By Katie Petrunyak
Four years ago, Baoma Corp's Susan and Charles Chu sent their three-time Grade I-winning star filly Bast (Uncle Mo) through the ring at the Fasig-Tipton 'Night of the Stars' Sale. Carrying her first foal by Justify, she brought down the house when she sold to Spendthrift Farm for $4.2 million.
This year, the Chus will send two more mares from their distinguished program to Fasig-Tipton's November Sale. Private Mission (Into Mischief) and Eda (Munnings) were both selected by agent Donato Lanni for Baoma Corp's racing stable and they developed into multiple graded stakes winners under the tutelage of Bob Baffert. Private Mission, a three-time graded stakes winner, will be offered at Fasig-Tipton in foal to Curlin while GI Starlet Stakes heroine Eda is carrying her first foal by Justify. Both mares will be consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa on Nov. 4.
“We're delighted to have the opportunity this year to offer two mares that were raced by the Chu family,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “Both of them are just fantastic opportunities–young mares in foal to the right stallions. When you have the opportunity to buy a horse that the Chus raced, you know it was hand-picked. The physicals are going to be just absolutely outstanding when the combination of Donato Lanni and Bob Baffert were involved in the selection process.”
“Private Mission was a beautiful filly and Eda was such a good racehorse,” recalled Bob Baffert. “When people are looking to get into the business and want to start out with some top-line mares, with Eda and Private Mission, you're not going to get any better quality than that.”
Natives of Taiwan with a company that manufactures GPS navigational systems, the Chus got their start in the racing business just over a decade ago. Susan was the first to get interested in the sport and Charles followed soon after. One of the first horses that Baffert recalls training for Susan was 2013 GIII Southwest Stakes winner Super Ninety Nine (Pulpit). Charles joined his wife in campaigning 2016 Breeders' Cup Sprint winner and Eclipse champion Drefong (Gio Ponti). Bast came along a few years later and their success has continued to grow from there.
“They've had so much luck, but they also have so much passion for the sport,” said Baffert. “They love their horses. Any time they sell a horse they're always asking, 'Where is he going? Is he going to a good home?' It's very important to them. I love that aspect of it that the horse comes first for them.”
Not only have the Chus made aftercare a priority for their program, but they also focus on competing at the top level of the sport. With Baffert and Lanni overseeing the selection of their stock, the Chus are a consistent presence at the high end of the buying market every year as they key in on top physicals and quality pedigrees.
Eda and Private Mission are no exception to that rule. Six-figure purchases with powerful pedigrees, both mares have enhanced their resumes on the racetrack and will offer buyers plenty of opportunity come the Night of the Stars.
Private Mission will be offered at Fasig-Tipton November in foal to Curlin | Sara Gordon
Out of a stakes-winning daughter of Unbridled, Private Mission was a $750,000 yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale in 2019.
“I can still remember the first time I saw her on the sales ground,” recalled Browning. “She was one of the stars of our Saratoga sale that year. Just a breathtaking physical. Absolutely gorgeous, fantastic balance. She also has a fantastic female family. It's the family of Grade I winner Dunbar Road (Quality Road) and great broodmare influences in Unbridled and Alydar. It's a collector's family. Even if she wasn't a great racehorse herself and a great physical individual, she'd be a highly desirable broodmare offering because of her pedigree. The fillies and mares out of that family continue to produce outstanding runners.”
A winning juvenile on debut, Private Mission claimed back-to-back scores at three in the GIII Torrey Pines Stakes and GII Zenyatta Stakes, where she defeated future Grade I winner As Time Goes By (American Pharoah). The daughter of Into Mischief added to her accomplishments at four in the GII Santa Maria Stakes.
Eda is the only Grade I-winning juvenile filly by Munnings | Sara Gordon
“She won half of her starts,” noted her consignor John Sikura of Hill 'n' Dale. “She was a very successful racemare, but as good of a racemare as she was, I think her future is that to be a foundation broodmare for somebody. Those kinds of mares replete with important blacktype, by leading sires, with great physical presence and ample ability, those are the criterion of cornerstone mares. She has every making of a mare that could be a really important producer for somebody over the next decade.”
After retiring from racing, Private Mission was bred to Gun Runner. That colt arrived this year before the mare was bred back to leading sire Curlin.
Another standout in the sales ring, Eda was a $550,000 2-year-old at the 2021 OBS March Sale. The daughter of Munnings flew to the center stage of her division in California as a juvenile, winning on debut and later getting her first stakes win in the Anoakia Stakes. That two-length score was the first in a seven-race win streak over the next two years that included victories both sprinting and routing in the GI Starlet Stakes, GIII Santa Ysabel Stakes, GII Great Lady M Stakes and GIII Rancho Bernardo Handicap.
“Her win streak is almost unprecedented in the world we live in for a filly to be that consistent, that durable and to perform at that level,” noted Browning. “She was a graded stakes winner at two, three and four and she was a joy to watch.”
In her victory in the Starlet over fillies like Grade I victress Grace Adler (Curlin) and multiple graded stakes winner Cairo Memories (Cairo Prince), Eda became Munnings's only Grade I-winning filly at two.
After retiring at the end of her 4-year-old season, Eda was bred to Justify, who has exploded onto the list of leading sires since last year's Breeders' Cup where he was represented by champions Just FYI and Hard to Justify. This year the Triple Crown winner's top international runners include Breeders' Cup Classic hopeful City of Troy, two-time Group 1 victress Opera Singer and the talented Australian horse Storm Boy (Aus).
“What he's doing out there is just amazing,” said Baffert, Justify's former trainer. “Not only was he a magnificent racehorse, but what a sire he has turned out to be. Now he's getting all these great mares, so it's going to be tougher and tougher to find these Justifys.”
Browning added, “The success that Justify is having around the world is really unprecedented so this is a unique opportunity to buy a Grade I-winning 2-year-old filly in foal to a stallion of the level of Justify with the physical attributes that Eda has. She'll be one of the stars of the show.”
Both Eda and Private Mission have spent their days since retiring from the racetrack at Hill 'n' Dale. For Sikura and his team, parting with these two mares will be bittersweet, but Sikura said that it will also be an honor to represent a program like the one Baoma Corp has built when Hill 'n' Dale offers this pair of stars at Fasig-Tipton.
“We've cared for the mares, got them in foal and the guys on the farm are very proud,” he said. “The Chus have bought so many wonderful mares at auction. Their focus is mainly racing and that's the enjoyment for them, so I think the whole world is now getting an opportunity to buy two really spectacular offerings from a highly tuned-in program that annually succeeds and wins Grade I races. We are proud of the offerings and I think they'll really stand out at Fasig Tipton this November.”
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