Vancouver Filly Remains Unbeaten in Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf

Courtesy of the TDN

Vancouver Filly Remains Unbeaten in Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf

Madone Benoit photo

Kaleem Shah’s Madone found running room late and surged to  victory in the Del Mar Juvenile FilliesTurf S. Sunday evening. The favorite was unhurried early and fell well back in the field. Racing keenly behind tepid splits, she took closer order but ran up on heels in the tightly bunched field. Full of run but with nowhere to go nearing the home stretch, the dark bay filly finally found a seam to run through and surged to the wire ahead of Nimbostratus (Fr) (Wooton Bassett {GB}) and Ivy League (Medaglia d’Oro), who had both taken the overland route. Nimostratus just got her nose in front of Ivy League on the wire, but the stewards ruled that the filly had come out and impeded the third-place finisher and their placements were reversed.

The first Northern Hemisphere black-type winner for her reverse shuttle sire, Madone opened her career with a late-running one-length victory over this same course and one-mile distance July 31. The dark bay filly was a $70,000 KEENOV weanling and a $50,000 KEESEP yearling before selling for $125,000 at this year’s OBS March sale. Madone’s dam has a filly of 2019 by Astern (Aus) and a colt of this year by Cairo Prince. From the family of GI NYRA Mile H. victor Gold Fever (Forty Niner) and SW Emanating (Cox’s Ridge), herself the dam of Grade I winner Boisterous (Distorted Humor), she was covered by Gormley earlier this year.

DEL MAR JUVENILE FILLIES TURF S., $83,500, Del Mar, 9-6, 2yo, f, 1mT, 1:39.09, fm.
1–MADONE, 122, f, 2, by Vancouver (Aus)
                1st Dam: Indian Love Call, by Cherokee Run
                2nd Dam: Mood Music, by Kingmambo
                3rd Dam: Lead Kindly Light, by Majestic Light
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. ($70,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $50,000 Ylg
’19 KEESEP; $125,000 2yo ’20 OBSMAR). O-Kaleem Shah, Inc.;
B-Glendalough LLC (KY); T-Simon Callaghan; J-Flavien Prat.
$48,300. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $81,300.

All SUITED UP AND READY TO GO!

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Consignor Kip Elser with Kirkwood Stables told BloodHorse’s Meredith Daugherty after he sold a $325,000 American Pharoah  filly to Speedway Stable that the Midlantic sale had more of a middle market than previous sales this year. His observation was spot on, with the average price for the fourth through sixth deciles dropping between 1% and 6%. The average price for the fourth decile (horses that sold in the $50,000-$80,000 range) was essentially even with last year’s sale, dropping a mere 1% to $66,200.

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/242091/maryland-sale-strong-within-softer-overall

Speedway Stable Lands $325,000 American Pharoah Filly

Courtesy of the BloodHorse

The American Pharoah filly consigned as Hip 451 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale
The American Pharoah filly consigned as Hip 451 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale

Fasig-Tipton Photos

Speedway Stable Lands $325,000 American Pharoah Filly

Juvenile was consigned by Kirkwood Stables, agent for Midway Gallop

Bloodstock agent Marette Farrell was more than pleased to sign the winning ticket on an American Pharoah  filly (Hip 451) for $325,000 June 30 during the final session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

Purchased on behalf of Speedway Stable, the dark bay or brown daughter of the Ashford Stud stallion had been one of the more popular juveniles at the barn of Kip Elser’s Kirkwood Stables, who consigned the filly on behalf of Midway Gallop. The filly worked a quarter-mile in :22 during the under tack show.

“I’m very pleased,” said Elser. “She’d gotten a lot of play, and she deserved it.”

Bred in New York by Pine Ridge Stables, the filly is out of Choice Pearl (by Any Given Saturday). Her second dam is stakes winner Horns Gray, dam of Spinaway Stakes (G1) winner Awesome Humor and granddam of Forego Stakes (G1) winner Emcee, group 2 winner Surfer, and stakes winner Spring Party.

Horns Gray is also the granddam of group 3-placed Baffled, the dam of grade 1 winner and leading second-crop sire Constitution  as well as grade 2 winner Boynton and grade 3 winner Jacaranda.

“She’s by American Pharoah, who is an up-and-coming sire, and she’s from a fabulous family—Constitution’s family,” said Farrell. “She’s a big filly, and I think she has a big future in front of her. She just needs a little time, but we’re excited to get her.”

