Mastery

Up Her Sleeve (Mastery) benefited from a perfect trip to become the first winner for her well-regarded Claiborne Farm-based sire (by Candy Ride {Arg}) in the Gulfstream opener Saturday afternoon. Sent off at 19-1 off a distant last of four in a rained-off maiden on debut June 30, the bay filly was one of the first away, but came back to Wilmer Garcia to sit third rounding the first turn, as odds-on Royal Rocker (Noble Bird) led them along. Hugging the rail down the backstretch, she was asked for a...

Candy Ride (Arg), by Ride the Rails from Candy Girl (Arg), by Candy Stripes, came from Argentina, where he was a champion miler, and quickly established himself as both a high-class racehorse with a win in the Gl Pacific Classic and as a sire here in a similar way that Forli (Arg) and Lord At War (Arg) did before him. Make no mistake, it was quite a feat, because South American-bred racehorses, no matter how successful they are on the track in North America, most often whiff at stud in...

This is the second part of the latest instalment in our ongoing series assessing stallion options for the new covering season, now tackling sires who have just sold their first yearlings. The first part, which appeared in Tuesday's edition, can be read here. Dixie Union has achieved quite a legacy as a broodmare sire and, following on from Mohaymen (Tapit), two other stallions in this group are out of his daughters. KLIMT (Quality Road-Inventive by Dixie Union) has maintained an industrial output through his first three books at Darby Dan,...

And so we come to the group standing on the brink. The group facing the moment of truth, when their most precocious stock enters the gate and offers some initial indication as to their competence for the task for which, ostensibly at least, they were bred. As such, this should perhaps be the moment we double down. That's what we would do, at any rate, if we had real faith in the choices we have made for our mares. If we have selected their mates well, then people will be...

Tony Holmes has enjoyed sales success with mares he has purchased in partnership with employees of his Marula Park Stud in the past, but next week the native New Zealander and a 22-year veteran of the farm may have success on the next level when they send Veronique (Mizzen Mast) (hip 244D) through the ring during Monday's first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Holmes purchased the mare, in foal to Mastery, privately after she RNA'd for $22,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale. It was 10 months...

Claiborne Farm has released stud fees for the majority of its stallions who will stand at the Paris, Ky.-based farm during the upcoming 2021 breeding season, which included a significant reduction in price for its international super-sire War Front. Among Claiborne's 13 stallions, War Front leads the charge with a stud fee of $150,000. The internationally acclaimed son of Danzig and emerging sire of sires is North America's top sire by percentage of lifetime stakes winners, graded stakes winners, and Grade I winners. In 2020, War Front has added three...

Since the start of sales season last fall, comments have circulated on how Mastery could be the dark horse in his class of first-crop yearling sires. There are many unknowns about the son of Candy Ride (Arg), as he may have never reached his full potential on the track when an injury forced him to retire prematurely. But his four-for-four career start had garnered talk of Kentucky Derby favoritism after dominating performances in the GI Los Alamitos Cash Call Futurity and the GII San Felipe S. Now in the stud...

Despite massive COVID-19 prevention protocols, the postponed 2020 Hokkaido Selection Sale drew a strong crowd, easily as big as normal years despite protocols requiring everyone to pre-register for entry credentials. The looming pandemic-induced global recession also seemed to have little effect on the sale, which set records on nearly all fronts despite being pushed back a little over a month from its usual mid-July date. While the clearance rate was 82.5%, down from last year's record of 83.5%, it was the best year of the sale by every other measure...

We've taken a breather in this series during the January Sale, where I shared many conversations on themes raised in its first two parts--notably the market's addiction to unproven stallions. Time after time, it was the same story. A shrug of the shoulders, a helpless spreading of the hands: "Yes, we know it's nuts. But we have to make the game pay." Fair enough. It's a bit like the individual who asks why he or she should make a massively inconvenient personal sacrifice, with regard to the climate crisis, when...