Halljoy Could be Exclamation Point for Nothhaft

Hank Nothhaft had hoped to have his colors carried by the now-retired Living the Life ((Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) in Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint, but the Silicon Valley entrepreneur had to settle for the next best thing when Finest City (City Zip), a filly he bred, won the race. Nothhaft will be hoping the positives continue Monday when he sends Halljoy (Ire) (Halling) through the sales ring at Fasig-Tipton November through the Darby Dan Farm consignment. The 5-year-old mare is one of four in the Fasig catalogue selling in foal to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
“I bought this filly for him as a racehorse as a 3-year-old,” Darby Dan's Carl McEntee said of Halljoy, who was third in the 2013 G3 Prestige S. “She was group placed and with a beautiful residual family pedigree. So we bought her and we had a good win at Santa Anita first time out and then she was stakes placed for us. The plan was always to breed her and sell her.”
McEntee thinks the mating with American Pharoah makes Halljoy, a full-sister to group winner An Tadh (Ire), a unique offering at Fasig.
“I think she is a really interesting offering,” he said. “Halling is obviously a fantastic sire, she is a full to a graded stakes winner herself and the other female members of the family have produced graded stakes winners. It's a beautiful European pedigree. And then to throw true American dirt speed into the mix, I thought it would be a truly interesting cross and so did Hank.”
Of his relationship with Nothhaft, McEntee explained, “I was a director of a couple of farms in Pennsylvania and we formed a relationship over there. I actually bought Silver Train for him as a stallion. That's why we bought the dam of Finest City–we were supporting the stallion. It's grown into this truly wonderful relationship. We've had a lot of success buying mares in foal and selling weanlings.”
Nothhaft, who currently has about 10 broodmares, will also be selling through Darby Dan at the upcoming Keeneland November sale. He will offer a weanling colt by Scat Daddy (hip 72), as well as the broodmare Walking Path (Bernardini) (hip 658), in foal to Palace Malice.
“We're moving forward and trying to play at the top end of the marketplace, which is obviously the most stable part of the market,” McEntee explained. “We are basically a commercial operation, but also an operation that when we see value, we'll race as well.”
He continued, “Hank is in this game because he truly loves horse racing. He really admires the horses and does everything right by them. It's a privilege to work for people like that.”