Midlantic Opener Soars

The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale opened with a strong session in Timonium Monday, with figures up across the board from last year’s first session. In all, 168 horses sold for $11,553,000. A year ago, 121 head grossed $7,235,000. The average of $68,768 was up 15% from last year’s figure of $59,793, while the median rose 7.8% to $34,500. Of the 290 horses catalogued, 227 were offered and 59 were reported not sold for a buy-back rate of 26%. It was 17.7% a year ago. 
“We were cautiously optimistic and hoping that people all land on the right horses to get the competition going,” commented Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sales director Paget Bennett. “So we were very pleased with the outcome. It was nice all the way through, so we had it going from the beginning through the end.” 
The top price at last year’s sale was $450,000. During yesterday’s session, that figure was bettered three times. A colt by War Front brought the day’s top price, selling for $520,000 to the bid of bloodstock agent Steve Young. Seven horses sold for $300,000 or more yesterday, matching the two-day total from a year ago. 
“It will be hard to match today, but I think we have some nice horses coming through tomorrow,” Bennett said about Tuesday’s second session of the sale. “We’ll see some definite high spots tomorrow.” 
Tuesday’s session begins at 10 a.m. 

More War for Young 
Steve Young, who purchased a son of War Front for $400,000 during the first hour of the Midlantic sale, went back to that well during the session’s last hour, going to a sale-topping $520,000 to secure a colt by the Claiborne stallion from the Eisaman Equine consignment. Hip 274 is out of Judy’s Magic (Wavering Monarch) and he is a half-brother to GISP She’s Got the Beat (Sultry Song). The juvenile’s three-quarter brother, by War Front out of a daughter of Judy’s Magic, sold for 1,150,000gns at last month’s Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale. The juvenile worked in :10 2/5 during last week’s under tack preview. Bred by Beau Lane, the bay colt RNA’d for $190,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale. 
“War Front has been good to me so far, no reason to change now,” said Young. “He’s a super nice horse who could have possibly brought more money under different circumstances. I think there may be a bit of a ceiling here today. But he’s a super nice horse.” 
The sale topper was one of five juveniles Young signed for Monday. “There are good horses here,” he said. “I think if you like a horse, there is going to be someone else who likes him, too.” 

More Than Ready Filly to Stonestreet… 
Stonestreet Stables’s bloodstock advisor John Moynihan, bidding on the phone through Fasig-Tipton’s Boyd Browning, went to $510,000 to secure a strapping dark bay filly by More Than Ready during Monday’s first session of the Midlantic sale in Timonium. The filly’s dam is already a member of the Stonestreet broodmare band. The farm purchased Exotic Bloom (Montbrook) for $500,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton November sale. 
The juvenile, who worked a co-bullet in :10 1/5 during last week’s under tack show, received a timely update last Friday at Pimlico when her half-sister Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) won the GII Black-Eyed Susan S. She was bred by Harvey Clarke and Brookdale and was consigned by Stephens Thoroughbreds as hip 187. 
“She’s a beautiful filly with a lot of pedigree,” Moynihan commented when reached by phone. “She was just a really good More Than Ready. She looks like she has talent, she looks like she’s fast. If she goes out and wins a stakes race for us, she’ll be a wonderful addition to our broodmare band, being by More Than Ready. He is becoming a good broodmare.” 
Asked if the juvenile reminded him of her dam, who was bred to Medaglia d’Oro this spring, Moynihan said, “This filly has a lot of More Than Ready in her. She’s got similarities to the mare, but she is very More Than Ready in her color and her stature. We know the mare has the ability to get a good horse from the Black-Eyed Susan winner, so it gives you a little bit of confidence that this filly could also be good.” 
Of the final price, Moynihan added, “We knew she wasn’t going to be cheap, but that’s right about in line with what we thought.” 
Clarke and Brookdale’s Fred Seitz purchased Exotic Bloom for $65,000 as an OBS June juvenile in 2006. Racing for the two men and trained by Seitz, Exotic Bloom was graded stakes placed and earned $257,281. The More Than Ready filly was her second foal. 
“We knew she was a really nice horse and the win last Friday didn’t hurt her,” Clarke said of the juvenile and her half-sister’s recent exploits. “She’s a really nice filly. The mare was a beautiful mare. Every now and then you get a good one and you have to take a few dollars off the table, so that’s what we did.” 
Clarke acknowledged he had a backup plan should the More Than Ready filly fail to meet her reserve. 
“We had already picked out a trainer in case she didn’t sell,” he admitted. “She was reasonably over [her reserve], but not a lot.” 
Exotic Bloom was the last mare Clarke and Seitz owned in partnership, but Clarke said, “We’ll get another one somewhere.” 

