Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
WITHOUT A N.Y. SALE, STATEBREDS HEAD TO KENTUCKY
Fasig-Tipton’s annual New York-bred yearling auction, held during the summer meeting at Saratoga Race Course, has steadily grown beyond a solid sale for a regional program into a national showcase. After back-to-back record renewals in 2017 and 2018, the sale did post slight declines in average and median from those high-water marks in 2019. However, there was still plenty of electricity in the sale pavilion, as Larry Best went to $775,000 for a Malibu Moon filly, establishing a record price for the auction for the fourth straight year.
But Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney Sale Pavilion in Saratoga was quiet this August – not for a lack of interest in the New York-bred program, but because the coronavirus pandemic forced FasigTipton to reimagine its sales calendar. With three summer sales in New York and Kentucky scrapped for one year, FasigTipton has created the selected yearlings showcase on Sept. 9-10. New York-breds who might otherwise have been featured at the selected statebred sale will thus compete against “open company” in the Kentucky sales rings at Fasig-Tipton and at Keeneland September.
However, New York-breds have continued to take on all comers on the racetrack at the time the program might need it most. Fasig-Tipton graduate Tiz the Law, already the winner of the Belmont Stakes in June and Runhappy Travers in August, is the favorite for the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby as he attempts to become the second New York-bred winner of the classic. Fellow statebred Ny Traffic also is expected for the race.
The 177 New York-breds cataloged for Fasig-Tipton’s September sale include a half-brother to Tiz the Law, by New York stallion Mission Impazible. There are then 138 New York-breds cataloged at Keeneland September.
“I think everyone would tell you that we would love to be in Saratoga selling New York-breds, but obviously, that’s not possible this year,” said Conrad Bandoroff, vice president of Denali Stud, which sold a yearling colt for $500,000 at the New York-bred sale last year and has statebreds consigned at both September yearling sales this year. “But we know Fasig-Tipton is going to go to great lengths to make sure the New York trainers are well accommodated and can get to Kentucky to inspect what is going to be the top echelon of the New Yorkbreds, and I would expect that those horses should be well received. The fact that they’re selling in Kentucky, I don’t think that’s going to hurt them. People were going to be coming to Kentucky for the sales anyway. While we wish we were selling them at the Fasig-Tipton paddocks in New York, we just have to adjust.”
Tiz the Law was bred in New York by Randy Gullatt and Steve Davison’s Twin Creeks Farm and is from the first crop of Kentucky stallion Constitution, whom Twin Creeks campaigned in partnership with WinStar Farm. Twin Creeks sold Tiz the Law via Sequel New York, as agent, for $110,000 to Sackatoga Stable at the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale.
For that partnership, he won last year’s Champagne Stakes, and this year’s Holy Bull, Florida Derby, Belmont, and Travers Stakes.
Meanwhile, Twin Creeks has continued to make significant investments in New York breeding. The operation’s multiple stud interests include two stallions it stands at Sequel in New York – multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Mission Impazible, who has become one of the state’s leading young sires, and classicplaced Destin, whose first foals are arriving now.
“New York has an outstanding program for breeder awards and stallion awards,” Gullatt said. “We raced Mission Impazible, and we were looking for a regional market to fit him. We wanted to breed our mares to him and support him, and the New York program made a ton of sense. We planned on racing quite a few of those progeny, and we’ve been doing that now for several years.”
Mission Impazible has rewarded Twin Creeks and his other supporters by finishing as New York’s leading freshman sire of 2016, leading 2-year-old sire and secondcrop sire of 2017, and leading third-crop sire of 2018. He was a solid fifth on last year’s general sire list in the state and is currently fifth on the list by 2020 earnings through Aug. 20. The son of Unbridled’s Song will now get the chance to be showcased nationally, as he is the sire of Tiz the Law’s half-brother, to be consigned by Sequel at Fasig-Tipton in Kentucky. Both colts are out of the Grade 2-winning Tiznow mare Tizfiz.
Mission Impazible is among the New York stallions who will be featured before a national or international marketplace in Kentucky, along with Sequel’s Freud, New York’s perennial leading sire of the last decade. Other New York stallions represented between the two September sales include Alpha, Big Brown, Central Banker, Laoban, Majestic City, Union Jackson, and War Dancer.
While Tiz the Law’s sibling by a New York sire will star at Fasig-Tipton, the Keeneland September yearling sale features standout yearlings from another of the state’s perennial leading breeding programs. Chester and Mary Broman, who have pared down some of their Thoroughbred interests in recent years, will offer a Tapit colt out of their Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Bar of Gold; a full brother to Bar of Gold, by Medaglia d’Oro; and a filly from the first crop of Arrogate out of their Grade 1 winner Artemis Agrotera. All are consigned by Sequel, as agent.
