WinStar Enters the July Marketplace

WinStar Farm played a major role in spearheading the growth of the horses of racing age section of the Keeneland November Sale in the past two decades, and the farm is poised to once again enter new territory by offering its first-ever seven-horse consignment at the Fasig-Tipton July Selected Horses of Racing Age sale Monday. According to WinStar President/C.E.O. and Racing Manager Elliott Walden, a recent overflow of productive racing stock necessitated a reevaluation of the farm's usual year-end selling schedule.

“We have more horses [than usual] in the range that we typically sell [at November], and I think that is part of it,” Walden said. “When we first did the November Sale, we were the first ones who sold racehorses. Now it's gotten a little overpopulated, so we're looking for a different market and a different opportunity.”

Walden said he believes the unique opportunity of the July Sale is largely due to its position on the calendar, which places it squarely in the middle of the racing season. While the November sales have become a year-end staple for barns to shift breeding stock, July provides buyers with the chance to attain fit-and-ready racing prospects.

“With it being in the middle of the year, it lends itself to creating a little bit more of a quicker return on buying a racehorse at this sale,” Walden said. “In November, they might have run all year and need a little bit of a break before freshening for the next year.”

Walden pointed toward the 3-year-old colt Benefactor (More Than Ready) [Hip 409], owned in partnership with China Horse Club, as a prime example of a horse in sharp form. The dark bay broke his maiden at second asking May 13 at Gulfstream and added a runner-up finish in the June 9 Ocala Flame H. before crossing the wire third in last Saturday's GIII Carry Back S.

“Benefactor has only had four starts,” Walden said. “He's placed in a graded stake and has all his conditions. I also think his first race on the grass was a sneaky kind of race. So he has that option as well, being by More Than Ready.”

The WinStar consignment is augmented by the presence of 5-year-old Closing Bell (Tapit) [Hip 419], who posted a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 99 when finishing a close sixth in the

GI United Nations S. last Saturday. Winner of the 2015 Dueling Grounds Derby, the turf marathoner was also second in the

GI Secretariat S. earlier that year before splitting his 2016 season between the States and Australia. Back in America with Hall of Famer Bill Mott, he captured a 12-furlong optional claimer over the Belmont sod prior to his effort in the U.N. Closing Bell is a half-brother to GISW Mani Bhavan (Storm Boot) and GSW Hear the Ghost (Ghostzapper).

“Closing Bell is just a really nice horse that can give a buyer a lot of fun on a Saturday afternoon,” Walden noted. “He always shows up–and he ran his career best in the United Nations. I also think he could wind up in someone's stallion program, as well, being by Tapit out of a really good mare that's thrown some very good horses.”

Walden explained that the decision to part ways with Closing Bell and Benefactor is not a commentary on their overall quality–but rather an acknowledgment that the horses will not stand as stallions at WinStar following the conclusion of their racing careers. Such a dynamic highlights the potential for smaller-scale operations to land productive racehorses at the July Sale.

“I think the market is positioned to people who have different goals and objectives,” he said. “You have the bigger racing stables that have a need for cash-flow and turnover. And then you have smaller racing stables that are in demand of 'now' type horses…As training expenses have increased over the past decade, [the July Sale] creates a better opportunity. It used to be done in the claiming ranks, where you would recommend a new owner to go ahead and claim a horse because you get that chance to start earning back right away. But with these type of horses, just because they don't fit our program–which is typically geared toward the stallion barn–it doesn't mean they're bad horses or we're trying to unload them. We've actually had a lot of success giving people the opportunity to buy horses that go on to win graded stakes and have big careers. It's a win-win.”