Scat Daddy Divas

Titled, hours before her race at Churchill Downs
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Two, Scat Daddy sisters, race at Churchill Downs
Two, Scat Daddy sisters, race at Churchill Downs

What a week it has been.  Since my last post I have attended Thoroughbred sales at both Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland and live racing at Churchill Downs.  I have witnessed the sale of champions like Tepin, Stellar Wind, Catch A Glimpse and Songbird, seen the weanling foals of sires like American Pharoah and Medaglia d’ Oro and enjoyed racing at the home of the Kentucky Derby.  A common thread at the auctions and the track are the impressive and primarily female offspring of the late Scat Daddy.

 

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Selected Summer Sales

Hip 290 was a million dollar baby! Yearling filly by Medaglia d'Oro. Her dam is Hung the Moon.
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Hip 295 , a filly to Maclean's Music and Inner Groove.
Hip 295 , a filly to Maclean’s Music and Inner Groove.

These summer sales were certainly sizzling.  This week Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY hosted two sales.  On back-to-back hot and humid days the Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale and The July Sale of Selected Yearlings took place.  I attended the later and I saw plenty of fantastic bloodstock.

 

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Tales from the Sales

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Graydar, he has a tale to tell with a swoosh of his tail!
Graydar, he has a tale to tell with a swoosh of his tail!

The first American Thoroughbred Auction results are in!  Premier auction house, Keeneland, wrapped its annual January Horses of All Ages sale (#KeeJan) this past Friday evening.  It was Friday the 13th and the results were a little spooky.

Graydar grins.
Graydar grins.

The 59th edition of the sale had catalogued 1,893 horses.  961 head sold with across-the-board declines.  Nearly 500 horses were withdrawn and over 400 more did not meet the reserve prices, set by the sellers.  Some speculated reasons included, harsh winter weather, the equine herpes quarantines and no farm dispersals.  A dispersal is when an owner sells off all or many of their horses to reduce inventory for various reasons.  The most likely factor is the increasing desire by the buyers to only purchase the most select of pedigrees.  One of my favorite take away quotes was by Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s Vice President of Racing and Sales, “Breeders need to take note moving forward.”  That is a responsible statement.  This sale grossed over $28 million dollars with an average sales price of nearly $30 thousand dollars.

Graydar, looking a bit more regal.
Graydar, looking a bit more regal.

On the bright side.  Some Thoroughbreds were found very desirable.  The highest price horse in the sale was Siren Serenade.  She sold for $1,025,000!  She is a 11 year-old mare born to Unbridled’s Song and Versailles Treaty Siren Serenade is in foal by Tapit, the gorgeous grey number one sire for over 3 years and the leading sire and covering sire of the #KeeJan sale.  Covering sire is another name for a sire when the mare is believed to be pregnant but the foal is yet to be born.  The breeding of Tapit with another Unbridled’s Song daughter, Unrivaled Belle, led to the birth of Unique Bella in 2014.  Unique Bella is turning heads after her romp in the G2 Santa Ynez Stakes, at Santa Anita, earlier this month.  Put this filly in your virtual barn!

Unbridled's Song Grave Marker.
Unbridled’s Song Grave Marker.

Keeping the bloodlines of Tapit and Unbridled’s Song in mind, feel free to search my webpage for former Tapit posts while I spend more of this post focusing on Unbridled’s Song and perhaps his most promising son as a stallion, Graydar Tapit was the sire to 10 horses in #KeeJan, right behind him was Unbridled’s Song with 9 Thoroughbreds that sold.  Much further down the list was Graydar whom sired 2 horses that sold.  Unfortunately,  you won’t find a listing for Unbridled’s Song as a covering sire.  He was euthanized at 20 years-old due to an inoperable mass.  He crossed the rainbow bridge too soon in July of 2013.  Graydar was the covering sire for 5 horses that sold in the sale.

Unbridled's Song Stall Plate.
Unbridled’s Song Stall Plate.

Both Unbridled’s Song and Graydar are Taylor Made Farm stallions.  Taylor Made Sales Agency was the leading consignor at #KeeJan and they typically are.  This year they sold 100 horses, in this one sale.  Unbridled’s Song was a stallion on their farm, in Kentucky, for 17 seasons.  Before that, this grey horse was born in February of 1993 to Unbridled, the winner of the 1990 Kentucky Derby and Trolley SongUnbridled’s Song had a nice racing career.  He won 5 of 12 starts including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the Florida Derby, the Wood Memorial and the Olympic Handicap.  The Olympic was his last race due to a broken cannon bone.  He was training to go on to the Donn Handicap.  For racing fans, it is probably best that he made it to the breeding shed as quick as he did.  He has created so many powerful stakes winners.  Names like Arrogate, Midshipman, Will Take Charge and so many more winners are his offspring.  Unbridled’s Song was credited with siring his 100th stakes winner the day his son, Graydar, won the Donn Handicap.

Graydar smiles.
Graydar smiles.

