Craig Wheeler sent out his homebred son of Vekoma (hip 1006), a colt with whom his experience in the family dates back to his time as manager with Hobeau Farm.

“It always means a little more when you've had them since they were born,” said Wheeler. “It's a family that I've had a lot of success with. We bred the good ones, like [Grade I-winner] Miss Shop and so it's a super family and it doesn't surprise us that another hopeful superstar will come out of it.”

Second dam Shopping, owned by Hobeau Farm of which Wheeler managed for over 30 years, not only produced millionaire Miss Shop (Deputy Minister) but also GSW/MGISP Trappe Shot (Tapit), SW/GSP Bought In Dixie (Dixieland Band) and Shop Again (Wild Again), who would in turn produce GISW Power Broker (Pulpit). Wheeler noted that his colt's sharp work Saturday was completely par for the course.

“We were expecting it, for sure. He's been training lights out for us and we're tickled. He's so straightforward and light on his feet, and he galloped out good as well.”

With first-season sires continuing to be in demand, Vekoma was an obvious choice for Wheeler to pair with his homebred mare Blakely's Smile.

“He [Vekoma] was always on our radar,” continued Wheeler. “Watching him and all of his great races–he showed a ton of talent.”

And while the wind let up enough for a pack of horses to hit :9 4/5, conditions weren't quite as favorable as they were earlier in the week before Thursday's storms. Wheeler noted that while there were plenty of fast horses Saturday morning, it wasn't quite as good as Wednesday's tail wind. His other juvenile, a colt by Khozan named Micanopy (hip 722), was one caught breezing into the wind Friday.

“He still galloped out nice but we knew it wouldn't be blistering fast. He's getting plenty of looks [Friday] and I think it's because of how he was moving over the track. That attracts the lookers.”

Micanopy, bred by Brent & Crystal Fernung, was a $30,000 purchase by Wheeler at the OBS Yearling Sale last fall and, while the breeze may not have gone to plan Friday, Wheeler remembers what drew him to the colt in the first place.

“His walk. He has a tremendous walk with a huge overstep. I got him from my friend Brent who does a great job raising horses and so I was really confident in buying from him. And he's been training great so we're hoping to get lucky there too.”

10 other juveniles matched the :9 4/5 time including three by first-crop sire Honest Mischief (hip 870, hip 938 and hip 1011) along with a filly from the first crop by Tiz the Law (hip 928). Speightster (hip 871), Nyquist (hip 902 and hip 915), Mitole (hip 907), Twirling Candy (hip 1005) and Midnight Lute (hip 981) were also represented by Saturday's bullet.

Three hips matched the fastest quarter-mile work Saturday at :20 3/5 including a pair by Ocala Stud's Win Win Win (hip 881 and hip 1025) and a third by Frosted (hip 926).

Optimism continues to abound looking forward to next week's auction.

“This is the sale that everybody shows up for,” continued Wheeler. “There's something for everybody–top end, middle and the bottom. There's a lot of nice horses going back and forth to the track so I think that will draw people in. I'm expecting to it to be good.”

The under-tack show will conclude with a makeup session Sunday. The OBS Spring sale will be held Tuesday through Friday with bidding starting each day at 10:30 a.m.

The post More Favorable Conditions Lead To Faster OBS Saturday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“It was pretty special,” consignor Tom McCrocklin said of the bullet quarter-mile work. “I have one disability that keeps me knowing that one will go that fast and that is that I don't clock my horses at any point. But I did know that she could really run. She's been doing extremely well for the last month, getting better and better. So she obviously peaked at the right time and put in a stellar performance.”

The bay filly is out of stakes-placed Moonlight Sky (Sky Mesa), a half-sister to champion Abel Tasman (Quality Road) and a full to graded winner Sky Girl. Moonlight Sky is also the dam of graded-placed Urban (Quality Road).

McCrocklin purchased the juvenile for $170,000 on behalf of Jim Tilton at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She looked like an athlete, looked like a runner,” McCrocklin said of the filly's appeal last fall. “She's got pedigree as well. She is a half to a black-type filly and has Abel Tasman in the second dam. So there is a lot of quality there. For a first year stallion, it's a little bit of a gamble, but he was a very high-quality racehorse and she was a beautiful physical horse. She brought a lot of money as a yearling and, right now, I feel good about the purchase.”

Tiz the Law, winner of the GI Belmont S. and GI Runhappy Travers S. in the COVID-delayed 2020 season, has 12 juveniles expected to breeze at OBS this week.

“This filly has a lot of Tiz the Law in her,” McCrocklin said. “She is a strong, stout filly. There is nothing feminine about her. She's easily mistaken for a colt. She's real quiet. I checked in on her first thing this morning and she's in there sleeping like it's just another day at the office.”

The :20 1/5 mark was most recently set by a filly by Win Win Win, who went on to top the OBS March sale when selling for $1.8 million to Zedan Racing.

A Trio of Bullet Workers for Vekoma

Of the 17 juveniles to work the furlong in :9 4/5 Tuesday, three were by Spendthrift Farm's first-crop sire Vekoma. Leading off that trio was a filly out of stakes-placed Our Jenny B (Tale of the Cat) (hip 435) who was the second horse to work Tuesday morning. She is consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales, which purchased her for $60,000 in Louisiana last fall.

Just a few hips later, a colt by Vekoma out of Newbie (Bernardini) (hip 411) also turned in a :9 4/5 work. Consigned by Sequel Bloodstock, as agent for Chester and Mary Broman, he is a half-brother to graded winner Classy Edition (Classic Empire) and to multiple stakes winner Newly Minted (Central Banker).

A filly by Vekoma (hip 479) completed the stallion's three bullet workers midway through the session's second hour. She is consigned by Mayberry Farm on behalf of Nice Guys Stables, which purchased her for $130,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“She's always been a lovely, honest filly,” Summer Mayberry said of the juvenile. “We were expecting that she would work very well. She tries every single time. She's got a great disposition. She just makes our job look easy.”

Out of Pray for Leslie (Bernardini), the filly is a half-sister to last year's GI Darley Alcibiades third-place finisher Alys Beach (Omaha Beach).

“She is an average-sized filly with a very racy body,” Mayberry said. “She has beautiful confirmation. She's got all the parts that you look for.”

Of the first-crop Vekoma juveniles that she has seen, Mayberry said, “We have three still at the farm. They all seem like they are pretty nice horses. They have great dispositions, good conformation. Just very nice racehorses.”

Steve Spielman's Nice Guys partnership has already enjoyed seven-figure success at OBS, having sold a daughter of Arrogate for $1 million to Katsumi Yoshida at the 2021 Spring sale. The operation has four fillies still to work this week at OBS with Mayberry Farm.

Twice as Nice

Both Grassroots Training & Sales and Sequel Bloodstock doubled up on bullet workers Tuesday. Grassroots sent out a colt by Improbable (hip 517) to hit that mark, while Sequel sent out a New York-bred son of Game Winner (hip 487), also for the Bromans.

First-crop sire Game Winner had a second bullet worker Tuesday with hip 389, a son of the 2018 champion 2-year-old champion consigned by Julie Davies.

Eddie Woods had a pair of bullet workers Tuesday: hip 454 is a daughter of Practical Joke; and hip 460 is a filly from the first crop of Thousand Words.

Thousand Words had his second bullet of the session when hip 506, a filly by the Spendthrift stallion, worked in :9 4/5 for Britton Peak. Thousand Words has already had his first winner on the racetrack after The Queens M G's victory at Keeneland Sunday.

Also sharing the :9 4/5 bullet Tuesday: hip 372, a filly by St Patrick's Day consigned by Sweet River Thoroughbreds; hip 392, a filly by Khozan consigned by Shanbally Acres; hip 407, a colt by Bernardini consigned by Envision Equine; hip 448, a filly by Mendelssohn consigned by Paul Sharp; hip 477, a colt by Oscar Performance consigned by Wavertree Stables; hip 489, a filly by Mendelssohn consigned by Randy Miles; hip 502, a colt by Global Campaign consigned by Top Line Sales; and hip 511, a filly by Ride On Curlin consigned by Blue River Bloodstock.

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. The OBS Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday. Bidding commences each day at 10:30 a.m.

