by Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato, and Christie DeBernardis
LEXINGTON, KY – The action was fast and furious during the Fasig-Tipton November Sale Sunday at Newtown Paddocks, with 22 horses seven-figure sales propelling the auction to a record-setting gross $89,473,000.
“It was a remarkable night,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “To be able to assemble a catalogue with as many quality horses as we had this year, it sure makes for an exciting and interesting evening. It was pretty remarkable to have grossed $89 million tonight. If someone would've told me a year ago that, looking forward to 2018, you didn't have a $9.5-million Songbird or an $8-million Tepin [like last year]–when we started the recruiting process, I was scratching my head and saying, 'You've got to replace $17 million of sales.' To still have the growth we demonstrated is remarkable.”
In all, 140 horses sold Sunday for $89,473,000–besting last year's previous record figure of $74,200,000 for 115 head sold. The average was $639,093–down just slightly from last year's figure of $645,217 and fourth best in sale history. The median jumped 31% to $327,500, second best in the auction's history. The buy-back rate was 27.5%. It was 18.4% a year ago.
Multiple Group 1 winner Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) caused the evening's biggest fireworks when Barbara Banke of Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings bid $7.5 million to acquire sole ownership of the 4-year-old filly from partner Peter Leidel. Mandy Pope, who purchased 2017 sale-topper Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) for $9.5 million, bought the highest-priced weanling of the auction when she went to $1.9 million to acquire the first foal out of multiple Grade I winner Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) by Pioneerof the Nile. Pope also purchased the dam for $4.4 million.
“I thought we had a better overall group of weanlings this year,” Browning said. “Last year, we were fortunate to have two million-dollar weanlings, which was unusual. But I think what it did was it encouraged a lot of folks to present us with better-quality weanlings in 2018 than we had in the past. It's the same old story: the weanling market is really good if you're a very, very good physical, have the proper pedigree and you vet well. If you miss on any of those criteria, there's a pretty significant adjustment to the downward side of the price.”
Sunday's 22 million-dollar purchases were made by 16 unique buyers.
“There are no secrets to the game–buyers are certainly willing to pay for quality, but they still pay for quality with some level of restraint,” Browning said. “You saw a number of major bidders tonight shake off. They don't bid recklessly, with abandon. They bid aggressively. I guess the most encouraging thing from a market standpoint is there was tremendous diversity among the buying group.”
Banke Bringing Home Lady Aurelia
Brilliant globetrotting speedster Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy), the most anticipated offering of Sunday evening's Fasig-Tipton November sale, will be heading back to Stonestreet Farm after her breeder and co-owner Barbara Banke paid $7.5 million to buy out partner Peter Leidel. The 'TDN Rising Star' was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency as hip 200.
Stonestreet purchased Lady Aurelia's graded stakes-winning dam D' Wildcat Speed (Forest Wildcat) for $1 million at the 2005 Keeneland November Sale. It sold Lady Aurelia for $350,000 at KEESEP '15 to George Bolton and Peter Leidel.
Banke stayed in after that sale, and Lady Aurelia was sent to Wesley Ward. A debut winner in April of her juvenile season while setting a Keeneland track record, the bay ran away with Royal Ascot's G2 Queen Mary S. by seven lengths, and added the G1 Darley Prix Morny in France to be named Cartier Champion Two-year-old Filly. She returned to Royal Ascot the following season for a facile score in the G1 King's Stand S.
“Now we're looking forward to next plans, and hopefully a champion or two,” said Banke, who had already bought out Bolton part way through Lady Aurelia's racing career. “That's our plan and we're sticking to it.”
Banke continued, “Her mother was a very hard-knocking mare, had a lot of durability, broke track records, so was very fast. [Lady Aurelia] herself was awesome, and has a lot of innate muscle tone and speed. What we really like is the speed, and we hope she passes that on. We're trying to figure out if we'll go American or European first [for a stallion]. Stay tuned.”
Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning bid on Stonestreet's behalf for Lady Aurelia.
“It's hard to come up with something that good,” said Banke after being asked what it would've taken to part with Lady Aurelia. “In the horse business, we're all about hope; we're all about the future; we're all about breeding future champions. So, if we can do that again, it'd be really awesome.”
