Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale: $650K War Front filly paces early trade

Ramona Bass went to $650,000 early on in the second session of the two-day Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale for a daughter of War Front she called the only horse she wanted out of the sale.

The filly, who is out of the winner Lerici, by Woodman, led the early results for the second session, which began on Tuesday amid large upswings in sales metrics generated in the first session on Monday night.

Bidding through agent Steve Young, Bass said $650,000 “was definitely the limit” for the filly. Her second dam, Balinese, is a sister to Irish classic winner Mashaallah, Grade 1 winner Folk Art, and stakes winner Sportin’ Life. Balinese also produced the dam of graded stakes winners Grasshopper and Turf War.

When asked what she liked about the filly, Bass said, “Everything.”

“War Front was a major part of it, but everything about her as in individual grabbed me,” Bass said. She added that she had marked several other horses in the catalog, but that the War Front filly was the only horse she planned to bid on.

Bass said she currently has eight horses in training and 10 broodmares. She lives in Texas with her husband, Lee Bass, who was one of a number of family members who inherited a large fortune from his uncle, Sid Richardson, who made his money in oil.

Immediately following the sale of the War Front filly, a colt by Distorted Humor became the second yearling to surpass the half-million threshold in the early going, selling for $525,000 to Shadwell Estate Co, Ltd.

Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, the colt is out of the winning Tiznow mare Life Well Lived, a full sister to Well Armed, dominant winner of the 2009 Dubai World Cup and a three-time graded stakes winner in California.

Out of the stakes-winning Notebook mare Well Dressed, Life Well Lived is also a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Witty and to Grade 1-placed Helsinki.

--additional reporting by Nicole Russo