The post Tiz the Law Filly Zips Fastest Quarter at OBS Tuesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Wednesday's opening breeze-ups were topped by a trio of horses that stopped clock in :9 4/5 for an eighth of a mile, a time that was matched by no fewer than 15 juveniles on Thursday. Those numbers were lowered Friday by a pair of horses, a Wavertree Stables Inc.-consigned filly (hip 448) from the first crop of Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) and a colt (hip 529) by fellow freshman sire Tiz the Law (Constitution) consigned by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds. Each covered an eighth of a mile in :9 3/5.

Laying Down the 'Law'

Randy Hartley went to $375,000 for the Tiz the Law colt from the Woods Edge Farm draft at Keeneland September, but only after a not-so-subtle push from his client Rich Mendez.

“At $350,000, honestly, I was done, but Rich goes, 'one more time,' because Tiz the Law was like his favorite horse,” Hartley explained. “So I did and we got him. $350,000 was kind of our number, but we loved him so much we stretched a little more because we were trying to find the best one there.”

The approach to the September sale was fairly straight-forward.

“We went to that sale to try to find the best Tiz the Law at the sale and we found him in Book 1,” Hartley said. “Peter O'Callaghan had him and he might have had other horses sell for more in Book 1, but I thought this colt was the best physical he had in that book. We stretched on him because we thought that Tiz the Law was such a great racehorse, we love Constitution too, but they're harder to buy. But we felt like we if had one of the best Tiz the Laws in  the 2-year-old market that the people that respected Tiz the Law would be trying to buy something that they like.”

Just a May 9 foal, the colt is a son of the Grade III-placed Our Majesty (Majesticpefection), herself a half-sister to a pair of black-type winners. Sun Bloodstock purchased Our Majesty for $375,000 in foal to Tapit at Keeneland November in 2019 and sold the Tiz the Law colt to Vanny Investments for $140,000 at Keeneland January in 2023.

Hartley was duly please with what he saw on the track Friday.

“He's quick and he kept going, some people had him in :19 and change galloping out,” he said. “He's a May baby. I don't push mine hard, he's even still a little chunky. I try to get my horses here sound and I feel like if I train them good, they'll give me everything they've got. Once they show me that they can take off and go, from there it's about fitness. We're super proud of him. He's only 22 months old, but he looks like a 3-year-old.”

The noted reseller believes there is a good buzz about the first crop of the 2020 GI Belmont S. hero.

“We only had this one and he's been our man the whole time. I would definitely buy some more,” he said. “When I see Tiz the Laws bringing $200,000 in January, that tells me that people are liking the way they're training. People are not going to buy them if they're not hearing that buzz. We thought a lot of this colt all season.”

Kight High On Justify Colt

If the Tiz the Law colt didn't exactly represent a 'bargain' price, Hoby Kight felt like the $100,000 that he gave at Keeneland September for a Justify colt from the consignment of Joe Pickerell's Pick View LLC certainly was. The Jan. 23 foal (hip 539) was bred in New York by Chester and Mary Broman.

“He was big and beautiful and he's got some pedigree,” Kight explained. “And Dr. Broman raises a really good horse, [Sequel Bloodstock's] Becky [Thomas] does a phenomenal job. He had a cut on his back leg on his pastern and his leg was still swollen from the cut. A lot of short-listers, they cut that horse and never get to see him and that's the sort of stuff I prey on. It's stuff that won't bother them and gets better, it was an old scar and was still kind of fresh. But everything else was there–beautiful horse, all the right angles. And Justify really heated up too, so everything went my way.”

Bred in New York by Chester and Mary Broman, the bay is a son of two-time stakes winner and Grade III-placed Pauseforthecause (Giant's Causeway)

Hip 539 was one of two to breeze a quarter in :20.2 Friday.

“I thought he worked lights out,” Kight said of the colt, who already stands 16.2 in his estimation. “Joe has done a remarkable job with him. Joe thought he was going to be sub-:21 the way he'd been training, so he was pretty optimistic.”

Hip 539 | Photos By Z

McCrocklin At Both Ends of the Speed Spectrum

Tom McCrocklin consigns the afternoon's other :20.2 breezer, a filly by Munnings–Miss Majestic (Majestic Warrior) (hip 453), which he is offering on behalf of Florida breeder Peter Mirabelli.

“She's a beautiful filly, a great mover and she just does everything so smoothly,” he said. “I generally work my horses a quarter-mile just because I think makes for a more composed breed. I am not trying to disparage anyone else, but I find sometimes that the furlong breezes can end up being pretty frenetic. When people see me breeze one that isn't a quarter mile, they tend to raise an eyebrow.”

McCrocklin is also consigning a handful of the 40 2-year-olds in training that are being sold as part of the dispersal from the late Bob Lothenbach, who are just galloping through the stretch.

“I don't think it will be looked upon with skepticism or negatively,” McCrocklin said of the strategy to not ask the horses for any serious effort. “Mr, Lothenbach built and ran a high-class stable. The estate requested that none of the horses breeze, so we are just honoring their wishes, but I don't think it will negatively impact the horses or the way they sell.”

The final under-tack preview is set for Saturday morning beginning at 8 a.m. The March Sale begins Tuesday, Mar. 12 and runs for three days, with bidding beginning each day at 11 a.m. ET. For more, visit www.obssales.com.

The post Action Remains Fast and Furious During OBSMAR Under-Tack Show appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Plenty of horses in this bracket have recently relinquished their brief window of commercial opportunity, and are now hanging around to discover whether they might join the very small group whose first runners generate a fresh vogue. Even with the newcomers out of the equation–we gave them a separate assessment, to open the series–we're left with three groups still untested on the track: those expecting their first foals; those who have just sold their first weanlings; and those actually about to dip a toe in the water with their first runners.

Pending that crossroads, many find themselves somewhat adrift against a bunch of older sires who have survived that test. These fit this tier either because they are losing stature or, more cheerfully, because they have carved out a viable niche as an affordable source of winners.

First the young guns. Of those who sent their first yearlings to auction this year, the ones who really nailed it, unsurprisingly, vaunted the kind of speed that pinhookers crave.

VOLATILE burned brightly in a light career, not seen again after confirming his Grade I caliber against a small but select field in the Vanderbilt. His 112 Beyer in the Aristides S. (1:07.57) was the highest of 2020 and duly secured 181 mares the following spring. Himself an $850,000 yearling, with a GI Test/GI Ballerina winner as granddam, his $125,431 average was boosted by a spectacular $1.15 million docket for a Book 1 filly at Keeneland in September. Nudged back up to $15,000 (from $12,500), Volatile has three hefty books behind him and will be the horse to beat for the freshman title next year.

But not even his median yield of 4.3 on his opening fee ($75,000/ $17,500) could match that of COMPLEXITY, whose $65,000 median (never mind his average $90,400!) multiplied his $12,500 fee by 5.2. Complexity started with some serious volume by the restrained standards of his farm, and then followed through with another three-figure book in his second season. He was clearly in the same vicinity as Volatile as a mature horse (110 Beyer in the GII Kelso) but was the more accomplished juvenile, wiring a Saratoga maiden (90 Beyer) before a decisive success in the GI Champagne S. on his second start. His half-sister ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, so their unraced dam is obviously channelling the good stuff.

VEKOMA is meanwhile working the Spendthrift system with remarkable efficiency, having started out (at $20,000) with staggering volume, entertaining at least 200 mares in each of his first three seasons. This year he processed 102 of his first yearlings at $98,432, albeit was unsurprisingly stretched somewhat thinner by a median of $60,000. Though confined to eight starts across three seasons, he was class from beginning to end, posting big numbers for his Grade I double in the Carter and Met Mile. From a stallion-producing family, he's a horse I've liked all the way through and everything is in place for him to look after many (albeit probably not all!) of his (very many!) clients at $15,000.

Knicks Go | Sarah Andrew

Among those in this intake offering rather more stretch, one or two suffered horrible yearling medians relative to conception fee. But one who made a solid start off $12,500 was Bolt d'Oro's half-brother GLOBAL CAMPAIGN: 74 yearlings sold at $63,195 (median $43,500). This was a more talented animal than generally appreciated and I can see him proving himself a bargain gateway to Curlin. A closer look at his family shows that it tends to produce faster types than are associated with the seeding sires, and Global Campaign's first crop of 126 live foals may surprise a few people with their dash.