For all the champions and Grade I winners Banke and her late husband Jess Jackson have campaigned, Banke said the most fun she has had in racing way winning at Royal Ascot.
“I've had wonderful partners in the horse. It's been very fun, and we hope to do it again with something else, but the time has come for her to go on to her next career.”
Stonestreet had a particularly strong yearling sales season with horses it offered at auction–it bred three of the top six lots at Keeneland September.
For more on Leidel, see Peter Leidel On Parting With Lady Aurelia. —@BDiDonatoTDN
No Stopping Pope
Mandy Pope went to a sale-record $1.9 million to purchase a weanling filly by Pioneerof the Nile, but she didn't stop there. The breeder, bidding in the back walking ring alongside manager Scott Kintz and advisor Todd Quast, jumped back in the fray to secure the weanling's multiple Grade I winning dam Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) (hip 234), in foal to Tapit, for $4.4 million.
“The weanling and the mare together helped sell each other,” Pope said. “Obviously, the pedigree of the mare and her race record were an important part of both of them. Separately, the Pioneerof the Nile was a lovely filly, a first foal and maybe a little on the smaller side, but I think she'll grow and be a really nice yearling. We'll just wait and decide as she comes along if we'll try to sell her or keep and race her. So we have time for that.”
The 7-year-old Stopchargingmaria won the 2014 GI Coaching Club American Oaks and GI Alabama S. for Mike Repole and was acquired privately by Town and Country Racing after RNA'ing for $3.15 million at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November sale. The dark bay returned in 2015 and won the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff in the Town and Country colors. Put back through the ring at the 2016 Fasig November sale, the mare sold for $2.8 million to Three Chimneys Farm and she was selling just after her first foal Sunday.
“The mare is a gorgeous mare and she was an awesome racehorse,” Pope said. “The only thing she didn't have was a championship. She ran for several years and we like sound horses who do go on and race for a couple of years. She's in foal to Tapit and we all know how I feel about Tapit. She seemed like a lovely mare and should be a big addition to our broodmare family.”
Both Stopchargingmaria and her weanling were consigned to the November sale by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of Three Chimneys.
“How can you not be pleased with that?,” Three Chimneys' Chris Baker said after watching dam and daughter sell. “The weanling was exceptional. When you sell horses like those, for us, it's bittersweet, because we loved her. We saw all the things the market saw in her. But to get that kind of result, it's hard not to be over the moon about it.”
Baker said the weanling (hip 233) was a smaller version of her illustrious dam.
“It was like a Mini-Me,” he said of the weanling's similarities to Stopchargingmaria. “She had the mare's temperament and balance and proportion. She moved like her. She was exceptional, like the mare is, with that same athleticism and the temperament to go with it.”
Baker admitted it was a tough decision to part with Stopchargingmaria.
“At the end of the day, there are economic decisions,” he explained. “We have to consider having that much money tied up in one mare and what she could do for us, running it as a business and being commercial–is that money better spread over more mares or in a stallion prospect, or whatever the case might be, or to have it all concentrated in one mare that can only produce so many foals. It's a decision that we go through with a lot of our most valuable mares. But it's not an easy one. We love her, too. All of the things the market sees in her and likes, we see as well, but at the end of the day there is some financial and economic drive that makes us consider those kind of sales.” @JessMartiniTDN
Godolphin Gets Pretty City Dancer
The buying team representing Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin provided the first major fireworks during Fasig-Tipton's frenetic November Mixed Sale when they fended off all challengers to take home Grade I winner Pretty City Dancer (Tapit) for $3.5 million. In foal to Medaglia d'Oro, the 4-year-old was consigned to the sale by Taylor Made Sales Agency as hip 122 on behalf of John Oxley. Read more: Grade I Oxley Fillies to Sell at Fasig-Tipton on Sunday.
“She's a good racemare, good race record–we're very pleased to have been able to get her,” agent Anthony Stroud said after signing the ticket and while joined by the likes of Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup turf-winning conditioner John Gosden.
As for the price, Stroud said, “You're always going to have to pay for something you really like, and she had the credentials that we like.”