Stonestreet, Gluck team up again
For the second consecutive year, Stonestreet Farm, a major breeder of racetrack successes and commercial yearlings, has partnered with the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Foundation on a program to advance equine science.
The Gluck Center announced this summer that it is developing an equine biological passport that aims to detect drug use in horses. The passport will seek to identify and track specific biomarkers that could detect drug use by monitoring changes to peptides and protein abundance.
The program’s goals include serving as a platform to impact policy change and drug-testing protocols, and to further understand the impact of drugs and medications on Thoroughbred racehorses. Gluck envisions the biological passports becoming a future tool for the industry, providing data needed to support changes in rules and regulations that will allow prosecution of violators and protect horses deemed at risk.
“In the last few years we have seen too many negative headlines around equine drug use,” Dr. Scott Stanley, professor of Equine Pharmacology and Toxicology and director of the Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, said in a press release issued by Gluck. “As a research scientist with 30 years of regulatory drugtesting experience, my team and I know this is a problem we cannot currently solve. We know that it takes time to develop new tests for each new emerging drug, so we will always be behind. We know that each horse metabolizes drugs at a different rate, making standard clearance and withdrawal times confusing. In addition, we know that there are environmental factors, human interactions, and hundreds of other variables that can impact our current drug-testing procedures.
“The EBP program is a tool that will enable us to rapidly identify new drugs and measure the physiological effect on the equine athlete,” Stanley continued. “The data will be critical in differentiating between intentional doping and accidental contaminants, which can smear the industry image and damage reputations.”
The program is receiving funding from Stonestreet, with owner Barbara Banke stating in the release that her operation has contributed $100,000. Banke also urged other industry stakeholders to donate.
“At Stonestreet we are proud of our integrity, our commitment to a level playing field, and our focus on the health of the horse above all else,” Banke said. “An equine biological passport will give us a comprehensive program that provides full transparency for both competition and out-of-competition testing, for every stakeholder.”
Last year, North America’s three major auction companies – Keeneland, FasigTipton, and the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. – announced a joint policy where buyers of young horses will be able to request testing for bisphosphonates. The move was intended to stop the off-label use of the drugs, which are approved for use in older horses to treat osteoporosis but that also have been rumored to have been abused in young horses headed for the sales ring. Stonesteet applauded that policy and went a step further by essentially developing its own bisphosphonate and anabolic steroid test repository. Stonestreet partnered with the Gluck Center to develop blood sampling, testing, and secure storage protocols that allow buyers of Stonestreet-bred and -raised yearlings to review a blood-health window of several months prior to their purchase.
“It’s not only good for our business, it’s good for our sport,” Banke said at that time. “We believe nature is the best way to build strong muscle and good bones.
“Transparency is so important. It breeds confidence in buyers.”
Blood samples are drawn from each Stonestreet yearling on a regular schedule developed by Gluck using current bisphosphonate detection periods. The samples are drawn by a third-party veterinarian hired by Gluck, ensuring accuracy via chain-of-custody protocols. Samples, tested for bisphosphonates and growth promotants, are stored and frozen in accordance with regulatory laboratory standards established for pre- and postrace blood samples.
With this repository available, the purchaser of a Stonestreet yearling may request a report of the test results for the individual. At their own expense, they also may request additional testing on the samples remaining in secure storage at the Gluck Center.
Kingman yearlings offered
Juddmonte’s champion and rising young stallion Kingman recorded his first North American stakes winner when his son Domestic Spending won the Saratoga Derby Invitational on Aug. 15. Now, he’ll see if he can spark some domestic spending, as he is represented by his first offspring in the North American market, with one each at the Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland September sales.
Kingman, a son of Invincible Spirit and out of French 1000 Guineas winner Zenda, won 7 of 8 career starts. In a stellar campaign that earned him honors as the Cartier European Horse of the Year, he won the Irish 2000 Guineas; the Group 1 St. James’s Palace Stakes at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting; the Group 1 Sussex Stakes, also in England; and the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois in France. His only loss came when second in the English 2000 Guineas.
Kingman entered stud at Juddmonte’s Banstead Manor Stud in Newmarket in 2015, with his first foals hitting the track in 2018. He is already the sire of 23 stakes winners through Aug. 18, led by millionaire Persian King, a multiple Group 1 winner in France, and unbeaten Palace Pier, who emulated his sire by winning both this year’s St. James’s Palace at
Royal Ascot and Jacques le Marois last month at Deauville.