Of those who sold their first weanlings this fall, meanwhile, the one that will sort out the sheep and the goats is KNICKS GO. No questioning his talent, it was just never quite obvious where it all came from–albeit his dam maintained stakes speed through four seasons. Those who didn't require a more familiar pedigree were delighted to see a Horse of the Year introduced at just $30,000. Well, now they can get him for half that, even though he's still nearly 18 months away from the opportunity to demonstrate whether or not he can replicate his brilliance! At this money, some people will surely want to roll the dice.

Even as it is, his weanlings sold a little better than those of SILVER STATE. But it's very early days for the latter, whose pedigree in contrast elucidates all the class he manifested as a runner. A friendly clip to $15,000 should hopefully keep him in the game because this horse equipped to prove a really wholesome influence.

The subsequent intake features some truly frightening books, but I will resist dwelling on that here. Suffice to say that those playing a longer game might quite like a filly by either SPEAKER'S CORNER or MYSTIC GUIDE. Both have taken an early trim at Darley, respectively to $17,500 and $12,500, and their pedigrees shout distaff influence.

We'll have to see how many of the youngsters will endure even in this relatively modest tier, a few years from now. Nor does a flying start bring any guarantees, as UNION RAGS could caution them. The halving of his fee to $15,000 acknowledges the way he has faltered, having stood at $60,000 between 2018 and 2020. Trade for his latest yearlings made this further cut imperative, but he's still the same horse that so quickly came up with five Grade I winners. Hopefully he will find a little oxygen now that he has descended to more accessible altitudes.

Studmate DAREDEVIL has taken his second cut since returning to the U.S., now down to $15,000, but of course it's only in 2024 that we'll get to assess the first juveniles conceived after Swiss Skydiver prompted his urgent repatriation. Their sales performance demanded a mild trim in fee, but he could easily be poised for fresh momentum.

MENDELSSOHN has also taken consecutive cuts, similarly now available at $15,000. He has so far been more about quantity than quality but his supporters will hope that he can still emulate four others, standing at the same fee, who have all done admirably to create a lasting foothold in this most slippery of markets.

The first of these, DIALED IN, is something of a blue-collar hero. He maintains such high volume–corralled 175 mares last spring, his 10th at stud–that it will always be hard, with the raw materials available at this level, to make his ratios “sing”. But Defunded has once again shown the caliber within his competence as his third elite scorer. Dialed In gets his work done at a fair tariff, and will keep plugging away to leave behind many of those now starting at multiples of his fee.

Cairo Prince | Sarah Andrew

CAIRO PRINCE has also created a sustainable brand for himself through six crops, as attested by a solid book of 129 mares last spring. A set-your-clock black-type producer throughout, he's now entering the territory where he can legitimately prove a mare–and of course he gets such a nice type, the average ($54,194) and median ($40,000) of his latest yearlings duly best among this proven quartet.

MIDSHIPMAN is a true yeoman and it's typical of this business that he should have had a quieter year (by his very special standards) both on the track and in the sales ring after finally doubling his fee to $20,000 last year–due recognition for having punched above weight for so long. His lifetime stats remain ridiculous for a stallion who has largely been a four-figure cover: 47 stakes winners at 6.4 percent of named foals, nine at graded stakes level; and 101 black-type performers overall, at 13.7 percent. The trim back to $15,000 brings him back towards the reach of breeders who most appreciate just what he can do for their mares.

KANTHAROS, who has really pulled himself up by his bootstraps, had another very solid year on the track. He has made the same slip in fee, reflecting a tepid book of mares last spring and a challenging yield on yearlings conceived at $30,000. But that was an experience shared by many sires exposed to a porous middle market, and the fact is that Kantharos lurks only just outside the top 10 in the 2023 general sires' list with a dozen stakes winners, including a couple at graded level. His lifetime ratio of stakes runners–11 percent of named foals–remains outstanding for a horse whose first five books were compiled in Florida at just $5,000.

He sired two Grade I winners at that fee, and now has another millionaire in Grade II winner Bay Storm. The first of his two $30,000 books were juveniles this year, and we know how they will keep thriving. That guarantees Kantharos imminently entry into the top 20 active sires on lifetime earnings. All he needs to do is supplant… Lookin At Lucky!

VALUE PODIUM

Bronze Medal: CONNECT
Curlin–Bullville Belle (Holy Bull)
Lane's End $15,000

Connect | Sarah Andrew

Amid all this talk about stud fees being too high, credit is overdue to Lane's End for anticipating the mood in the room. From Flightline down, the farm made 11 cuts across their 2024 roster. All were meaningful, and some nearly brutal, effectively conceding that one or two stallions were drifting into trouble and needed some decisive help. Bravo! The very opposite of burying your head in the sand, and in the present environment I hope it works out both for the farm and its clients.

One stallion who can certainly benefit is Connect, restored from $25,000 to his 2021 fee of $15,000 after the crop conceived that year returned a tepid median (albeit a perfectly acceptable $45,774 average) at the yearling sales. He'd also suffered a real slump in his book last spring, down to 45 from 172 in 2022! But we're accustomed to seeing horses treated like this, once they have served their commercial purpose, and should sooner marvel at the impression he must have made with his first crop to get such a big book (up from 93 in 2021) in his fifth year at stud.

Sure enough, only Gun Runner and Practical Joke banked more prizemoney as freshmen in 2021, and only Gun Runner had more winners. Unfortunately Connect did not then consolidate especially well, but he has made a timely return to form this year with eight stakes winners, three at graded level, plus a GI Kentucky Oaks third in The Alys Look. Moreover, his first-crop flagship, the juvenile Grade I winner Rattle N Roll, failed by just half a length to add another elite score in the GI Stephen Foster S. That horse was a $55,000 weanling but has now banked $1.7 million across three seasons.

Connect's pedigree is not without its challenges but he's another to bring Curlin within range and had real prowess as a racehorse, a blip in the Travers his only defeat in seven starts (four triple-digit Beyers) up the grades after debut. He outkicked none other than Gun Runner in the GII Pennsylvania Derby and, while he won't be doing that again any time soon, he's actually siring winners at a higher percentage of named foals.

With that bumper crop of weanlings in the pipeline, and now a lenient fee, this looks a good time to re-Connect.

Silver Medal: KARAKONTIE (Jpn)
Bernstein–Sun Is Up (Jpn) (Sunday Silence)
Gainesway $15,000

Karakontie | Sarah Andrew

How pleasing to see this undervalued stallion moving his book back up last year, up to 86 from 48. Perhaps his hour has come at last, now that the minority prepared to breed to a quality turf sire in the Bluegrass have been deprived of English Channel and Kitten's Joy.

If you're enlightened enough to see the growing need for turf quality in the U.S., then you might also recognize that you don't always have to fly first class to Tattersalls. With a fifth crop on the track, Karakontie has still only had 174 starters, but seven have won graded stakes. For the second year running, moreover, he had an elite scorer in She Feels Pretty, winner of the GI Natalma S. before failing by barely half a length to overcome a wide trip in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Karakontie's premier earner Princess Grace meanwhile continued to thrive in Australia, missing Group 1 scores by a neck and half a length.

Even after a hike from $10,000, Karakontie is an awful lot of horse for this fee. He converted some of the most regal blood in the book–his third dam is Miesque herself–into a turn of foot that won him a Group 1 at two and then a mile Classic, before doing all he could to endear the American market in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile. Don't forget that he restores Sunday Silence to the Bluegrass through his dam, herself out of a half-sister to Kingmambo. His international pedigree and participation alike are a measure of our debt to the program that produced him.

The American market has not really grasped its privilege, with this horse, but the elevation in his fee tells you everything you need to know: he's being used by people who want to breed a runner, whether in their own silks or to boost a mare. Actually, Karakontie is perfectly capable of a home run at the sales, including the $525,000 filly at Keeneland in September whose buyers will have been delighted to see her full-sister (who herself made $280,000 the previous year) win the Tepin S. last month. His lesser specimens may struggle commercially, until the environment improves, but that won't trouble those eccentrics who calculate value according to the odds of ending up with a runner.

