Numbers Remain Solid at FTKOCT

With session figures near identical to last year, it was another solid day of trading at the Fasig-Tipton October Fall Yearling Sale, which concluded the second of three days of selling yesterday in Lexington. The session average of $36,939 was essentially static from last year’s average of $36,723, while the $18,000 median was unchanged. 

“I thought that the overall market continued to be strong, with competitive bidding,” said Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. “Probably the most encouraging thing continues to be the diversity of buyers, really at all levels. You see diversity even at the less expensive, under-$10,000 level, as well as quite a spread of buyers above $100,000.” 

Adding to the positive vibe was Tuesday’s 18% RNA rate, down considerably from the opening session’s rate of 28.7%. 
“There might have been a slight adjustment,” Browning said of seller expectations. “I don’t think there was a dramatic shift or movement in the marketplace or in their expectations. But if you buy a couple back, it probably does influence your aggressiveness in setting your next reserve.” 

Overall, 545 horses have sold at October for $10,416,700, an average of $35,547. That’s up 8.6% from a year ago. The median stands at $18,000, up 5.9%. The cumulative RNA rate is 23.6%, compared to 17.5% in 2013. 

“I think the sale continues to gain confidence in the market place with both buyers and sellers,” added Browning. “The quality of horses continues to improve. The biggest complaint I heard today was from buyers saying they were frustrated they were shut out. I told them there is one more day tomorrow. So they can win tomorrow.” 

The sale’s finale gets underway today at 10:00 a.m. For more information, visit www.fasigtipton.com.

Street Cry Colt Tops Second Session…
Chris Baccari was confident enough in Hip 803 that he told interested buyers if the horse didn’t bring enough money, he would keep him to race. His faith was not misplaced as the Street Cry(Ire)–Never Is a Promise (Capote) colt topped Tuesday’s session when the hammer fell at $400,000. 
Mark Casse signed the ticket on behalf of Conquest Stables, and the colt is the current overall sale topper. Casse trains for Conquest, which is the racing operation founded by Ernie Semersky and his longtime business and personal partner, Dory Newell. 
While the relatively new racing venture is best known for last year’s GI Alciabiades S. heroine My Conquestadory (Artie Schiller), Conquest is Breeders’ Cup bound again this year with 2-year-olds Conquest Harlanate (Harlan’s Holiday) and Conquest Typhoon (Stormy Atlantic). 
“It is like anything at a horse sale, you never know what is going to happen,” said Baccari. “You have to have two people that are willing to tango, and that’s what makes it work. If he wasn’t going to bring enough, I was prepared to race him myself, so that is kind of what I told everybody.” 
The gray or roan colt is a half-brother to Grade I winner Ever a Friend (Crafty Friend) and was acquired by Baccari as a foal. He was bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock and failed to meet his reserve when bidding stopped at $240,000 during the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. 
“He was a very special Street Cry,” said Baccari. “It is hard to find one that big that looked like he did. He just looked like a real Derby horse. I am glad he got recognized for that here at this sale. He is just a special horse. He’s always been that way. He was one of those that went the right way and kept going the right way.” 
Baccari offered the colt at the Keeneland September yearling sale, but he was bought back for $270,000. The consignor was willing to keep the horse unless the price was right because he felt he has the right mix of pedigree and body type. 
“He had a lot of range of motion and a really good hind leg,” Baccari said. “He just had some things that don’t come normally with that sire, and I think that is what made it work for him. He is by a great sire and his mother is a Grade I producer. There aren’t very many of them that tick all the boxes that look good, like he did, and have that same pedigree to go with it. He just has a very special look with the pedigree to back it up, and when you have both of them, that is when you ring the bell.” 
The end of Day 2 continued on a high note for Baccari, who not long after sold Hip 821, a Candy Ride (Arg)–Not in My House (Chester House) colt to Super Horse Inc. for $200,000. 
-Amanda Duckworth 
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Tiznow Colt To Fox Hill for $320,000… 
Representatives of Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm came out on top for the day’s second-dearest horse, a Tiznow colt from a full-sister to Jump Start (A.P. Indy) who brought $320,000. Lane’s End consigned the WinStar-bred youngster as Hip 652. 