An $825,000 Keeneland September yearling, Pretty City Dancer was turned over to trainer Mark Casse, and annexed Churchill's Debutante S. as a July juvenile before dead heating with Sweet Loretta (Tapit) in Saratoga's GI Spinaway S. that September.
“I thought it was a really good price, but when you have a Grade I-winning Tapit in foal to that kind of horse, they can bring anything,” said Taylor Made President & CEO Duncan Taylor. “It started the night off good, so we're hoping there's more to come.”
Taylor said interest had been very high for Pretty City Dancer, as would be expected for a mare with her credentials.
“Just looking at the comparables and everything, we thought she'd definitely bring at least $2.5 million, but what she'd bring over that [we weren't sure].” he said. “But she had everyone looking at her–all the big players.”
Pretty City Dancer is a half-sister to Grade I winner Lear's Princess (Lear Fan), who was purchased for $2.7 million by Shadwell here in 2008. Her yearling half-sister by Karakontie (Jpn) brought $120,000 this September. Unraced dam Pretty City (Carson City), a half-sister to Grade I-winning millionaire My Big Boy (Our Hero), most recently RNA'd for $130,000 at this year's Keeneland January sale carrying an Empire Maker colt.
Coolmore Strikes for Scat Daddy's 'Darling'
When the dust settled after a furious round of bidding for Grade I winner Daddys Lil Darling (hip 180), it was no surprise to see Coolmore's M.V. Magnier was left holding the $3.5 million ticket on the daughter of the operation's late Scat Daddy.
“She's a fantastic racehorse and she is by the right stallion,” Magnier said. “I'd say we are going to bring her home and take her to Galileo (Ire).”
He added, “It is quite an incredible sale, but a lot of these race fillies are making a lot of money. She is a lovely filly.”
Bred and campaigned by the late Nancy Polk's Normandy Farm, Daddy's Lil Darling performed at the highest level on both dirt and turf, winning five of her 10 starts for earnings of $1,335,305. Winner of the 2016 GII Pocahontas S. and second in that term's GI Darley Alcibiades S., the Ken McPeek trainee checked in second in the 2017 GI Central Bank Ashland S. and completed the exacta behind that year's champion sophomore filly Abel Tasman (Quality Road) in the GI Kentucky Oaks.
Switched to the grass, she captured the Dueling Ground Oaks and was second in the GI QEII Challenge Cup before finally securing her well deserved top-level victory in the GI American Oaks. The bay won this year's GIII Modesty H. and was last seen finishing fourth in the GI Beverly D. S. at Arlington Aug. 11.
“It's a great market and she is a super filly,” said Gainesway's Michael Hernon, who consigned the filly. “I think Nancy Polk would be delighted with this result. We are very appreciative to the Coolmore group. She is a super prospect, beautiful, elegant, a Grade I winner. She is a half to a Breeders' Cup winner. She stood out.”
He continued, “Scat Daddy is tops, but she was special in her own right. She had charisma, was correct, great balance, a great mover. I could see her throwing a top horse for sure. This is the premium product, the top of the market.”
Daddys Lil Darling is out of SW & GSP Miss Hot Salsa (Houston), who Polk purchased for just $100,000 in foal to Mr. Greeley at the 2003 Keeneland November Sale. Miss Hot Salsa is also responsible for GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner and millionaire Mongolian Saturday (Any Given Saturday); MSW Victoryasecret (Victory Gallop); and SP Four Song Limit (In Excess {Ire}).
Polk passed away in August at the age of 75 and her daughters inherited Normandy Farm and all of her breeding and racing stock.
“Gainesway is appreciative of the Polk daughters, who gave us this responsibility to sell.” Hernon said. “We will continue to sell their stock as we go forward. We will offer the weanling crop next year as yearlings. It is a great farm. It produced this filly and is highly productive land. I am sure the legacy will go forward.”
He continued, “It will be a gradual reduction of stock. I wouldn't use the word dispersal. We are going to control and manage their bloodstock and try to achieve the highest returns as we go forward.” —@CDeBernardisTDN
Don Alberto Shoots for the Stars
The Solari family's Don Alberto Corp. stuck around late in Sunday's marathon session with an eye on Grade I winner Constellation (Bellamy Road) and were determined to take her home, fending off all comers to acquire the mare for $3.15 million. The 5-year-old is carrying her first foal by Curlin.
