Curlin Colt for Shimmon
A colt by champion Curlin will be joining David Shimmon’s Fog City Stable after selling for $700,000 early during Wednesday’s third session of the OBS April sale. J.B. McKathan, bidding out back, signed the ticket on the chestnut (hip 630), who was consigned by Old South Farm as agent for his breeder, Ted Hoover.
“He is a beautiful-moving, Classic-looking horse,” McKathan said. “Mr. Shimmon always wants to race at the top level and that’s what it takes.”
Of the price tag, McKathan added, “I figured he was going to cost quite a bit of money. Colts like that, it just depends who is going to stand at the end. And he was really nice.”
The McKathan Brothers have had success buying on behalf of Shimmon in the past. They picked future Grade I winner Roman Ruler (Fusaichi Pegasus) out of the 2003 Keeneland September sale. California native Shimmon was also co-owner of 2011 GI Malibu S. winner The Factor (War Front).
“He’s got a small operation,” McKathan said of Shimmon. “He just buys quality.”
The Curlin colt is out of multiple graded stakes winner Silent Eskimo (Eskimo) and is a half-brother to stakes-placed Silent Fusaichi (Fusaichi Pegasus) and Capercaillie (Elusive Quality). He worked a furlong in :10 flat.
“We knew it would be good, but you never know how far the market will carry you,” Old South’s Al Davis admitted of the colt’s $700,000 price tag.
Davis added, “He was just a big elegant horse. He was really laid back and kind and he did everything right.”
Hoover is a past president of the South Carolina Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. He is co-owner of Hoover Building Systems in Lexington, South Carolina.
“He has just a few mares–he’s got one really good one,” Davis said of Hoover. “He races some and sells some. He sends me a horse occasionally.” He added with a chuckle, “Maybe he’ll send me more now.”
Of the overall market at the April sale, Davis said, “The upper-end horses are easy to sell, but it’s a little bit of a struggle below that, for me anyway.”