As a buyer shopping the Midlantic market in the midst of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, Farrell said she’d been pleased to see competition at every level even if it meant she had to spend a little more.

“It’s really strong here,” said Farrell. “I read all the reports, and I think I’m in a different world because I’m out there trying to buy them and it’s really tough. But I think it’s wonderful for the consignors, and it gets everyone’s heads up.

“It’s been an amazing sale from the top to the bottom. Any good horse at every level all the way down to the lower prices have found people excited to get them and who have had to fight to get them. We’re always hoping to pay a little less but hopefully it will be a good thing down the road.”

Elser, too, said he was pleased with how the market had played across the two-day auction.

“I think there are no real surprises and the top has stayed strong. There is more of a middle here than there has been so I think that is a good sign for everybody.”

Sackatoga Strikes for Tonalist Filly

Sackatoga Stable, on the Triple Crown trail again with GI Belmont S. winner Tiz the Law (Constitution), purchased a filly by Tonalist for $290,000 early in Monday’ sfirst session of the Midlantic sale. The juvenile (hip 27) was consigned by Kirkwood Stables and, like the Belmont winner and Sackatoga’s 2003 GI Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, is a New York-bred. A[Sackatoga operating manager] Jack Knowlton just uses New York-breds. That’s all he does,” said trainer Barclay Tagg. The filly is out of Holiday Apple (Harlan’s Holiday), a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Lady Apple (Curlin). She worked a quarter-mile during last week’s under-tack preview in :22 1/5.

“She’s a very attractive filly,” Tagg said. “I liked everything about her when I went over and watched her here for a couple of days. We didn’t want to spend that much money, but I think she’ll be worth it.”

Asked if Tizthe Law=s exploits made the partnership more likely to bid higher than they might normally do, Tagg smiled and said, “Maybe he gave them a little more money.” Of the Belmont winner, Tagg added, “He’s doing well, very well. He came out of his last race great and we’re very pleased with him.”

Stallion Spotlight: Spendthrift Farm’s Mark Toothaker On Coal Front

Courtesy of the Paulick Report

by  | 

Coal Front wins the Amsterdam Stakes
Kirkwood Stables is proud of our part in preparing this horse for his racing career.

Stallion Spotlight offers stud farm representatives a chance to address breeders and answer questions as they finalize their mating decisions for the 2020 breeding season.

In this edition, Spendthrift Farm stallion sales manager Mark Toothaker talks about Coal Front, a five-time graded/group stakes winner who entered stud this year.

Coal Front
Dk. b. or br. h., 2014, Stay Thirsty x Miner’s Secret, by Mineshaft
Race Record: 13-8-0-1; $1,825,280
Notable Wins: G2 Godolphin Mile, G2 Amsterdam Stakes, G3 Razorback Handicap, G3 Mr. Prospector Stakes, G3 Gallant Bob Stakes, Parx Dirt Mile Stakes
Advertised Fee: $5,000 S&N; $7,500 Share the Upside

1) What is Coal Front’s strongest selling point as a stallion?

Toothaker: He is a stunning physical who won graded stakes all over the globe: Dubai, Gulfstream, Saratoga, Parx, and Oaklawn, against tremendous competition.

2) If I’ve got a mare that needs help from the stallion on a physical characteristic, what Coal Front best contribute to the equation?

Toothaker: Coal Front is very correct and has a great body, he would be the perfect fit for a mare needing some substance, hip, or just needs to be prettied up.

3) What parts of the Stay Thirsty/Bernardini line come through in Coal Front’s physical? What comes through on the bottom side of the page?

Toothaker: Coal Front is very unique in that he’s 3×3 to A.P. Indy, so what you see in him is a medium-sized physical that got the best of that cross. He is a top physical in the fact that he was a $575,000 sales horse, he’s a very good-footed horse, and he was very durable.

4) Coal Front was unraced at two, but won his first three races at age three, including the G2 Amsterdam Stakes. Without his own form to go on, what makes you confident that Coal Front will able to get a 2-year-old runner?

Toothaker: Todd Pletcher had him ready to roll at Saratoga as a 2-year-old, and he had a brilliant work the week before he was scheduled to run but came out of the work with a shin injury. The team felt like they had something special, so didn’t rush him and risk injury, his ability was also present at the 2-year-old sale where he worked fast and sold extremely well.

