Roses for Debra

by Jessica Martini, Christina Bossinakis, & Jill Williams LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale opened Tuesday in Lexington with a solid Book 1 session punctuated by nine million-dollar mares purchased by a diverse, international buying bench. Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm made the session's highest bid when purchasing graded-stakes winner Roses For Debra (Liam's Map) for $2.4 million from the Candy Meadows Sales consignment. "It was a very solid, vibrant marketplace," said Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin. "It was a really diverse buying bench. We had...

Godolphin's Star of Mystery (GB) (Kodiac {GB}) leads an oversubscribed renewal of the GII Franklin Stakes at Keeneland Sunday. With 12 listed in the body of the field and an additional four waiting on the A/E list, the 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint offers contenders an opportunity to earn their way into one of a few options during next month's Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar. The Charlie Appleby runner certainly hasn't been ducking anyone since embarking on her 3-year-old campaign, having made all six prior starts this season against...

Whatever Next? It's as big a question for the throwback gelding of that name as for his sire, both standing at an exciting crossroads in their respective careers. Next's domination of a niche division of the American Turf is now such that he may now try to adapt to a more competitive, mainstream discipline at the Breeders' Cup. But whether this switch concerns distance or surface, in the Classic or Turf respectively, nobody should be surprised if the gray proves equal to the challenge. For his sire Not This Time...

Neither wind nor water could stop her, and Roses for Debra (Liam's Map) streaked home at a rain-drenched Saratoga to take the Smart N Fancy S., securing her fourth win in a row in the process. Only once off the board in her career, the grey was last seen putting up a career-high Beyer of 99 en route to winning the GIII Caress S. over this course last month and had two victories over the lawn at Belmont and Pimlico since changing from the barn of Michelle Brafford to Christophe...

Despite never having won against open stakes company, Roses for Debra nonetheless installed the 8-5 choice to best four others in Saturday's GIII Caress S. at Saratoga. Undefeated in a pair of starts since joining Christophe Clement's string earlier this season, the Pennsylvania-bred filly made short work of her rivals, coming from off the pace to win by an authoritative victory over Wakanaka (Ire). MGSW Our Flash Drive (Ghostzapper) got off to an awkward start, spotting the field a couple of lengths as 2-1 chance Bubble Rock took control while...

7th-Presque Isle Downs, $45,046, Alw (NW3L), Opt. Clm ($40,000), 9-21, 3yo/up, f/m, 6f (AWT), 1:08.64, ft, 2 3/4 lengths. ROSES FOR DEBRA (f, 3, Liam's Map--Essential Rose, by Bernardini) would be perfect but for a debut demotion at this venue May 23 when two lengths best, only to be taken down for drifting in and causing interference. A clear-cut maiden winner second time out June 9, the gray filly was last seen posting a facile 3 3/4-length triumph in the state-bred restricted Malvern Rose S. over an extra sixteenth of...

Call it a Milestone achievement. Any farm, right up to the biggest brands of the Bluegrass, would have been proud to match the three stakes wins in 24 hours recorded by John O'Meara a couple of weekends back. And yet this is a man tending just a dozen mares, with the assistance of a single employee. Some landmark, then, in an odyssey stretching back four decades to when O'Meara first arrived in Lexington and called a farm he'd found in the bus station telephone directory. "Is anybody Irish working there?"...