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England’s Rose Wins Swingtime At Santa Anita

In her first stakes assignment, the John Shirreffs-conditioned England's Rose proved more than equal to the task as she displayed an impressive turn of foot to rally from off the pace and take Saturday's $70,000 Swingtime Stakes at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Ridden by Victor Espinoza, England's Rose got one mile on turf in 1:33.99.

Taken in-hand out of the gate, England's Rose who was shortening up off of a 1 3/8 mile turf allowance win, saved ground early and under patient handling and with just two horses to beat at the three-furlong marker, rallied impressively while five-deep off the turn for home to win going away.

“Victor did a good job, taking ahold of her and dropping back to save ground early,” said Shirreffs. “She's got a great finishing kick, so he waited as long as he could, but when those fillies came up inside her around the far turn, he had to go. Now we'll try to move up (in class). You always like to see them repeat a performance.”

First or second in her last four starts, England's Rose last started on Sept. 3 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif. Off as the 7-2 second choice in a field of eight fillies and mares three and up, she paid $9.40, $4.00, and $3.00.

“I was hoping we had enough pace,” said Espinoza, who has ridden England's Rose in all but one of her seven starts. “You never know before the race. My only thought was that hopefully they would go a little quick…I can't really change how she likes to run, so it's one of those things you just have to let the horse do all the work and let her run in the end.”

A 5-year-old mare by English Channel out of the Kris S. mare Gingham and Lace, England's Rose is owned by Mercedes Stables, LLC, West Point Thoroughbreds, Scott Dilworth, Dorothy and David Ingordo, and Steve Mooney.

With the winner's share of $46,320, England's Rose has earnings of $159,450 from an overall mark of 7-3-2-0.

The actual favorite at 7-2, Norma Jean B. was attentive to the pace and took command inside the eighth pole but was no match for the winner late. Ridden by Abel Cedillo, she paid $3.80 and $3.40.

Chilean-bred Brooke, off at 4-1, rallied from off the pace with Kyle Frey and paid $3.60 to show while finishing 1 ¼ lengths better than Avenue de France.

Fractions on the race were :23.02, :46.80, 1:10.70, and 1:22.52.

First post time for a 10-race card on Sunday is at 1 p.m.

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Six-Time Stakes Winner Galilean Retired; Stud Plans Pending

Late September marked the end of the racing career for Galilean, a Cal-bred champion and six-time stakes winner for West Point, Denise Barker and William Sandbrook.

Stud plans will be announced soon for the 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo.

The sale topper at the Barretts spring sale of 2-year-olds in training in 2018, Galilean won stakes as a 2- and 3-year-old for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and as a 4-year-old for trainer John Sadler.

In 2020, Galilean earned champion California-bred older male honors for a versatile campaign that saw him win the Soi Phet Stakes at a mile on dirt, the California Dreamin' Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth on turf, and the California Flag Handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs on the grass.

“Just a fun, honest horse to have in the barn,” West Point CEO Terry Finley said.

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Ballantyne Has Big Plans for NBS Stable

John Ballantyne, a transplanted New Zealander living in Fargo, North Dakota, has big plans for the NBS Stables he operates along with partners Art Neuhedel and Daryl Shaw. To that end, the co-founder of the biotech company Aldevron was busy bidding online during the recent Keeneland September Yearling Sale, virtually signing the ticket on five yearlings for a total of $1.14 million before the stable capped its month with a stakes win at Remington Park last Sunday.

Ballantyne traces his love of horse racing back to his childhood.

“Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother listening on the radio to races,” he recalled. “She had a little phone account–which was state of the art back then–with the TAB and she called up and put a dollar each way on certain horses. I grew up in an area where there were a lot of good Standardbreds. Probably one of the greatest of all time, Luxury Liner, was owned by some people who were in the town I grew up in. So I was around that and I spent a lot of time out on the beach fishing when I was a kid and the Standardbreds and the Thoroughbreds and even the Greyhounds would use the beach to train on in the morning.”

His love of the sport was solidified by a fortuitous bet on the 1986 G1 Melbourne Cup.