5) Coal Front won five graded stakes races at five different distances, from six furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth. How does that open up the variety of mares that could be good pairings with him?

Toothaker: Coal Front had speed and could carry it. We feel like he is a very good fit for mares needing some speed influence introduced into the pedigree, as well as mares that had great early form to double down on speed-on-speed.

6) Coal Front won the Godolphin Mile on the Dubai World Cup card, besting top-class runners from around the world. What can a notable international win do to inform a domestic breeder’s decision-making?

Toothaker: We loved the fact he could win on the big stage against a top field in such a dominant fashion, as well as the fact he won without Lasix, which is a plus with so many jurisdictions leaning toward eliminating it in years to come.

7) Coal Front comes to Spendthrift Farm as part of a large, distinguished class of new stallions, also including Omaha BeachMaximus MischiefMitole, and Vino Rosso. What makes Coal Front unique among that group?

Toothaker: Coal Front has such an interesting pedigree, being 3×3 to A.P. Indy to go along with his great looks, we felt like he would be a great fit in our Share the Upside program and would give our breeders a great value, which is so important today.

8) What makes Coal Front a standout in his price bracket?

Toothaker: For $7,500, a breeder can earn a lifetime breeding right in Coal Front, that is on a stands-and-nurse basis. This allows the breeder, once earned, to breed on that season every year, sell the season each year, or if Coal Front hits big, they can sell the entire breeding right. It’s a tremendous opportunity for our breeders to be able to take advantage of this.

To learn more about Coal Front, click here.

 ‘Whale’ of a Start for Miller, Elser & Partners With NZ Venture

Joe Miller | kernlillingston.com

Courtesy of the TDN
By Alan Carasso

Joe Miller and Kip Elser are no strangers to success in the American bloodstock business. In a 15-year stint with Kern Thoroughbreds, Miller has helped manage the racing and breeding operations of Tracy Farmer and Len Riggio’s My Meadowview Farm, while Elser’s Kirkwood Stables’ graduates include GI Kentucky Oaks winners Plum Pretty (Medaglia d’Oro), Keeper Hill (Deputy Minister) and Gal In a Ruckus (Bold Ruckus); the top-level winning half-siblings Sharp Cat (Storm Cat) and Royal Anthem (Theatrical {Ire}); and GI Breeders’ Cup Classic hero Alphabet Soup (Cozzene).

Always ready to embrace a new challenge, Elser jumped at the opportunity to attend the 2018 New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sales at Karaka. The South Carolina-based horseman, along with Miller–the North American representative for NZB–Justin Casse and consignor Sam Beatson of the New Zealand-based Riversley Park agency teamed up to purchase a pinhooking prospect by the since-departed Tavistock (NZ) (Montjeu {Ire}). The team’s efforts bore fruit when the 3-year-old gelding, now named Beluga (NZ) graduated at second asking at Sha Tin in Hong Kong Mar. 14.

“I wanted to figure out a way to get more involved in New Zealand,” Miller said, just after getting Frozen 2 set up for his daughter to give her a break from distance learning. “I met [NZB Bloodstock Services Manager Danny Rolston and I know that the trade is very good from New Zealand to Hong Kong and he was looking to figure out if there was a way to get more Americans involved in New Zealand. There are obviously plenty of Americans involved in Australia and he asked if I’d help him out with that project.

“Kip loves doing stuff all over the world–he’s been involved in South Africa–and this was sort of a natural fit for him,” he continued. “His wife, Helen, has been to New Zealand several times, has friends there. They came, we decided to raise a little bit of money and put up some of our own money and go buy a couple of horses, with the ultimate goal of playing at the top of the market and pinhook a couple of horses on to Hong Kong.”

Miller explained that he got hooked up with Beatson through fellow bloodstock agent Andrew Williams, who launched his own agency in March 2017.

Hip 491 was consigned to the Book 1 of the 2018 Karaka Sales on the account of Curraghmore and hailed from the sixth crop of Tavistock, whose early successes included 2016 Hong Kong Derby hero Werther (NZ). The Oct. 30 foal is out of a multiple group-placed dam who was a half-sister to Group 3 winner Cassini (Aus) (Reset {Aus}).

“We decided that we wanted to buy something in our first year that was by a proven stallion that could be at the higher end of the market,” Miller explained. “We found a lot of horses we liked, but we weren’t really ready to take a shot with a first-year stallion. We thought that bringing something a little more proven was what we wanted, with some black-type under the first dam.”

