El Prado-Shine Again filly fetches $330K

A small, select group of Maryland-breds turned out over the two nights of Saratoga's marquee sale of selected yearlings Monday and Tuesday, and when the gavel fell, all eight to go through the ring brought six figures.

The shining moment came late on the opening night when a chestnut filly sold by her breeder, Bohemia Stable, with Walnut Green as agent, brought $330,000, the highest price of this year's Maryland-bred Saratoga offerings. Edward and Robert Evans purchased the El Prado filly out of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Shine Again.

Shine Again, a daughter of Wild Again, was one of the best runners bred and raced by legendary Maryland breeder Allaire du Pont, who died in January 2006. The du Pont heirs have continued to breed a handful of select mares at Woodstock Farm and offered a few yearlings out of those mares at this year's sales. The Shine Again filly, the second foal out of her illustrious dam, has been the star offering. Shine Again, the Maryland-bred horse of the year of 2003, earned $1.2 million during her career in which she won or placed in 18 graded stakes, topped by back-to-back scores in the Grade 1 Ballerina Handicap.

The second-highest price garnered by a Maryland-bred yearling at this year's sale went through the ring just minutes before the Shine Again filly. A Not for Love colt out of stakes winner Set to Fly, by Relaunch, brought $205,000 on a final bid by Hidden Brook for Paul Pompa Jr.

Consigned with Eaton Sales, agent, the bay colt was bred by Richard Golden's Sycamore Hall Farm LLC. He is a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Raghib and stakes-placed Polish Missile.

Maryland's leading sire, Not for Love, was well represented, with seven going through the ring for an average of $131,429. Four of the seven were foaled in Maryland, including a colt sold by Marshall Silverman for Charles and Cynthia McGinnes's Thornmar Farm. Out of Taft Lil Queen, a stakes-winning daughter of Irish Open, the bay colt named The Prince brought $175,000 from Leprechaun Racing, agent. The Thornmar yearling is a half-brother to 2005 Maryland-bred co-champion 2-year-old male El Viento.

A half-sister to the other Maryland-bred champion 2-year-old male of 2005, Vegas Play, also sold. The daughter of Dixie Union went to Edgewood Farm for $145,000. Bred by Nancy M. Leonard Living Trust and sold by Eaton Sales, agent, the filly is out of Delaware Handicap winner Power Play (by Fast Play).

Well-established sales sire Two Punch had each of his two offspring sell for $130,000.

First to sell was a colt out of Promiseville (by Alwasmi). Bred by Frank A. Bonsal Jr., who sold him last year as a weanling for $95,000, the Two Punch colt is a half-brother to Canadian champion Small Promises. Starlight Racing purchased the colt from the consignment of agent Denali Stud (Craig and Holly Bandoroff).

In 2006, a Maryland-bred Two Punch filly prepped by Susan Dunham for client Edward Gamble sold for $360,000. This year, Dunham sent a gray or roan Two Punch filly out of the mare Dancing in Seattle that she bred to Saratoga. Dunham has a growing reputation of specializing in getting high-risk and older broodmares in foal, and sold the Two Punch filly with the Derry Meeting consignment as the property of Dunham and Gamble. The Two Punch filly is the first offspring for her dam, Dancing in Seattle, since the mare produced graded stakes winner Miss Grindstone in 1999.

The first two Maryland-bred yearlings to go through the sales ring on the first night were fillies by Not for Love selling for $100,000. A dark bay Not for Love filly out of Goldgorian's Alden (by John Alden), bred by Dr. George E. Harmening and Kimberly Harmening, was purchased by Mike Ryan, agent. She is a full sister to 2004 Maryland-bred champion older mare Angela's Love, a graded stakes winner of $347,135.

Not for Love's daughter out of Here Comes Betty (by Cox's Ridge), bred by Glade Valley Farms Inc., was bought by M.S.T.S. The dark bay miss is a half-sister to stakes winners Somethinaboutbetty and Petunia from the family of graded winners Crowned and Betty Lobelia.