Fasig-Tipton February: Gainesway buys Beloveda for $205K

Beloveda, a Grade 3-placed, stakes-winning half-sister to recent Grade 3 winner Golden Mystery, became the new session topper early Monday afternoon at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale, selling to Gainesway Farm for $205,000.

The 5-year-old Ghostzapper mare, who went through the ring as a racing or broodmare prospect, also became the first horse to surpass last year’s sale-topping price of $200,000. She received a big catalog update when Golden Mystery won the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie Stakes on Sunday at Gulfstream Park. Golden Mystery was to arrive at the Fasig-Tipton sale grounds in Lexington, Ky. on Monday afternoon, and will sell at the end of the day’s session.

Beloveda is out of winning Saint Ballado mare Mysterious Angel, dam of two winners, both stakes winners, from three to race. On the racetrack, Beloveda won 13 of 29 starts in the U.S. and Poland for earnings of $244,926. Her 4-year-old season was her strongest, winning the Tropical Starter Series Stakes at Calder Race Course and finishing second in the Grade 3 Rampart Stakes at Gulfstream.

“I thought she was a superior physical,” said Michael Hernon of Gainesway. “She’s got a big update, she could run, it’s a good family, and she’s a well-made mare. We decided to jump in.”

Hernon said that Beloveda would be retired and sent to Gainesway sire Tapit for her first mating this spring.

Bred in Kentucky by Mike Abraham, Beloveda was consigned by Lane’s End, agent.

Monday’s sale was the second time that Beloveda had sold at public auction, after hammering for $20,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale. She is the highest-priced foal to sell out of Mysterious Angel, though that figure will probably be challenged by Golden Mystery later in the sale.

Hernon said that he had his eye on the mare even before Golden Mystery’s catalog update.

“We picked up a very nice mare, and we’re glad to have got her,” he said. “It was a little higher than I was initially going to go to, but [Gainesway President Antony Beck and Director of Public Sales Brian Graves] spurred me on [over the phone], and I think we did the right thing.”

For live video of the sale as it progresses, click here.