“When I was 14 or 15, one of my cricket coaches loved betting on horses and I asked him to put $5 on the horse that he liked in the Melbourne Cup that year,” he said. “And he did. It was At Talaq and he won. He didn't pay a lot, but after that I was hooked. When I went to University, I was right next to a huge racetrack and fell in with a few other guys who were interested as well and we spent a lot of time looking at out Turf Digest and Best Bets magazine and really it progressed from there.”

Ballantyne was completing his graduate work in pharmacy at North Dakota State University in 1998 when he and Michael Chambers founded Aldevron. And it was in the U.S. that he first became involved in racing ownership.

“The very first horses I was ever involved with was with some Standardbreds,” Ballantyne said. “There was a group called Stake Your Claim Stables and I got involved there and had a few nice ones.”

He also became involved in the West Point Thoroughbreds partnerships, but it was another partnership group which eventually became NBS Stable.

“Before I was involved with West Point, I was involved with Art Neuhedel, who is the 'N' of NBS Stables and he had Public Stables LLC,” Ballantyne said. “There were a bunch of us that went in on some horses in that. Over time, it just winnowed down to just myself, Art and another guy called Daryl Shaw, who is the 'S' of NBS. We picked up the slack and kept going.”

He continued, “I have done very well in business and science and I wanted to start getting more and more involved and go after a different class of horse. Between NBS and West Point, I think I am involved in something like 55 horses now.”

Ballantyne's dream for his racing partnership has expanded as his success in the business sector has increased.

“As I became more affluent, I wanted to really turn it from my own hubris of wanting to have nice horses and the thrill and enjoyment I get out of racing and the sales process and start turning it into a stand-alone viable entity over the course of the next few years, which is what my goal is.”

NBS Stable's interests, which also include a majority interest in the Iowa-based stallion Timeline, are expected to include more breeding and selling in the future.

“I want us to be an operation where perhaps we become a niche seller at the yearling and 2-year-old sales,” Ballantyne said. “I will always be dipping in and buying as well. I think if we were rocking along with maybe a dozen mares and eight to 10 yearlings every year, six or seven 2-year-olds and five or six older horses. I think that's probably where we'd go, but those numbers may go up. It all depends. But I am interested in all aspects of the industry. I am going to have more time in the relative near future to spend on this and be a bit more strategic perhaps. That's the goal.”

Heading into the sales, Ballantyne focuses on pedigree, while relying on his team on the grounds to relay back information on the individuals on his short list.

“There are Captain Obvious types in there, you see an Into Mischief or a Tapit, you know you are going to be bidding against people chasing the name,” he said. “Inasmuch as the syndicates–this is nothing against them, this is their MO, it's how they operate–but if you are spending $1.5 million on a horse and then franchising it out for 2 1/2 times the price within 48 hours, that $1.5 million is the best money you could spend. I understand the Quality Road and Uncle Mos–the ones that have absolutely proven themselves–are going to draw a lot of attention. So I end up getting into those type of horses with West Point to help mitigate some of the risks and because they are very astute. I've known Terry [Finley] and Jeff [Lifson] and all of those guys for a long time now. And they know me and they know what I like.”

Ballantyne is more cautious on sire power when purchasing for the NBS partnership.

“If you are buying to race for yourself, you have to look at what I think are the inflated PE ratios of yearlings and 2-year-olds relative to their potential future earnings,” he said. “I care more about winner circle photos than money, frankly, at this point in my life. But I am also a business guy and that is why I want to have a vision towards a sustainable thing.”

That focus on the bottom line has led Ballantyne to find value in younger stallions. His biggest purchase at the Keeneland September sale was a colt from the first crop of Army Mule (hip 2201) purchased for $390,000.

“I think Army Mule has every right to be a good sire,” Ballantyne said. “His progeny looked pretty good at Keeneland. So I kind of really wanted that one. The bit was in the teeth–no pun intended. I would have just kept going there.”

The colt is out of the unplaced August Snow (Tapit), who is a half-sister to multiple Grade I winners Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday) and Executiveprivilege (First Samurai).