Gold Medal: MITOLE
Eskendereya–Indian Miss (Indian Charlie)
Spendthrift $15,000

How naïve of me to imagine that all those commercial breeders who flocked to the new sires in 2020 wanted nothing more than to land on the champion freshman of 2023. Because Mitole, as he closes in on those laurels, finds himself the only one of the four Spendthrift sires dominating this table to remain on the same fee in 2024.

Mitole | Louise Reinagel

Now, clearly this farm needs no help in how to make their remarkable machine run smoothly. The Spendthrift team know that Mitole was the one who took the biggest slide of the quartet, in the inevitable slackening of demand for their second crop of yearlings. But they had already ensured that these were conceived more affordably, trimming him from $25,000 in his debut season to $15,000. That was partly a concession to the Covid market, but it also offered such obvious value about a champion sprinter that he maintained the enthusiastic support of 184 mares even last spring, after topping 200 in each of his three previous seasons.

In other words, the system is functioning smoothly and Mitole has played his part so well that he approaches the winning post with a narrow advantage over Maximus Mischief (my serial “gold” pick, I might add, after starting at $7,500!) by prizemoney and also a wafer-thin one by individual winners (32 from 79 starters).

Whether or not he holds out, Mitole is the only one of the four to have a graded stakes scorer–and so joins Flameaway and Solomini in what has been a weirdly unproductive group, by that measure-in GIII Pocahontas S. winner/GI Alcibiades runner-up V V's Dream.

The precocious Maximus Mischief has shown a lot more of his hand (77 starters from 122 named foals) and remember that Mitole (79 from 145) himself only squeezed in a single start at two, in late November. It was as a 4-year-old that he racked up his four Grade Is–including that resonant Met Mile/Breeders' Cup Sprint double, and a stakes record at the intermediate distance in the Forego. So it seems fair to suggest that he has only just got started.

By now Mitole has surely stifled misgivings about his sire, himself after all a brilliant performer and a conduit of corresponding genes. Eskendereya's fifth dam is Cosmah, and doubles up her half-sister's son Northern Dancer top and bottom. It was presumably his unfashionable sire that confined Mitole to $20,000 as a yearling–but then along came kid brother Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), himself a $17,000 short yearling, to reiterate the merit of a family cultivated by the late Edward A. Cox Jr.

Hot Rod Charlie has now followed Eskendereya to Japan, where they have made a habit of exposing crass commercial trends in Kentucky. But here's a horse making the family assets work even in this less imaginative environment, and his debut at the 2-year-old sales–behind only Omaha Beach in the key freshman medians–suggest that Mitole will be taking out a long lease on the attention of pinhookers.

Sires In The Teens: Breeder Selections

Aidan O'Meara, Stonehaven Steadings

Aidan O'Meara | Keeneland

Gold Medal: Volatile
One of the best angles for success in the commercial breeding field is identifying a future leading stallion in the early stages and this sometimes requires taking a leap of faith breeding when their first runners are about to run. Volatile has been the breakout star at the yearling sales this year, mirroring his sire's first crop results a few years back. He's a beautifully built horse himself and passed his physique on with remarkable consistency. He's been very well supported by breeders and will have plenty of ammo in his first few crops to give him every opportunity. If his offspring have legitimate ability, he will skyrocket up the stallion ranks and $15,000 will look like the deal of the decade.

Silver Medal: Connect
The crop of 2021 has all been overshadowed by Gun Runner's incredible achievements, but Connect has been quietly developing a very solid career for himself. He has shown consistency with three graded stakes winners again this year and a strong supporting cast of stakes horses. He has also shown the ability to get the all-important high-class horse with Rattle N Roll. He measures well in all statistical categories and looks to be a stallion that can establish himself long term in the mold of a Midshipman/First Samurai/Blame type.

Bronze Medal: Audible
The Spendthrift quartet has garnered most of the attention from this year's freshmen and rightly so but one horse is simmering just below these and that horse is Audible. His 14% stakes horses with his first 2-year-olds cannot be ignored and his own racing career suggests there is more improvement to be had as they mature. He's a beautiful horse that can throw the right kind as witnessed by his first crop of yearlings. $15,000 is very intriguing for a horse with some potential future upswing and worst-case scenario has shown plenty of ability for longer term success at this price point.

Peter O'Callaghan, Woods Edge Farm

Peter O'Callaghan | Fasig-Tipton

Gold Medal: Midshipman
This stallion has been very good to us both on the track and in the sales ring. We recently bred first-time-out 2-year-old winner Midshipman's Dance; pinhooked Grade II winner Special Reserve; bred Leucothea and co-bred Amidst Waves, both of whom are multiple stakes winning 2-year-olds. He is a very consistent and well-respected sire, standing for an affordable $15,000. You can sell one well at the sales and he produces winners every weekend at the track.

Silver Medal: Mitole
Obviously a brilliant racehorse and looks to be turning out some good 2-year-old winners this second half of the year. Must be a horse worth a punt at $15,000. We are breeding to him again this year.

Bronze Medal: Vekoma
A brilliant racehorse, a high class 2-year-old who trained on, winning some high-profile races in the GII Bluegrass S. going two turns at three. Then winning the GI Carter H. and GI Met Mile at four in impressive fashion. Furthermore, he is a very well-bred son of Candy Ride (Arg), out of the GISW Speightstown mare Mona De Momma from the family of Mr. Greeley.

He is a good-looking horse who seems to sire plenty of good-looking stock. We have bred to him each year and have bought foals by him in each crop, he has not let us down so far.

I think he is a horse with a legitimate shot to be a sire standing at an affordable fee of $15,000.

The post Value Sires For 2024, Part 4: Into The Teens appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

By the numbers, a total of 175 yearlings sold for $3,240,000. The figures represented a decrease from 2022 when 161 sold for a record $3,416,000 in gross receipts. This term, the average was $18,542, while the median was $11,000 and 77 horses reported not sold.

Foster Bridewell, Director of Horse Sales for the TTA, said of the auction, “Three of our top five offerings were Texas-breds, so that was good to see,” he said. “This was one of our largest catalogs in the history of this sale and we had buyers from several key quadrants–Kentucky, Ocala, California and across the Lone Star State.”

A Practical Topper For Al Pike

Offered as hip 122, the dark bay was purchased by Al Pike, acting as agent. The Apr. 30 foal is out of SW Jan's Perfect Star (Imperialism), dam of UAE Jebel Ali Sprint hero Road Bloc (Street Sense). The native Texan from Palestine, and his wife Salley, relocated this past summer to Highlander Training Center, outside of Dallas. A regular on the pinhooking scene, Pike frequents a bevy of juvenile sales, including OBS March, Fasig-Tipton Midlantic and the Texas 2-Year-Old In-Training Sale.

Practical Joke colt (hip 122) | Olivia Friesen/TTA Sale

Pike said he saw this yearling as an opportunity.

“This one is for me and partners,” said Pike. “I thought he was a stunning Practical Joke, beautiful horse, and I think he's going to grow to be really special. It's just the Practical Joke that sold it and he had some pedigree too. I just thought he was a beautiful colt. This will be one to pinhook for the spring and we'll probably look to go to OBS March.”

Bred by Michael and Linda Mazoch of Texas, the colt was consigned by Scott Mallory, agent.

“He came from Buena Madera and they always do an excellent job in preparing the horses for the sale,” Mallory said. “And it makes it a whole lot easier when you get to the sale because they are well presented. With the recent success of Practical Joke, we kind of thought he'd be fairly popular with the sale. He vetted good, handled himself well up there. And with Texas coming up with the $40,000 maiden special weights, we knew that would add an extra bid or two. I didn't quite think he'd bring $110,000, but I'm happy about it. We thought he'd sell well–I thought he'd sell for $70,000 or $80,000, but $110,000 is excellent.”

Vekoma Colt Takes Home Silver

Late in the session, hip 260, a chestnut colt by Vekoma, brought $90,000 from pinhooker David Scanlon. Out of Winning Saga (Tale of the Cat), the May 12 foal was raised and prepped at Elm Tree Farm in Kentucky and consigned by agent Scott Mallory, who also consigned the topper.

“This colt just showed well the whole time, he had a great disposition, he just looks like he is going to turn into a really beautiful 2-year-old and he was bred by Dr. Fred Willis from Louisiana,” said Mallory.

