By Jessica Martini
LEXINGTON, KY–It was a lively afternoon of trade at Newtown Paddocks Monday with another strong renewal of the Fasig-Tipton July Horses of Racing Age Sale.
“It was a very successful day,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning said of the sale's sixth edition. “I thought horses sold very fairly. Consignors and buyers were both happy with the level of commerce that took place. We had a really interesting catalogue, lots of horses with lots of appeal both domestically and internationally. It really helps when you have consignments from racing operations like Stonestreet, WinStar, the Phippses/Claiborne were new this year. We saw ELiTE's introduction to the marketplace last year, which has certainly added a jolt of energy. They raised the bar in the horses of racing age sale arena.”
A total of 100 horses traded hands for a gross of $9,318,000, compared to last year when 84 Thoroughbreds brought $8,083,000. The average was down slightly from $96,226 last term to $93,180 and the median also decreased a bit, from $56,000 to $50,000 this term. There were 19 horses who failed to meet their reserves, four more than last year.
The evening was topped by stakes winner My Miss Tapit (Tapit) (hip 485), who recently finished third in the GII Princess Rooney S. The 4-year-old filly was purchased by Breeze Easy and was consigned by relative newcomers ELiTE Sales, which made its debut as the leading consignor at last year's Fasig July HORA Sale and followed up again as leading seller in 2018.
“It was fun to come back for year two,” ELiTE founder and president Brad Weisbord said. “Year one we had a lot of pressure and obviously, when it works, you have a lot to live up to and this year we have the topper. I want to give a lot of credit to my partner Liz Crow. She recruited Blazen Betsy (Speightstown) (hip 412), who brought $325,000. Who would have thought a filly could bring that money out of Thistledown? But, she's fast and pretty and by Speightstown.”
In total, ELiTE sold 13 of its 17 horses for a total of $2.53 million.
“It was a fantastic night,” Weisbord said. “We are so lucky to be in this position. We have a concept we thought would be unique. We believe we know this product of racehorses better than everybody else. We have hundreds of racehorses under management and we stare at speed figures every day. This is exactly what we do.”
He continued, “We are thankful Fasig-Tipton puts on horses of racing age sales and we are super thankful for Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown, who are big supporters, Todd selling My Miss Tapit and Chad selling seven with us. Also thankful to their owners, Seth Klarman, Bill Mathis, Sol Kumin and Mike Dubb, some of whom support us in our daily program.”
The second-highest priced horse of the day was a late addition to the sale, the 3-year-old filly Alter Moon (Alternation) (hip 574), who sold to bloodstock agent Steve Young for $675,000. Consigned by Taylor Made, she scored an impressive victory in the Azalea S., becoming the first stakes winner for her sophomore sire, on the same day as My Miss Tapit's effort in the Princess Rooney. A total of 10 horses sold for $200,000 or more to 10 individual entities.
Selling continues Tuesday at Newtown Paddocks with the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Yearlings Sale beginning at 10 a.m.
My Miss Tapit Breezes Through July Sale
My Miss Tapit (Tapit), fresh off a third-place finish in the GII Princess Rooney S., will be staying in the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher, but will make her next start in the colors of Sam Ross and Mike Hall's Breeze Easy after the operation purchased the 4-year-old filly for $700,000 during Monday's Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age Sale.
“They are looking for racehorses and she's a racehorse,” said Breeze Easy advisor Randy Hartley. “They thought she was a beautiful filly and she was one of the top horses here. We're also building a broodmare band. We have 27 mares now and we are breeding to all the best we can get to and we're trying to buy the best.”
Bred by Gainesway, My Miss Tapit (hip 485) was purchased by Pletcher on behalf of Bill Mathis's Mathis Stable for $550,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September sale. The filly was catalogued in last year's July sale, but was withdrawn and made three additional starts for the Mathis family, finishing fifth in the GIII Monmouth Oaks last summer and winning an optional claimer at Gulfstream Park in April. She finished third behind Stormy Embrace (Circular Quay) in the June 30 Princess Rooney. Runner-up that day was Rich Mommy (Algorithms) who RNA'd for $495,000 during Monday's sale.
My Miss Tapit is out of graded stakes winner Sindy With An S (Broken Vow) and she is a full-sister to graded stakes placed I'll Wrap It Up and Rattataptap. She was consigned to Monday's sale by Elite.
“She is going to stay in training,” Hartley confirmed. “She's going to go back to Todd because there is no sense is starting over. They are going to head to Saratoga and try to have some fun up there. They don't have a lot of racehorses, they have a few 2-year-olds, but we are trying to build a broader stable and get more horses across-the-board, different distances and older horses. Sometimes it's hard to develop that, but this was here now.”
