Treasure Hunting Presented By Keeneland: Owlette Rewarded McElroy’s Faith After Book 5 Purchase

Value can be found at every level of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and in the “Treasure Hunting” series, we'll be examining successful graduates of the bellwether auction who sold below the median price of their particular session.

We'll start at Book 1 and go all the way to Book 6, talking to buyers who found horses that slipped under the commercial radar in their given segment of the marketplace.

A little faith can go a long way in the later books of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and the success of Owlette on so many different levels shows how that faith can be rewarded.

The Ontario-bred daughter of Frac Daddy sold as Hip 3560 to bloodstock agent Ben McElroy for $7,500 during Book 5 of the 2018 Keeneland September Sale, which was well south of the session's median sale price of $11,000. She was a half-sister to a trio of Canadian stakes-placed runners, out of the stakes-winning American Chance mare Itstartswithadream.

A less-than-stellar vet report has scared buyers off countless horses on the sales grounds, but there was something about the filly that McElroy couldn't shake.

“She was a beautiful physical,” the agent said. “Michael Byrne was selling her, and she was Ontario-sired and Ontario-bred, so obviously, she was eligible to run for a lot of money up at Woodbine. She would have made considerably more money, only nobody would pass her on the scope. I got three different vets to scope her, and nobody would pass her.”

If Owlette had produced a clean scope, McElroy estimated she could bring as much as $125,000 in the ring. The added uncertainty meant her price would likely go down significantly, but it wasn't enough to keep the agent from watching the filly go through the ring, in case the bottom fell out on her price.

McElroy admitted there was a bit of sentimental value in his interest in Owlette, as well. Back in his days as a stallion groom at Vinery in Kentucky, one of the horses he was assigned to was Owlette's broodmare sire American Chance.

McElroy made some calls to find a buyer for the filly, but the scope was too much of a red flag for anyone to commit. When Owlette stepped into the ring, the agent decided to try buying the filly himself and working out the ownership later.

The bidding started at the upset price of $1,000, and the hammer fell at $7,500. Afterward, McElroy found partners including trainer Wesley Ward and David Mowat of Ten Broeck Farm to split the cost, making an already low investment point even less of a risk.

Before her debut race at Keeneland in April of her 2-year-old season, Ward had Owlette scoped again, and her airways were flawless.

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Owlette broke her maiden in her second start as a juvenile at Woodbine, which preceded a run of stakes victories that included the Shady Well Stakes, the Victorian Queen Stakes at two, and the Star Shoot Stakes at three. She also finished third in the Grade 3 Selene Stakes.

Owlette retired at the end of her 3-year-old season with four wins in nine starts for earnings of $256,262 – multiples on her hammer price.

She continued to reward her connections as she transitioned to her career as a broodmare, selling to Woods Edge Farm for $150,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Her first foal, a colt by Street Sense, will be offered at this year's Keeneland September sale as Hip 651.

The ideal vision of a profitable horse usually involves a flashy seven-figure windfall at some point in the process, but the lights are kept on in barns at tracks and farms with horses that make money at far more attainable levels.

McElroy was well aware of the bargain he found with the star filly, which can require an eye just as keen – and luck just as good – as the one sizing up a seven-figure superstar.

“I need to find a few more Owlettes,” he said.