Competitive Edge Colt Reminds Asmussen of Ryvit

The third highest-priced yearling of the session was taken home by Steve Asmussen's KDE Equine for $85,000. Hip 24, consigned by Highlander Training, was bred by Valor Farm in Pilot Point, Texas.

Ryvit schooling at Saratoga with Erik Asmussen up | Sarah Andrew

The Feb. 16 foal is the first foal out of unraced Better Than Mo (Uncle Mo), who counts MSW More Than Most (Indygo Mountain), MSW Worldventurer (Wimbledon) and GIII Miss Preakness S. scorer Red Ghost (Ghostzapper) as half-siblings. His third dam MGISP Alysbelle (Alydar) is a full-sister to Horse of the Year Alysheba.

Asmussen indicated Monday's purchase was prompted by another Texas sale graduate, GIII Chick Lang S. victor Ryvit (Competitive Edge).

“A couple of years ago, I got Ryvit out of this sale,” explained the Hall of Famer. “I think that there are blue collar horses and they have to earn their keep. And it had everything to do that he reminded me of Ryvit. Just a very sturdy and athletic-looking horse and, hopefully, we can create a similar circumstance.”

On behalf of his client Whispering Oaks, Asmussen also purchased hip 110, a Louisiana-bred colt by Spun to Run out of SP Hilarious Brown (Big Brown) for $80,000, in addition to a dark bay filly by Competitive Edge out of Conquest Bebop (Scat Daddy) (hip 51), who also brought $80,000.

Complete sales results can be found here.

The post Practical Joke Colt Tops Texas Yearling Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

A total of 53 yearlings sold Sunday for $5,999,000. The average of $113,189 was up 5% from last year's opening-session figure of $107,813, while the median of $100,000 was up 29.9% from $77,000 a year ago. With 28 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 34.6%.

“It was a very good opening session to the 2023 New York-bred Yearling Sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “It seemed a tiny bit sticky at the beginning, with a little higher RNA rate that kind of smoothed out as the sale progressed. But it was a solid sale, a good sale. Last year was essentially a record-breaking sale and to be statistically improved in two key categories is a really good start.”

With just a third of the catalogue through the ring Sunday, Browning was loathe to make any big predictions on the state of the New York-bred yearling market.

“We have got a full day tomorrow, so we won't be making any bold proclamations or assertions,” Browning said. “We will have a better ability to access the overall market tomorrow. But it was certainly a good start and we are looking forward to another good day tomorrow.”

The New York-Bred Yearlings Sale continues Monday at noon with a further 264 catalogued head scheduled to go through the ring at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion.

Baccari, McPeek Strike for Violence Colt
Chris Baccari, who has been active buying on behalf of Toby Keith this year, got the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearlings Sale off to a quick start when acquiring a colt by Violence for $380,000 (hip 306) for the country singer Sunday in Saratoga. Baccari did his bidding out back alongside trainer Ken McPeek.

“To me, he looked extremely sound and he had a lot of good qualities about him that were unique for his pedigree,” Baccari said. “That's why I told Kenny and Toby that this one we would have to stretch on. To me, he's a very solid horse.”

The bay colt is out of Liam's Lookout (Liam's Map), a half-sister to graded winner Itsaknockout (Lemon Drop Kid). Bred by Fred Hertrich, the yearling sold for $175,000 to SKPJ Stables at this year's Keeneland January sale. He was consigned Monday by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa.

“Chris Baccari and I are good friends and we have been for a long time,” McPeek said. “I have a lot of respect for his work and he knows some of my work. We both liked the horse. We are putting a group together to race in New York. We will probably have Magdalena as some sort of share in him. He's a lovely horse. I thought he was a real standout. You have to pay for the good ones and he was a good one.”

Bidding for Keith's Dream Walkin Farms, Baccari purchased a filly by Fast Anna for $100,000 at the OBS June sale and Baccari and McPeek teamed up to buy a Blame colt for $310,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July sale.

“I've known Toby and had mares for him for a long time,” Baccari said. “In the springtime, he called me up and said let's try to get a racing stable. So, that's what I'm trying to do.”

Asked if there was a target number for the stable, Baccari said, “Every deal is it's own deal. When I walk up and see a horse, then I try for it”

Gun Runner Filly to Trade Winds Farm
Tom D'Ambra, standing alongside his daughter and farm manager Agatha Reid, went to $290,000 to acquire a filly by Gun Runner (hip 369) Sunday in Saratoga. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, the yearling is out of graded winner Pantsonfire (Ire) (Sir Percy {GB}). She was bred by Richard Nicolai.

“We really wanted her,” D'Ambra said. “She's a filly, she has residual value If she doesn't run, it's a great family. We hope she will have a good racing career, but even after that there is more in the tank.”

Trade Winds Farm is located in Rexford, New York and has campaigned stakes winner Bounding Charm and multiple stakes placed Scientist.

D'Ambra, who indicated the filly would likely be trained by Brendan Walsh, admitted he was willing to spend more to acquire the yearling.

“I thought she would go higher, so I thought this was good deal,” he said.

Asked if he was still shopping, D'Ambra said, “That's it for tonight, but we will be back tomorrow.”

Eclipse, Repole Back for Mo
Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Repole Stables, who teamed up to purchase a yearling by Practical Joke for $150,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton New York sale, returned to the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion two days after that colt broke his maiden first-time out at Saratoga to acquire his half-sister by Vekoma (hip 349) for $235,000.

“It's the exact same partnership as on the brother,” said Repole advisor Jacob West. “So we are combining forces and hope we do it again.”

Asked how much her half-brother Trust Fund's 2 1/4-length debut victory impacted their decision to buy the sister, West said, “We knew that she was in here and we knew what he was doing prior [to Friday's race]. The page was turned down on her before he ran. But the filly, on her own, was very, very nice. She was a beautiful filly. We hope he goes on and does well and we have some residual leftover.”

Hip 349, who was consigned by Straight Line Equine Sales, is out of Mo Savings (Uncle Mo), a half-sister to stakes winner and graded placed Clipthecouponannie (Freud). She was bred by Windylea Farm.

“She's been really nice ever since she was born,” Windylea's Kip O'Neill said of the yearling. “We thought she would bring $80,000 to $125,000 before the timely update that happened Friday. Certainly we were watching out for that horse. Once that happened, we thought we would get into the high $100,000s. She got over $200,000 and we are very happy with the hands that she's in. Jacob has bought quite a few from our farm over the years. It's becoming a good relationship.”

Windylea Farm claimed the unplaced Mo Savings for $40,000 at Belmont in 2019. Trust Fund was her first foal. She has a weanling filly by Tacitus.

“We still have the mare,” O'Neill confirmed. “We decided not to breed her back–it was a late foaling and we decided to give her the year off. We were going to have to give her a year off sooner or later and she's worked hard for us. So we figured we would give her a little bit of a break.”

Vekoma had a pair of yearlings sell Sunday night. In addition to the filly, the Spendthrift stallion also had a colt (hip 354) sell for $200,000 to Klaravich Stables.

The post $380K Violence Colt Leads the Way During Solid Start to Fasig-Tipton NY-Bred Yearlings Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

The post Practical Joke’s Trust Fund Scores at First Asking in Saratoga appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

“We had a very solid start to the 2023 yearling sales marketplace,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning. “I think we all recognized that we were coming off a euphoric 2022 yearling marketplace that saw pretty significant increases across the board from July all the way to October. I think we got a little bit of a reality adjustment here and I think we saw that coming in the 2-year-old marketplace this year. But it's still a very healthy marketplace.”

A total of 207 yearlings sold Tuesday for a gross of $20,507,000. The average of $99,068 declined 14% from last year's figure of $115,151–which was the second highest in sale's history; and the median fell 14.4% to $77,000–down from last year's record-tying figure of $90,000

“The average declined a little bit from last year and the median decreased from last year and the RNA rate was slightly up,” Browning said. “But the buyers were complaining they couldn't buy what they wanted to buy and they had to pay too much for the ones that they bought. The sellers were saying it was hard to get their horses sold and they wished they could have gotten more money. So that means it's a pretty fair and balanced marketplace.”

