Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Many stars in Keeneland catalog
Keeneland has cataloged 4,145 horses for its November breeding stock sale, including champion Stellar Wind, popular multiple Grade 1 winner Lady Eli, and a number of weanlings from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah.
The sale runs over 12 sessions from Tuesday, Nov. 7 through Saturday, Nov. 18. The catalog represents a single-day reduction from the 2016 edition, which had 4,762 horses cataloged over 13 sessions. The auction catalog is now available online, and print catalogs will be available the week of Oct. 16.
Stellar Wind was the Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old filly of 2015 when she won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks and finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Last year, she defeated multiple champion Beholder in a pair of Grade 1 events, and this year, she owns a trio of Grade 1 victories to establish herself among the leading contenders for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She will be offered as a racing or broodmare prospect at Keeneland November just a few days after that race. A similar path is being followed by Lady Eli, a five-time Grade 1 winner who is expected to start in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
Other notable names in the catalog include 2016 Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia, carrying her first foal, by Pioneerof the Nile. Helena Bay, dam of Pacific Classic winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic contender Collected, is one of 17 mares in the catalog offered in foal to American Pharoah.
The Triple Crown winner’s first crop of weanlings also is well represented at Keeneland November, with 22 offerings. The group includes a half-sister to dual classic winner and champion I’ll Have Another, a half-brother to Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man, a half-brother to multiple Group 1 winner Caravaggio, and weanlings out of Grade 1 winners Ariege, Cat Moves, Harmony Lodge, Joyful Victory, and Life At Ten.
First-year covering sires with mares offered in foal are led by two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, with nine mares in his first book slated to sell.
Keeneland November also is known for offering drafts of racing or stallion prospects. Among the horses in that category are graded stakes winners Airoforce, March, and Stanford, and the active stallion Mr. Sidney, a Grade 1 winner who most recently stood at Walmac.
“Keeneland’s September yearling sale ended less than two weeks ago with exciting results and momentum for the November sale,” Keeneland vice president of racing and sales Bob Elliston said in a press release. “The November sale’s myriad offerings that include proven producers and exciting young mares, well-bred weanlings, and talented horses of racing age make it an important destination for buyers from across North America and internationally.”
Judy the Beauty thriving
Just a stone’s throw from her favorite racetrack, Keeneland, at trainer Wesley Ward’s property, champion Judy the Beauty is thriving in her second career as a broodmare. The Ghostzapper mare delivered her first foal, a filly from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, on April 21.
“She’s doing great,” Ward said in the Keeneland grandstand Tuesday morning, pointing to his visible barn. “Sitting right behind that barn there with her baby, hanging out. She’s loving life.”
Judy the Beauty won three of her five career outings at Keeneland, including the Grade 1 Madison Stakes in 2014. Later that year, she won the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita to secure her divisional Eclipse Award.
Ward says he has not yet decided if he will keep or sell the mare’s first foal.
“She’s really coming around, she’s beautiful, has the same physical look as Judy does,” Ward said. “I’ll probably decide sometime in the coming spring. She’s a valuable, valuable horse. My oldest son’s in college this year, and I’ve got two right behind him, so you have to consider the financial aspects of everything with a filly as valuable as this one.”
In the meantime, Judy the Beauty is back in foal to classic sire Curlin for a 2018 foal.
Chus honored by OwnerView
Charles and Susan Chu, who race under the name Baoma Corp., have been chosen as the 2017 New Owner of the Year by OwnerView, honoring a new Thoroughbred owner who has had success on the track and a positive impact on the industry.
The award recognizes an entity that has owned Thoroughbreds for less than four years, had an interest in a horse at the time it won a stakes race in the past 12 months, and has a verifiable owner’s license in the current year. It will be presented during OwnerView’s Thoroughbred Owner Conference, scheduled for Oct. 30–Nov. 1 in Del Mar, Calif.
The Chus are best known as the owners of champion sprinter Drefong, who won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.
Other notable runners campaigned by the Chus include Grade 3 winner Chitu, who ran in the 2014 Kentucky Derby; Grade 2 winner Faypien; and Grade 3 winners Lord Simba and Super Ninety Nine. Their runners are trained by Bob Baffert.
Off the racetrack, the Chus have been significant donors to Old Friends Equine Retirement, based in Georgetown, Ky. They donated $20,000 to the operation in December and contributed another $10,000 this summer from Drefong’s purse earnings after winning the Grade 1 Forego Stakes.
Outside of the racing industry, the Chu family is involved in pleasure riding and show jumping, investing in Olympic-level jumpers and partnering with international riders. The Chus are natives of Taiwan and reside in Massachusetts.
The New Owner of the Year award has been presented in previous years to Sol Kumin and LNJ Foxwoods.