By Bill Finley
Whether or not the bold experiment by U.S.-based bloodstock agent Jimmy Crupi and his client St. Elias Stable, owned by Vinny Viola and his wife Theresa, to purchase yearlings at the Arqana August Yearling Sale turns out to be a success won't be determined for some time to come, but Crupi returned to his base in Florida confident that he purchased horses with ample potential.
Along with Marco Bozzi, Crupi signed the ticket for six Arqana yearlings that cost a combined €1.065 million. The most expensive (€420,000) of the lot was a colt by New Approach who is a half-brother to Permian (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), the winner of this year's GII King Edward VII S. and the GII Betfred Dante S. Permian was euthanized after suffering an injury during the running of the Aug. 12 GI Secretariat S. at Arlington Park.
“We liked the New Approach colt the best and he's the one we spent the most money on,” Crupi said. “When we signed the ticket we got a lot of compliments. The underbidder came up to me and said, 'You just bought a beautiful horse. Good luck.'”
Crupi said he had studied the Arqana sale before and was providing an undisclosed client a “short list” of horses he liked. Since he would have been doing work for this sale anyway, Crupi decided it made sense to actually buy horses rather than simply provide insights to a client. Viola agreed to join the team, as did Bozzi. Crupi said he relied on him heavily since he is not that familiar with European pedigrees.
“I picked horses out that, if you look at their pedigrees, there are some American horses in the second or third dams,” Crupi said. “That helped and so did Marco with his input. I definitely did not understand these pedigrees the way I would with American-bred horses. Some of the dams won a Grade III where they give you a fish head if you win…they give you no money. So, I didn't know what was good or bad and Marco really helped me.”
Crupi said his main focus was to find horses that might not be good fits for European racing. He said he stayed away from all horses that were eligible for the French premium bonus system, knowing they would go for more money than those not eligible for the program. He also looked for yearlings that may not have come across as prototypical turf horses.
“In the old days, when people used to examine the feet, a five or a six was considered a grass foot,” he explained. “We picked horses out that didn't have that grass foot and the Europeans weren't really interested in them. That's where we thought we got our value. A horse that normally runs on the grass has a big flat, 5 or 6, foot. I thought I got real value. Some could turn out to be turf horses. We'll see.”
When it came to examining the yearlings from a physical standpoint, Crupi said that part was not difficult.
“When you're looking at horses, really, a horse is a horse,” he said. “It's not really something new.”
Asked whether or not he will return to Arqana or other European sales in the future, Crupi said he will make that decision after having a chance to see how the group he just purchased turns out.
The horses will be broken at Crupi's farm in Ocala before being handed over to their trainers. Crupi said the candidates to train the horses are Todd Pletcher, Chad Brown and Bill Mott. Pletcher trains GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister) for Viola and partners.
The other Arqana yearlings signed for by Crupi and Bozzi were:
Lot Sex Sire Dam Price
17 colt Oasis Dream Lady Aquitaine €140,000
78 filly Camelot Spring Star €120,000
133 colt Le Havre Core Element €140,000
135 colt Ruler of the World Crystal Morning €125,000
163 colt Kingman Gradara €120,000
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