WinStar purchased the colt’s dam Lasting Appeal for $875,000 out of the 2009 Keeneland November Sale. They got a good chunk of that back when they sold her 2011 Distorted Humor filly, named One Night, for $340,000 at the 2012 Keeneland September Sale, and furthered their commercial success with yesterday’s Tiznow. 
“He was a really nice individual, the kind you think you could have fun with on a Saturday afternoon,” said Lane’s End’s Allaire Ryan. “He’s very Classic-looking and has a lot of quality, not just in his physical, but mentally, too. He just handled himself well from day one.” 
The colt was originally pointed toward Keeneland September, but was scratched and redirected toward the October Sale. 
“He came to us from WinStar, and they made our job easy,” said Ryan, who admitted the final price was a bit higher than expected. 

“But we’re pretty conservative with our reserves,” she said. “We thought he’d be in the $250,000 range, but we’re really happy with how he did. We had the right kind of players on him, the end users who are willing to go for a colt like him.” -Lucas Marquardt 

Pick Six Racing Goes Back to Well… 
Pick Six Racing’s David Wilkenfeld, an ace handicapper, was just getting into the ownership game when agent Sobhy Sonbol purchased Vyjack (Into Mischief) for him for $100,000 at the 2012 FTMMAY juvenile sale. Named after Wilkenfeld’s parents, Vivienne and Jack, Vyjack won the GII Jerome S. and GIII Gotham S. in 2013 and, after a series of frustrating and disappointing efforts, recently got back on track with a strong victory in the GII Kelso H. In all, Vyjack’s won six of 14 starts and earned $902,500. 

With all that in mind, it was no surprise when Sonbol, sitting in the back row of the sales pavilion and on the phone with Wilkenfeld, threw up his hand at $260,000 to secure Hip 664, a Gio Ponti half-brother to Vyjack. The colt, bred by Machmer Hall, was produced by Life Happened (Stravinsky) and is also a half to GSW Tepin (Bernstein) and MGSP Prime Cut (Bernstein). 

“If he has half the talent of Vyjack and a better mind, we’ll be all right,” said Sonbol, noting Vyjack’s mercurial personality. “He reminded me a lot of Vyjack, actually. Both are tall, scopey horses with good balance.” 

Sonbol said he came to the October Sale with the sole goal of purchasing the colt, who hails from the first crop of Tale of the Cat’s best runner Gio Ponti, a three-time champion and earner of over $6.1 million. 

Wilkenfeld, reached over the phone, said he was happy to purchase the colt. 

“The breeders are great people to buy from, the dam’s been terrific, and Gio Ponti was a great horse,” said Wilkenfeld. “He was brilliant at a mile and he could stay a mile and a quarter–he ran that good second to Zenyatta in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. I think he’s going to be a nice sire.” 

Wilkenfeld has waded deeper into ownership in the past year. He acquired several prospects at the OBS June Sale, including Ackeret (Mach Ride), a $53,000 pick-up who won first out in a $65,000 maiden claiming race at Belmont Oct. 9. Like Vyjack, Ackeret is trained by Rudy Rodriguez, who also is likely to get Wilkenfeld’s latest purchase.

Asked for an update on his star runner, Wilkenfeld said he decided to bypass the Breeders’ Cup with Vyjack and instead target the GI Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in November. “The Breeders’ Cup was too close to his last race, and Santa Anita can be a speed-biased track,” he explained. “He’s stabled at Aqueduct, and it’s a one-turn mile, so it seemed like the right move.” -Lucas Marquardt 
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Patience Pays for Paducah Breeders… 
Juvenile re-seller Nick de Meric went to $240,000 to land yesterday’s sixth-highest-priced horse, a colt by Curlin from the winning Langfuhr mare Fi. Consigned by Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services as Hip 428, the May 5-foaled chestnut was produced by a half to SW Dawn of Forever (Ocean Crest). 

For the breeders of the colt, Rowland Hancock and Dick Walker, it was a case of patience and faith paying off. Back in 2003, the Paducah-based businessmen purchased Fi for $110,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. A year later, the filly set her connections dreaming when, in her second career start, she rolled clear by eight lengths in an Arlington maiden special win that earned her a 93 BRIS figure. 

Bad fortune soon hit, though. Fi was out on the track not long after when a horse got loose. The two collided, and Fi suffered a broken hind ankle. 

Hancock and Walker hoped to return Fi to the races and sent her to Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services to rehab. Fi was out of action for 21 months before returning to the track in 2006, and while she ran some credible races, she wasn’t able to recapture the spark she’d shown at two. 

