Fasig-Tipton November: $2-million Joyful Victory leads trio of purchases for Joneses

Aaron and Marie Jones made a splash by purchasing a trio of seven-figure mares at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale Monday night, first landing Grade 1 winner Joyful Victory for $2 million before going to $1.2 million each to acquire Grade 2 winners Juanita and Mamma Kimbo.

All three mares were consigned, as agent, by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Grade 1-placed as a juvenile for Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm, Joyful Victory established herself among the favorites for the Kentucky Oaks by winning the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes and Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes the following spring. The daughter of Tapit then finished fourth in the Oaks, and second in the Grade 1 Mother Goose Stakes. She returned in 2012 to win the Tiffany Lass Stakes and place in five other events, all graded stakes.

This year at age 5, Joyful Victory won the Houston Ladies Classic before scoring her long-awaited Grade 1 victory, taking the Santa Margarita Stakes by four lengths. She also captured the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher Stakes. She finished third in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes Sept. 28 in her career finale, concluding her career with seven wins from 20 starts for earnings of $1,252,679.

“If you watch her wins, four graded stakes wins by a total of 27 lengths,” Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales said. “When she got it right, they weren’t going to beat her. She’s still sound. She just ran a 100 Beyer in her last race, and her legs look like she’s a yearling. She’s just pristine. Her legs and joints look unbelievable. You get a mare that runs at that caliber for that long and still comes off the track sound, that’s what you want to breed out of.”

Immediately following Joyful Victory through the ring was Juanita, winner of the Grade 2 Indiana Oaks and La Troienne Stakes, defeating a stellar field in the latter. The 5-year-old Mineshaft mare was offered in foal to Medaglia d’Oro.

“When she beat Plum Pretty and St. Johns River on Derby day in the La Troienne, she kind of stamped herself as one of the top mares in the country,” Taylor said. “The foal she’s carrying, ironically, is bred very similarly to Plum Pretty – Medaglia d’Oro over A.P. Indy line. I think she’s a beautiful mare. She’s very correct. She’s just square, well-balanced. You could see why she was a runner.”

Mamma Kimbo, a 4-year-Old Discreet Cat filly, captured the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes in the sprint of 2012. She was offered in foal to Bernardini.

“She’s just a brilliant, brilliant racehorse who unfortunately didn’t get a Grade 1 win hung on her resume, but she had Grade 1 talent,” Taylor said.