The team gave NZ$150,000 for the colt, who Miller categorized as “very straight-forward.”

“Beluga was an October foal and he maybe wasn’t as mature as some of the others, but that was going to be OK, because we had 10 months to the 2-year-old sale,” he said, referring to NZB’s Ready To Run Sale which takes place fully 10 months hence in late November. “We had a lot of things we were looking for, but really, we just wanted to find a horse we thought would make a really good racehorse. A horse that would be sound, vet very clean. Size is kind of a factor when you’re selling to Hong Kong–they don’t really buy small horses–so we knew we wanted to buy a horse that was going to be about 16 hands.

He continued, “He just had a great frame to him, though he was still a little bit immature. But he had a great walk to him and he had a great brain. He just hadn’t quite filled in or muscled up yet into that frame, he was just a baby. We thought he had a ton of improvement in him. Tavistock had done well in Hong Kong–at the time, Werther was one of the best horses in Hong Kong. Physically, he was not the finished product, he was something we thought could develop into a really nice horse.”

Whereas there is often a preference for speed and horses that will be “early” at American juvenile auctions, Miller and partners were taking a longer view when they signed the ticket at Karaka.

“Kip and I really want to buy milers, we’re really not trying to buy a precocious horse,” he said. “We’re actually trying to stay away from things that look like they’re going to be 2-year-olds. That does us no good. We want a horse that’s going to breeze well, but when people go and look at it, they think it’s going to make a good 3-year-old and 4-year-old.

“We’re not looking for the sharp 2-year-old and that’s sort of the same thing Kip and I are doing with our gallop-only consignment,” he added. “We’re not looking for a 2-year-old that’s going to win in May or June or a horse that’s going to breeze in :10 flat. We’re looking for a late-year 2-year-old or 3-year-old sort of horse.”

The gap between the yearling and 2-year-old sales in New Zealands affords horsemen the opportunity to bring their horses along at a more leisurely pace that ultimately does the animals a world of good, Miller opines.

“They have a bit of a different way of training their horses,” he said. “What Sam does is break the horse and then turn it out for 30 days. Get back on it, get it up to a good gallop and then give it another 30 days off. And then once you get into June, you go on from there, but the horse gets two or three breaks from the time it starts. If he feels he needs 10 days in the paddock at some point, there’s really no pressure.”

The team’s purchase went his 200 meters in :10.45 ahead of the Ready To Run Sale and caught the eye of noted judge John Foote, who gave NZ$400,000 for the athletic bay.

“We were very happy with that for sure,” Miller affirmed. “For our first venture down there, to even make a profit was great. Kip and I were both pretty green when you go down to the Southern Hemisphere–you don’t know the pedigrees and you’re not familiar with the farms you’re buying off of. It’s a really different landscape. But it is the least-intimidating landscape. People are so helpful and friendly and now after doing it once or twice, it’s second nature now.

Miller continued, “Sam liked him all along. He thought he was one of his top two or three horses and I thought he breezed really well. He had his head down, breezed really easy. The goal isn’t to get him to go :10 flat, the goal is to try to get him to go just fast enough doing everything the right way. The horse kind of did that on his own.”

Beluga is off to a promising start, having built on a debut second Mar. 1 to graduate by a measured half-length Mar. 14 for G1 Melbourne Cup-winning trainer David Hall (video). This season, the Ready 2 Run Sale has tossed up the likes of 2019 G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint winner Beat the Clock (Aus) (Hinchinbrook {Aus}) and Golden Sixty (Aus) (Medaglia d’Oro), who landed the BMW Hong Kong Derby Mar. 22. Miller hopes Beluga can be the next good thing in Hong Kong.

“I am hoping that this is just the beginning of a successful career over there,” said Miller. “He couldn’t have won more easily, he’s got tactical speed and I’d have to think he wants to go significantly farther than six furlongs. Any time that they’re successful this early in their career, you have a lot to look forward to. Things don’t really get going for another six or eight months for a horse like him.”

This past January, Miller and Elser teamed with Kilgravin Lodge’s Eion Kemp to purchase a colt by Ocean Park (NZ) for NZ$50,000 at this year’s Book 1 and, in partnership with Beatson, gave NZ$75,000 for a Per Incanto colt during Book 2. In partnership with Kilgravin, they also purchased a No Nay Never colt for A$80,000 at Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale in February. All three are headed to the RTR sale in eight months’ time.