Fasig-Tipton Saratoga: Tapit fillies create late fireworks on opening night

by Joe Nevills and Nicole Russo

A filly by popular commercial sire Tapit and out of champion She Be Wild created late fireworks at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, fetching $1.15 million from bloodstock agents Alex Solis and Jason Litt as the penultimate horse through the ring at the opening session.

"At the end of the day, it's a Tapit filly out of a champion," Litt said. "They're pretty hard to beat. She was lovely, showed herself great, beautiful balance, athletic mover, and really we thought she was the best filly in the sale."

The filly, consigned by Bluewater Sales as agent, capped a big night for her sire, who was represented by the evening’s only two seven-figure yearlings. Earlier, a filly out of the winning Tiznow mare Rote, was purchased for $1 million by Nat Rea’s Regis Farms. That filly was consigned by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services as agent for Merriebelle Stables.

Tapit, who stands at Gainesway Farm near Lexington, Ky., is enjoying a breakout season in 2014 with Belmont Stakes winner Tonalist and Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable on the track. He is also the sire of juvenile champions Stardom Bound and Hansen,

“Anybody who looks at her is going to recognize her immediately, because she looks just like all the good Tapits,” Meg Levy of Bluewater Sales said of her session-topper. “She really reminds me of Stardom Bound, who we had at the farm before we sold her privately.”

She Be Wild won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies to cap a 2-year-old season that earned her a divisional Eclipse Award. The daughter of Offlee Wild also took the Grade 3 Arlington-Washington Lassie and the Top Flight Stakes and was second in the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes that season, and finished third in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes the following spring.

“[She Be Wild] was such a star,” Levy said. “She’s been bred to Frankel and has a Smart Strike filly this year who is absolutely stunning, and the first foal is by Tapit. She’s looking to make her first start in the next month or so. It’s really exciting for someone who likes to buy to race and hopefully eventually breed to have the opportunity to get into a filly like this with that kind of family and that kind of support, particularly with the fillies coming.”

This is the second foal out of She Be Wild. Her first foal is Shebealittlewild, an unstarted Tapit filly who is in training at Arlington Park. The filly drew rave reviews from Jeanne Mayberry, who broke her at Mayberry Farm in Ocala, Fla.

“She’s nice. She’s confident,” Mayberry said of the filly earlier this year. “She’s not as small as her mother. She was raised nice. They raised her beautifully. She’s ready to go. She’s cute, she’s nice.”

She Be Wild, one of two winners from three starters out of the Seeking the Gold mare Trappings, is the most accomplished horse in her immediate family. It is the extended family of Grade 1 winner Carson Hollow and Canadian champion Portcullis.