“When I look at the dam side, I spend a lot of time looking at the dams of dams–a big percentage of the blood is coming from that side as well,” Ballantyne said. “I think that with the absolutely brilliant mares, the likelihood that they are going to be the equivalent of Into Mischief and throw horses that are better than they were is pretty low. So I am looking for mares that were durable in their career. And of course, if you have a mare who is throwing runners with two or three different sires, chances are that's on her. So I really look at that. I probably spend more time looking at that then anything.”

Ballantyne continued, “Obviously then we have a ton of bodies on the ground. There are a bunch of trainers that I trust, although trying to get three or four trainers to agree on whether water is wet or not is a different story.”

Another young stallion who has impressed Ballantyne is Mo Town. He purchased a colt (hip 157) by the Coolmore stallion for $300,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale in August. And he was an underbidder on the colt (hip 2242) by the stallion who sold for $450,000 to trainer Tom Amoss at Keeneland September.

“I actually hit the bid button right when they closed it out,” Ballantyne said of missing out on that session-topping yearling. “I have a feeling the other party would have kept going.”

Ballantyne has made good use of the newly offered option of bidding on the internet, although it has caused the odd misadventure.

“I do most of my bidding while I am on conference calls,” he explained. “When I got that Twirling Candy filly, I was in the middle of a conference call with a group and I had it muted, but when I hit the bid button, the damn sound came back on again and everyone was starting, looking around.”

“But I love it. I absolutely love it,” Ballantyne said of internet bidding. “Every now and then, of course because I'm technically supposed to be working, there is a bit of bandwidth issue. There is probably still maybe a 10th of a second lag. Which is why they got that Mo Town colt for $450,000 and not $500,000. And whether it's Keeneland, OBS, or Fasig, the interfaces are great. It would be nice if the volume button didn't come on when you bid. But I think it's very smooth.”

Bidding from his office in Fargo, Ballantyne imagines the end-users and pinhookers he is competing with.

“I have nothing against pinhookers, but they are kind of the bane of my existence right now,” he said with a laugh. “And I'm kind of the bane of their existence, I suppose.”

After 27 winters in North Dakota, Ballantyne is contemplating a semi-retirement in warmer climes and plenty of horse racing, while still making use of his background in science to support the sport he loves.

“My semi-retirement is going to include a lot of fishing and a lot of going to horse races,” he said. “I am planning on being down in Florida. My plan is to obviously to get to more races and I will have the time and the resources to do that a little more. I am not going to rely on it for a living, I will tell you that. But I am very interested in all elements of the game.”

As an example he said, “I have the wherewithal and the knowledge and the Rolodex that I will be able to get a fully functional equine herpes vaccine made. I am kind of starting a planning process of what that looks like now. And the technology is there now to come up with far better vaccines than those that exist. And I'm interested in the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and Old Friends and places like that. I would like to spend time working with them on some stuff.”

Of the day when he can spend much of his time bidding in person instead of online during conference calls, Ballantyne said, “Not too much longer. Hopefully. I am going to show up at a sale and I'm probably going to get attacked by a pinhooker. But I do when I have the time, I really do want to spend it at the sales and raise the pedal, as it were, and see some of the characters there.”

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Keeneland September’s Third Session Sees $1.7 Million City Of Light Colt New Sale Topper

Enthusiastic bidding for Thoroughbred racing prospects continued Wednesday during the third day of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in Lexington, Ky., when yearlings by young sires lit up the bid board with colts from the first crops of multiple Grade 1 winner City of Light and 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify fetching $1.7 million and $1.55 million, respectively. Young sires were represented by eight of the 10 highest prices of the session.

Woodford Racing, Talla Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds bought the $1.7 million City of Light colt, who is the highest-priced yearling so far in the sale. Talla Racing and West Point teamed to purchase the Justify colt for $1.55 million.

A total of 13 yearlings have sold for $1 million or more during the first three days of the September Sale.

Strong demand fueled healthy results on Wednesday, the first day of the Book 2 catalog. Keeneland recorded gross sales of $60,996,000 for 211 yearlings, for an average of $289,081 and a median of $230,000. Through the first three sessions of the September Sale, a total of 419 yearlings have sold through the ring for $151,618,000, for an average of $361,857 and a median of $290,000.

