunday] at the sale,” Brogden said. “We were talking about how this was not bad for a premie, nocardioforplacentitis mare that throws beautiful foals. She’s a great mom, easy to get in foal and she raises nothing but runners.”

It is no secret that Brogden loves both Into Mischief and Unbridled’s Song. This is a cross she breeds a lot of and has been good to her. In fact, Crow purchased another Into Mischief filly bred on that cross and raised at Machmer Hall for $425,000 at last week’s Fasig-Tipton sale.

“We bred [SW & MGISP] Shoplifted (Into Mischief) on that same cross and Intense Holiday (Harlan’s Holiday) on that same cross,” said Brogden. “Because Unbridled’s Songs offer him beauty and stretch. Into Mischief gives them the will, the heart, the bone and the bodies. It’s been an incredible match.”

This is the first yearling sales season for Carrie and Craig Brogden’s new Machmer Hall consignment. They sold four horses during Book 1 for a gross of $1.92-million and average of $480,000. They had two yearlings RNA during the opening session, but sold all three of their Monday entries.

“[Sunday] I had horses that had a lot of vetting,” Brogden said. We felt we were solid at ‘X’ level, but people wanted them to be at ‘Y’ level, so we adjusted our reserves. I think, like for this filly, her reserve was less than half of what she brought. It’s about trying to be realistic, adjust our expectations, and let people get involved and feel like they’re getting a fair market price for what is going on in the world right now.” —@CDeBernardisTDN

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Arizona Horsemen Secure Some Disputed Purse Funds

At the six-month mark of the shutdown of live racing in Arizona that is the result of both the pandemic and a prolonged fight over off-track betting (OTB) privileges, the Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (AZHBPA) has reportedly secured some of the disputed money from the horsemen’s account that had been controlled by Turf Paradise and placed it into a trust to pay purses if and when racing resumes elsewhere.

This news was shared in the form of a widely circulated email that made the rounds on social media Monday. It was purportedly written to the AZHBPA membership by National HBPA president Leroy Gessmann and dated Sept. 12.

“[AZHPA president] Bob Hutton, with suggestions from the Board members, was able to acquire part of our purse fund from Turf Paradise,” the email stated. “These funds are now in our control in a trust account and will remain there until our legal issues with Turf Paradise are resolved. When they are available, they will only be used for purse money, for whatever track wants to run a live meet! We have retained an attorney that is working on getting the rest of our money and all money earned in 2021 by Turf Paradise’s OTBs. If [Turf Paradise] won’t host a live meet for Arizona horsemen, they should not be able to profit from our business.”

The state’s two commercial tracks are Turf Paradise in Phoenix and Arizona Downs 82 miles north in Prescott.

Turf Paradise ended its spring meet prematurely Mar. 14 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation. Last month track management withdrew its dates request for a traditional 2020-21 autumn-to-spring meet, citing liability concerns related to COVID-19.

Arizona Downs is the former Yavapai Downs. It reopened in 2019 under the new name but called off part of its race meet because of a simulcasting signal dispute that eventually wound up in the courts. Its 2020 summer season never started as scheduled because local health officials would not extend permission to reopen under pandemic conditions.

At a Sept. 10 Arizona Racing Commission meeting, members of the horse racing community lobbied for officials to help clear the way for expanded dates at Arizona Downs.

“Arizona Downs future with racing is totally dependent on the proposal that Arizona Downs presents to the HBPA board,” the email stated. “The HBPA will make sure the purses are funded properly and that the management team is performing to the standards that the Arizona Horsemen deserve…The HBPA is about live racing and any permittee that doesn’t support live racing will not be recognized by our group. No permittee will be able to operate OTBs after Dec. 31, 2020, without having a live meet!”

At the Sept. 10 commission meeting, chairman Rory Goree said that moving forward, the commission needs to “start looking at what the requirements are regarding live racing versus having an OTB [and] what powers we may have regarding if [a licensee is] not offering live racing [but still operating] OTB networks.”

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Wildfire Smoke Forces Postponement of Grants Pass Downs Opener

Heavy smoke from wildfires in the northwest portion of the country has blanketed Grants Pass Downs at the Josephine County Fairgrounds in southern Oregon, causing track management there to postpone the scheduled opening day of the autumn meet from Sep. 14 to Sep. 21.

“We are committed to protecting the health and safety of our guests, human and equine athletes, community of horsemen and women, and Grants Pass Downs staff,” stated a track-issued press release published by FOX26 News. “Until the smoke from the fires decreases to a safe level, we will not conduct training nor racing. Our hearts are with the members of our community who have been impacted by these historic fires, and our sincere gratitude goes out to the firefighters battling the blazes and first responders working to keep our communities safe.”

According to the Josephine County website, people in the county who must evacuate because of the fires are being directed to report to the fairgrounds property where the track is located.

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