Taylor Made Archives - Thoroughbred U

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It is just Monday and I started the week off right with another visit to see California Chrome at Taylor Made Farm. I went to 2 of 3 Fan Days this weekend with the later including a farm tour, in addition to a meet and greet at the stallion complex. Chrome was just as adorable and exciting yesterday as he was when I first met him on Friday. Chrome is one terrific horse and it has been such a pleasure having him here in Kentucky.

His time here is almost over, for now. Yesterday, 9/27/15, Duncan Taylor, President of Taylor Made Farm made a similar presentation to the one I attended on Friday following my chance to meet, photograph and love on several of the resident stallions. I was better able to pay attention this time due to the repetition of material and that I wasn’t so completely baffled by the site of Chrome. I learned that California Chrome is expected to be fully recovered from his bruised cannon bone. Gilberto is pointing the injury out in the picture above. Chrome likely got the injury from standing in stalls too long. The remedy to heal such an injury is to spend 75 days turned out into pasture land. During Chrome’s stay he packed on 160 pounds dining on Kentucky Bluegrass and he should be cleared by his veterinarian October 1st to be shipped back to California. He will probably fly out between October 8th and 15th. His trainer, Art Sherman, wants to race him some more before he begins his stud career at Taylor Made. The rumor is he may race in Dubai. I wish him well. I hope our American Horse of the Year wins some more races and returns to Kentucky safe and sound when he retires from racing. Duncan Taylor noted Chrome may be California bred, but he has Kentucky Chromasomes, thanks to his KY sire, Lucky Pulpit. After I bid Chrome farewell I boarded the tour bus.

Pulling away from the stallion complex in the bus, Alex Payne, the farm manager for the yearlings, was the tour guide. We rode around and made a few stops to walk about the 1100 acres of the 36 year old farm. We saw the barn American Pharoah lived in as a yearling, in the distance. We made our 1st stop at Aaron and Maire Jones barn. They had fields full of mares and babies. It was nice to pet them and admire their beauty. See some of their pretty faces below.

Next we went to see some of the RNAs (reserve not attained) from the Keeneland September Yearling Sale that just finished this past Saturday. See theses precious Thoroughbreds below.

Many of these horses were still tired from their sale experience. Some had been purchased since the sale at a RNA party the farm hosted. Others may still be available. There is a good chance I met some future big time winners while at the farm. Unfortunately, at this part, I had to ditch the tour to make it to my day job. I wish i could have stayed all day. I had such a great time and I can not wait to go back. Thankfully, Taylor Made is one of the farms that is part of Horse Country Breeders’ Cup Festival Week Horse Farm Tours and they plan on touring after the BC too. Here is a link to get your own tour: Horse Country

Finally, I leave you with my other favorite animal, cats! I met two barn cats and they were a delight. Have a great week everyone and I have hundreds to thousands or more pictures too so leave me a comment if there is something more you want to see. Thank you in advance!

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Yesterday, 7/9/15, I took some time off to catch Fasig-Tipton’s “The July Sale” which was followed by the “Summer Selected Horses of Racing Age Sale” live at their Lexington, KY location. It was a great time and I am looking forward to watching the future of these Thoroughbreds play out on the race tracks!

Fasig-Tipton is a premier Thoroughbred auction company with its Lexington location being established in 1972. The July Sale is the first United States Yearling sale of 2015. Hips 1 through 332 and 401 through 524 were featured in the barns, walking ring and sales pavilion. I came 2 hours early to walk the barns. It was a beautiful, cooler summer morning and fortunately dry to start, though we did get some sprinkles throughout the day. The horses were gorgeous and the grass appeared to be a real treat. Yum, fresh Kentucky Bluegrass! I watched as the horses were brushed and shown to some eager perspective buyers. Then I made a hasty dash to a bar stool, within the entrance to the sales pavilion. I was seated right off the walking ring, to see the sale that started at 10 am. I stayed there until nearly 3 pm watching the horses and people as I enjoyed a nice salad. I am fortunate to have made many great connections and I encountered several of these wonderful horse enthusiast throughout the day.

One of my first such connections of the day stopped by to ask me if I watched the show, “Mad Men”. I do not but I was curious as to why he would ask and he told me that Hip 6 had an interesting back story. His dam is Her Smile. She is a graded stakes winner and showed in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in 2011. The more interesting fact is that while she is now owned by Frank Stronach, breeder and owner of horses and of prominent racetracks and Adena Springs Farms, Her Smile has been owned by both Bobby Flay, celebrity chef and horse owner, and Bill Backer, ad executive and creator of the Coca-Cola ad jingle, “I’d Like to Buy the World a Coke” used in a 1971 commercial and as the finale of television show “Mad Men” that ended in May 2015. Her hip #6 colt sold for $280,000 to De Meric Stables.

The rest of my day was full of more exciting stories and people but don’t forget, the focus was those magnificent horses. I was still there to see hip #152, a colt of Scat Daddy, sell for $385,000. Scat Daddy had sired 4 horses listed in the auction. One of those fillies, #220, was marked out but his other filly, #281, sold for $300,000 and his other colt, #105, sold for $110,000. #152 has Starbourne for his mare. Scat Daddy, who stands at Ashford Stud, currently has sired 10 stakes winners including El Kabeir winner of 2014 and 2015 multiple graded stakes.

In all The July Sale ended late but was a success. 205 yearlings were sold for a total of $20,005,000. The sale had 7 yearlings go for $300,000 or more each. 18 others sold for $200,000 or better. The average price was over $97,000 and the median was over $77,000, with both of those figures being up from the previous year, while the buy back rate went down, at 29%. #317 brought in the biggest price at $500,000. She is a filly by sire, Tapit and French Dip, her mare. Bred at Gainesway Farm, she sold to agent Steven Young. Tapit currently stands at Gainesway. He is the leading 2014 and 2015 sire. This filly was the only Tapit yearling at auction. His other offspring include 12 stakes winners. One of these is Frosted, 4th in this year’s Kentucky Derby and 2nd in the 2015 Belmont Stakes.

Before, I had to rush back to work I made a trip out with a friend to see one of the Taylor Made Sales Agency barns. I Saw some nice horses for the later sale there. #421 Mizzen Moon went on to sell for $57,000 and # 503 Seely Rose brought in $40,000.

I was long gone by the time the “Summer Sale Horses of Racing Age Sale” began. Somewhere around 9 pm, the last horse to go through the auction brought in the biggest money. The victor was #524, Temper Mint Patty, for $350,000. In this sale 65 horse sold for $3,996,000. The average price was $61,477 and the median was $48,000. Last year 109 horses were sold with a superior average but a lesser median.

The next Fasig-Tipton Sale is “The Saratoga Sale” in August. I won’t be able to make the trip to New York so please, share with me if you attend. Our 2015 and 12th Triple Crown winner, American Pharoah, was offered as hip #85 in the 2013 Saratoga Sale. You could buy the next winner or at least take a chance. Happy shopping!

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