Wednesday's gross sales were up by 49.3% from the comparable session in 2020, with the average up by 30.9% and median increased by 27.8%. Buybacks declined from 34.4% on day three last year to 25.4% on Wednesday.

“That was amazing – one of the best sale days we have seen in a while,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “Every time you picked your head up, it was another $500,000, $600,000 yearling. There was a lot of optimism and a diverse group of buyers. We had a lot of end users and new money. It was really positive with a great vibe around the grounds. Today should lead to an exciting day tomorrow.

“We found a lot of consistency where the momentum of Book 1 flowed into Book 2 – a confluence of positive things happening all the way through,” Lacy continued. “A lot of people have not been able to buy a horse yet. There is a pent-up demand. They are not going to go home until they fill their orders.

“We call the September Sale the world's yearling sale and it really is. Everybody has been in play.”

“The highlight today was the depth of the market,” Keeneland Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach said. “Apart from the two million dollar-plus horses, we had 26 others that brought over half a million and they went to a broad base of buyers, particularly domestic demand in today's case. We've seen the new money that we saw in credit applications go to work today. People are excited about what they're buying and they're excited about sticking around. It's a tremendous day.”

Rosilyn Polan's Sunday Morning Farm of Woodford County, Kentucky, consigned the $1.7 million colt, who is out of the Tapit mare Anchorage.

“I have always loved this colt,” said Polan, who bred 2021 Sanford (G3) winner and Hopeful (G1) runner-up Wit and sold him for $575,000 at last year's September Sale. “I have always known he was special, and I knew that people would like him, but usually people like a horse for a certain price. Nobody can ever dream of a million dollars.

“I am so proud of my horse and my crew,” added Polan, who consigned three horses to this year's September Sale. “The mare is my favorite mare – of course anybody would say that now. (This colt) is just a fabulous horse.”

Asked how she would celebrate the achievement, Polan said, “Clean stalls, turn out yearlings, clip ears, feed, go to bed early, get up and ship (my horses) tomorrow (to Keeneland). That's the best part of it, is that it keeps you real.”

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Bill Farish of Woodford Racing said he likes City of Light “a lot. (The yearling colt) is a stunning individual, very strong, good bone colt. A rare type individual. It was a full price, but I knew we were going to have to stretch to get him.”

The colt is the first acquisition for the Woodford, Talla, West Point partnership. On Tuesday, Woodford and West Point purchased the $1.6 million session topper, a Quality Road colt who is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Girvin and classic-placed Midnight Bourbon.

Talla Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds acquired the $1.55 million Justify colt who is from the family of champion Wait a While. A half-sister to stakes winner Feeling Mischief, he is out of the stakes-winning Latent Heat mare True Feelings.

“We have a team together: (trainer) John Sadler, (agent) David Ingordo and West Point Thoroughbreds,” Mike Talla said. “We had had our eye on two or three of them and kept getting outbid. So finally, we had to make a stand somewhere. We really liked this one, so we went in for him. We'll know next year if we made a mistake or not. Let's talk next summer.”

The purchases were especially memorable to Terry Finley, West Point's Founder and President.

“After 30 years, I think about when I first came here, and I thought it was the best thing in the world when we bought a horse for $12,000,” Finley said. “And now, we get a shot to buy horses like this with great partners and great people. It's just incredible. We've worked hard to evolve, and we're just part of a team. We like to think we're good partners, and we bring on good partners. We all do our own thing, and it's a special thing. These horses are very hard to buy, and I just couldn't do it without an immense amount of support and people who are in a position to take chunks.

“You just start dreaming with these kind of horses, and just hope you get lucky.”

Stonehaven Steadings consigned the $1.55 million Justify colt and 10 hips later sold a $750,000 filly from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Mendelssohn out of Grade 2 winner Wasted Tears, by Najran, as agent for Bart Evans and Stonehaven Steadings.

B.B.E. purchased the $750,000 filly, whose 2-year-old half-brother, Corniche, won his Sept. 4 debut at Del Mar by 4¼ lengths. Her 4-year-old half-sister, Look Me Over, scored a 3½-length win in an allowance race at Ellis Park on July 25.

