Strong Opener to Fasig Midlantic Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

TIMONIUM, MD–The two-day Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale kicked off in Timonium Monday with a strong session punctuated by competitive bidding from a broad buying bench. Trainer Ken McPeek made the day’s highest bid, going to $500,000 to secure a colt by Street Sense (hip 156) from the Top Line Sales consignment.

In all, 156 juveniles sold Monday for a total of $11,402,500. The average of $73,093 ticked up 4.2% from last year’s opening session and the median rose 19.4% to $43,000. The buy-back rate was 25.7%. It was 22.9% a year ago.

Eleven horses sold for $200,000 or more during the session, compared to 13 a year ago.

“It was a solid start to the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “Statistically, it was very similar to last year. It was pretty much the market that we have seen throughout the 2-year-old sales season of 2019 and it was about as expected.”

A traditional strength of the Midlantic sale is its diverse buying bench, which was on full display Monday, according to Browning.

“We feed a number of racing jurisdictions and you see buyers from literally all over the United States, from California to the Southwest and obviously a lot of Eastern trainers and some Midwestern support,” Browning said. “There was activity from Korea and some folks from Dubai. It’s a very broad-based buying bench that participated in this sale.”

The day’s top 10 lots were all purchased by unique buying interests.

The Midlantic sale continues Tuesday and Browning is looking for another strong session.

“I think we probably have some more top-end horses tomorrow, based on the chatter on the sales grounds amongst both consignors and buyers,” he said. “So we should hopefully have some fireworks tomorrow, but it was certainly a good, solid consistent marketplace at a variety of levels today, which was encouraging.”

The Midlantic sale’s final session begins at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Colt Makes Sense for McPeek

Ken McPeek made good use of his time in Baltimore. While in town to saddle Signalman (General Quarters) in Saturday’s GI Preakness S., the trainer went through the Fasig Midlantic sales barns and came up with a colt by Street Sense. McPeek purchased the bay on behalf of Reebok founder Paul Fireman for $500,000 Monday in Timonium.

“I thought he was a real standout here,” McPeek said. “Obviously the sire is a Derby winner and the bottom line is speed. He looked great breezing and presented himself well out back. He had an injection of Deputy Minister on the bottom line, too, in the second dam, which I am always fond of. I have had a lot of luck with that line.”

The juvenile (hip 156) is out of Forest Fashion (Forest Wildcat), who is a daughter of Fashion Editor (Deputy Minister) and she is a half-sister to graded stakes placed Luxembourg (Wild Rush).

The 75-year-old Fireman, who races as Fern Circle Stables, was represented in this year’s GI Kentucky Oaks by Restless Rider (Distorted Humor).

“Paul Fireman, the principal on this one, is always looking for a really good horse,” McPeek said. “We had Restless Rider in the Oaks this year, so we’ve sort of sniffed around at some top-end stuff and that is what he is after. And this is certainly a high-class colt.”

The colt worked over a challenging surface during last week’s first session of the under-tack preview and turned in the fastest quarter-mile time of the day, covering the distance in :21 4/5.

“He showed a turn of foot that you need to win big races,” McPeek said of the work.

He added, “Because I was here for the Preakness with Signalman, I looked at every horse myself. I had some time to kill going into the race. I trained in the morning and then I had the afternoon [to look at horses]. So I looked at every horse by Sunday and narrowed it down. This was a horse who made the short list and he certainly deserved to be on it.”

The colt was consigned by Top Line Sales, as agent for Carlo Vaccarezza who purchased him for $280,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. Vaccarezza has enjoyed a string of successful pinhooking scores this spring. At the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale, he sold a colt by American Pharoah for $775,000. He had purchased the youngster for $235,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

Hip 156 was originally also slated to go to the Gulfstream sale, according to Top Line’s Torie Gladwell.

“This colt just took a little bit longer to get ready,” Gladwell said. “We actually had him entered in the Miami sale and he was just a big and little heavier horse and we opted to scratch him out of Miami and just keep training him and getting him a little fitter. We knew he would be a big fish up here. And he did everything right. He breezed two ticks faster than anything else on the first day. The first day was pretty tough and we actually sent him in the last set, hoping the track would dry out a little bit. He breezed really well and he looked good doing it. He looked like he was galloping in his breeze. I’m happy for Carlo, he’s having a good year.”

Patience Pays for Uncle Mo Colt

Consignor Eddie Woods admitted it had taken some time for his colt by Uncle Mo to come to hand, but the juvenile did it handsomely in Timonium this week before ultimately selling for $475,000 to Martin Schwartz. Woods’s Quarter Pole Enterprise partnership purchased the dark bay for $225,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale.

“He is a lovely horse,” Woods said. “He is just very immature and very backward. It took a long time for him to come around. We never took him to another sale. We had him entered in [OBS] March and he just wasn’t ready for it. His butt is still up in the air, way above his withers. We could just never get him to balance out and in March he looked awkward. But we just gave him the time. This is sort of the last place to come with a horse. I had a partner who wanted to sell here and I said, ‘Okay.’ It went really well.”

