Sage Advice Plus Tapizar Equals $145,000

Stonebridge LLC’s Robert Courtney Jr. got some advice from his now-retired father that still sticks with him. 

“He told me that if you have to give up race record when you buy a mare, get something from a good family of fillies who are still producing. That’s the way to go,” explained Courtney, whose father Robert Sr. operated Crestfield Farm for some six decades. 

Courtney had that advice in the back of his mind when he signed for the 8-year-old mare Heckuva Hunter (Lion Heart) for $185,000 earlier this year at Keeneland January, and yesterday, it paid off handsomely when the Tapizar filly that Heckuva Hunter (hip 2670) was carrying brought $145,000. That was tops for a weanling for Keeneland November’s eighth session. 

Christina Jelm, agent for JSM Equine, purchased the filly, who hailed from the first crop of the 2012 
GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner. Tapizar’s weanlings have done well at Keeneland November, averaging $84,214 from 14 sold. 

“It’s a very active family, and she was a really pretty filly,” said Courtney. “She’s a May foal who didn’t look like a May foal. She was always a nice one; she never had any problems.” 

So what did Courtney like about the family last January? Heckuva Hunter was a young multiple winner and a daughter of the Group 1 performer Catch a Glimpse (Gulch), and was a half-sister to Successful Outlook (Orientate), heroine of the 2006 GIII Tempted S. 

Successful Outlook, in turn, was the dam of the outstanding GI Test S. winner Sweet Lulu (Mr. Greeley), who underscored the family’s current relevance when she sold to Summer Wind Farm for $3 million at last week’s Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Only the $3.1 million Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior) made more. 

“There are so many good fillies in that family,” said Courtney. 

This spring, Courtney sent Heckuva Hunter back to the GI Kentucky Derby winner Orb (Malibu Moon), but she didn’t catch to the Claiborne stallion. “It was late in the season so we just gave her the year off, and we’ll breed her back to something really nice [in 2015],” said Courtney. “We might go back to Orb.” 

Courtney was refreshingly honest in admitting that not all of his 2014 Keeneland January purchases worked out in his favor. Courtney had also signed for Heckuva Hunter’s short-yearling colt by Trappe Shot, paying $95,000 for him. 

“But once I got back to the farm, he started cribbing. So I turned him back,” said Courtney. “Then Gainesway resold him as a [Keeneland September yearling] for $240,000! But I learned a good lesson. I had it ground into me to not buy cribbers, but I’m not sure American trainers care. I owned [MGSW and millionaire] Rahystrada [Rahy], and he was the worst cribber in the world. Game On Dude [Awesome Again] was a cribber. But hey, I made some money and I’m happy.” 

Courtney said that, these days, he sells almost all of his horses as weanlings, rather than waiting for the yearling sales. “It makes sense, because that’s all they’re looking at out there,” he said. “There are some lovely mares out there at this sale, but a lot of these guys could care less.”