By Stefanie Grimm
Seven years ago, New River Equine signed the seven-figure ticket on a yearling filly by Medaglia d'Oro at the 2019 Keeneland September Sale. That combination, revealed to be trainer Ben Colebrook and owner/breeder Michael Ball, went to a final bid of $1,100,000 that afternoon and, while that filly never made the track herself, her son has picked up the mantle as 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Chief Wallabee (Constitution) lines up in Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby.
“The mare was a really nice-looking, well-bred filly that we ended up having some bad luck with,” remembered Ball of the filly that became A La Lucie. “We were never able to run her. So we took her home and bred her. We really like Constitution; he's one of the top stallions. And we didn't want to spend $250,000, so we thought Constitution would be a good cross for her.”
Bred the last year that the WinStar stalwart stood for less than six figures, Chief Wallabee was one of just a small group of foals born and raised on the Balls's Kentucky farm.
“He was always nice looking,” Ball said. “He was always really the pick of the litter out there when he was on the farm. We didn't have but maybe seven or eight [foals].”
Katherine and Michael Ball, best known for multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Limousine Liberal (Successful Appeal), never thought to sell the colt despite other high price tags in the family. His second dam, the graded-stakes winning Gloryzapper, went to Summer Wind Farm for $1.5-million at Keeneland November in 2019 while A La Lucie's 2-year-old Flightline half-brother went Spendthrift's way for $800,000 at Keeneland September last year.
“We've never really been commercial breeders,” Ball said. “We generally breed to race.”
The now 8-year-old A La Lucie is still with the family and is booked back in for a full-sibling to Chief Wallabee in 2027.
“[The mare] is due this year to Life Is Good and she's got a 2-year-old Not This Time filly,” Ball said. “She's going back to Constitution.”
Despite running second in the GII Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes Feb. 28, Chief Wallabee was named the morning-line favorite ahead of Saturday's Florida Derby, a race which has produced such successful stallions recently as Quality Road, Nyquist and of course, Constitution. Still with just two starts under his belt, Ball was reserved on whether any future stud plans had been set for his 'Rising Star'.
“We've had some phone calls about him,” he said. “But they're not necessarily from stallion farms.”
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