Hip 236 is out of the unraced Lady Godiva (Unbridled’s Song) and is a half-brother to Grade I winner Leofric (Candy Ride {Arg}). Lady Godiva, in foal to Candy Ride, sold for $600,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton November sale.

The juvenile worked a furlong last week in :10 2/5.

“He breezed great,” Woods said. “He had a beautiful video because he’s a beautiful-moving horse. He struggled with the turn a little bit, he was going a bit quick and he kind of blew the turn and went into the middle of the track a little bit and then drifted back in and cost himself a tick.”

As the juvenile sales season winds down, Woods observed of the Timonium market, “We are getting horses sold. This is one of the last events. Some of the pinhooking has gone quite well, so we’re just moving horses along here.”

He continued, “This was the lightest that we had seen for the showing here. Usually Sunday, we are swamped. And we were busy in spots this year, but we weren’t swamped. So I was a little concerned, especially for the bottom-end horses, but we got a lot of them sold just due to setting very realistic reserves and people wanting to move them on.”

Carlisle Strikes for Ghostzapper Filly

A filly by Ghostzapper will be joining the Tom Amoss barn after bloodstock agent Lauren Carlisle went to $400,000 to secure hip 205 on behalf of owner Temple Webber.

“She is beautiful,” Carlisle said after signing the ticket on the youngster. “I loved her top line and her breeze was very impressive. She had a great shoulder and hip to match, so all the angles were there.”

The dark bay is out of stakes winner I’m Mom’s Favorite (Indian Charlie) and her third dam is multiple Grade I winner Tout Charmant (Slewvescent). She worked a furlong during last week’s under-tack show in :10 2/5.

“That was my last bid,” Carlisle admitted. “I was lucky to get her, but we stretched.”

That was a refrain Carlisle has found common all season long at the juvenile sales.

“It’s hard to buy the ones you want,” she said. “Everybody is on the same ones, so you’ve got to pray when you go to bid that you’re going to be able to get what you want. The good ones sell.”

The dark bay filly was consigned to the Timonium sale by Pelican State Thoroughbreds.

“She is just beautiful,” Pelican State Thoroughbreds’ Terry Gabriel said. “Just about everybody in the place was interested in her.”

Gabriel purchased the filly on behalf of David Fennelly’s Mountmellick Farm for $185,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale.

“We just thought she had a lot of potential in front of her,” Gabriel explained. “She was sort of a late foal [Apr. 28]. She was a big, gawky-looking filly that wasn’t really put together back in October. We hoped that she would arrive here today looking like she did and she did. You’ll read about her again. She is special.”

An Irish native, Fennelly worked as a groom at Spendthrift when he first came to the U.S. and he is now building his own commercial broodmare band at his 600-acre Mountmellick Farm in Georgetown.

Of Fennelly’s pinhooking venture, Gabriel explained, “He basically does that because of me. Anything that I sort of want to do, he’ll let me do. It’s been enjoyable for us.”

The filly’s final price tag was a career mark for Gabriel.

“It was right up there,” he said. “I can’t recall the numbers at this point, but it’s at least as strong as I’ve ever sold one for. I don’t do that many pinhooks–I have just two today. But I was so excited. I just loved her. It was easy for me to promote her because I could stand in front of her and tell people you can send her to the track tomorrow and she is going to be that for you, day in and day out. She has it all in front of her.”

Wilkes Busy Shopping for Lothenbach

Trainer Ian Wilkes kept busy during Monday’s first session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale, purchasing four juveniles on behalf of owner Bob Lothenbach. Leading the way was a filly by Uncle Mo (hip 90), who sold for $350,000.

“She is a nice filly,” Wilkes said after signing the ticket on the bay filly. “Bob has her half-brother, Elusive Mischief, who is a nice horse who won a race for him.”

Hip 90 was consigned by Top Line Sales on behalf of Zayat Stables, which purchased her for $160,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale. She is out of Claire’s Song (Unbridled’s Song), a half-sister to the dam of Canadian champion Wonder Gadot (Medaglia d’Oro). Lothenbach purchased Elusive Mischief (Into Mischief) for $92,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Horses of Racing Age sale. The 4-year-old won the Punch Line S. at Laurel for Lothenbach last September.

Also on behalf of Lothenbach, Wilkes purchased a colt by Pioneerof the Nile (hip 76) for $195,000, a Street Sense filly (hip 58) for $150,000, and a Speightstown filly (hip 56) for $135,000. “He’s looking for the Oaks or the Derby-type horse,” Wilkes said of Lothenbach. “That’s his main thing. That’s what he is looking for–that nice two-turn type horse.”