Hartley said the West Virginia-based Ross had called a last-minute audible to come to the July sale.
“[Ross] wasn't supposed to come to this sale,” Hartley said with a laugh. “He drove up here yesterday and he studied this thing like crazy. He loves it.”
Breeze Easy purchased the top-priced yearling at Fasig-Tipton's July sale two years ago, going to $475,000 to acquire a colt by Curlin. They reoffered the youngster at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale where he sold for $1.5 million. Racing in partnership with Breeze Easy and John Oxley, Curlin's Honor is a stakes winner and came up a neck short of Gidu (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) when second in the Paradise Creek S. at Belmont Park.
Breeze Easy enjoyed international success when Shang Shang Shang (Shanghai Bobby) won the G2 Norfolk S. at Royal Ascot.
Shang Shang Shang was purchased by Susan Montanye on behalf of Bill Heiligbrodt's East Hickman Bloodstock for $110,000 at the 2017 OBS January sale and Breeze Easy purchased the youngster for $200,000 at this year's OBS March sale.
“That was one of those things that was just meant to be,” Hartley said of Breeze Easy's acquisition of Shang Shang Shang, who was bred by Lorenzo Del Giudice. Del Giudice owns Roma Restaurant in Ocala.
“We knew the foal from a baby,” Hartley said. “Mike [Hall] tried to buy her as a yearling because Lorenzo will never let them buy dinner there. So he said, 'I'll bid on your horse.' He bid $100,000 and then Susan, our breeze rider who rides for us, bought her. They still liked her as 2-year-old and we just walked up there and he bought her. So it was just meant to be for them to have that horse.” —@JessMartiniTDN
Alter Moon's Late Addition Pays Dividends
Jose Lopez's JAL Racing struck while the iron was hot, parlaying the stellar recent form of Alter Moon (Alternation) (hip 574) into fireworks in the sales ring at Fasig-Tipton. The filly, added to the Horses of Racing Age Sale just last week, sold to $675,000 to bloodstock agent Steve Young.
“She is a lightly-raced, young filly with a lot of ability who is coming into her own,” Young said after signing the ticket on behalf of an undisclosed client. “She's going to go to New York and we'll see how good she is. She has a good pedigree on the bottom side and she's by a young sire. I think she can run a tick farther than she's been running, but that might be getting ahead of ourselves.”
A daughter of Sahara Moon (Malibu Moon), Alter Moon was fifth in the 1 1/16-mile GII Gulfstream Park Oaks in March. Cut back to seven furlongs, she ran second in the Apr. 21 Game Face S. before a 14 3/4-length romp in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance. The decision was made to test the waters at Fasig-Tipton after the filly scored a five-length victory in the June 30 Azalea S.
Lopez purchased Alter Moon for $22,000 at last year's OBS June sale. On the board in five of seven starts, she has won three times and earned $128,255. She will join the New York stable of trainer Chad Brown.
Young agreed the Horses of Racing Age Sale provided buyers and sellers with prime opportunities.
“I think it's tremendous,” Young said of the auction. “I think it's great for the people from Florida who had her and I think it's great for us. Hopefully, she builds on what she's done. The only time she's run two turns was from an outside post at Gulfstream going 1 1/16 miles, so you can draw a line through that. I think she's gotten better with racing. We couldn't be happier with her.”
Alter Moon was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency and her connections were thrilled with Monday's result.
“Going in we were thinking $600,000 was what about what we wanted for her,” Taylor Made's Marshall Taylor said. “She showed great the whole time. She walked out there and walked great every time and didn't turn a hair and really showed well. The owner is very happy with the result. For us, that's the best thing. Seeing the owner so happy with the transaction.”
Taylor agreed the Horses of Racing Age Sale was a win-win for everybody.
“I think it's important because it gives owners the opportunity to take money off the table,” he said. “For example, this filly, if he ran her, who knows what she'll go on to do, but it gave that owner the opportunity to put her in a sale midway through the year and get a good amount of money for the filly. And it gave the buyer the opportunity to race her the rest of the year and hopefully add on to her success.”–@JessMartiniTDN
Fire Away Headed to Cape Town
Phipps-bred Grade III winner Fire Away (War Front) is headed to stud in Cape Town, South Africa, after selling to bloodstock agent Joe Brocklebank, agent for Form Bloodstock, for $450,000 at Newtown Paddocks Monday.
“He's going to stand in South Africa,” Brocklebank said of hip 443. “He's got a huge pedigree and he is a very attractive horse. He is very much like his father, War Front. I know the pedigree pretty well and the Phipps pedigrees speak for themselves.”
