High-Dollar Mares and Foals on Offer in Elevage Dispersal

The Bernick family and Hill 'n' Dale's John Sikura have been active in recent years acquiring high-level mares through their Elevage partnership, and they'll liquidate those assets during Wednesday's Book 1 session of the Keeneland November sale. The Hill 'n' Dale-consigned offerings total 14 head, and include eight well-credentialed in-foal broodmares, as well as six weanlings out of some of those mares.

“We have been in business together for a number of years, and there was always a plan to invest and then kind of wind down the investment,” Craig Bernick, also of Glen Hill Farm, said of the decision to disperse. “We've had a really good run, and we've decided to amend it and to stay in the stallion business together long term, but we feel the mares are best sold and we can reinvest that money back into the stallion business.”

Bernick and Sikura are partners in a number of stallions on Hill 'n' Dale's roster, including Curlin, Kitten's Joy, Violence, Kantharos, Good Magic, Flintshire (GB) and Army Mule.

The Elevage offerings set to sell at Keeneland November are:

• SW and MGSP Mei Ling (Empire Maker) (hip 22), who was acquired privately, and who is in foal to Medaglia d'Oro. She'll be followed into the ring by her Tapit filly (hip 23). Mei Ling hails from the female family of GISW La Gueriere (Lord at War {Arg}), in turn the dam of GISW Icon Project (Empire Maker).
• Notting Hill (Aus) (Pierro {Aus}) (hip 42), a two-time winner from the family of Redoute's Choice (Aus). The A$950,000 purchase from the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale is carrying her first foal by War Front.
• Regally bred champion juvenile filly Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway) (hip 111), KEENOV '15's sale topper at$6 million. She's back in Foal to Tapit after producing Tapit colts in each of the last two seasons. Her weanling sells as hip 112. Take Charge Brandi is a half-sister to none other than standout 3-year-old Omaha Beach (War Front), who makes his next start in Saturday's GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.
• MGSW Aurelia's Belle (Lemon Drop Kid) (hip 164), who hails from the highly coveted Courtly Dee family. A $1.8-million buy at the same sale as Take Charge Brandi, she most recently visited Violence and is followed by her Kitten's Joy filly (hip 165).
• Grade I winner Callback (Street Sense) (hip 186), who sports another big pedigree that includes the likes of Grade I winners Super Saver, Girolamo, Rhythm, Imagining, Got Lucky, Bluegrass Cat, et al. She was a $2.8-million Fasig-Tipton November buy in 2015 and is in foal to Medaglia d'Oro. She produced a Medaglia d'Oro colt (hip 186) earlier this term.
• Grade III winner Cassatt (Tapit) (hip 189), who's out of a half-sister to champion 2-year-old filly Dreaming of Anna. Purchased for $2.5 million in foal to Curlin, she's in foal to that leading sire's champion son Good Magic after producing a Candy Ride (Arg) filly (hip 190) earlier this term.
• Drifting Cube (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}) (hip 227), anA$1.1-million Gold Coast National Broodmare sale buy in 2014. The full-sister to highly regarded Group 2 winner and young sire Rubick (Aus) is from the same female family as Notting Hill. She's represented by a War Front filly (hip 228) and back in foal to Violence.
• MGSW and GISP Dynaslew (Dynaformer), a $25,000 KEEJAN '19 buy offered in foal to Kitten's Joy as hip 229.

Considering her previous purchase price and obvious credentials, Take Charge Brandi could very well top her second November sale, especially if she gets an added push from Omaha Beach, who took the GI Arkansas Derby earlier this year and displayed his versatility to annex the GI Santa Anita Sprint Championship off the lay-off last out.

“She already had as good of a pedigree as a mare can have, being a champion and the granddaughter of a multiple Grade I winner in Take Charge Lady (Dehere), who produced Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song), who's a champion; and Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy), who's a Grade I winner,” Bernick said of Take Charge Brandi. “It was a great pedigree already, but Omaha Beach obviously makes it current with a horse who was certainly one of the best 3-year-olds of his generation, and if things go well for him he has a chance to be a champion himself.”

While Take Charge Brandi has not had a runner yet, her first two foals belong to high-profile connections. Two-year-old Take Charge Curlin (Curlin), an $850,000 KEESEP yearling buy by John Oxley, is with Mark Casse. Her yearling colt by Tapit RNA'd for $775,000 this September, but was subsequently sold privately to Phoenix Thoroughbreds and will eventually head to Steve Asmussen.

“They're both in good hands,” Bernick said of Take Charge Brandi's prior produce. “The Tapit foal is nice. I think he's the best foal she's had; a very strong horse.”

When asked for other standouts among the group, Bernick said, “They're all nice foals. I think that the Tapit out of Mei Ling is a very nice filly. She has a lot of stretch to her. She's inbred to Unbridled and she kind of has that look. That's a very nice filly. The War Front out of Drifting Cube is a nice filly as well. We sold her full-brother as a foal for $1.45 million [to M. V. Magnier in 2016] and her full-sister last year as a foal for $525,000 [to Solis/Litt 12 months ago]. This mare is a very commercial mare and produces very good-looking foals.”

While Bernick and Sikura had considered holding on to the weanlings until next year, they determined that allowing shoppers to see what kind of foals the mares had previously produced would add to their appeal.

“I think all of the foals we're selling will really enhance the mares,” Bernick said. “We thought about keeping the foals for [Keeneland] September, because yearlings generally bring better prices, obviously, but since the mares don't have much produce, and the foals themselves are such good animals, we thought it was best to sell the foals with them, so that's what we're doing.”

Drifting Cube received a nice update when his son Yes Yes Yes (Aus) bested his elders in the A$13-million The Everest Oct. 19.

“Rubick produced the Everest winner this year–the first 3-year-old to beat older horses in that race, so he's off to a terrific start at stud. It's the family of Redoute's Choice,” Bernick said when asked about the appeal of Australian pedigrees in a Northern Hemisphere auction. “Obviously, Stonestreet sold the [$4.1-million] Curlin [colt] out of Bounding (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}) at the September sale, and that horse was bid on by international people. I think the business is very global now, and people are accustomed to seeing international pedigrees. Structurally, I think the Australian Thoroughbred goes well in America. The pedigrees are a little bit different, but I would expect them to cross well with American stallions and would hope that the mares stay here. But, obviously, they'll be appealing back home as well, and in Europe, too.”

Bernick said that while the American broodmare market is somewhat saturated with high-end prospects, as there is less overlap between those who race and those who breed than in other countries, he is hopeful the Elevage offerings will be well received.

“Everyone knows, it's a feast or famine market, but we think these mares are all very special mares,” he said. “They all go back to taproot families who have been proven over multiple generations. Most of the fillies have form. I hope and think they'll be very appealing. We'll see what happens.”

The Keeneland November sale begins next Wednesday at noon. Visit www.keeneland.com for more information.