Bernardini Filly to Speedway Stable

Peter Fluor sat alongside Marette Farrell as the bloodstock agent went to $335,000 to secure a filly by Bernardini for his Speedway Stable. While immediate plans are to race the filly in the Speedway colors of Fluor and K.C. Weiner, long-term plans might include adding her to the operation’s fledgling broodmare band to support Grade I winner Collected (City Zip), as well as possibly GI Santa Anita Derby winner Roadster (Quality Road).

“They have now started keeping a couple of fillies as broodmares because we have Collected as a stallion,” Farrell said. “We are very hopeful that Roadster is going to come back big in the later part of this year. So we want fillies with proper pedigrees. Which she has.”

Hip 85 is out of the unraced Christmas Lass (Lemon Drop Kid), a full-sister to Grade I winner Christmas Kid.

“We loved the bottom line and Bernardini speaks for himself,” Fluor said of the filly’s appeal. “So we are buying athletes, but secondarily, looking for Collected and possibly Roadster.”

Speedway currently has a broodmare band of some 15 head, with plans to build a commercial breeding operation.

“Thanks to Marette, we have been into breeding for three years,” Fluor said. “But we are still very early on in the process. We will race the filly and then we will breed and sell the offspring. It’s a commercial breeding operation, rather than having people wonder why are you selling this one–because it’s a business.”

The filly, who worked a quarter last week in :22 1/5, was consigned by Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree Stables on behalf of Ron Fein. Fein’s Superfine Farms purchased the filly for $137,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale.

“She has a great pedigree, a great body and she was a nice mover,” Fein said of the filly’s appeal last Fall. “Ciaran loved her–that’s all that counts.”

Fein, who said he aims to pinhook five or six a year, had his first million-dollar sale at last month’s OBS April sale, when he sold a colt by Liam’s Map for $1.2 million. The juvenile had been purchased for just $50,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale.

“It’s been a great year,” Fein said of his 2019 sales season. “With a lot of thanks to Ciaran Dunne.”

Grassroots Training and Sales Cleans Up

Grassroots Training and Sales enjoyed a string of big pinhooking successes during Monday’s opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale, topped off by a son of Wicked Strong (hip 131) who sold for $240,000 to Manganaro Bloodstock. The dark bay colt was a $27,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling purchase by the Ocala-based operation.

“We bought the Wicked Strong colt at Fasig Tipton in October and he was a very nice colt up there,” explained Grassroot’s David McKathan. “He had injured himself and he had some cuts behind which took a lot of buyers off of him, but they were superficial. We took a chance and he turned out to be a nice colt, so we got lucky.”

Earlier in the session, Grassroots sold a colt (hip 99) from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Golden Lad, who stands in Maryland, for $175,000 to Gary Young, as agent for Michael Dubb. That chestnut was purchased for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Yearling sale.

“The Golden Lad was by a young sire who people weren’t familiar with,” McKathan said of the bargain purchase. “He’s a good-looking colt. We saw a possible opportunity when we saw him. We buy a lot of possible opportunities that don’t work out, but he did.”

During last Tuesday’s first session of the under-tack preview of the Midlantic sale, Grassroots sent out two of the furlong :10 1/5 bullet workers and both sold well Monday. A filly by Weigelia (hip 118), purchased for $23,000 at the Midlantic fall sale, brought $120,000 from Patti Miller and a filly by Competitive Edge (hip 106), purchased by $13,000 at the OBS October sale, attracted a final bid of $110,000 from West Bloodstock.

“When we target this market, we try to stay with state-breds for the area, Pennsylvania-breds and Maryland-breds,” McKathan said. “We try to buy good individuals. And sometimes it works.”

Strong Timonium Debut for Hemingway

Michelle Hemingway brought her first consignment to Timonium and made an immediate impression in the Midlantic sales ring Monday. Hemingway sold a colt by Pioneerof the Nile (hip 76) for $195,000 to Bob Lothenbach. The Virginia native, daughter of former Mid-Atlantic trainer Clarke Whitaker, purchased the youngster for $12,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale.

“He had the most beautiful walk of any horse I’d ever seen,” Hemingway said of the colt’s appeal as a yearling. “I was shocked [to get him for that]. I have to give a lot of credit to Mark Taylor and Alex Payne. They had him with Taylor Made and they’ve been really good to me this year. They showed him to me, he was completely under-prepped and overweight, but he had a great walk. So I was very fortunate to get him for what I got him for.”

Of the colt’s progression since last fall, Hemingway said, “He is a totally different horse. He’s a real jewel now. I couldn’t have been happier.”

Hemingway, based in Ocala since 2008, started Hemingway Racing and Training in 2014.

Of her decision to sell horses in Timonium this year, she explained, “[Fasig-Tipton President] Boyd Browning has been super to me. He’s really helped in getting me started and I really wanted to support this sale. I’m from the Virginia area–I grew up riding show horses in Virginia and Maryland and New Jersey. I thought, it was time to go home for a while. And so far, it’s been so good.”

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