“She looked like a freak after the maiden win, but when she came back, she just wasn’t the same,” said Rob Blake, who operates his eponymous all-service agency with Hanzly Albina. “It was a shame, but they retired her and have been breeding out of her since.” 

Fi is now showing she’s passing on her innate ability to her offspring. Her third foal is the stakes-placed Moreno’s Mine (Mineshaft), a $180,000 Keeneland September yearling in 2011, while an unraced juvenile full-sister to yesterday’s Curlin colt is currently showing promise at Churchill Downs for trainer Tom Proctor. 

From a commercial standpoint, however, her latest Curlin offspring was Fi’s biggest score to date. “He is a beautiful colt,” said Blake. “We really loved him coming into the sale, and we’re glad other people agreed with us. We thought he’d bring north of $100,000, and his reserve was just under that. The market just took it from there.” 

Fi has a weanling colt by English Channel and is back in foal to Lookin At Lucky. 

Blake said Hancock and Walker are long-time clients. Hancock is involved in the fabric business, while Walker is an accountant. 

“They buy horses together and have raced a few good ones together over the years,” said Blake. “They don’t have a big number of horses; they just try to have a little fun.” -Lucas Marquardt 
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Valerio Keeps Momentum Going… 
When Condo Commando (Tiz Wonderful) splashed across the line first in the GI Spinaway S. this summer, she became the fifth Grade I winner that bloodstock agent Kim Valerio purchased as a yearling. That in itself is impressive. Add in the fact that only one of those Grade I winners–which include Scat Daddy (Johannesburg), Grace Hall (Empire Maker), Gozzip Girl (Dynaformer) and The Factor (War Front)–cost more than $95,000 as a yearling, and it’s a pretty special achievement. 

Condo Commando, a $72,000 buy at last year’s Keeneland September sale, is owned by Valerio’s primary client Michael Dubb, who also campaigned Grace Hall. Valerio has been busy restocking Dubb’s stable at October, purchasing four horses for a total of $180,000. 

“I love the Cape Blancos, and we got a nice one of those,” said Valerio, referring to Hip 74, a filly by Cape Blanco (Ire)–Alkmaar (Monashee Mountain) who sold from Darby Dan’s consignment for $40,000. “I think I probably scoped six at September, and I tell you–all of them had gigantic airways. Most of the horses I buy have gigantic airways. I can take all kinds of stuff in radiographs, but not in the airways. This filly was really big and stood across a lot of ground. She’s one of my favorites.” 

Valerio also signed for Hip 18, a Warrior’s Reward–Whom Shall I Fear (Soto) colt, for $30,000. He was bred and consigned by the University of Kentucky’s Maine Chance Farm. “I was really happy to buy a horse from them–they’re little guys, just like me,” said Valerio. “She was a big, solid filly.” 

Not surprisingly, Valerio also signed for a pair of Tiz Wonderful yearlings. Hip 156 was a Legacy Bloodstock-consigned colt from Holy Bull’s half-sister Bergamot (Summer Squall) who made $50,000. 

“He actually had a whole lot of Holy Bull in him, so that must have come through the dam’s side,” she said. 
Topping Valerio’s purchases was Hip 519, a Tiz Wonderful filly from Susan M. Forrester’s draft who realized $60,000. 

“There was another one [by the sire] that came behind her that was maybe a little better physical, but this one had better feet, and I’m trying my hardest to not buy anything with bad feet,” said Valerio. 

Introduced by Dr. Steve Allday, Valerio began buying horses for Dubb in 2010. One of her first purchases for him as the $95,000 KEESEP grad Grace Hall, who also won the GI Spinaway S., as well as three other graded events, and later sold as a broodmare/racing prospect for $3.2 million at the 2012 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. 

Improbably, Valerio almost gave Dubb a third New York Grade I for juvenile fillies with the $35,000 KEESEP yearling My Happy Face, yet another Tiz Wonderful filly who just missed by a head in the 2012 renewal. 

Valerio said she was sad to hear the former Spendthrift stallion had been purchased recently by Korean interests. 
“They’re very fast and they’re precocious, unlike Tiznow,” she said. “If you can get them to stay sound and get them to relax, they’re beautiful animals.” 

