'She's A Superstar' – Adare Manor Will Be Missed at Baffert Barn

Bob Baffert has no qualms about admitting that Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) is going to be a difficult horse to part with. The three-time Grade I winner and $2 million earner has been a steady presence in Baffert's barn for the past three years.

“When you have them for that long, you actually get emotionally attached to them,” said Baffert. “She's such a sweetheart. She never gets worked up, never turns a hair and is just so professional. I've had some really good horses, but if they don't have the right mind, you don't see their full potential. She handled everything in stride. She's a superstar and when you have these superstars in your barn, you just love seeing them in the mornings.”

After earning eight graded stakes wins over her four-year career, Adare Manor retired in September and is now set to sell at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale on Nov. 4. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, the 5-year-old will be the third consecutive Grade I-winning mare campaigned by owner Michael Lund Petersen to be offered at the 'Night of the Stars' Sale. Champion sprinter Gamine (Into Mischief) brought $7 million in 2022 and Grade I victress Faiza (Girvin) sold for $4 million last year.

“We've had the privilege and honestly the honor of selling some wonderful horses for Michael Lund,” said Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. “We feel very fortunate this year to have the honor to do it again with Adare Manor. She fits in the same quality of those other horses that he's sold with us–great physicals, hand-picked by Bob and Donato Lanni and raced at the very highest level.”

Baffert said he can still remember getting the call from agent Donato Lanni about an Uncle Mo filly that looked promising at the 2021 OBS June Sale. They purchased Adare Manor for Petersen for $375,000 and as soon as the filly arrived at Baffert's barn, the Hall of Fame trainer was impressed by what he saw.

“She was a big, tall filly and we knew she was not going to be a sprinter,” he recalled. “We knew that once we stretched her out, that was going to be her game. It took her a while to really fill out because she's got this beautiful top line and frame and a beautiful neck and shoulder. We knew that the older she got, she was just going to become the beautiful, picturesque mare that she is now.”

In her 3-year-old debut in her third career start, Adare Manor broke her maiden by 12 lengths. From there it was strictly graded stakes company for the remainder of her sophomore season. She earned a win in the GIII Las Virgenes Stakes and was runner-up in the GII Santa Anita Oaks and GII Black-Eyed Susan Stakes.

Adare Manor earns her first of eight graded stakes scores in the 2022 GIII Las Virgenes Stakes | Benoit

The dark bay upped her game the following year, claiming four straight graded wins including the GI Clement Hirsch Stakes over a field that also featured Grade I winner Fun to Dream (Arrogate) and multiple graded stakes winner Desert Dawn (Cupid).

“Her best trait is her stride,” explained Baffert. “She's got an enormous stride and as a matter of fact, a lot of the riders felt that she probably could have run on grass with the way she moves. She takes one stride for her competitor's two. You can tell when horses are chasing her, they give up because they just can't keep up with her once she gets in that long, moving stride. And she's quick. She's very light on her feet for a big mare.”

This year, Adare Manor stamped herself as one of the leaders of the Distaff division. Second in her 5-year-old debut against Sweet Azteca (Sharp Azteca) in the GI Beholder Mile, it was all wins from there as she earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure on the road at Oaklawn Park in her 5 1/2-length domination of the GI Apple Blossom Handicap and then returned to California to reel off scores in the GII Santa Margarita and GI Clement Hirsch.

It was that last win in the Clement Hirsch, over a field that featured champion Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) and the highly regarded Bill Mott trainee Scylla (Tapit), that Baffert said he will remember as her most impressive victory. Normally one to be first out of the gate and win from the lead, Adare Manor broke a touch slow and had to stalk from the inside.

“They sent some horses out there and had her in a tough spot,” Baffert recalled. “Juan Hernandez, her jockey, didn't panic. She's the kind of filly that you don't want to just get her going, stop and then go again. She's so big. He got in a nice, relaxed mode. She was in tight the whole way. Turning for home, it looked like maybe she wasn't going to do it. Then all of a sudden he tipped her out and she got into that big, long stride and just motored them down.”

“She showed a different dimension that we'd never seen before and I wish I had known about it before,” Baffert said with a laugh. “It would have helped her out in other races. Sometimes when you're the heavy favorite, you don't want to be too cute and try something different, but that day he was sort of forced to do that and it worked out.”

Adare Manor wins the 2024 Clement Hirsch | Benoit

With 10 wins from 18 career starts, Adare Manor retired as the highest-earning daughter of Uncle Mo and the sire's leading performer by graded stakes victories. Recently, Uncle Mo has made a statement as a broodmare sire with the likes of GI Kentucky Oaks victress and leading 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and fellow Grade I winners Muth (Good Magic) and Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}).

Selling at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale as Hip 214, Adare Manor is the first foal out of Brooklynsway (Giant Gizmo), a granddaughter of Giant's Causeway who claimed six stakes wins including the 2016 GIII Doubledogdare Stakes over multiple Grade I winner I'm a Chatterbox (Munnings).

“Adare Manor possesses some of the most influential stallions and influential names in our stud book with Uncle Mo and Giant's Causeway,” said Browning. “A Grade I performer and superb physical, she's the complete package and offers unlimited opportunity and unlimited potential to whoever happens to buy her.”

While Baffert and the rest of Adare Manor's connections had high hopes that their talented mare could go out a winner at the Breeders' Cup before going through the ring at Fasig-Tipton, Baffert said that he is grateful to Petersen for keeping Adare Manor in training as a 5-year-old this year so that he could share one last season with his stable star.

“Michael Lund has been fortunate and blessed to have mares like her, but he knows how hard it is to get a good horse,” said Baffert. “I'm happy he let us run for one more year. It really helped her and we had a lot of fun with her. We're going to really miss her. She has become like a pet in the barn now. I'm just blessed and lucky that she got to fulfill her talents. That's the thing about racing. Sometimes you have them and they don't get to do that, but she got to fulfill all of her talents.”