By Jessica Martini
TIMONIUM, MD – Four juveniles shared the fastest furlong time of :10 flat, while a colt by Triple Crown winner Justify (hip 322) zipped a bullet quarter-mile in :21 2/5 during the second session of the under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Wednesday.
The first of seven sets opened around 8 a.m. with a brisk tailwind–which prevailed throughout the day–and a bevy of :10 1/5 works before a colt by Bolt d'Oro (hip 287) became the first of the session to hit the :10 flat mark. The dark bay is out of stakes-placed Masasi (More Than Ready), a full-sister to multiple graded winner Custom for Carlos. He is consigned by Raul Reyes's Kings Equine, as agent for his breeder, Spendthrift Farm.
“We expected a professional work,” Reyes said. “We didn't know it was going to be :10 flat, but we knew he would work well.”
The colt RNA'd for $160,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
The very next horse to work, a filly by Take Charge Indy (hip 361), equaled the :10 flat time for De Meric Sales, agent. The bay, a full-sister to graded winner Take Charge Paula, was purchased by Tami Bobo and Fernando De Jesus's First Finds for $100,000 as a weanling at the 2021 Keeneland November sale.
The bullet furlong time was equaled again by back-to-back workers in the day's second set. First up, Golden Rock Thoroughbreds sent out a filly by Into Mischief (hip 328, video).
“She's a filly who has shown her quality throughout the whole process,” said Golden Rock's Keiber Rengifo. “From breaking her and seeing her every morning, we expected that she was going to be a really fast filly.”
The juvenile is out of Nefertiti (Speightstown) and is a full-sister to graded stakes winner Engage, who stood his first season at stud at nearby Northview Stallion Station in 2022. She was purchased by Marc Tacher's Elusive Thoroughbreds for $250,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
Wednesday's work was the filly's second appearance at an under-tack show this spring. She also worked in :10 flat when consigned by Top Line Sales at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, but did not go through the ring at that auction.
“She had a high hip number and was really late in the sale,” Rengifo said of the decision to scratch from the March sale. “She did a :10 flat with Top Line Sales, but we decided to scratch her and aim her for this dirt track. We expected way more from her on the synthetic, but she just didn't show a lot of speed. We thought we would bring her here to Maryland because it's a completely different surface. As a rider, I have a good opinion of this dirt track and I am a big fan of the Maryland sale. I was working for Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo for five years and we always had a good horse to bring over here and show up on the dirt track like she did this morning.”
Rengifo was aboard for the filly's bullet drill Wednesday.
“I think the track was a little tighter today,” he said. “Yesterday, it was kind of soft. But you still have to have a quality horse to go that fast. I didn't have to use my whip with this filly. She is a medium-sized filly with a big heart. She has galloped out well all through the winter. And today, she did :10 flat and she was rolling all the way out. For me, as a rider, that impressed me even more than the :10 flat.”
A colt by Twirling Candy (hip 249) consigned by Grassroots Training and Sales had the final :10 flat of the day. The bay is out of Lady Mamba (War Front), a half-sister to Grade I-placed Luminance (Tale of the Cat) and multiple graded-placed Stellar Sound (Tapit). His third dam is multiple Grade I winner Versailles Treaty (Danzig), dam of George Vancouver and Saarland. He was a $65,000 purchase by Grassroots at the Keeneland September sale last year.
Wednesday's third set got a jolt when Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds sent out a long-striding son of Justify to work the week's fastest quarter-mile of :21 2/5.
“He's been able to run all year long,” said Randy Hartley. “We don't usually prep very fast, we kind of just show them where to go. But when we prepped him here, I had to catch my kid–and he's a big guy. I don't usually do quarters, but he is a big, tall, two-turn looking horse. The farther he goes, the better he gets.”
Out of the appropriately named My Fast One (Elusive Quality), the bay colt was purchased by Hartley/DeRenzo for $155,000 as a weanling at the 2021 Keeneland November sale. He RNA'd for $185,000 at Keeneland the following September and was sent through the ring again at Fasig-Tipton October where he sold for $175,000.
“We bought him as a baby and we buy all of our weanlings to re-sell as yearlings,” Hartley said. “[At the September sale], Justify hadn't quite hit yet. And he was a tall, gangly horse.”
Of the return to the sales ring in October, Hartley explained, “One of our clients bought into our package. Sonny Stokes, who has passed away now, he owned a piece and he was selling everything. So one of my other clients bought in.”
The under-tack show concludes with a final session beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday. The Midlantic May sale will be held next Monday and Tuesday. Bidding begins each day at 11 a.m.
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