Life' Has Been Sweet for Machmer

By Lucas Marquardt 
   Machmer Hall and Select Sales got off to a terrific start to the weekend yesterday when two fillies Machmer bred and Select sold–Sweet Whiskey (Old Fashioned) and Co Cola (Candy Ride {Arg})–went one-two in the GIII Old Hat S. at Gulfstream. Both operations can keep the momentum going tomorrow when the accomplished producer Life Happened (Stravinsky) steps into the ring at Keeneland January as hip 36. The 13-year-old mare, owned by Machmer and offered through Select's draft, carries a member from the late Harlan's Holiday's last crop. 
   Life Happened is the dam of last year's top sophomore Vyjack (Into Mischief), who a year ago won the GII Jerome S. at Aqueduct before taking the GIII Gotham S. and running third in the GI Wood Memorial. She's also the dam of Tepin(Bernstein), a newly turned 3-year-old filly who won the valuable GIII Delta Downs Princess S. last fall, as well as the graded runner Prime Cut (Bernstein). 
   That's a lot of performance for a mare that Machmer purchased for just $4,500 back at the 2008 Keeneland November Sale. At that point, Life Happened was an unraced half-sister to the good but modestly bred sprinter Disco Rico (Citidancer), a MGSW of over half a million. Life Happened's first foal, Buddha Bop (Buddha), had broken his maiden a few months earlier, but what really caught Machmer's collective attention was the weanling Bernstein colt who was selling with her at November. Later named Prime Cut, he was a big, handsome bay with plenty of class. Brogden made a play for the colt but was rebuffed–F.J.M. Stables purchased him for $55,000–but she was able to secure Life Happened for a pittance. 
Crestwood 
   “He was in Book 6 at Keeneland, and you just didn't see foals like him that far back,” Brogden explained of Prime Cut. 
   The sting of losing him wasn't really felt until 10 months later, however, when he sold for a session-topping $475,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September auction. 
   “When he resold for $475,000, I was wishing I had bid a few more times!” laughed Brogden. “But I was thrilled to bits we had the mare; my mom had been really keen to buy her, and we thought that was hell of a deal for a mare.” 
   Brogden's mom, Sandy Willwerth, is a partner with Carrie and her husband Craig in Machmer Hall, and they are all partners in Select Sales, which also includes partners Andrew Cary, Jay Goodwin and Tom Ryan. 
Prime Cut wasn't just a good sales horse. He could run, too. Racing for Don Adam's Courtlandt Farm, he placed second in the GIII Coolmore Lexington S. and finished third in the GII Peter Pan S. in 2011. 
Life Happened was just getting started as a producer, though. The mare's 2010 foal was Vyjack. Select sold him for $45,000 at 2011 FTKJUL, but Machmer stayed in for a piece and sold him a year later at FTMMAY for $100,000. Purchased by David Wilkenfeld's Pick Six Racing, Vyjack was an 18-1 chance in the 2013 GI Kentucky Derby, and while he tired badly in the slop, Brogden relished the experience. 
   “The owner of Vyjack, Dave Wilkenfeld, was so kind and let me do the walkover at the Derby,” she said. “And that's something every breeder should be able to do. It was incredible. It was sloppy and muddy and I ruined my shoes, but I didn't care. We were waving to the crowd, and the energy was incredible. It still gives me goosebumps.” 
   After a freshening last fall, Vyack, an earner of over $550,000, is reportedly back in the barn of trainer Rudy Rodriguez. 
   Again, Life Happened had more in store. Her 2011 foal was Tepin. Robert Masterson purchased the filly for $140,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. She's now won two-of-four for the Mark Casse barn and earned over $340,000, and is believed to be pointing toward Keeneland's GI Ashland S. 
   “I hope we get to do the walkover again in the Oaks this year with Tepin!” Brogden added. 
This past September, Select and Machmer sold a More Than Ready yearling filly from the mare to Nat Rea's Regis Farm for $200,000, and will offer her Gio Ponti short yearling colt at either FTSAUG or KEESEP. 
   “Her Gio Ponti yearling is magnificent,” said Brogden. “He's just like everything else she throws. Every single foal she has is correct and good-sized. Vyjack was a monster. And it's their minds, too. They're all sensible.” 
   It's hard, if not impossible, to guess how good an unraced mare would have been on the track if she'd made it to the starting gate, but Brogden thinks Life Happened was cut out to be a good one. 
   “After Vyjack, the people that broke her contacted me, and said she had unbelievable talent and was really close to racing, but then hurt her knee,” she explained. “A lot of times you hear that and think, 'Ah, whatever,' but with her I think she probably did have a lot of ability. She's 16.2 and has bone like tree trunks, and is a great mover.” 
   If Life Happened indeed sells, Brogden admits to one regret. “I do wish we'd had a filly out of the mare we didn't sell,” she said. “If I'd known Tepin was going to win a graded stakes, I probably would have kept the More Than Ready filly. But of course, I wish anyone who buys from us luck.” 

Setting a 'Prime Example'
   In a sentimental twist to the story, Machmer recently purchased the horse who essentially was responsible for Machmer purchasing Life Happened in the first place: Prime Cut. 
   “I had followed his career, of course, and saw that he was entered at Keeneland November [two months ago],” she said. “Lane's End was selling him as a stallion or racing prospect, and I went over and asked Allaire [Ryan] if they had anyone on the horse. She said they didn't, and so I bought him very emotionally for $1,000. I was in the back ring crying after I bought him. I cried because it had come full circle, with us finally buying him, but I also cried because I thought it was a sad statement. Here was a horse who was an expensive yearling that someone pinhooked and made $400,000-plus off of, that had gone on to race and was a Derby contender, was graded stakes placed, and was just sold for $1,000.” 
   The story has a happy ending, however. Prime Cut was sent to Virginia-based Picturesque Farm, owned by Carrie's sister Kristy Willwerth, and is being retrained as a show horse. 
   “He's doing magnificently,” said Brogden. “He's everything you'd expect a $475,000 Bernstein yearling to look like, and he's just such a smart, kind horse. And there was another graded horse at November, a Mineshaft named Philippe [who was a no-bid], and Don Adam from Courtlandt gave him to me, too. So now he's with my sister, as well. I give Don credit; he could have dropped those horses in for cheap claiming prices and ruined them or seen them broken down, but now they have a second career.” 
Brogden's association with the family will undoubtedly make parting with Life Happened that much harder at January. 
   “She's given us–not just the farm, but me personally–so much joy,” she said.