Ballis Scores 
Jake Ballis, bidding on behalf of relatively new owner Matt Schera, went to $500,000 to secure a colt by Unbridled’s Song, the next-to-last horse through the ring during Monday’s session of the Midlantic sale. 
“I liked everything about him,” Ballis commented. “The breeze was phenomenal, he walked well and he had a very good mind. He vetted 100%. And the horse will be going to Bill Mott tomorrow.” 
Schera, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, got into racing last August. He is a commodity trader. 
“He is going to have four horses with Mott and some with George Weaver and he has several with Chuck Lawrence at Fair Hill,” Ballis explained. 
Hip 289 is out of La Maestranza (Storm Cat), a daughter of GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Cash Run (Seeking the Gold). He worked a co-bullet last week in :10 1/5. The juvenile was bred by Town and Country Farms, which purchased La Maestranza for $370,000 at the 2010 Keeneland November sale. The colt sold to AEI Investments for $170,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. He was consigned Monday by Wavertree Stables. 

Tapit Colt Gets Midlantic off to Fast Start… 
A colt by Tapit was the first in a quick burst of three $400,000 juveniles to sell early during Monday’s opening session of the Midlantic sale. Bloodstock agent Aaron Cohen, bidding on behalf of a partnership which includes Earle Mack, signed the ticket on hip 13. “What is it they say? He checked all the boxes,” Cohen smiled. While declining to name the second owner in the partnership, Cohen said it would the group’s second runner. 
Cohen admitted pedigree was a major attraction. The bay is out of Wild Chant (War Chant), who is a half-sister to recent GI Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable (Tapit), as well as Grade I winner Paddy O’Prado (El Prado {Ire}). 
The colt was consigned by Bobby Dodd, who acquired him privately for $210,000 after he failed to sell in the ring at last summer’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. 
“We liked the Tapit, of course, and we liked the female side of the family,” Dodd explained. “We liked the body on the horse.” Dodd added that the youngster has only improved since he was purchased last year. “He’s developed very well since we bought him, he just kept getting better,” he said. 
Wild Chant, carrying this Tapit colt, was purchased by Gallagher’s Stud for $300,000 out of the 2011 Keeneland November sale. 
Gallagher manager Mallory Mort, in an e-mail, explained the purchase of the now 8-year-old mare. 
“We bought the mare because she was a young mare in foal to Tapit, who we thought was still on the rise as a sire and because her dam, Fun House was: a) a relatively young graded stakes winner; b) the dam of a Grade I winner; and c) owned by Ron Winchell and had some young Tapits in the pipeline.” 
After producing the Tapit colt, Wild Chant was bred back to Kitten’s Joy. The resulting filly, a 3/4-sister to graded stakes winner Csaba (Kitten’s Joy), is expected to be offered at this year’s Saratoga sale. 