“I liked the pedigree,” said Don Alberto principal Liliana Solari Falabella. “I liked her campaign, it was a very good campaign. As I said before, we want good mares that have good campaigns and good pedigrees. That is the way to build something good.”
She continued, “I thought this mare was going to be a lower price at this time of the night. Not many people stayed, but she is a good mare and the price shows that.”
Bred by WinStar, Constellation is out of SW For Royalty (Not For Love), who was purchased by Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Farm, who was the underbidder on hip 239, for $2.1 million carrying a foal by Bernardini at last year's Keeneland November sale. A half-sister to Grade II winner Kiss to Remember (Big Brown), For Royalty is also responsible for a trio of stakes-placed runners in Upper Room (Harlan's Holiday), Queen Mum (Paynter) and Back Flip (Super Saver). Her yearling filly by Tapit was purchased by bloodstock agents Alex Solis and Jason Litt for $750,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale on behalf of the Roth family's LNJ Foxwoods, who campaigned Constellation.
A $155,000 KEESEP yearling buy, Constellation summoned $800,000 from the Roths at the OBS March Sale. Third in the GI Spinaway S. that year, the 'TDN Rising Star' closed out her juvenile season with a win in the Furlough S. and kicked off 2016 on a similar note with a win in the Ruthless S. for trainer Steve Asmussen. Sidelined for eight months following that effort, she resurfaced under the care of Jerry Hollendorfer and won a listed stakes at Turf Paradise before scoring a career high in the GI La Brea S. Finishing second in a quartet of graded events in 2017, including the GI Madison S., the spotted chestnut retired at the end of 2017 with a record of 14-5-5-1 and earnings of $619,809.
“It was a very tough decision, but at the end of the day, we do run this as a business,” Solis said. “We were lucky enough to buy the yearling at Saratoga, so we brought the decision to the Roths. They said, 'If you want to sell her and think it is the right thing to do, go ahead.' We weren't going to sell her unless she brought enough and she brought more than enough. It was awesome. The filly is talented and a Grade I winner. To be that consistent at two, three and four is hard to do. The mare has been golden so far. If we didn't have the yearling half-sister, she would have never been sold.” —@CDeBernardisTDN
Pope All in on America
Mandy Pope admitted she was bidding with determination when she acquired Grade I winner American Gal (Concord Point) (hip 157) for $3 million Sunday evening at Fasig-Tipton.
“Mares are hard to buy tonight,” Pope said after signing the ticket, not only on American Gal, but also on the 4-year-old broodmare prospect's unraced 2-year-old full-sister America's Starlet. “So, yes. I was determined to get her.”
Bred and raced by Kaleem Shah, American Gal won last year's GI Test S. and returned this season to win the GI Humana Distaff. As a 2-year-old, she was on the board in both the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and GI Starlet S.
“I thought she was very elegant and very racy,” Pope said of the filly's appeal. “And she was a sound racehorse, she won just shy of $1 million.”
Pope struck for the very next horse through ring, going to $550,000 to acquire the unraced broodmare prospect America's Starlet (hip 158). The two fillies, both consigned Sunday by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, are also full-sisters to multiple graded stakes placed Americanize. Their graded-stakes placed dam American Story (Ghostzapper) is a half-sister to Grade I winner Seventh Street (Street Cry {Ire}) and Reynaldothewizard (Speightstown).
“After we paid so much for the first sister, we had to support her with the second sister,” Pope said of the double purchase. “So it's all in the family.”
As for mating plans for the sisters, Pope said, “We'll work on that.” @JessMartiniTDN
Shah Parts With 'Gal', 'Starlet'
Owner/breeder Kaleem Shah, joined by his trainer Simon Callaghan, stood motionless as a pair of his homebreds–and full-sisters–sold for big money.
First up was 4-year-old American Gal (Concord Point) (hip 157), winner of last year's GI Longines Test S. and this season's GI Humana Distaff S. Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm went to $3 million for American Gal, then took home her unraced 2-year-old fill-sister America's Starlet (hip 158) for $550,000.