“Probably the most exciting thing I have experienced in this business,” Stonehaven Steadings Director of Bloodstock and Client Development Aidan O'Meara said about the sales. “We were high on them all along. There was a huge update for the filly. The (Justify) colt has been one of our top two colts all along, but he really blossomed in the last two months. He was a class act all the way through. He improved every day and you could feel the momentum building with the serious players getting involved.”

“(Right now) I am flabbergasted and shocked and overwhelmed about the whole thing. We certainly weren't expecting those kinds of results. We had aggressive reserves but they blew past them by 200 percent. You dream of a day like this with two quality horses back to back.”

A colt by Gun Runner from the family of champion Untapable sold for $975,000 to West Bloodstock, agent for Repole Stable and St. Elias. Consigned by Gainesway, agent, the colt is out of Untapable's full sister Time to Tap, by Tapit. The family also includes Grade 1 winner and sire Paddy O'Prado, Grade 2 winner Fun House and Grade 3 winner Majestic Eagle.

“He's by Gun Runner – probably can't name a hotter stallion or a stallion that's gotten off to a hotter start than him,” Jacob West said. “And (this colt) looks a lot like his dad. The whole team loved him.

“He was kind of the 'talking horse.' We had a pretty good idea that he was going to cost a lot of money, but that was right about what we thought he would bring. We knew we were going to have to fight off some pretty serious competition, and I'm just glad we got him.”

West said the colt would go to trainer Todd Pletcher.

Gainesway was the session's leading consignor, selling 21 horses for $7.9 million. They included three of the day's 10 highest-priced yearlings.

Gainesway, agent, sold a $900,000 filly from the first crop of Mendelssohn whose dam, the Discreet Cat mare Acrobatique is a half-sister to champion Covfefe and Japanese Group 2 winner Albiano. She sold to Solis/Litt, agent.

Another notable sale for Gainesway occurred when Maverick Racing paid $800,000 for a colt by Quality Road who is the first foal of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Cherry Lodge, by Bernardini. The colt's family includes Canadian champion Curlin's Voyage, Grade 1 winner Stormello, Grade 2 winner My Best Brother and Grade 3 winner Gala Award.

Courtlandt Farm purchased a colt by Gun Runner out of Grade 2 winner Broadway's Alibi, by Vindication for $875,000. He was consigned by Lane's End, agent.

Agent Donato Lanni signed the tickets for two high-priced horses offered consecutively in the ring.

For SF Bloodstock/Starlight/Madaket, he paid $850,000 for a colt by Curlin whose 2-year-old half-brother, My Prankster, won his career debut by 10 lengths at Saratoga on Aug. 21. Consigned by Summerfield, agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised, the colt is out of Grade 2 winner My Wandy's Girl, by Flower Alley.

“Very well-bred horse,” Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock said. “By Curlin, a stallion we really admire, out of a mare that looks like she has a chance to be a very good mare at this point. My Prankster looks like a good colt.

“We definitely noticed the 2-year-old winning as well as he did. We admired him at last year's yearling sale. This colt looks like a very nice two-turn colt.”

For Charles and Susan Chu's Baoma Corp., Lanni paid $825,000 for the yearling that preceded the Curlin colt, a filly by Quality Road who is the first foal of stakes winner My Miss Chiff, by Into Mischief. She was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Town & Country Horse Farms.

“Beautiful,” Lanni said. “She was just a real quiet filly, really well-made, like a good runner.”

Lanni, agent for SF Bloodstock/Starlight/Madaket also paid $775,000 for a colt from the first crop of champion Good Magic consigned by Woods Edge Farm, agent; $675,000 for a son of Uncle Mo consigned by Gainesway, agent, and $440,000 for a Twirling Candy colt consigned by Clearsky Farms, agent.

By spending $2.74 million for the four yearlings, Lanni, agent for SF Bloodstock/Starlight/Madaket, was the session's leading buyer.

The fourth session of the September Sale, which marks the conclusion of the two-day Book 2, begins tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET. TVG2 will have live coverage of the session from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The entire sale is streamed live at Keeneland.com.

The September Sale runs through Sept. 24.

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