Young Double Dips… 
Bloodstock agent Steve Young, bidding for separate and undisclosed clients, struck for a pair of $400,000 colts within minutes of each other in the early stages of the Midlantic sale Monday. First up was hip 14, a son of War Front. Consigned by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds, the youngster worked a bullet furlong in :10 1/5 at last week’s under tack preview. Purchased by Hartley/De Renzo for $100,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale, the May 13 foal failed to sell at $190,000 at the OBS March Sale. 
“The War Front is obviously by one of the best sires in the world,” Young explained. “I liked this horse in March when I saw him. He is a later foal, if you will, and he’s had a really good two months. Basically, I thought he was twice the horse now that he was in March. He trained great, went through the week’s festivities and he stuck out like a sore thumb.” 
While working over the synthetic track at OBS before the March sale, the War Front colt went a furlong in :10 2/5. The switch to the dirt in Timonium helped get the colt sold Monday, according to consignor Randy Hartley. “I loved him in March,” Hartley said. “He was the first horse we breezed over there and I think our breeze rider thought she was going faster than she was going. But at the end of the day, I think the big thing for him was that he trained so good on the dirt at the farm and then coming up here on dirt, he had such an excellent breeze on the dirt. She never even cocked the stick at him. I just think he’s more of a dirt horse than a synthetic horse.” He added, “And he’s a May foal and he’s done nothing but grow, so he’s a much better horse than he was two months ago for sure. He’s just done everything right.” 
Just three hips later, Young signed for a colt by Afleet Alex. Hip 17 is a half-sister to GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and J “TDN Rising Star” J My Miss Sophia (Unbridled’s Song). His dam Wildwood Flower (Langfuhr) is a half to multiple graded stakes winner Eye of the Tiger (American Chance), as well as to the dam of GI Travers S. winner Afleet Express (Afleet Alex). 
“Obviously there is a big pedigree update there [with My Miss Sophia],” Young said. “He stands on his own merit. The female family has already crossed very well with Afleet Alex, with Afleet Express winning the Travers and, when you scratch away at his pedigree, Eye of the Tiger ran in the Derby, Afleet Express won the Travers and My Miss Sophia ran in the Oaks. So there is a lot of two-turn Saturday afternoon distance in that situation.” 
The bay colt was purchased by Venture Six for $260,000 as a Keeneland September yearling and Nick de Meric consigned the juvenile yesterday on behalf of the partnership. 
“He is just a beautiful colt,” de Meric said. “He did everything right–he made my job very, very easy. He’s the kind of horse you wish you had a barnful like him because he was zero maintenance and he’s just handled everything so beautifully up here. Somebody is going to have a lot of fun with this one and we look forward to seeing him as a 3-year-old.” 

Young Double Dips… 
Bloodstock agent Steve Young, bidding for separate and undisclosed clients, struck for a pair of $400,000 colts within minutes of each other in the early stages of the Midlantic sale Monday. First up was hip 14, a son of War Front. Consigned by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds, the youngster worked a bullet furlong in :10 1/5 at last week’s under tack preview. Purchased by Hartley/De Renzo for $100,000 at last year’s Keeneland September sale, the May 13 foal failed to sell at $190,000 at the OBS March Sale. 
“The War Front is obviously by one of the best sires in the world,” Young explained. “I liked this horse in March when I saw him. He is a later foal, if you will, and he’s had a really good two months. Basically, I thought he was twice the horse now that he was in March. He trained great, went through the week’s festivities and he stuck out like a sore thumb.” 
While working over the synthetic track at OBS before the March sale, the War Front colt went a furlong in :10 2/5. The switch to the dirt in Timonium helped get the colt sold Monday, according to consignor Randy Hartley. “I loved him in March,” Hartley said. “He was the first horse we breezed over there and I think our breeze rider thought she was going faster than she was going. But at the end of the day, I think the big thing for him was that he trained so good on the dirt at the farm and then coming up here on dirt, he had such an excellent breeze on the dirt. She never even cocked the stick at him. I just think he’s more of a dirt horse than a synthetic horse.” He added, “And he’s a May foal and he’s done nothing but grow, so he’s a much better horse than he was two months ago for sure. He’s just done everything right.” 
Just three hips later, Young signed for a colt by Afleet Alex. Hip 17 is a half-sister to GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up and “TDN Rising Star” My Miss Sophia (Unbridled’s Song). His dam Wildwood Flower (Langfuhr) is a half to multiple graded stakes winner Eye of the Tiger (American Chance), as well as to the dam of GI Travers S. winner Afleet Express (Afleet Alex).