LaPenta Mines Medaglia Colt for $770,000

By Lucas Marquardt
    Robert LaPenta, who partnered on the sale topper, came back to secure the day’s second-highest-priced horse, too, a striking son of Medaglia d’Oro out of Grade I winner Victory Ride (Seeking the Gold) who was hammered down for $770,000. Eddie Woods consigned the Feb. 3-foaled colt as Hip 61. LaPenta’s racing manager, John Panagot, handled the bidding duties out back while on the phone with LaPenta. George Bolton was the direct underbidder. Al Shaqab Racing’s Bradley Weisbord was also in on the action. 
    “He’s got some speed on the bottom–he’s out of a stakes-winning mare that could fly–and he’s by a top-class sire in Medaglia–he’s one of the boss’s favorites,” said Panagot. 
    Victory Ride, whose wins included the 2001 GI Test S., is also the dam of GSP Magical Ride (Storm Cat), dam of this year’s good sophomore Ride On Curlin (Curlin). 
    The colt posted the fastest quarter-mile breeze of the sale with a blistering :20 flat move. 
    “He breezed well and he’s from a good consignment that takes care of their horses,” added Panagot. 
    Panagot said he’ll be trained by Chad Brown, who stood alongside him during the bidding. 
    LaPenta has been both a prominent seller and buyer at the juvenile sales over the past decade, but didn’t offer any 2-year-olds this spring. “We’re focusing on racing,” said Panagot. “This horse will be our 17th 2-year-old, including the Malibu Moon we partnered on. We’re going to run a bunch; we want action. It’s a numbers game, so we’ve got to take our shots.” 
    Bidding on the Medaglia d’Oro was borderline laborious, beginning at $30,000 and then creeping up to the $770,000 mark in unabated $10,000 increments. 
    “It was slooow,” Panagot smiled. “Trying to handicap it, it seemed like there was live money for quite a while there, and it seemed like it took a day to get that ticket. I had the boss on the phone, and that’s about where we pegged the horse. We think he’s one of the better horses in the sale, and one of the better horses we’ve seen at the sales this year, and we can’t wait to get started.”