Valerio’s other major purchases include Magna Graduate (Honor Grades), who, after being acquired privately after his maiden win went on to win seven graded stakes and earn over $1.9 million; Bridge Game (Giant’s Causeway), a $32,000 KEEJAN buy who won the GIII Modesty H.; and, most recently, Good Luck Gus (Lookin At Lucky), a $97,000 FTNAUG yearling who took the $250,000 New York Breeders’ Futurity by 5 1/4 lengths Oct. 4. 

Dubb owns the last named, and Valerio said she’s grateful to work for one of New York’s leading owners. 

“He’s a great guy, and does a lot for racing in the state,” she said. 

So what are some of the keys to Valerio’s success? First, she says, she tends to target first-year sires. “That’s really been my ticket–Johannesburg [Scat Daddy], War Front [The Factor], Tiz Wonderful [My Happy Face],” she said. “I also pinhooked a first-year Tapit who topped the Barretts May Sale a while back. I have to buy value, and a lot of guys with money aren’t on those first-year sires yet.” 

Valerio grew up the daughter of Mike Valerio, a big name in the car racing scene who built engines, chassis and bodies for dragsters, and Kim said some of that auto-racing mindset remains. 

“All my dad talked about was, ‘What will make it go faster?’” she explained. “He and the guys in the shop, all they talked about was weight of chassis, weight of frame, speed and aerodynamics.” 

How does that translate to yearlings? 

“Well, I like light-framed horses,” she said. “I try not to buy heavy-framed horses anymore. I’ve had more luck winning big races with light horses.” 

Valerio added that she tends to be much more lenient than other agents. 

“Horses that are back at the knee? I’ll buy them all day long” she said. “Most people won’t touch them. Gozzip Girl was way back at the knee, for instance. But it is important that, whoever I’m buying for, let’s the horses be for a while. Condo Commando wasn’t broken until December, and she won the Spinaway in August. She had sesamoiditis, but that didn’t bother me–we just turned her out. We watched her weight and we didn’t overfeed her.” 

Valerio sends her young horses to Matt Hogan’s Blackwood Farm in Kentucky, and to Bridlewood Farm and Dr. Barry and Shari Eisaman’s Eisaman Equine in Florida. 

Valerio doesn’t just focus on Thoroughbreds. She also advises several prominent show horse stables, including those of the Steinwedell and Von Heidegger families. 

“I don’t know how I still swear so much, considering some of the company I keep,” she laughed. 
Valerio said that this winter, she’s hoping to meld the two worlds and begin a racing partnership comprised of her show horse clients. 

If her past results are anything to go by, expect success…and quickly. -Lucas Marquardt 

A Horse of a Different Color… 
As Hunter Simms, a partner and director of bloodstock services for Warrendale Sales, pointed out, the last major yearling auction of the year is a “word of mouth” sale. With 1,236 horses cataloged to go through the ring over three days, sometimes horses don’t initially make a lot of short lists, but they do draw enough attention from those who have looked at them that others come to take a look. 

Hip 1093, consigned by Warrendale, is such a horse. Named Painted Patchen, the Thunder Gulch-Spot of Beauty (Skip Away) colt has made headlines since birth because he is officially registered as white, a rarity among Thoroughbreds. 

“He doesn’t make everybody’s list at first, but we add him on just because he is white and he is fun to show,” said Simms. “He is a sight to see. Everybody wants to see what the white horse looks like. He’s fun to have along.” 

Warrendale is acting as agent for breeder Patchen Wilkes Farm. The Lexington-based operation is known for producing oddly colored Thoroughbreds. Having a white horse in the barn adds to the workload, as it is harder to keep Painted Patchen clean and show ready, but everyone has taken it in stride. 

“The girls in the barn have done a fantastic job keeping him clean,” said Simms. “They give him a bath every morning, and he wears a blanket at night just to keep the stains off of him.” 

Painted Patchen, who even sports a white halter, has drawn plenty of attention in the barns, but those associated with him remain realistic about the amount of money he will bring when he enters the auction ring. 

“People like him more for his color than his pedigree page,” said Simms. “It is going to take a different person to buy one of these. Maybe some show horse people might be interested, and I think even some Thoroughbred buyers will be interested just to have one.” 

Simms continued, “Not all of these horses are going to go to the track. I think you get a lot of different buyers that come in for this sale to use horses for different purposes. He is a horse that could be used for a purpose besides the track. They could use him as a pony. He’s pretty cool, so we will see what happens.” 
-Amanda Duckworth