Both horses were consigned by Hill 'n' Dales Sales Agency.
“It was bittersweet, first and foremost,” said Shah after receiving congratulations from the likes of owners Susan and Charles Chu of Drefong fame. “I was torn between selling [American Gal] and not selling her, but I'm in the racing business and sometimes you have to sell the good ones to make up for the not-so-good ones. It's bittersweet.”
Shah purchased American Gal and America's Starlet's dam American Story (Ghostzapper) for $400,000 at the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Florida Sale. She was second in the 2011 GII Milady H. American Story's first foal was SW/MGSP Americanize (Concord Point). Shah sold American Story in foal to Tapit to Don Alberto Corp. for $2.2 million at this sale last year, and her yearling filly American Model (Bayern) for $600,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga. Hartley/DeRenzo, who sold American Story to Shah as a 2-year-old, purchased American Model.
“Every time you breed one, it's extra special to win these Grade I races,” Shah said. “It was bittersweet towards the end–I almost didn't want to sell [American Gal]–but sometimes you have to sell them.” —@BDiDonatoTDN
Salty Result for Don Alberto
“We didn't expect she would go so high,” Liliana Solari Falabella admitted after her Don Alberto Corporation stretched to $3 million to acquire Salty (Quality Road) early in Sunday evening's Fasig-Tipton November sale. “We liked her, so we wanted to have her. When you like something, sometimes you go further than what you expected. She is a very good mare and we have to have good mares. We are buying mares with good pedigrees, like we have in our country [Chile]–everything good.”
Salty was bred by Chris Baccari's Seclusive Farm and Prince Farm. Baccari purchased her dam Theycallmeladyluck (Dixie Union) for $60,000 as a 4-year-old at the 2009 Keeneland November sale.
On the racetrack, Salty won this year's GI La Troienne S. and the 2017 GII Gulfstream Park Oaks. She was second in last year's GI Acorn S. and third in both the GI Alabama S. and GI Coaching Club American Oaks. On the board in eight of 11 career starts, she won four times and earned $688,500 while concluding her career for the ownership group of Gary Barber, Baccari Racing Stable and Chester Prince.
“It was very rewarding.” Baccari said of the sale result. “We raised the filly and we raced her. It's been a very good trip. She was bought in a partnership after we raced her. We sold the majority of her to Gary Barber, so it was time to dissolve the partnership. If I owned her myself, I wouldn't have sold her. I would have kept her.”
Asked if a stallion had been picked out for the 4-year-old filly, Solari said, “Not yet. We have to study that to find what would be best for her.”
Solari did have some news on potential mating plans for another Don Alberto mare, multiple Grade I-winning champion Unique Bella (Tapit).
“We are thinking about Medaglia d'Oro,” she said. “Maybe.”
Caledonia Road on Her Way to Japan
Last year's champion 2-year-old filly and GI Breeders' Cup Juveniles Fillies upsetter Caledonia Road (Quality Road) (hip 168) will be heading to Japan after Narvick International's Emmanuel de Seroux went to $2.3 million to secure her on behalf of the Ito family's Grand Farm.
“She was a beautiful mare,” said de Seroux. “She's a Breeders' Cup winner by Quality Road; a fantastic physical. She's a foundation mare in the making for us.”
Red-hot Quality Road was also represented Sunday evening by the likes of $3-million Grade I winner Salty and a $450,000 weanling colt.
“We felt she was very good value,” de Seroux said of the sophomore. “We've been looking at a couple different mares–we couldn't get one who was in the $3-million range. She was better value–she's a Breeders' Cup winner and the others were not.”
A $140,000 KEESEP yearling, Caledonia Road was a debut winner at Saratoga last season before finishing second in Belmont's GI Frizette S. She made a powerful, sweeping move en route to a 17-1 upset at the Breeders' Cup for Zoom and Fish Stable, Charlie Spiring and Newtown Anner Stud.
Caledonia Road was particularly well marketed for the sale, with billboards on display in Louisville this past week during the Breeders' Cup.
“I think she was a unique opportunity–a champion, Breeders' Cup winner,” said Hanzly Albina, part of consignor Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services and a representative of Newtown Anner along with Nick Sallusto. “Given those credentials, we wanted to make that clear–the international appeal of her was very special.”
