By Jessica Martini
Nina Gueorguieva's Kinga Farm will offer seven horses at next week's Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale and the entire group will be offered during the four-day auction's first session Monday in Lexington.
“I was surprised they gave me the first day of the sale. I asked them if something went wrong,” Gueorguieva said with a laugh. “They said no, nothing is wrong.”
A native of Bulgaria, Gueorguieva first came to the U.S. in 1995 as an exchange student. She had participated in show jumping and dressage in Bulgaria and, as part of the exchange program, she was expected to work at a horse farm in Kentucky.
“I was kind of disappointed when I came to Kentucky, they didn't have any show jumpers here at that time,” Gueorguieva explained. “At that point, they only had Thoroughbreds. So since then, I have been all in Thoroughbreds. Although, I do have a couple of Standardbreds that we breed and race.”
Gueorguieva spent 20 years as manager at Considine Farm, but when the operation changed locations, it also changed the course of her career.
“I am a bird fanatic,” Gueorguieva said. “I have peacocks, I have ducks, and what really breaks my heart when we moved from the old Considine Farm to the new place, they didn't let me have any of my birds, which just broke my heart. But I got a lot of experience from there.”
The change prompted Gueorguieva to search for her own place.
“To tell you the truth, in my dreams, I always wanted to have my own place,” she said. “I have 87 acres here in Winchester. It's not a fancy place, but it's pretty good land. And it's my place.”Gueorguieva purchased her farm in 2015 and began operations in 2016. Searching for a name for the new endeavor, she ultimately landed on the patron saint of Poland and Lithuania.
“Kinga is a saint from the 12th century,” Gueorguieva said. “That's how the name came about. It's a woman saint–I wanted to make the farm name kind of girly because I am the one, it's my farm. A king is a king and if you put a, it sounds a little more girly. That's how it came about.”
The new operation had quick success in the sales ring, purchasing the mare Gingham and Lace (Kris S.), in foal to Street Boss, for $7,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November sale and selling that Street Boss foal for $180,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton July sale.
Six-figure results from moderately priced mares continued when a colt by Munnings, purchased by major client Rebecca Farms for $27,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November Sale, sold for $145,000 under the Kinga Farm banner at the 2022 Keeneland January sale. While a Mineshaft colt purchased in utero by Rebecca Farms for $20,000 in November sold for $110,000 at that same sale.
Gueorguieva will hope the formula continues to prove profitable with a pair of homebred short yearlings she will be offering at Keeneland next Monday.
Hip 74 is a filly by Upstart. Since Gueorguieva purchased Post Script (Quality Road), with the filly in utero, for $7,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November sale, the mare's son Act a Fool (Oscar Performance) won the Hawthorne Derby last June and her daughter Bette Davis (Oscar Performance) broke her maiden just days before her third birthday. The mare's colt by Oscar Performance sold for $180,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
“She is a pretty nice filly,” Gueorguieva said. “Hopefully she sells good. If she doesn't, we will keep her and we will see how it goes.”
Another Kinga homebred is hip 181, a son of Runhappy. Gueorguieva purchased the unraced Timetotime (Not This Time) with the colt in utero for $20,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November sale.
The Kinga consignment to the January sale also includes three yearlings bred by Allan Savoie's Rebecca Farms.
“[Savoie] gives me a lot of horses,” Gueorguieva said. “He is the one who sponsored me all of these years. I knew him from where I used to work at the old farm when I was talking to him all the time.”
The Rebecca Farms offerings include a colt by Volatile (hip 130) out of Simple Addition (Connect), a half-sister to Grade I winner No Parole (Violence). Hip 237 is a filly by Sky Mesa out of Backside Blackie (Yes It's True) and hip 377 is a colt by Midshipman out of Hopeful Union (Dixie Union), a mare purchased by Savoie for $14,000 at last year's Keeneland January sale.
“I think they are all pretty nice babies that I have this time,” Gueorguieva said of her January consignment. “I am really happy with them. They all have clean X-rays and they look good. I think this is the right time to sell them. I am sure people will like them.”
In addition to managing her own seven-head broodmare band and the mares of her clients, Gueorguieva also represents several clients from Russia, and Central Asian countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan at the Kentucky sales. Kinga Farm signed for Great Winner (Karakontie {Jpn}) for $10,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale. The colt went on to win a Russian Group 1 the following year.
It may not have been a straight line from Bulgaria, to managing Considine Farm to owning her own farm, but Gueorguieva is enjoying the ride.
“I am really happy, to tell you the truth,” she said. “I am happy with my life right now.”
Of the future, she added, “Of course, my goals are to breed a better racehorse or a mare that turns out to be big time. We are still hoping. But it's not going to happen if you don't try.”
The Keeneland January sale will be held next Monday through Thursday with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.
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