The buy-back rate, which was 23.8% last year, rose to 31.9% Tuesday.

“What has traditionally impacted our RNA rate over the last 10 years [at the July sale] is that sellers have another option,” Browning said. “We have a really strong marketplace in October, three months down the road, so they can be a little more bullish sometimes in setting their reserves in July. Which might create a little higher RNA rate, but all in all, I thought it was a fair market.”

While 32 yearlings sold for $200,000 or more at the 2022 July sale, only 21 hit that mark in 2023.

The Lieblongs made the highest purchase of the July sale, going to $475,000 to acquire a filly by Authentic from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment. Taylor Made sold the filly on behalf of her breeder, Spendthrift Farm, which stands the 2020 GI Kentucky Derby winner.

Among the other first-crop sires near the top of the results sheets, a filly by Three Chimneys' Volatile sold for $285,000 to Ken McPeek. Gainesway's McKinzie and Spun to Run, as well as Spendthrift's Thousand Words and Vekoma all had yearlings sell for $200,000 or more.

Authentic Filly Sets Off July Fireworks

A filly from the first crop of GI Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (hip 174) lit up the Fasig-Tipton sales ring Tuesday when selling for $475,000 to Alex and Jo Ann Lieblong. The bay filly is out of Scent of Summer (Rock Hard Ten), a half-sister to multiple Grade I winner Paradise Woods (Union Rags). She was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of her breeder, Spendthrift Farm.

“She just looked like a physical standout, she looked like a 2-year-old,” Lieblong said. “But evidently, everybody else thought so, too. She was from a good consignor and she carried herself well, but I also liked the family.”

ICYMI: Watch Hip 174 f. AUTHENTIC o/o Scent of Summer sell for $475,000 at The July Sale! Congratulations to all the connections. #FasigJuly pic.twitter.com/HdOLomci9B

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) July 11, 2023

Lieblong, who also paid $200,000 for a filly from the first crop of Spun to Run, admitted he liked buying yearlings by freshman sires.

“I like the first-crop sires,” he said. “I figure that's about the last shot you've got. You're not going to get a shot at Good Magic now, but you still have a shot with the first-crop sires.”

Spendthrift purchased Scent of Summer for $350,000 at the 2019 Keeneland January sale.

“That was a filly that we were very proud of,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said of the yearling. “We really debated on what sale to put her in, where she would make the most sense. And we thought, let's take her out to July and try to make a little bit of a splash. The thought was that she might be good enough for Saratoga, but let's bring her out here and see if we can't be a really big fish in a smaller pond. Since we've made that decision, she's done nothing but improve. It's always interesting on these yearlings, in these last six weeks, they can just come together beautifully for you or fall to pieces. But everything came together really nicely. She showed herself nicely out here and had plenty of interest. And Taylor Made did a great job presenting her out here.”

The mare's 2-year-old colt by Hard Spun sold to trainer Ron Ellis for $325,000 at this year's OBS March sale.

A son of Into Mischief, Authentic won the 2020 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic and stands at Spendthrift for $60,000. He was the leading first-crop sire of weanlings last season when his first foals averaged $242,692.

“If you are breeding to him, I think a lot of people are getting what you'd expect,” Toffey said. “They are a little bit lighter, racier and leggier version of Into Mischief. That's exactly how I would describe Authentic and I think that's what he seems to be throwing. They have good substance, plenty of leg, good scope. They are really well-balanced and very athletic.”

Good Magic Colt a Score for Three Counties

Aidan and Hannah Jennings continued to add to their pinhooking scores when partnering with Charles Hynes to sell a colt by Good Magic (hip 175) for $370,000 to Travis Boersma's Boardshorts Stables during Tuesday's Fasig-Tipton July sale. The partners had purchased the chestnut colt under the name Three Counties Bloodstock for $49,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.

“[Hynes] is from Roscommon and myself, I'm from Galway,” Aidan Jennings explained of the name, before looking at his wife and adding, “And Hannah is from…”

Hannah Jennings added with a laugh, “San Diego.”

Aidan Jennings said, “It's just a bit of sport.”

The couple said they went into the weanling sales last year specifically looking to buy a foal by Good Magic.

“We were eager to get one last year, but we got outbid on most of them,” Aidan Jennings said. “He fit the bill.”

The yearling, who was consigned Tuesday by Padraig Campion's Blandford Stud, is out of Scolding (Carpe Diem), who was a $475,000 OBS April purchase in 2019 and was a first-out winner for trainer Steve Asmussen in 2020.

“The dam was very sharp and she was very fast as a breezer as well,” Aidan Jennings said. “She won first time out for Asmussen and was a 'TDN Rising Star.' She looked like anything. Unfortunately, she didn't fulfill that potential, but she had it. This horse kind of looked sharp and we were hoping the stallion would kick on. We were very lucky. We get plenty wrong, so it's good when it works out.”

Hannah Jennings gave her partners credit for picking the colt out last fall.

“I was 39 weeks pregnant, so it was all the boys who bought the horse,” she said. “So all of the credit to them. Padraig got everyone together and figured July would be the right spot for him. He was precocious and the stallion had done well, obviously with Mage winning the Derby.”

Just weeks before they were married in 2021, the Jennings enjoyed a career day in the pinhooking arena. At that year's Keeneland September sale, they sold a Violence colt, who had been purchased for $65,000 for $165,000; a Nyquist colt purchased for $40,000 for $200,000; a colt by Accelerate purchased for $110,000 for $200,000; and a Kantharos colt purchased for $125,000 for $250,000.

Now the couple has even more good mojo in their corner with their newborn daughter.

“She's a good luck charm actually,” Aidan Jennings said. “The first race we took her to, we had a winner and we took her to the first breeze-up and that was great.”

Later in Tuesday's auction, trainer Wesley Ward secured another colt by Good Magic, going to $330,000 to acquire hip 276 from the Cara Bloodstock consignment. Bred by Saintsbury Farms, the yearling is out of Bola de Cristal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Blame Colt, Volatile Filly Lead McPeek July Haul

Trainer Ken McPeek, perennially a major presence at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, acquired six yearlings Tuesday in Lexington. As agent for Chris Baccari and DWF, McPeek went to $310,000 to purchase a colt by Blame (hip 289) from the Gainesway consignment. Bred by Green Lantern Stables, the bay is out of Barbara Gordon (Commissioner).

Watch Hip 289 c. BLAME o/o Barbara Gordon sell for $310,000 at The July Sale! #FasigJULY @KennyMcPeek @Gainesway @claibornefarm pic.twitter.com/xhWePBpe9m

— Fasig-Tipton (@FasigTiptonCo) July 11, 2023

McPeek also purchased the auction's second most expensive yearling by a first crop sire when going to $285,000 for a daughter of Three Chimneys' Volatile (hip 235). The gray filly was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency. Out of Whisper to Me (Thunder Gulch), she is a half-sister to graded winner Overheard (Macho Uno). She was bred by Craig Singer, who purchased Whisper to Me carrying the foal for $65,000 at the 2021 dispersal of Pin Oak Stud

“I thought she was a real standout as an individual here,” McPeek said of the filly. “I love the stamp that Volatile put on her. She has a half-sister who is a nice stakes horse. And she physically looks like a stakes horse to me, too.”

Of the market at the first yearling sale of the year, McPeek said, “It's been very selective. We only had a dozen horses that we even considered bidding on today. We ended up with six and we have a couple left to bid on. It's been solid. We would have liked to see more horses on my final list, but it's all good. The better ones you had to pay a little bit more for, but that's typical. Overall, we are really pleased.”

First-Crop Sires Kick of July Sale

The Fasig-Tipton July sale, and the yearling sales season, kicked off in Lexington with an offering of some 100 youngsters by first-crop sires. And, while fillies by Authentic and Volatile attracted higher bids outside of the freshman sire showcase, it was Gainesway's McKinzie who was represented by the section's top-priced yearling when GS Inversiones Hipicas paid $260,000 for hip 71, a colt consigned by Denali Stud.

