‘He is Absolutely Stunning:’ Independence Hall Colt Earns Bullet at OBS Wednesday

[Wandering Eyes]

A colt from the first crop of Independence Hall (hip 619) tied the time for the fastest quarter-mile of the week so far in Ocala when he worked the distance in :20 2/5 at the fourth session of the under-tack show for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training Wednesday.

Consigned by Wavertree Stables, the juvenile is out of Waltzing (Candy Ride {Arg}), a half-sister to graded winner Dancing Solo (Giant's Causeway) and to Grade I-placed Dancing (Bernardini). He was purchased by Ron Fein's Superfine for $285,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

“Physically, he is absolutely stunning,” Wavertree's Ciaran Dunne said of the colt. “He is as nice a horse as you're ever going to see. He is a big tall, rangy, stretchy horse. He trained as good as one could train all winter. He prepped really good over there. We went up there expecting him to work really big. We've never had a horse going :20 2/5 before, so were we expecting him to do that? No. But we were expecting him to work huge.”

Wavertree consigned Independence Hall to the 2019 Fasig-Tipton March sale where he RNA'd for $200,000.

“This horse looks a lot like his dad,” Dunne said of the bullet worker. “For me, Independence Hall was an atypical Constitution. He was a big, rangy horse, kind of long and lean. And that's how this horse is. He is out of a Candy Ride mare, so he probably gets a little bit of that from the Candy Ride, too.”

Wavertree will offer four juveniles by Independence Hall at the Spring sale. In addition to Wednesday's bullet worker, the consignment sent out hip 452 to work a quarter in :20 4/5 and hip 385 to work in :21 1/5 Tuesday.

“We bought quite a few of them as yearlings,” Dunne said. “We have four in here and we've worked three of them so far. They have all worked really well and we have a filly who works tomorrow and we expect she will work really well. We were impressed with them as yearlings. They were really good physicals. And so far, they have been very good on the racetrack.”

Winner of the 2021 GII Fayette Stakes, Independence Hall was represented by a $1-million colt (hip 404) at the OBS March sale last month. The 8-year-old stallion stands at WinStar Farm for $7,500.

Leinster Continues to Reward Dunnes

Independence Hall isn't the only freshman sire Ciaran and his wife Amy have their eyes on. The couple campaigned multiple graded stakes winner Leinster (Majestic Warrior) in partnership during his racing career and now stand the stallion at Pleasant Acres Stallions. Leinster's daughter Lennilu captured the season's first juvenile race at Keeneland Sunday in Amy Dunne's colors.

“Fast,” Ciaran Dunne said of Leinster's first 2-year-olds. “It's very hard for us to be unbiased. He was obviously a horse who was really good to us. I would have said up until Sunday the greatest day we had in racing was the day he won the [2019 GIII] Troy. But I have to be honest, Sunday kind of surpassed that a little bit because our goal was to win the first 2-year-old race at Keeneland, never really expecting that to happen. So for her to go and do what she did was unbelievable.”

Lennilu | Coady Media

In addition to his immediate success on the track, Leinster also has enjoyed sales success this spring with a 2-year-old filly (hip 505) from Tom McCrocklin's consignment bringing $400,000 at the March sale.

The Dunnes have been breeding their own mares to Leinster with the plan to race, but Wavertree will offer a filly (hip 747) by the young stallion who is expected to work Thursday.

“We are only selling one that belongs to a friend of ours and we couldn't say no,” Dunne said. “All of our own and the couple that we bought, we are going to race. That was the plan. To try to run them and give him as good an opportunity as we can.”

Of Leinster's first 2-year-olds, Dunne added, “They are good-minded. He was a beautiful horse who loved to train and that's what we are seeing in them. And so far, touch wood, they have been very sound. I think everybody is going to think he's a grass horse. And maybe he is. But we've had no problem so far with them on the dirt. The ones we worked on the dirt have been really quick.”

Seven Furlong Bullets Wednesday

Seven juveniles shared the fastest furlong bullet time of :9 4/5 Wednesday, bringing the total to hit that mark during four sessions of the under-tack show to 20.

Wednesday's bullet workers were: hip 531, a filly by Kantharos consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales; hip 564, a filly by Rock Your World consigned by Julie Davies; hip 578, a filly by Tiz the Law consigned by Kings Equine; hip 585, a colt by Yaupon consigned by de Meric Sales; hip 627, a colt by Complexity consigned by Top Line Sales; hip 677, a filly by Good Magic also consigned by Top Line Sales; and hip 680, a colt by Win Win Win consigned by Camelot Acres Racing and Sales.

Of conditions through four days of the seven-day under-tack show, Dunne said, “Everybody wants to beat up on the synthetic racetrack. But we had a ton of rain the night before last and we came out yesterday morning and the racetrack was fine. Everybody wants to talk about how great dirt is, but when it rains and you have a sloppy racetrack, you really don't want to work young horses on it. The great thing about the synthetic is it does stay consistent. The biggest factor for us nowadays is the wind. And some days that works for you and some days it seems to work against you.”

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. The Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday and bidding begins each day at 10:30 a.m.

The post ‘He is Absolutely Stunning:’ Independence Hall Colt Earns Bullet at OBS Wednesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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