Ballis Returns to Racing Age Session for Race Day

Yesterday’s second-highest horse was the 3-year-old racing or stallion prospect Race Day (Tapit–Rebalite, by More Than Ready), who was purchased by Jake Ballis for $285,000. Ballis signed under the name Ghost Bloodstock, and said he was acting on behalf of owner and partner Matt Schera. 

Race Day was offered from the WinStar Racing draft as hip 2893. The racy gray has won two of four starts in his young career. Placed in his first two starts sprinting for trainer Kellyn Gorder at Ellis Park this summer, he stretched out to win a Keeneland maiden special Oct. 3. Race Day kept his record perfect around two turns with a Churchill allowance/optional claimer win on the main track Nov. 2. 

“We liked his last two races, and I think he’s going to improve on the turf,” said Ballis. “We just have to figure out where we’re going to send him now. He’ll got to either Florida or California.” 

Ballis said he considered it a fair price to pay. “I was hoping to get him cheaper than that, but he’s a race-ready horse that can run in a month,” he said. “I thought he’d bring between $200,000-$300,000. I was hoping the lower end of $200,000, but I think we got a nice horse. Hopefully, we can improve him.” 

Ballis isn’t a stranger to buying at November’s racing-age session. Last year, he signed for the once-raced, unbeaten 3-year-old Mean Season (Henny Hughes) at $150,000. That looked like a steal when Mean Season blitzed a field of Aqueduct optional claimers by eight lengths a month later in an effort that earned him “TDN Rising Star” status. He doubled up with a similarly impressive romp at Aqueduct in March, but suffered a stress fracture in the race and was given time off. The TDN’s Steve Sherack reported in September that Mean Season was rehabbing at Fair Hill and being pointed toward a 2015 campaign. 

“We had good luck last year, and hopefully we can get some luck with this one,” said Ballis. 

Mean Season isn’t Ballis’s only horse to watch in 2015. Along with NBA star Rashard Lewis, he owns Cigar Street (Street Sense), who recently ran a mid-pack seventh in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic in his third start off a long layoff. 
Ballis was making his first purchase at November, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. 

“We did some pinhooking last year and were going to buy some foals this year, but it’s a strong market,” he said. “We bid on a lot, but got outbid on everything.” 

Race Day was one of the 22 official horses to sell from the WinStar Racing draft. Those horses grossed $2,077,00 for an average of $94,409. Not included in Keeneland’s official figures was the sale of the 3-year-old colt Announcement(Tiznow–Nany’s Sweep, by End Sweep), who initially RNA’d in the ring for $250,000. Catalogued as hip 2859, Announcement sold shortly thereafter to trainer Eddie Kenneally, WinStar’s Elliott Walden confirmed. 

Walden said he was content with how the WinStar horses sold, and in particular the $340,000 session-topping juvenile Barbados (Speightstown). 

“It went well,” he said. “It was kind of where I thought it would be, and of course, when you bring a 2-year-old, there’s a little bit of a premium. [Barbados] is a fast horse, and there are so many opportunities for horses that are just turning three. There were some nice horses in the sale that are going to do well, and it will help the whole thing cycle back next year.” 

Walden also provided an update on Cowtown Cat (Distorted Humor), the stallion prospect who was scratched from the sale after flipping over at the sale Monday. “He’s doing great,” said Walden. “He’ll go back to the farm tomorrow. He didn’t have a skull fracture, but he had a seizure right after he fell after hitting his head, so obviously we were concerned.”