“We've been excited about McKinzie ever since the November sale started,” said Gainesway's Brian Graves. “His book was huge in the first year, the demand for him was huge. The second year, the demand was almost equal to the first year. And then, something that is very uncommon, in his third year, he had 170 mares. And that was based on how good-looking the first crop of foals were in November. He was the second leading freshman sire by average at the sale, just second to Authentic whose stud fee is over twice what his is. It's a good indication that people really liked what they saw. I think it's going to be the same case at the yearling sales, if not better because there are going to be more of them on offer. And what we've seen going around looking at all of them is very encouraging.”

A four-time Grade I winner, McKinzie stands at Gainesway for a fee of $30,000. The stallion had 36 weanlings sell last year for an average of $134,307.

Gainesway's Spun to Run also had a strong showing during the July sale's freshman showcase. The GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile winner, who stands for $10,000, had three six-figure yearlings Tuesday. Leading the group was hip 66, a filly consigned by Summerfield and purchased for $200,000 by Alex and Jo Ann Lieblong.

“I haven't honestly seen all of them yet, but I like the way the first ones started,” Graves said of Spun to Run's first crop of yearlings. “He's got all of the credentials. He was a fast horse by a proven horse in Hard Spun. We are hopeful he speaks for himself.”

Trainer Neil Pessin, bidding on behalf of Bob Lothenbach, went to $125,000 to acquire a colt by Spun to Run (hip 26) from the Elite consignment. Pessin also took home another son of a first-crop sire when going to $200,000 to purchase a dark bay colt by Vekoma (hip 174) from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

“I look for athletic, well-balanced horses with a decent walk,” Pessin said, while admitting the first-crop sire angle was purely a coincidence. “The sires don't mean as much to me. I think it's 70% the dam, 30% the sire. I just look for a good athlete. This is the sale we bought [GISW] Bell's the One out of, so we come here and look quite a bit.”

Of the colt by Vekoma, Pessin said, “He is athletic and not real wide, but he's got a nice butt on him. And he has a good walk. That's what I look for when I come looking for yearlings. We can live with some conformational flaws if they walk through it. It was the same with the Spun to Run colt. He's a nice, good-looking athlete. That's what we go for.”

While some buyers may hope to find a bargain buying yearlings by first-crop sires, Pessin felt he paid plenty for the two colts.

“I feel we overpaid for both,” he said. “We went above what we were planning to spend on both of them. But if we didn't like them, we wouldn't be bidding on them. And so if we go a little over, it's ok. But we don't want to go a lot over.”

Pessin's $200,000 bid for hip 64 led a series of strong results for Spendthrift's Vekoma, who stands for $15,000, and appeared to catch the eye of a number of pinhookers. Ciaran Dunne's Waves Bloodstock partnership purchased hip 33, a colt by the stallion consigned by Taylor Made, for $175,000 and Luis Garcia and Gina Fennell went to $155,000 to acquire hip 98, a colt consigned by Shawhan Place.

“We love Vekoma, but mainly it was the colt's pedigree that we liked,” Garcia said of the yearling whose dam Happy Now (Mr. Greeley) is a half-sister to graded winner Ironicus, among others.

Of Vekoma, Garcia said, “He is by Candy Ride and that horse was great. He had a lot of speed and obviously we are trying to pinhook, so we love that. We loved Vekoma when he was running.”

Spendthrift Farm's Ned Toffey admitted Vekoma's early results in the sales ring were exceeding the operation's expectations.

“Vekoma, with that sire line, they aren't always the most spectacular physicals, so it was a little tricky to know what we were going to get,” Toffey said. “But as soon as those foals started to hit the ground last year, we have just been overwhelmed by the feedback from breeders. And that's carried right on through. I thought it was a very solid group that was out here and I keep hearing about more. So I expect him to have a very, very good sales season.”

The post Authentic Filly Sets the Bar at Fasig-Tipton July appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ramon (R. J.) Rangel says he never would have had the opportunity he experienced Thursday–when Valiant Force (Malibu Moon) whom he co-bred with Spendthrift Farm won the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot–without the kind of breeders incentives advanced by Spendthrift Farm's founder, B. Wayne Hughes–incentives, he says, designed to help the little guy.

Hughes liked to call Spendthrift `the breeders' farm,' and when Valiant Force charged home a winner Thursday, it was because of the breeding initiatives that Hughes liked to preach–with a little kindness thrown in from across town at Mill Ridge, and a lot of hard work by Rangel himself.

Valiant Force's story starts when Mill Ridge's longtime clients John and Jerry Amerman had a homebred filly, Vigui's Heart (Quality Road), for whom they were looking for a home. “She was not going to make it to the races,” said Mill Ridge's Price Bell. Rangel, now 57, had shown horses at sales for years for Mill Ridge, and had been a breeder on a small scale. They knew he took good care of his horses, so they thought of him for the mare. “R. J. is a friend and he and his family are really good horse people, and so we decided to facilitate this for the Amermans, to find this mare a nice home. We reached out to R. J. and he and his family said they'd love to have her.”

The filly was young at the time, and Rangel cared for her until she was three, and decided to breed her.

Rangel realized that his investment of the work caring for her would be rewarded. “I got her when she was young,” he said. “She was a weanling, turning into a yearling, and when she was three, I decided to breed her to something with speed. She's a big, leggy mare, and I wanted to put some speed into her, so I went to Malibu Moon. Obviously, I couldn't afford the stud fee at that time. I think he was $50,000. I asked for a foal share, and thanks to Spendthrift, because Ned Toffey gave me the opportunity to do the foal share. And I got this nice baby. For the first baby, he was a good size, a lovely weanling, very correct. Anybody would love to have this mare. She's a nice mare and I was lucky to get this foal. I gave it to Mill Ridge to sell because they were the ones who gave me the mare.”

Bell recalled, “He was a beautiful weanling that R. J. raised and prepped, and he sold for $75,000,” said Bell. “It was a huge sale for him, and he said, `you know, when I worked here, there was always that one person who would give everyone $100 or $200 to say thank you. So, would you please tip everybody that?' I remember selling the horse and seeing the pride in his eyes, having sold a horse for that kind of money. And he just immediately wanted to take care of all the people in the barn.”

The economy hasn't always been kind to Rangel, who had worked his way up to owning a 70-acre farm in the early 2000s, only to lose it all in the economic downturn of 2008-'09.

“To make a long story short, I ended up losing everything, and I was homeless,” he said, after the bank repossessed his property. “I had to go live with my brother, and I started working at the sales, traveling around.” Finally, he wanted to settle down and stay in one place and Toffey gave him a job at Spendthrift, where he now serves as the assistant yearling manager.

Rangel works until 4 p.m. every day, and then heads to the farm where he boards his horses, to give them the care they need. “I go there before work. I go there after work and I try to take care of them. I have been very lucky to work, and do well, and make the extra effort every day. It's been a great ride. I love the horses. I love the industry. I'm just a little guy who plays on the small side.”
Vigui's Heart failed to get in foal to Lord Nelson in 2021, so Rangel has no yearling to sell this year, but in November, he will be back at Keeneland with her weanling by Mitole. Naturally, he'll sell her with Mill Ridge. She is currently in foal to Vekoma.

A native of Guadalajara, Rangel came to the United States with his father, who was a groom in California for Jack Van Berg, and he got his own start as an exercise rider. But when he first came to a horse sale in Kentucky, he says, “I realized this was the place where I wanted to be, because this is where the best is.”

He watched the Norfolk on his phone, and had staked $2 to win and $2 to place on Valiant Force, “just to support him,” he explains. “I couldn't see him because the screen was so small,” he said.

“But with two furlongs to go, he was still on the lead. With one furlong to go…still on the lead. And finally, he started to pull away. And it really touched me.” He collected $300 on the bets.

At the end of the day, he said he's grateful for the help extended to him by others in the industry.

“The guys here at Spendthrift, they work with you, they give you little breaks here and there. I asked for the foal share and Ned was very nice and gave it to me. I'm very thankful for Mill Ridge, the people that gave me the mare. I'm thankful for Spendthrift. The reason I got back into breeding was that Wayne Hughes, he always tried to help the breeders and they've got all these deals going and I saw that opportunity to come back in at a small scale and be more careful. I've been blessed because everything has gone the right way. It's all about hard work, dedication and luck. But I'm very grateful for all the people who always try to help the little people.”