As for the price, the horseman said, “To be honest, I thought he might bring a little bit more. I am very happy that we got him for $450,000.”
Out of GSP Salute, Fire Away is a half-brother to GISW and young sire Mr Speaker (Pulpit) and GSP Snap Decision (Hard Spun). His second dam is undefeated Hall of Famer Personal Ensign (Private Account), the dam of MGISW My Flag (Easy Goer), who in turn produced champion Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat). The 6-year-old also hails from the family of Grade I winners Miner's Mark (Mr. Prospector) and Traditionally (Mr. Prospector).
Trained throughout his career by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Fire Away retires with a record of 23-7-4-4 and earnings of $613,397. His career highlights include victories in the rained-off GIII Dixie S. at Pimlico May 19 and Aqueduct's Artie Schiller S. last November and Danger's Hour S. in April. He was last seen finishing fourth in the GIII Poker S. on the Belmont lawn June 17.
Fire Away was part of Claiborne Farm's first Horses of Racing Age consignment and the operation's president Walker Hancock was pleased with the sale.
“This is the range we thought he was going to be in,” Hancock said. “It is a good price for a nice horse. We have a couple more good ones to come. The market seems strong so far.”–@CDeBernardisTDN
One Liner to Join Asmussen Barn
Grade III winner One Liner (Into Mischief) (hip 492) joined the barn of Steve Asmussen after the Hall of Famer signed the $400,000 ticked on the 4-year-old at Fasig July Monday. The conditioner was acting on behalf of longtime owner Carrol Castille.
“Hopefully we can do some good with him running and then he will most likely stand at Carroll's place, Whispering Oaks in Louisiana,” Asmussen said. “I liked how fast he is. I have run against him on several occasions. He's a racehorse.”
Campaigned by China Horse Club, WinStar Farm, SF Racing and Head of Plains Partners, the $150,000 KEEJAN buy earned $472,320 while under the care of Todd Pletcher with a record of 7-4-1-1. The dark bay won his first three starts, including last term's GIII Southwest S., in which he beat a pair of Asmussen runners. Forced off the GI Kentucky Derby trail with bone bruising, One Liner finished third at Gulfstream Feb. 9 in his return from just short of a year on the sidelines and returned to winning ways next out in a Keeneland optional claimer. Runner-up in the GIII Pimlico Special S. May 18, he was off the board when last seen in the GI Metropolitan H. June 9.
Out of Cayala (Cherokee Run), One Liner hails from the family of Grade I-winning half-brothers Daredevil (More Than Ready) and Albertus Maximus (Albert the Great) and Group 1 winner King Charlemagne (Nureyev). —@CDeBernardisTDN
Dobson Strikes for Factorofwon
Everett Dobson, shopping for potential mates for his multiple graded stakes winner Mastery (Candy Ride {Arg}), went to $400,000 to acquire stakes winner Factorofwon (The Factor) (hip 440) during Monday's Fasig-Tipton Horses of Racing Age Sale.
“She's an absolutely lovely filly and she has some upside on her, she's just a 3-year-old,” Dobson said. “I'm actually buying her, thinking down the road, to breed her to Mastery. She'll be in the broodmare band someday. She's already a stakes winner and that's an added bonus.”
Factorofwon, a $50,000 Keeneland September yearling, was purchased by Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal for $150,000 at last year's OBS April sale. She won the Black Pearl S. down the hill at Santa Anita in the Red Baron's Barn colors and just last Saturday, she was second in the Stormy Blues S. at Laurel Park for trainer Phil Schoenthal. Out of B R's Girl (Pulpit), the gray is a half-sister to stakes placed Act (War Front). She was consigned to Monday's auction by Warrendale Sales.
Dobson said no trainer had been picked out for the filly, but added, “We will know by noon tomorrow hopefully.”
Mastery was unbeaten in four lifetime starts in the colors of Dobson's Cheyenne Stables, including wins in the GIII Bob Hope S., GI Los Alamitos Futurity and GII San Felipe S. He stood his first season at Claiborne Farm this year for $25,000.
Asked if he would be doing more shopping for Mastery, Dobson said, “I've got a fairly sizable broodmare band currently, but I am looking for that quality, that kind, to go to him down the road.”
He added, “I think this may be the first one I've ever bought out of a horses of racing age sale. I typically don't buy here, but I just started looking at future opportunities for Mastery and she showed up and I liked her physically a lot. So we'll go on with her this year and maybe next year or the following year, she'll come back to the broodmare band to see Mastery.”–@JessMartiniTDN
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