Practical Joke

Trainer William Morey picked up three for his stable while shopping the 2-year-old sales in Ocala last spring. Two of them, led by the streaking GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks-bound Hush of a Storm (Creative Cause), will compete on Saturday's loaded program at Turfway Park. "Two have won stakes, and, of course, the other filly hasn't made the races," Morey said. "We've had some bitter and sweet, but lots of sweet along the way." Hush of a Storm, a $75,000 OBS Spring purchase (:21 3/5; consigned by de Meric Sales) by...

By the time a stallion's fourth book opens, the team behind him is usually pulling out all their stops to fill those pages. But perhaps no marketing technique in their repertoire can have quite the same effect as just one big price tag when the stallion's first crop of juveniles go to market. At last week's OBS March Sale, three first-crop juvenile sires were represented by youngsters that surpassed the $500,000 mark in the sales ring, and representatives from each of their respective farms said the phone has been ringing...

By Brian DiDonato & Steve Sherack What a difference a year makes. With a $750,000 filly from the first crop of Practical Joke leading the way, the first auction of 2-year-old sales season completed a very promising two-day run as the 2021 OBS March sale concluded with across-the-board gains compared to last year and numbers not too far off of 2019 stats recorded during more normal circumstances. Consigned by Top Line Sales as hip 311, Wednesday's highest-priced lot and the sale's overall topper was purchased by Japan's Hideyuki Mori, who...

A filly from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Practical Joke (hip 311) shot to the leader board at OBS when selling for $750,000 to Hideyuki Mori Wednesday in Ocala. Consigned by Top Line Sales, the bay filly is out of Peruvian champion Valiant Emilia (Per) (Pegasus Wind) and is from the family of recent GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner Helium (Ironicus). The bay filly, who RNA'd for $65,000 as a Keeneland November weanling, sold for $120,000 to Down the Stretch at the 2020 Keeneland September...

Seven more juveniles matched Thursday's fastest furlong of :9 4/5 during Friday's second of three under-tack previews for the OBS March sale, while another two tied the top quarter-mile time of :20 2/5. Hip 220, the morning's first breezer, kicked off a strong day for last year's leading first-crop sire Nyquist. Consigned by Top Line Sales, Agent XVII, she was one of two Nyquist fillies to go in :9 4/5. The $67,000 KEESEP RNA, a June 3 foal, is out of a half to speedy GSW This Ones for Phil...

With the 2-year-old sales right around the corner, the TDN reached out to consignors with juveniles heading to the sales rings at the Mar. 16 and 17 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and the Mar. 31 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale to discuss which of their offerings by first-crop sires have impressed them. This is the second installment of the series (click here to view the first section which was published in Tuesday's TDN). CIARAN DUNNE (Wavertree Stables) Among the 26 juveniles Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables has...

As the calendar inches inexorably towards March and a spring-long series of 2-year-olds in training sales, consignors are putting the finishing touches on juveniles heading to auction, paying particular attention to youngsters representing their stallions first crop to hit the track. The TDN is reaching out to consignors with 2-year-olds heading to the sales rings at OBS and Gulfstream Park next month to find out which freshman sires have impressed them. EDDIE WOODS Prolific consignor Eddie Woods has 24 juveniles catalogued for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's March 2-Year-Olds in...

Fasig-Tipton has catalogued an additional 70 supplemental entries to its 2021 Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale. The entries are catalogued as hips 581-650 and may now be viewed online. Print versions of the supplemental catalogue will be available on the sales grounds at sale time. These latest entries include: Shieldmaiden (Hip 589): Daughter of Smart Strike is the dam of Fair Maiden (Street Boss), recent winner of the GI La Brea S. at Santa Anita. She is from the immediate family of Grade I winners Secret Status (A.P. Indy), Private Status...

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...

Champion sire Into Mischief has had a lot of good weekends. But this year's Kentucky Derby weekend had to be near the top of the list. On Friday, his son Owendale ran second in the GII Alysheba S. at Churchill Downs only to be defeated by By My Standards, sired by none other than Into Mischief's leading son Goldencents. Then the next day at Saratoga, Into Mischief's daughter Frank's Rockette became a Grade II winner in the Prioress S. while at Gulfstream, Cool Arrow won the GIII Smile Sprint S....

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...