The post With Valiant Force, Spendthrift’s Rangel Is a Royal Ascot-Winning Breeder appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Through three sessions, 721 horses have sold for $41,732,600. The average of $57,882 is up 5.31% from a year ago, while the median is up 8.00% to $27,000.

At this same point at the 2022 sale, 770 horses had grossed $42,320,400 for an average of $54,962 and a median of $25,000.

Mares from Godolphin occupied five of the day's six top spots, with Walmac Farm making the day's highest bid when acquiring Carella (Tapit) from Sheikh Mohammed's operation for $260,000. In all, 27 mares from Godolphin sold for $1,798,700 and an average of $66,619.

A colt by Vekoma was the day's highest-priced short yearling, selling to G1 Investments from the supplemental section of the catalogue. The youngster was consigned by Archie St. George's St. George Sales.

“I think the market overall is solid,” St. George said. “It's been a good January sale. Any quality stock sells well. It's the old saying, if you tick all the boxes, you do good.”

Hunter Valley Farm sold two of the session's eight six-figure offerings, with Juddmonte's 4-year-old Gilded Ruler (Into Mischief) selling for $130,000 to Shepherd Equine Advisors and a short yearling filly by Tiz the Law selling for $100,000 to Headley Bell's pinhooking partnership, Sycamore.

“I don't think there is too much wrong with the market today,” said Hunter Valley's Adrian Regan. “For what's on offer, I think they are selling pretty good. Anything with any little bit of upside or a weanling with any bit of scope and quality, they are selling really well.”

The Keeneland January sale concludes with a final session Thursday. Bidding begins at 10 a.m.

Godolphin Mares in Demand

As the Keeneland January sale moved into its second half, it was a group of 27 offerings from Godolphin that took center stage, occupying five of the session's top six five spots and accounting for five of its eight six-figure prices. Leading the way was Carella (Tapit) (hip 1140), who was purchased over the internet by Walmac Farm for $260,000. The 10-year-old mare is a daughter of Cara Rafaela and is a half-sister to Bernardini. She sold in foal to Kantharos. Also selling via an internet bid was Orchestrate (Tiznow) (hip 984), who sold to J.S. Company for $200,000.

“It was a fantastic sale for us,” said Godolphin's Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan. “The response was exceptionally strong down at the barn yesterday. We ended up having as many people looking as we had in two days last year. So we were inundated with lookers. We thought the mares would sell well, but we were probably surprised how well they sold. There was a great appetite for our mares. There were a lot of nice, young mares in there that people want to have with great pedigrees. I understand why people want to get involved in mares that we are culling out of our program. People have done well with them before. They were all sold, they were all over their reserves and I think people will be very pleased with what they've got off us.”

Lynn Hancock acquired two Godolphin mares on behalf of her family's Stone Farm. She signed for the 4-year-old Omkara (Ghostzapper) (hip 980), in foal to Cairo Prince, for $160,000 and came back later to acquire the 4-year-old Brookwood Hills (More Than Ready) (hip 1127) for $52,000.

“Godolphin obviously has some really great families and they can't keep all of the fillies out of them,” Hancock said. “We thought they had some great physicals with some really good female families. It looked like a good opportunity to get in on some active families.”

Omkara is a daughter of stakes-winner Kareena (Medaglia d'Oro) and her half-sister Padma (Tapit) was second in the Cash Run S. at Gulfstream Park on New Year's Day. Her second dam is multiple graded-stakes winner India, a half-sister to the dam of To Honor and Serve and Angela Renee.

“It's a super active female family,” Hancock said of the mare. “There are so many daughters producing in that family. There are some good runners on the page and it's a great family. So we thought we would take a swing.”

Banahan admitted he had fielded some questions about why Godolphin would sell a half-sister to a recent stakes-placed runner.

“We own three more fillies out of the mare,” Banahan said. “You can't keep them all. We want to keep the quality as high as we can. So we are going to have ones that we have to offload.”

Of the popularity of the Godolphin mares at Keeneland Wednesday, Hancock said, “You can't hide a good horse from the market, no matter where they are placed or when they are selling. I think the people are keyed in and looking at those mares and some of them are selling very well.”

Godolphin has now dominated the third session of the Keeneland January sale for two years in a row. Last year, the operation sold three of the day's top four prices, including the $480,000 session topper.

“It's worked very well for us,” Banahan said of the day three placement in the January sale. “We had a group of them in November as well, but we feel we get them in here, everyone is at the sale, it's a four-day sale, everyone is going to be able to see them and we are not going to have to divide them up into two or three different books. We can group them together a lot nicer than we can in November. Maybe we are a bigger fish in a smaller pond in January. Our mares stand out here.”

The January consignment also gives students in Godolphin's Flying Start program the opportunity to participate in the auction.

“The Godolphin Flying Start group comes into town right around New Year's and they've helped us out in the last couple of years,” Banahan said. “They've enjoyed it. It's their only opportunity to work a sale. Not that we did it on purpose, but that was an offshoot of it. And they enjoyed it and we enjoyed having them helping us out as well.”

Vekoma Colt Leads Yearlings Wednesday

A colt by Vekoma was the top-priced short yearling of Wednesday's third session of the Keeneland January sale when selling for $180,000 over the internet to GI Investments. The chestnut colt is out of stakes winner and graded-placed Inconclusive (Include). Archie St. George purchased Inconclusive, with the colt in utero, for $75,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale and he co-bred the yearling with Lee Mauberret and Gary Joyner.

“He was a very nice colt, very straightforward,” St. George said. “We had him on the farm and he showed himself very well and he put on a good show in the back ring. We'd like to thank the buyers and everyone who was interested in him.”

The colt was originally slated to sell at the November sale.

“He was in November, but we scratched him just because I wanted to give him more time,” St. George said. “This was just the right spot for him.”

The colt became just the latest supplemented offering to the auction to be in demand this week.

“It's really nice to be able to supplement them,” St. George said. “Keeneland does a great job with promoting it. It's nice to have a horse in here. Any time you have more horses in front of buyers, it's a good opportunity.”

McKinzie Leads First-Crop Sires at Keeneland Book 1

Four-time Grade I winner McKinzie (Street Sense–Runway Model, by Petionville) was represented by four six-figure short yearlings this week in Lexington and was the leading first-crop sire during the two-session Book 1 section of the Keeneland January sale.

McKinzie won the 2018 GI Pennsylvania Derby and GI Malibu S., as well as the 2019 GI Whitney S. and the 2017 GI Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity. He was second in the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

On the board in 14 of 18 starts for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman and trainer Bob Baffert, McKinzie earned $3,473,360 on the racetrack and retired to Gainesway where he stood his initial season in 2021 for $30,000.

During Book 1 at Keeneland this week, the 8-year-old stallion had seven yearlings sell for $910,000 for an average of $130,000.

Peter O'Callaghan and Brian Graves purchased the sale's top-priced short yearling by McKinzie, going to $250,000 to acquire a colt (hip 835) from the Four Star Sales consignment.

“Obviously, it's redundant to say it was an awfully nice horse, but we thought it would hit the market well,” said Four Star Sales' Kerry Cauthen. “We were thinking in the $150,000 to $175,000 range, but when you bring up the really good ones, and two people obviously thought he was a really good one–you get rewarded.”

Cauthen continued, “I have seen quite a few McKinzies and quite like them as a whole. I think he's been fairly consisistent in producing a good-looking animal.”

Also during the January sale, South Carolina horseman Peter Pugh purchased a filly by the sire (hip 190) for $220,000 from the Hunter Valley Farm consignment.

While Pugh said he hadn't seen many of the McKinzie foals, he was impressed by the filly he plans to pinhook later in the year.

“She was very smooth,” Pugh said. “She was a very pretty filly who looked like she was going to frame out nicely. All the stuff you want.”

Mckinzie bred 214 mares in his first season and 180 in his second.

“I am really excited about what we are seeing in the market with McKinzie,” said Graves, who serves as Gainesway's general manager. “Before the sales started, I thought that McKinzie was really stamping his offspring and now he has left no question on that matter. They are all very leggy with streamlined shape and athleticism, which is my favorite type. They have sold at the highest level, to the best judges, and it's rewarding to see. I think he's going to be a huge presence at the yearling sales later this year.”

The post Godolphin Mares Star as Keeneland January Continues to Produce Strong Results appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post