Lion Heart colt leads Maryland's six-figure sellers

Maryland-breds figured prominently at the Fasig-Tipton Calder selected 2-year-olds in training sale this past week.

Five Maryland-breds were recorded as sold, all for six-figure prices, at the one-day auction held at Calder Race Course near Miami, Fla.

Leading the Maryland-bred contingent was a Lion Heart colt out of the Deputy Minister mare V V S Flawless, which sold for $750,000, the seventh-highest price among colts at the sale.

Bred by Ron and Carolyn Greens Green Willow Farms in Westminster, Md., the bay colt (a Feb. 14 foal) was also a star at last years Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale. Bloodstock agent Buzz Chace signed the ticket on behalf of Lewis Lakin and Terry Finleys new pinhooking enterprise back then, paying $300,000 the sixth-highest price at the yearling auction.

He was a well-balanced colt and a nice mover who looked a lot like his father, said Chace, when asked to describe the Lion Heart colt as a yearling. The Greens raised a good horse.

The most successful pinhook for the Lakin-Finley partnership to date, the Lion Heart colt was sent to David Scanlons training center in Florida for his early education and sold as part of the Scanlon Training Center consignment. In the pre-sale breezes, he worked a furlong in 10.1?seconds.

He was purchased in the name of Sir Robert Ogden.

V V S Flawless, the colts dam, is one of about 10 broodmares in production for the Greens, longtime Maryland horse people who operate one of the most successful commercial breeding and sales agent establishments in the state.

The Greens purchased V V S Flawless for $130,000 as a 4-year-old broodmare prospect at the 2003 Keeneland January sale. A winner of $90,247 who gained black type with a third in Belmonts venerable Astoria Stakes, V V S Flawless is out of the stakes-winning Palace Music mare Singing Heart.

What most attracted the Greens, however, was her physical presence.

Shes the kind of mare you look for, said Ron Green. Correct. A good size. All of the parts of her go together.

The Greens consigned V V S Flawlesss first foal, the 2004 Smart Strike filly Spindletop, to the Ocala Breeders Sales Co.s March 2-year-olds in training sale, but bought her back for $100,000. She raced for them last season with Dove Houghton as her trainer and was sold privately after winning her maiden at Laurel Park.

V V S Flawless has a yearling filly by Eddington and was barren for 2008 to the cover of Grand Slam. She was bred several days ago to Harlans Holiday.

Other Maryland-breds sold at Calder included a $350,000 bay colt by Malibu Moon-Nickys Intuition, by Unbridleds Song. Bred by B. Wayne Hughes, the colt is a grandson of stakes winner and stakes producer DYouville Nurse (by Dr. Blum), from a family that has brought numerous racing and sales successes for Marylander Alan Kline.

Mike Ryan, agent, made the purchase.

The perennially successful breeding partnership of Tom and Chris Bowman and Milton P. Higgins III was represented by a Not for Love colt selling for $300,000 from the consignment of Cary Frommer, agent. Out of the Unbridled mare How bout Chris, the Maryland-bred colt descends from one of Bowman-Higginss foundation mares, stakes winner Owned by All (by Mitey Prince). Trainer Ken McPeek made the winning bid.

Selling for $200,000 on a bid by Winsong Farms was a Maryland-bred colt by Two Punch-Clever Phrase, by Clever Trick, consigned by agent Eddie Woods. Bred by David and JoAnn Haydens Dark Hollow Farm in Upperco, Md., the colt is a half-brother to last years standout Maryland-bred juvenile performer, Readys Image.

Another pinhooking coup from the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale was a Two Punch colt named Face Off, out of stakes-placed Take Sara (by Regal Remark), consigned by Pike Racing, agent. Sold in July by Maryland breeders Charles and Cynthia McGinnes for $50,000, Face Off brought $130,000 at Calder on a bid by Sharon Pittman.