Sallusto added, “Any time you can sell a horse for more than $2 million, it's a success. Quality Road has just been absolutely impressive–he seems to be going in the right direction. I think we felt that this was definitely the range that she would be in. We're really happy, and I think the ownership group will be really happy, too.” —@BDiDonatoTDN
Song of Bernadette to Bridlewood
Multiple Grade I winner Catholic Boy (More Than Ready) may have had a rough trip in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic, but his dam sailed through the ring at Fasig-Tipton Sunday, selling for $2.3 million to John and Leslie Malone's Bridlewood Farm.
“She's a well-bred mare who has a very nice 3-year-old in Catholic Boy,” Bridlewood manager George Isaacs, standing in the back walking ring alongside Catholic Boy's trainer Jonathan Thomas and the Malones, said of Song of Bernadette's appeal. “Obviously, he has been a very good colt on the racing scene this year, winning the GI Travers S. impressively. We're still trying to add a few really nice Grade I stakes producing mares to our program to round off our broodmare band and she fit the profile.”
Out of Winner's Edge (Seeking the Gold), the 9-year-old Song of Bernadette (hip 188) sold in foal to War Front. She was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of Fred Hertrich and John Fielding.
Hertrich purchased the mare, carrying her first foal by Bodemeister, for $140,000 at the 2013 Keeneland November sale.
“It's a bittersweet moment for John and I to sell Song of Bernadette, but the great thing is she's going to a fantastic nursery,” Hertrich said after congratulating the Bridlewood team on the purchase. “Mr. and Mrs. Malone had a little inside information because, of course, Jonathan broke Catholic Boy on that farm and they watched him forever. We are just very pleased that this is who is going to have her.”
For Hertrich, the decision to sell Song of Bernadette was a simple case of economics.
“It was a business decision that we don't keep mares that are worth that kind of money,” he said. “We own two daughters, the yearling and weanling sisters to Catholic Boy. So, we are pleased to retain two sisters to him.”
Catholic Boy owns Grade I victories on both dirt and turf, with wins in the GI Travers S. and GI Belmont Derby this year, and Hertrich said the colt's proficiency on both surfaces made the choice to breed Song of Bernadette to War Front an easy one.
“We thought because Catholic Boy had already proven his prowess on grass and dirt, that she would have great international appeal,” Hertrich said of the mating to War Front ahead of offering the mare at public auction. “So we thought she could be sold to anyone in the world.”
While Isaacs stopped short of calling the mare's final price tag a bargain, he did say, “We didn't expect that she would go for that, so we're really glad we walked in. I don't know that $2.3 million is value, but it's a solid purchase price for that kind of mare with that kind of quality.” @JessMartiniTDN
'Beauty' Receives 'Rave' Review at FTKNOV
Dual Grade I-winning turfer A Raving Beauty (Ger) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) proved quite popular at Newtown Paddocks Sunday evening and will be headed to Japan after summoning a final bid of $2 million from Haruya Yoshida.
The stunning gray (hip 160) was sold by Brad Weisbord's Elite Sales and he was also responsible for privately purchasing the filly on behalf of owners Michael Dubb, Sol Kumin and Michael Caruso.
“We paid just around $250,000 last year, so to win $1 million on the track, win a couple of Grade Is and sell her for $2 million, all in 12 months time, is pretty special,” Weisbord said. “I want to give a lot of thanks to Sol Kumin and Michael Dubb. They support our program every day. They support our program when we buy horses and they support Elite's program when we sell horses.”
He added, “My team has done a fantastic job. I have been under the weather and they have done a great job in my absence.”
A two-time stakes winner and GSP in her native Germany, A Raving Beauty was second in Italy's G1 Premio Lydia Tesio last October, after which she joined the Chad Brown barn. Capturing the GIII Beaugay S. and GI Just a Game S. in her first two starts in America this spring, the 5-year-old was third in Saratoga's GI Diana S. July 21 and fourth in the GII Ballston Spa S. there Aug. 25. Returning to winning ways with a front-running success in Keeneland's GI First Lady S. Oct. 6, she finished a game third to her stablemate Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) after setting the pace in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup F/M Turf at Churchill Downs. A Raving Beauty retires with a record of 23-6-3-4 and earnings of $1,198,555.