Fortunately,  not only can Unbridled’s Song’s offspring race, they are doing well as sires and broodmares themselves.  His lineage lives on and there is a lot of hope that his grey son, Graydar, may be the best to carry on those great genes.  Graydar was born to Sweetest Smile in May of 2009.  He won 5 of 6 starts including the Donn, the New Orleans and the Kelso Handicaps.  He went to stud in 2014 and he has had 2 crops of offspirng thus far.  His first crop is eligible to race this year.  He has produced 157 foals and 99 of those just became of racing age.  The other 58 are yearlings.  His fee is a mere $12,500 for a live foal.  His next crops will sell at the Fasig-Tipton 2017 Winter Mixed Sale and the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company 2017 Winter Mixed Sale.  I expect great things of his 2 year-olds and I think his price will sky rocket once he is proven.  I feel very lucky for those who are buying into Graydar now.  He is a beautiful and sweet horse.  He lives in the same two stall barn as California Chrome.  I had the pleasure of meeting Graydar twice when I visited Chrome while he was recovering from a cannon bone bruise.  I also, briefly part owned a colt by Graydar and Heavenly Ghost.  I am looking forward to following that colt’s racing career.

Graydar's stall.
Graydar’s stall.

Please, enjoy the pictures I took while I was visiting Graydar at Taylor Made Farm.  He has a tale to tell with a swish of his tail.  I hope his progeny sweep the races this year and he keeps on bringing us more of that great Unbridled’s Song legacy.  Between these two and Tapit the whole industry may be turning up grey!

 

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Knockout November

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Love The Chase

Photo:  Love The Chase

Don’t blink!  The 2016 Breeders’ Cup finished up on Saturday and in the next moment the Thoroughbreds shipped away.  Some we will see on the track again, some retired and others were sent promptly to Kentucky for the November sales.

Stopchargingmaria

Photo: Stopchargingmaria

On November 4th and 5th, Santa Anita Park in California hosted the Breeders’ Cup.  13 races took place yielding the following results by race and winning Thoroughbreds:

  • Juvenile Turf: Oscar Performance
  • Las Vegas Dirt Mile: Tamarkuz
  • Juvenile Fillies Turf: New Money Honey
  • Longines Distaff: Beholder
  • 14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies: Champagne Room
  • Filly and Mare Turf: Queen’s Trust
  • Twin Spires Sprint: Drefong
  • Turf Sprint: Obviously
  • Sentient Jet Juvenile: Classic Empire
  • Longines Turf: Highland Reel
  • Filly and Mare Sprint: Finest City
  • Mile: Tourist
  • Classic: Arrogate

Baffled

Photo: Baffled

There were a whole lot of upsets and close calls but it is all part of the game!  The results of these races lead to updates in bloodlines all over the world and the new information was influential at the following sales.

Cassett

Photo: Cassett

The November Sale at Fasig-Tipton in Lexington, KY was quite the success.  Held at 4 P.M. EST on 11/7/16 there were 175 hips cataloged.  88 horses were sold and 34 did not meet the reserve.  The others scratched prior to the sale.  The auction grossed over $54 million dollars which is up over 22% versus the prior year.  The average price rose nearly 30% versus last year to about $615 thousand dollars.  The median price went up almost 60% to more than $377 thousand dollars.  The horses that didn’t make the reserve, the minimum price per the seller, was down to less than 28% versus 34% in 2015.  15 horses sold for a million dollars or more.

  1. Baffled $3.5 M
  2. Curalina $3M
  3. Stopchargingmaria $2.8M
  4. Cassatt $2.5M
  5. Embellish The Lace $2.4M
  6. Lady Zuzu $2.35M
  7. Jacaranda $2M
  8. Love The Chase $1.95M – oh my goodness, it’s California Chrome’s mom!
  9. Whatdreamsrmadeof $1.65M
  10. Cover Song $1.6M
  11. Cathryn Sophia $1.4M
  12. Tapas $1.3M
  13. Paid Up Subscriber $1.1M
  14. Haveyougoneaway $1.1M
  15. Luminance $1M

Peace And War

Photo: Peace And War

The 2016 November Breeding Stock Sale at Keeneland in Lexington, KY was held starting at 11am on 11/8/16.  It will continue thru November 20th.  Day 1 of Book 1 went very nicely.  Day 1 included 239 hips.  115 Thoroughbreds were sold.  Over $50 million dollars were grossed.  The average price was more than $436 thousand dollars.  The median was $260 thousand.  10 horses sold for 7 figures.

  1. Secret Gesture $3.5M
  2. Celestine $2.55M
  3. Tapicat $2.2M
  4. My Conquestadory $1.5M
  5. Peace And War  $1.45M
  6. Princess Sylvia  $1.4M
  7. Summer Soiree $1.3M
  8. Yellow Ribbon $1.3M
  9. Lexie Lou $1M
  10. Dust and Diamonds $1M

Keenekand November Sale

Photo:  from left to right Dust And Diamonds, Celestine, Tapicat

It was a good couple of days to catch the action in Lexington, KY.  I can’t wait to see what the remainder of the sales yield.  I hope we have a knockout November!  Check back at least weekly and I’ll do my best to keep you updated on new adventures with race horses.

Top Book 1 Keeneland November

Photo: clockwise from top left Summer Soiree, Secret Gesture, Princess Sylvia, My Conquestadory

 

 

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