Domestic Spending was born in England and was purchased by Klaravich Stable for $412,430 out of the 2018 Tattersalls October yearling sale. He has won 3 of 4 career starts and finished third in the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes in July at Saratoga before winning the Saratoga Derby.
Kingman is the sire of one filly cataloged at Fasig-Tipton, selling with South Point Sales, as agent. Out of the winning Bahamian Bounty mare Amber Romance, she is from the family of Group 1 winners Free Eagle and Search For A Song.
Kingman’s representative at Keeneland September is an Irish-born filly out of the unraced Medaglia d’Oro mare Kamakura. Consigned by Indian Creek, as agent, the filly is from the family of Horse of the Year Mineshaft, as well as Grade/Group 1 winners Dickinson, Flagbird, Little Belle, Prospectors Delite, Runup the Colors, and Tomisue’s Delight.
In addition to shuttle stallions, such as the Australian representatives Astern and Vancouver, other stallions based outside of North America who are represented by yearlings between the two September sales include leading sire Galileo and his sons Frankel and Churchill. Unbeaten Frankel, two-time European Horse of the Year, stands alongside Kingman at Juddmonte.
Also among the international representatives are late classic sire Scat Daddy’s sons Caravaggio and No Nay Never, the latter a successful young sire; Myboycharlie, known in the United States as the sire of champion Sistercharlie; and Group 1 winners Dark Angel and Marcel.
Not This Time red hot
Not This Time has emerged as one of the early leaders of the 2020 freshman sire class on the racetrack, and his first crop found smashing commercial success in a turbulent market. The young stallion, who bucked trends by getting a solid second book at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky, looks to carry that
success into the yearling sale season.
Not This Time, a son of Giant’s Causeway, was a 10-length maiden winner at Ellis Park in his second career start before winning the Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs by eight lengths. He then was beaten a neck by divisional champion Classic Empire in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. That proved to be his final career start, as he was retired due to a soft-tissue injury. He was expected to be a good sire of 2-year-olds, in his own mold. Anticipation for his first crop was heightened when his half-brother Liam’s Map sired a pair of Grade 1-winning juveniles, Basin and Wicked Whisper, from his own first crop in 2019.
Not This Time indeed fired off the mark, as he leads his freshman class with six individual winners through Aug. 18. Those include Hopeful Princess, who, after winning her debut May 21 at Churchill Downs, finished third in the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes on July 16 at Saratoga.
Even before his first juveniles hit the track, Not This Time was well regarded in the commercial arena, and his numbers soared as the calendar turned to 2020. The stallion averaged $63,746 from 68 first-crop yearlings sold at public auction last year, more than four times their advertised conception stud fee of $15,000. He then averaged $175,216 from 37 juveniles sold this year, led by a $1.35 million filly who topped the OBS spring sale of 2-year-olds in training and finished as the most expensive horse of the juvenile sale season, which was upended by the coronavirus pandemic.
The filly, who has since been named Princess Noor, was purchased by bloodstock agent Gary Young after working a quarter-mile in a bullet 20 1/5 seconds on the Ocala Training Center’s Safetrack surface during the under-tack preview for the sale. She has continued to show that speed, winning her debut on Aug. 22 at Del Mar for trainer Bob Baffert.
In addition to commercial auction prices, one way to gauge
the popularity and appeal of a stallion is in the size and quality of his books of mares. Not This Time covered 145 mares in his first season at stud, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. That book was highlighted by Grade 1-winning millionaire Dream of Summer, dam of classic-placed Grade 1 winner Creative Cause, recent Grade 1 winner Vexatious, and classic-placed Grade 2 winner Destin. All three are by Giant’s Causeway, the sire of Not This Time.
The quality of a stallion’s book may decrease slightly his second, third, and fourth years at stud, as breeders wait to see his first foals and how they are received. However, Not This Time’s second book of 129 mares in 2018 included a major vote of confidence for his continued success in Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady, dam of fourtime Eclipse Award champion Beholder, Grade 1 winner and leading sire Into Mischief, and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn.
Her inclusion in his book was all the more notable because the stakes-winning mare was 23 when she delivered the resulting filly, meaning she has few opportunities left in her breeding career. Breeder Clarkland Farm intends to retain the resulting filly, Marr Time.
Not This Time will be represented by six yearlings from his second crop at the Fasig-Tipton selected yearling showcase and another 47 at the Keene-land September yearling sale. He has two yearlings slotted in the marquee Book 1 portion of Keeneland September – a colt from the family of Grade 1 winner Capote Belle and a colt from the family of Grade 1 winner Frost Giant, by Giant’s Causeway. He has four more yearlings in Book 2 at Keeneland, including half-siblings to graded stakes winners I Spent It and Island Commish.