Ashado to sell at Keeneland November

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Ashado, the only filly to win the Kentucky Oaks and Breeders' Cup Distaff in the same year, will be sold at this year's Keeneland November mixed sale, her owners announced Wednesday.

Jack and Laurie Wolf of Starlight Stables and their partners Paul Saylor and Johns Martin will offer Ashado through the Taylor Made agency. The owners' decision to sell Ashado puts a rare jewel on the public marketplace. A 4-year-old Saint Ballado filly, Ashado is likely to be offered as a broodmare prospect, and, although a buyer could opt to race Ashado next season, that is not probable. Bloodstock experts point out that her worth as a broodmare would make the cost of continuing to insure her prohibitive if she stays in training.

"She is a once-in-a-lifetime filly, and we have been honored to own her as she has fulfilled every racehorse owner's dream," Jack Wolf said in making the announcement. "We are in the business to race horses, and the timing is right for us to sell her to someone who can see her fulfill her immense potential as a broodmare."

Ashado was voted 2004 champion 3-year-old filly after winning the Distaff, Kentucky Oaks, and Coaching Club American Oaks. This year, she already has won the Grade 1 Go for Wand and Grade 1 Ogden Phipps handicaps and finished second in the Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap. Ashado is one of only 12 mares to win Grade 1 races at ages 2, 3, and 4, and her earnings currently stand at $3,245,440.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Ashado is pointing for a defense of her title in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont on Oct. 29. She is a daughter of Goulash, by Mari's Book.

Ashado's record puts her among history's elite racemares, including some who have sold at auction. Winning Colors, one of only three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby, brought $4.1 million when offered not in foal at the 1989 Keeneland November sale at the end of her racing career. Xtra Heat, the champion 3-year-old filly in 2001, failed to sell as a racing or broodmare prospect at Fasig-Tipton's 2002 November mixed sale, where she brought a final bid of $1.7 million; she subsequently was sold privately to ClassicStar, a partnership that campaigned her at age 5.

Other top mares who have passed through auction include Princess Rooney, champion older mare of 1984, who sold in foal to Danzig for $5.5 million at Keeneland's 1985 November sale; Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Unbridled Elaine, who brought $4.4 million in foal to Forestry at Keeneland November last year; Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Spain, who sold in foal to Storm Cat for $5.3 million; and 1999 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Cash Run, still the world-record-priced mare at $7.1 million after selling at the 2003 Keeneland November auction.