Quality Mares, Commercial Matings Key for Grovendale at Fasig-Tipton

[Wandering Eyes]

Grovendale Sales describes itself as a boutique Thoroughbred consignor. So it may not always have the quantity of some others when it comes to the November breeding stock sales. But they do have quality. And, this year, plenty of it.

Grovendale, which is run by James Keogh and Chance Timm, will sell five quality broodmares, all in foal to top stallions, at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Night of the Stars sale. They will also be selling a weanling. The roster of sires the mares are in foal to reads like a page out of an equine Who's Who: Into Mischief, McKinzie, Curlin, Nyquist and Not This Time.

“I think Fasig-Tipton has done a great job to create a pretty special night that's created an environment where it's pretty spectacular,” Timm said. “I think it creates an atmosphere in there that drives the market and we feel like these horses we are selling are the kind that fit in that market that have the opportunity to break out. As consignors and commercial breeders, we're all looking for those opportunities to place these horses where we feel like they can outsell themselves and be in a position to break out.”

The best of the best may be hip 98, Flattery (Flatter), who is foal to Into Mischief. Flattery won the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf S. in her second start. She is out of a course record-setting Unbridled's Song mare. This will be the first foal for a broodmare who is just four.

“That's a lovely mare by Flatter from a tremendous family,” Timm said. “She's a stakes winner and she's a fantastic physical. The way the industry's going, it's all oriented towards physical. So this is the kind of physical conformation that's going to appeal to any commercial breeder because she's got every possibility to replicate herself with her progeny. So we'd expect her to be very well received, no doubt.”

Hip 191 is Batucada (Union Rags), who is in foal to Curlin. In 2024, the now 5-year-old won the Powder Break S. at Gulfstream and was second in the GII Beldame at the Belmont-at-Aqueduct meet. In the Beldame, she was beaten just a head by GISW winner Raging Sea (Curlin). She has won on both dirt and synthetic tracks and is from the immediate family of Breeders' Cup winners Life Is Sweet (Storm Cat) and Sweet Catomine (Storm Cat).

“She ran behind Raging Sea when she was placed in the Beldame,” Timm said.  “So she has tremendous form. She also is a great physical. This mare comes from a tremendous family that is very hard to get into. There's not of availability here. The depth is just tremendous and she is in foal to a horse like Curlin. This mare has a lot of appeal for all the right reasons.”

Hip 194, Beautiful Dancer (Gun Runner) is in foal to Not This Time, maybe the hottest sire on the planet. A share in Not This Time sold for $3 million at Wednesday's Keeneland Championship Sale.

“That's a lovely mare that we're selling in foal to Not This Time,” Timm said. “It's from a tremendous family that there's not a lot of opportunity out there for people to get involved in. But certainly being in foal to that horse just adds to the appeal. I thought Gun Runner got off to about as exceptional a start as a stallion could. And you'd have to think that this horse has even exceeded the start the Gun Runner had a few years ago. I think anything surrounding Not This Time is going to have tremendous amount of appeal.”

Beautiful Dancer is out of G1SW Dream Dancing and the third dam is the champion Beautiful Pleasure.

This year's yearling sales produced records across the board. Timm said he believed the trend will continue at the November breeding sales, particularly if you have the type of quality horse that everyone seems to be looking for.

“You'd have to have a lot of confidence that the trend will continue, especially at the top end,” Timm said. “Fortunately, we've got some horses here that would reflect that area of the market and we're pretty optimistic that they'll be well-received. I think that's where the market is really oriented towards these days, the Book 1 and Saratoga-type horses that have the potential to realize seven figures as a yearling. That's where the market is oriented and those are the kind of horses you have to breed to have those kind of opportunities.”

Last year, Grovendale sold the dam of Nysos (Nyquist) for $2 million. Can they top that figure this year?

“We hope so,” Timm said. “It's pretty hard for anybody to expect these horses to bring north of $2 million. You sure hope that it happens, but you want to try to keep your expectations to a realistic level. But I think that these horses are in a great position to sell very well. If they could reach that kind of level, that would be a fantastic result. But we will certainly be rooting for Nysos and watching him in the Breeders' Cup. We also sold the dam of Ted Noffey (Into Mischief).

Ted Noffey's dam is Streak of Luck (Old Fashioned). Grovendale sold her at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November sale for $620,000 to Aaron and Marie Jones.

Timm said that he and Keogh are true partners in that they share the duties of running Grovendale equally and both handle all ends of the operation.

“I've learned that being self-employed, that you're not too good for anything,” Timm said. “So if something comes up and it needs to be addressed, we tackle whatever comes our way. We keep a pretty skinny staff. It's James, myself, and Hailey Carroll is part of the team. She's a big part of connecting all the dots and bridging the gap. We take on whatever faces us. But I'm very grateful to James and he's a great partner and he's been very good to me. I've expressed that before in the past, but he's done more for me than just about anybody in the horse business. So I'm very, very thankful and grateful to be his partner.”

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