“This is a culmination of the program that we are running,” Weisbord said “My partner in France Nicolas de Watrigant of the Mandore Agency helped us locate this filly at the end of last year. We shipped her to Chad Brown and him and his team have done an unbelievable job with the filly. She has had a great year. [Saturday], she thought she was a winner. She ran as gutsy as possible.”
A Raving Beauty is out of the High Chaparral (Ire) mare Anabasis, who is a half-sister to MGSW Alianthus (Hernando).
Bridlewood Wins Out on Monomoy Girl's Dam
Bridledwood Farm's George Isaacs had to stretch a bit beyond his expectations, but felt it was well worth it to acquire Drumette (Henny Hughes), the dam of top sophomore filly and Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff heroine Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), for $1.85 million. The 10-year-old mare (hip 153) is carrying a foal from the first crop of undefeated Grade I winner Mastery.
“I was hoping to get her for $1.5 million, and if my friend Bobby Flay hadn't bid against us, I think I would have gotten her for that or a little less,” Isaacs said. “It was certainly a fair price in a very strong market.”
He continued, “She is my type of mare. She is a very youthful 10, very correct. She looks like she is a good oven for anything you want to breed her to, a good mother.”
Gainesway's Michael Hernon consigned the mare, which he personally owned in partnership with Brendan and Olive Gallagher's Frankfort Park Farm (click here for TDN feature). He purchased the mare for $75,000 at the 2014 Keeneland November with her third foal, Monomoy Girl, in utero.
“This is business,” Hernon said. “She is a great mare. She was well bought. She produced a champion, a very talented horse, a horse of a lifetime. We have done very well and she is going to do well for John Malone and Bridlewood. We are very appreciative of all the parties that showed significant interest in her. She was sold well beyond her reserve, if you want to call it that.”
He continued, “We have a very good colt foal by Shackleford. We will bring him to auction next year as a yearling. In the meantime, we are going to savor the moment and rejoice in the fact that she is the dam of a champion. We will look forward to that filly running next year.”
Hernon and his partners sold Monomoy Girl for just $100,000 at Keeneland September and the rest, as they say, is history. Monomoy Girl is a lock for the Eclipse for top 3-year-old filly after five Grade I wins this season: the GI Central Bank Ashland S., GI Kentucky Oaks, GI Acorn S., GI CCA Oaks and the aforementioned Distaff.
“How could you not be impressed with [Monomoy Girl's] whole career,” Isaacs said. “She got a little bit unlucky when she got DQ'd, but nevertheless, she won that day. She just got DQ'd. She is a special, special filly and let's hope the mare can do that again.”
He added, “We just have to hope we get a good foal and we will try to breed her up a little bit next year and hope we get lucky.” —@CDeBernardisTDN
Special Mare for Brogdens
Craig and Carrie Brogden continued to reap rewards from the 2009 bargain purchase of the then 3-year-old filly Special Me (Unbridled's Song) when the couple sold a weanling filly by Medaglia d'Oro for $500,000 Sunday at Fasig-Tipton.
“We are thrilled,” Carrie Brogden said after Larry Best signed the ticket on hip 28, whom the Brogdens co-bred with Carrie's mother Sandy Fubini and who was consigned through the Brogdens' Select Sales.
Special Me, unplaced in three starts, sold for $6,000 at the 2009 Keeneland January sale.
“She was one of the first Unbridled's Song mares that we bought and she just throws unbelievable foals,” Brogden said.
Special Me's second foal was Stonetastic (Mizzen Mast), a $77,000 Keeneland September yearling in 2012 who went on to win the GII Prioress S. and GII Inside Information S. Special Me is also the dam of graded stakes-placed 'TDN Rising Star' Gift Box (Twirling Candy). Her Speightstown filly sold for $550,000 to Shadwell at last year's Keeneland September sale and her Honor Code filly brought $260,000 at that same auction this year.
Brogden credited Godolphin's Kate Galvin with convincing her to breed Special Me to Medaglia d'Oro in 2017.
