Looking to Excel Again

by Jessica Martini 
Bruno DeBerdt's Excel Bloodstock enjoyed a stellar sale at Barretts last March, selling three of the auction's top six-priced juveniles. Highlighting the 2013 consignment was a colt by Dunkirk who fetched $575,000–the evening's second highest price–from Demi O'Byrne. The youngster went on to become Grade I winner Havana. DeBerdt and pinhooking partner Dave Scanlon return with a five-horse consignment at Barretts this year and DeBerdt knows he has a tough act to follow. 
“Obviously we did well and the horses did well subsequently on the racetrack,” DeBerdt commented Friday. “I think this year's catalogue probably has a little bit more depth in it. Kim Lloyd and his staff did a good job recruiting good horses. So I think the competition this year is going to be a lot stiffer. I think we were fortunate last year to have a horse like Havana who stood out.” 
DeBerdt admits there is plenty of pride in watching Havana's success on the track. The gray colt won last year's GI Champagne S. and was second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He kicks off his sophomore campaign in Saturday's GII Swale S. at Gulfstream Park. 
“It's like watching your child graduate from an Ivy university and going out and doing well–you're just so proud of him,” DeBerdt said. “It's wonderful. If you're feeling down on yourself, you just punch in and watch one of his races. It's great. That's what we do. We buy these horses and develop them and we take them to the next level. You have to go through a lot of horses to get a horse like Havana and when you do get one like that, it just basically validates what we do. Because that is ultimately what we want to do. We want to buy an individual, develop it, take it to the next level and hopefully make a profit. And then watch it do well.” 
DeBerdt said his 2013 success did not change his approach at the yearlings sales, but he did admit market conditions caused him to pay a little more. 
“With the market, it was hard to buy yearlings last year and I think we had to step up to be competitive and have the inventory,” he said. “We had to pay a little bit more money. It doesn't really change anything. Our principles are still the same. We have a very small group, myself and two or three partners, and we understand and we've been doing it long enough to realize that you're not going to have the Havanas all the time and it doesn't automatically make you a rocket scientist if you have one, so I haven't really changed anything.” 
Among Excel Bloodstock's 2014 Barretts offerings are a colt by Midnight Lute (hip 71) out of Vivaladiva (Alydeed). The dark bay, a $75,000 Keeneland September yearling, worked a furlong in :10 2/5. Hip 110 is a colt by Harlan's Holiday out of Miss Veronica (Distorted Humor) who worked in :10 1/5. The bay colt RNA'd for $180,000 at Keeneland September. Hip 132, a daughter of Elusive Quality out of Holy Eclaire (Holy Bull), worked in :10 flat. 
“I think our consignment is solid,” DeBerdt said. “I don't think we have a Havana, but I think we have some really good horses. The Harlan's Holiday and the Midnight Lute are both really solid. They are not maybe as precocious at this stage of their career, but I think they are going to go on and be very good horses. The fillies, the same, they are solid.” 
DeBerdt and Scanlon have consolidated their pinhooking operations. Based in Ocala, Scanlon prepares all the horses. Horses will sell on the West Coast under the Excel Bloodstock banner and under Scanlon's name on the East Coast. 
“It's myself, David and two other people who have been with me,” DeBerdt explained of the operation, which purchased 12 yearlings last fall. “We don't really want to get any bigger because then we become an administrator and not so much in the horse end of it. But we're trying to be a small boutique operation where, if we have a horse who has a problem, we're not going to bring it to the sales.” 
The 2013 juvenile sales were strong right from the gate and DeBerdt expects similar results this year. 
“I'm not sure that I see it increasing, but I think I don't see it decreasing,” he commented. “I think it's going to hold. Maybe with a small, healthy increase. There is a shortage of good horses and all indications show that [the market] should stay and maybe slightly increase. And if it does that, I think you're going to get rewarded.”