Take Charge Brandi Archives

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015

A November to Remember

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There truly is no rest for the weary. On the final day of last month we all watched in awe and disbelief as we finally got our Grand Slam, with American Pharoah winning the Breeders’ Cup following his Triple Crown victory. The very next day, in the same city, we kicked off with Fasig-Tipton’s one day November Sale and in the following day we moved right into Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock sale for 12 days. What a whirlwind!

On November 1, 2015 Fasig-Tipton sold 92 horses for over $43 million dollars combined. The top sale was Angela Renee. She is a grade 1 stakes winner who sold for $3 million dollars.

Today is the lucky Friday the 13th and the last day of this Keeneland sale. I got to attend on a few fine days and it was fantastic. I saw so many beautiful Thoroughbreds and met some nice, helpful people as well.

One of my favorite horses is so far the sales topper. She is Take Charge Brandi! I met her this summer at D. Wayne Lukas’ barn at Churchill. He was there to watch her at auction. See his picture from Keeneland’s October meet below. I was able to pet her pretty face, also seen below. She is a chestnut filly who was born in Kentucky on 2/7/2012. She has had 11 starts and is a multiple graded stakes winner. Take Charge Brandi took first place in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race in 2014 and won an Eclipse Award that same year for Champion 2 year old filly. She was purchased at the Keeneland 2013 September Yearling Sale by Willis Horton. She last raced in the Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing in September where she did not finish. She has lived at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Lexington, KY since and she has now been purchased for this farm where she will be bred to Curlin. He raced in all 3 legs of the Triple Crown, improving with each race, coming in 3rd, 2nd and then 1st in 2007. He won the Breeders’ Cup Classic that same year. Curlin has 4 Eclipse awards and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014. His stud fee is $100,000. That is half as much as American Pharoah’s fee at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. Hill ‘n’ Dale owns 20% of Curlin.

My other favorite trainer, Kellyn Gorder, was working with Cowboy Rhythm when he won at Keeneland on 10/18/15 by 3 and 1/2 lengths. Cowboy Rhythm is a 3 year old colt and he sold at Keeneland during session 9 for $335,000. He was sold by WinStar Racing to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners. I was with Cowboy Rhythm in the paddock and winners circle the day he won at Keeneland. See the picture I took below.

That same session another horse I enjoy sold for $550,000. He is Donworth. Day 9 of this year’s November sale saw 16 horses go for 6 figures when last year there were no horses that sold in that price range on the 9th session. Donworth placed 2nd in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland this past April. His trainer was Graham Motion. He won his 1st and 4th career starts. He was sold in the Regis Farm dispersal by Three Chimneys Farm to Doug O’Neill. I went out to see Donworth in the barn before he went into auction. See him below.

By the close of day 11 yesterday, we could already call the sale a success. This year’s sale is a day longer than in 2014. The gross accumulation is 5.8% ahead of 2014 already. 2,735 horses have been sold versus 2,512 in 2014. The total for these sales is over $217 million dollars this year versus last year’s $205 million. I am excited to see what this day brings. It is always a good time at Keeneland. So pretty and so tasty too. Nom, nom, bread pudding! Thank you for reading and sharing!

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November 2, 2015November 2, 2015

Firsts, Favorites, Famous and Fun

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Breeders’ Cup 2015 was held for the 1st time ever in Lexington, KY at Keeneland this past week. The track featured a Prelude to the Cup on Thursday with 9 live races followed with 2 more days of graded stakes races with 4 Breeders’ Cup races on Friday and 9 BC races on Saturday. The dates spanned October 29th thru 31st of 2015. I was present for all 3 days. The events were wonderful!

For the Prelude to the Cup the weather was gorgeous. I walked the grounds and marveled at the sea of purple that had taken over and all of the new and temporary structures. It was a quiet event and a good day for mingling with my friends, old and new. All the photos above except for the program and lanyard collection were taken that day.

The BC Juvenile Turf was the 6th race on the 30th but the 1st BC race of the series. Hit It a Bomb, #14, won the race. He is seen above as is the 7th place finisher, Manhattan Dan, in his coat.

Race 7 was the Las Vegas BC Dirt Mile. Liam’s Map shown in the top picture above won. Two of my personal favorites ran this race as well. Mr. Z, #4, I met and petted following my birthday, earlier this year. I shouted out my love to him from the rail pre-race and I got his attention. #8, wearing pink, is 4th place finisher Wicked Strong. He was the barn friend of Twitter’s favorite horse, Juba. Wicked Strong has now retired to stud at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, KY.

Catch a Glimpse, #4 above, won the 8th race. This was the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf. Last year’s winner was Take Charge Brandi. I petted her too this past summer at D. Wayne Lukas’ barn at Churchill Downs. She is for sale at the Keeneland November Sale that starts today. I hope she has a long happy life as a broodmare.

Friday’s BC races wrapped with race 9, the Longines BC Distaff. Stopchargingmaria won. She is wearing #4 in the picture above. She is trained by Todd Pletcher and has had an amazing year winning multiple grades stakes. This was her third Grade 1 stakes win in a career of 16 starts. There was one more stakes race that day as the sunset.

