Andersen Looks for Strong KEESEP Showing
by Jessica Martini
Sally Andersen, who has bred such graded stakes winners as Hierro (Hard Spun), Baroness Thatcher (Johannesburg), French Riviera (French Deputy) and Omega Code (Elusive Quality), has been represented on the track this year as breeder of the promising European juvenile Peace and War (War Front). A half-sister to that filly is one of three yearlings Andersen, through the Kaizen Sales consignment, will send through the ring during the first week of the Keeneland September Sale, which begins Monday.
Asked how she first became involved in breeding Thoroughbreds, Andersen laughed, “I’m not sure I remember, it’s been so long.” Before explaining, “I rode and I had some hunters. I lived in Fort Lauderdale and I kept them at Palm Beach Polo Club and when we moved north, I had a very good friend who convinced me that breeding racehorses was a bit more lucrative practice than breeding hunters–the kind that I had anyway. That is how I slowly got into it.”
Andersen bought her first broodmare in 1988. She and husband Bruce established the 45-acre River Mist Farm in Ocala in 1997. Within 10 years, the farm was represented with a pair of Breeders’ Cup runners.
“I tried to race and that didn’t work out so well,” Andersen commented. “So I prefer to have the mares and raise the weanlings and sell them as yearlings or 2-year-olds. And I love what I do.”
Andersen sends her mares to Kentucky to be bred before being shipped back to her Ocala farm to foal. In the last few years, she has added to the band as she retired some of her older mares.
“I don’t sell older mares,” she said. “I retire them here. So I had a couple mares who got to the age where it was hard to get them in foal. I just decided to go ahead and retire a few of those. And I wanted to get the number to around 10-12 mares.”
With the help of bloodstock agent Mike McMahon, Andersen has added a pair of younger mares to her band within the last few years. She purchased More Oats Please (Smart Strike), a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Miss Valentine (Afleet Alex), for $30,000 out of the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February sale. The mare’s first foal, a daughter of Colonel John, RNA’d at Keeneland September in 2012 before selling for $300,000 to Conquest Stables at the 2013 OBS April sale. The mare’s second foal is Peace and War, who sold for $300,000 to David Redvers. Racing for Sheikh Suhaim Al Thani, the juvenile was a first-out winner in May and was sixth in the G3 Albany S. More Oats Please’s third foal, a filly by Harlan’s Holiday sells as hip 100 during Monday’s first session of the September sale.
Andersen purchased La Defense (Wild Again) for $90,000 at the 2012 Keeneland January sale. She put the mare in foal to GI Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver. The resulting filly (hip 2) heads into the Keeneland sales ring just as her freshman sire heats up at the track.
Andersen was quick to credit McMahon with the timely purchases and stallion choices.
“Mike goes to the sales and looks at the mares that I might be interested in and he’s actually responsible for most of what I buy,” she explained.
“He recommended Super Saver,” she continued. “I had no problem with him being unproven. Hopefully, it will work out well.”
Also selling next week is hip 495, a full-sister to GIII Derby Trial winner Hierro, as well as a half to graded stakes placed Cherokee Triangle (Cherokee Run). Andersen purchased the dam Brief Bliss (Navarone) for $48,000 out of the 2003 Keeneland January sale. Hierro sold to Stonestreet Stables for $350,000 out of the 2011 OBS March sale.
Hard-pressed to name the best horse she has bred, Andersen said, “I’ve been able to breed stakes winners, and particularly graded stakes horses, and even if they are not, they have all done well for me. I love going out in the evenings and the mornings and seeing the horses. That’s why I do this.”