Taking it to the ‘Banke’

One year after purchasing a sale-topping Smart Strike colt for $1.8 million here, Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables was back at it Tuesday, stretching to $1.6 million for a co-topping son of Giant’s Causeway consigned as Hip 343 by Northwest Stud. The half-brother to 2010 GI Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity hero J. B.’s Thunder (Thunder Gulch) was a $550,000 buy by the Iadisernia family’s up-and-coming Northwest operation at Keeneland September last year. He covered a furlong in :10 1/5 on day one of two under tack sessions. 
“We liked the way he worked, the way he moved, the way he looked and his breeding,” said Banke, who bid from the OBS offices alongside bloodstock advisor John Moynihan. “I [co-]own [Taylor Made stallion] Eskendereya (Giant’s Causeway), so we liked the bloodlines.” 
Added Moynihan, “He looks likes a Classic horse.” 
Banke and Moynihan said they had not yet decided who would train the chestnut, nor if he would race solely as property of Stonestreet or as part of a partnership. 
Bred in Kentucky by Gary O’Meara’s Coffee Pot Stable, Hip 343 is out of the Grade II-placed Rebridled Dreams (Unbridled’s Song), also responsible for multiple English stakes winner and multiple group-placed Doncaster Rover (War Chant). 

Northwest is Here to Stay… 
Italian-born, Venezuelan native Guiseppe Iadisernia, founder of the electrical company Iadiexport, emerged on the U.S. racing scene in 2007 as both a trainer and owner under the nom de course The Big Stable. He has greatly expanded his operation since then, founding Northwest Stud in 2011 at the Nelson Jones Training Center in Ocala. Northwest is now involved in virtually all aspects of the Thoroughbred industry. They own approximately 85 broodmares and stand seven stallions, including MGSW Gone Astray (Dixie Union) and 2011 GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Wrote (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}). Iadisernia also operates a training center near Calder in Miami where he conditions his horses. 
For an outfit that has made such a strong investment into racing and breeding, it was a major victory for Northwest to be rewarded with a solid profit on their $550,000 Keeneland September outlay. 
“When you pay that kind of money for a horse, you expect him to be worth every penny, and he showed that today,” said Dr. Alfredo Lichoa, Northwest’s General Manager. “I think he’s going to do even better on the racetrack and he’s going to be a great horse next year.” 
Northwest sold four juveniles Tuesday for a total of $1,965,000, and they’re just getting started. 
“Wait for Fasig-Tipton and OBS April, too,” boasted Lichoa. “We’ve got a Bernardini coming at OBS and an Unbridled’s Song coming at Fasig who are going to be close to this horse.” 
He added, “We believe in Florida and we’re here to stay.”