On the final day of the BC the 1st BC race was race 3, the 14 Hands Winery Juvenile Fillies race. This race was won by Songbird, #10 above. I fell in love with Rachel’s Valentina, # 9 in the above photo, who placed 2nd in this race, when she won both of her only other races at Saratoga this summer.

Race 4 was the Twin Spires BC Turf Sprint. This race was won by Mongolian Saturday. The rail made it hard to see him wearing #14 in the photo above. His connections were dressed out and seated in the loge box behind me during the BC Classic. They were having fun with a selfie stick in the middle photo. Lady Shipman placed 2nd. She was a pretty girl as seen from the Enclosure, a temporary spot near the walking ring.

Wavell Avenue wearing orange #7 managed to fight her way up from middle of the pack, as seen above at the turn, to 1st place. She was ridden by Joel Rosario. Race 5 was the TwinSpires Filly and Mare Sprint.

In the 6th race, the BC Filly and Mare Turf, a local favorite won. #11 Stephanie’s Kitten is owned by Sarah and Ken Ramsey, Keeneland’s leading owner award winners. This is the third BC win for Stephanie’s Kitten. She is seen in the paddock area and winning her race above.

A new track record was set by Runhappy when he won the TwinSpires BC Sprint. This was race 7. He is shown about to cross the finish in the green #5 above. Runhappy won a graded stakes race at Keeneland the same month for opening weekend of the Fall meet.

Tepin was a fast filly that beat out the males to win the BC Mile. She is seen taking the title above, in race 8. She won a grade 1 stakes race at Keeneland on the opening weekend of this last Fall meet at Keeneland too!

Nyquist, #13, barely beat Swipe, #12, to win the the 9th race. This race was the Sentient Jet BC Juvenile. Neither horse had the lead from the start, in fact they were plenty behind but Nyquist held out his nose to win. Look how close they are in the photo above!

Found is the beautiful Irish filly that beat her male counterparts to win the Longines BC Turf. She is definitely an international champion. Race 10 had a $3 million dollar purse. She is one lucky and talented filly. See her two paddock pics above.

Then, in Race 10, the BC Mile, I’m pretty sure we all know who our star is, above. That is American Pharoah. I gave him his very own BC story in my post Grand Slam? Yes, Ma’am!

Plenty of celebrities were on hand to witness history in the making as well. I got photos of Jean Cruguet (top right), Seattle Slew’s Triple Crown jockey, and Ritchie Sambora (middle left), the rocker from Bon Jovi. I also saw Bobby Flay, famed chef and caught word that Kate Upton, a model, was there too. My parents recognized Kenny Mayne, from Dancing with the Stars (top left).

Finally, I just want all of you to know that there were no break downs and all the horses, their connections and the fans really had a lot of fun at the Breeders’ Cup. I will always remember my time at BC 2015. I have literally thousands of pictures and so much to share but this is a blog post, not a novel. Keep following for an upcoming post on my Kentucky Horse Park visit from yesterday.

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September 14, 2015

Dancing With The Stars

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Good morning! It is a very busy day for this blogger. I am up early and about to head to Keeneland for a full day of sales. First, I wanted to make sure everyone was ready to root for Victor Espinoza off the track and onto the dance floor!

Dancing With The Stars is the name of a television series that covers different groups of dancers in competition in various versions in several countries. In the United States, season 21 airs beginning tonight, 9/14/15. ABC launched the American version in 2005. Professional dancers are paired with celebrities and then ranked by a panel of judges and at home viewers to determine eliminations. The final couple, at the season’s end, wins and is presented with The Mirror Ball Trophy. My parents and my favorite restaurant owner love the show. I do not watch a lot of television myself but this season of DWTS, I am going to have a big reason to tune in. This is the first time ever, in America, that one of the celebrities is a jockey. This extra special jockey is Victor Espinoza. Victor has been paired with professional dancer, Karina Smirnoff. Karina won in season 13. They are one of 13 couples who will dance this season.

Espinoza has a multitude of awards and trophies. He has won over three thousand races. He has the ESPY Award for Best Jockey in 2002, 2014 and 2015. He won the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness Stakes riding War Emblem in 2002 and California Chrome in 2014. This year he won those two races and the Belmont stakes riding American Pharoah to win the Triple Crown. He also was the jockey for Take Charge Brandi when she got honored with the title, American Champion Two Year Old Filly, in 2014. Victor is 43 years old and he is quite charitable. He donates a lot of money to City of Hope, an organization that tackles pediatric cancer.

Be sure to watch Espinoza dance live tonight at 8 P.M. EST for the two hour season premier. There are no eliminations week one but this season Victor will need your votes so have your phone or internet handy. Until it’s TV time I am off to the Keeneland September Sale starting at 11 A.M. EST today. I will have photos and information to share with you following my trip. I hope you have a great week and that you have some horse time in your schedule too!

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