TDN Q&A: Mark Taylor on Abel Tasman

Headlining the Keeneland January Sale this year is the 2017 Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old filly, Abel Tasman, who sells as hip 288 during the auction's opening session this coming Monday. We went out to visit the mare at Taylor Made Farm last week and to talk to Mark Taylor about the six-time Grade I winner's selling points.

TDN: You found out, I'm assuming, kind of late in the year that you're going to have Abel Tasman in the consignment. How did that come about?

MT: Well, we've had a great relationship with the Cleary boys out at Clearsky, as well as China Horse Club, for a number of years. China Horse Club bought a really nice mare off of us a few years ago, named Embellish the Lace, and got to know them better through that. This year we actually partnered on a race horse with them, Sassy Sienna, and we've sold yearlings for them. We sold a really nice War Front colt in 2017 in September. They're doing big things in the business and we've been fortunate enough to develop a good relationship with them. There was a comfort level there. The Cleary boys, we knew their father and we've been friends with them and selling horses with them. They sell mostly their own at the yearling sales, but we help them out and anytime they need our two cents worth, we're always involved with those guys. I think that's how it came to fruition, and I think everybody knows selling these kind of mares is something that Taylor Made puts a lot of emphasis on and that's our bread and butter.

TDN: She's a unique mare in her talent. She's a Grade I winner at two, three and four. Talk about her accomplishments on the racetrack and what she was able to accomplish, first as a 2-year-old with Simon Callaghan and then with Bob Baffert.

MT: She's just one of those very rare versatile horses that have so much talent, that you can't really pigeon hole her. It's very hard to beat her, because if she goes with you, you're in trouble, and if you go out and she sits back and relaxes, you're at her mercy. She's going to run you down in the stretch. Physically, what I love about Abel Tasman is when you breed to Quality Road, you're hoping to get one that looks like her. She's very similar to him in that she's got tons of length. She's got this beautiful, elegant, long neck. Bob Baffert actually alluded to that in the one interview I saw. “Got that neck.” Beautiful deep shoulder on her. Very long, mare just covers a lot of ground. Good hip and she's roomy. It's the way I call it. She looks like one of those mares that can carry a lot of foal. That's what I like to see in mares.

TDN: What has her progression been like on the farm since the Breeders' Cup?

MT: She's been at Clearsky, where she was raised, with Barry Robinette. He runs the Cleary boys' farm out there. I really like the way she's going since the Breeders' Cup. She was obviously light coming in off the track. Tight, fit and been running all year. But if you can see her transition from then until now, I think she's put on right at 100 pounds. You think about this mare when she gets pregnant and what she's going to look like next summer. She is just going to be awesome. And she's just now starting to kind of let down and think, maybe it's time to be a mom now. She's getting turn out time and just getting into that routine. So, it's been really cool to see her, the way she's transitioning, starting to head into the breeding season.

TDN: Quality Road had a huge 2018 and has really established himself as a top sire, particularly of females.

MT: Quality Road is a horse that I think a lot of people always believed in. He was such a fantastic racehorse himself. He set track records, is very versatile, was fast, he could stretch out to a mile and an eighth. Everybody believed in him and I think it took him a while to just get over the hump, as it does with some of these great sires. He's showed great promised early, but then in 2018 it was just, “Wow.” I think he's clearly one of the very, very best stallions in North America, and he gets respect from around the world. I mean, he's had really good horses in Europe, so I think that's maybe what differentiates him a little bit, is that he's a superstar in America, but he's had horses go over to Europe and run very well, Japan. So I think he's truly an international sire. Even though Abel Tasman never got to run on the grass herself, I think her pedigree opens her up to where she can be mated with sires from around the world. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see her offspring competing in Group 1s at whatever racing jurisdiction they end up in.

TDN: Have you gotten much international interest in her, from Japan? From Europe?

MT: We've gotten significant interest. She's definitely on the top buyers' radar screens. The one thing that I'm trying to convey to all of the buyers that have interest is is that this isn't a situation where China Horse Club or the Cleary boys are just trying to buy one another out. I think they're both there and they're genuine sellers. I think everybody knows that she's a very valuable mare, and she's not going to be cheap. But you're not going to be battling where one side or the other says, “Oh, I'm just going to go there and I'm bidding with 50-cent on the dollar or whatever, and I'm going to buy everybody out.” We saw a little bit of that in November, where partners were buying other partners out. I think that we're dealing in this situation with two very genuine sellers and she's going to have a fair reserve and that's what I've been trying to communicate to everybody that's called me so far.

TDN: The stock market has been schizophrenic, to say the least, over the past month. How might that affect the sale, and just what are your thoughts coming to January in general?

MT: January is a sale where you get the entire spectrum of the bloodstock world covered. You're going to have very cheap horses and you're going to have some very, very expensive horses. You're going to see that we're dealing with different strengths at different levels. I think what we've seen in the global economy, what we've seen in our stock market here domestically, I think that it's a little bit of a, 'we don't know what's in the future or on the horizon.' Uncertainty is never really a good thing for the horse business. I think if you look at mares like Abel Tasman she's sort of recession proof, because she's collector's status and those horses hold their value more. But going into next year, I think there's strength at the top, but I think that more and more breeders have to be careful. They've got to make the right decisions. They've got to make the right culling decisions when they're selling, and then they have to try to raise the best product they can. It's not an easy game and when you get below the top, you've got to really, really try to tighten up all those different variables that you can control, and then hope you get a little luck with the vetting and those kinds of things to find success.