“In 2017, Kate called me I said, 'I really, really want this mare for Medaglia d'Oro,'” Brogden said. “She kept pestering me and calling me. So we ended up booking her to him. [The weanling] has always been super nice since day one. The day she foaled, I sent Kate a picture of her and said, 'Well, you were right.'”
Special Me is currently in foal to Into Mischief and is booked back to that Spendthrift stallion for 2019.
Hip 28 was Best's second purchase of the Fasig-Tipton November sale. He acquired hip 22, a colt by Quality Road out of Skylar's Pass (The Factor), for $450,000. Bred by Breeze Easy, the weanling was consigned by Bluewater Sales. @JessMartiniTDN
'Chrome' Brother Shines at FTKNOV
A Pioneerof the Nile half-brother to two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) was the second highest-priced weanling of the Fasig-Tipton November sale, going to Larry Best's OXO Equine for $600,000.
“We are sad to see him go,” said Neal Clarke of Bedouin Bloodstock, who raised and sold the colt for breeder SF Bloodstock. “We hated to sell him as a foal. We think he will do quite well as a yearling if they decide to sell him. He is a beautiful horse, a very smart, classy horse.”
As for the price, he said, “The price was very good. We were hoping for a little more, but that is where it fell and that is the market value.”
SF Bloodstock purchased Hip 109's dam Love the Chase (Not For Love) for $1.95 million at the 2016 renewal of this auction. The mare was in foal to Tapit at the time and the resulting colt summoned $1.1 million from Coolmore's M.V. Magnier at the recent Keeneland September sale.
In addition to his two Horse of the Year titles, dual Classic winner California Chrome has two other Eclipse statuettes, won seven Grade I events and earned over $14.75 million. He has since retired to Taylor Made and is represented by his first crop of weanlings this year.
When asked about the pressure of selling the sibling of such an accomplished racehorse, Clarke said, “There is all kinds of pressure. You have no idea. It's good, though. It's a privilege and an honor to be around those types of horses. There is a lot of pressure involved.” —@CDeBernardisTDN
Breeze Easy Weanlings in Demand
Mike Hall and Sam Ross's Breeze Easy offered a pair of weanlings Sunday night at Fasig-Tipton, parting with a son of Quality Road for $450,000 and a colt by Ghostzapper for $300,000. While the operation has enjoyed success on the racetrack with the likes of G2 Norfolk S. winner Shang Shang Shang (Shanghai Bobby), Sunday's weanling sales represented the early results of its fledgling breeding operation.
“We had our first group of yearlings [at Keeneland September] from a small group of maybe four mares that we bought the first year,” explained Randy Hartley, who along with Dean DeRenzo partners on the Breeze Easy broodmare band. “So this is our second group of some of the mares we bought last year. We did okay in September. We had one filly that got hurt, so we didn't offer many.”
The Quality Road colt who sold Sunday to Larry Best's OXO Equine (hip 22) is out of Skylar's Pass (The Factor), one of the first horses Hartley/DeRenzo and Breeze Easy were invovled in together. The former purchased the mare for $100,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2015 and Hall and Ross purchased her from them for $150,000 at the following year's OBS April sale.
“We bought the mare as a yearling to sell as a 2-year-old,” Hartley said. “And Breeze Easy, when we first met them, they bought her off of us as a 2-year-old. She got a suspensory, but she was so pretty we decided to breed her. We bred her to Quality Road and that's her first baby.”
Brookstone Farm purchased the Ghostzapper colt (hip 106) for $300,000 Sunday. The weanling is out of Liza Too (Olmodavor) and the mare was purchased with the colt in utero for $250,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale. She is back in foal to More Than Ready.
“We have about 28 mares. Every year, we are going to try to buy a couple of more and try to slowly improve our broodmare band so hopefully we can get everything one day and have all black-type mares,” Hartley said moments before he and the Breeze Easy partners were among the underbidders on the
$3-million mare Salty (Quality Road).
“We like to sell, they love racing, but they are business,” Hartley said of the future of the partnership's foals. “So I think they will race a few. Mainly we bought these mares to breed and because Dean and I don't race and we are partners with them on the mares, we have to sell. So far, it's starting off really well. We are happy with both of those colts.” @JessMartiniTDN
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