Rachel Alexandra, Hot Dixie Chick bring down the house again

On closing weekend of the summer meeting at Saratoga Race Course in 2009, Rachel Alexandra brought the house down on the meet, as well as her Horse of the Year campaign, by defeating older males in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes. That same weekend, her stablemate Hot Dixie Chick earned a Grade 1 victory by taking the Spinaway Stakes.

This summer in Saratoga, half-siblings to those top-level winners created their own fireworks at the Fasig-Tipton selected yearling sale. Rachel Alexandra’s half-brother sold for $1.4 million to Larry Best’s OXO Equine. Later the same evening, a half-sister to Hot Dixie Chick sold for $1 million to Jeff Drown’s Kindred Stables, with co-breeder Mike Ryan remaining as a partner.

Breeder Dede McGehee of Heaven Trees Farm acquired Rachel Alexandra’s dam, the stakes-winning Roar mare Lotta Kim, after owner Dolphus Morrison dispersed his breeding stock in 2012. McGehee was left speechless with delight after the Bolt d’Oro colt she raised took his star turn in the ring, consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, as agent.

“No, I was not expecting it,” McGehee said of the seven-figure price. “You always hope for great things. . . . He’s probably the best thing that I’ve owned, that I’ve ever raised, and here we are. He’s been treated like all of our horses. He’s been treated like a horse. We take care of them – we don’t have a lot of them, they get individual attention.”

Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra was the first foal for Lotta Kim, who has produced six winners from seven starters overall, including Grade 3-placed Dolphus and stakes-placed Wooderson. The mare delivered a Bernardini filly named Brilliance this year and was bred back to Curlin.

“She’s great,” McGehee said. “You’d never know she was 20 years old.”

While there was unreserved delight from all parties in the sale of the colt, there was a touch of the bittersweet in the sale of Hot Dixie Chick’s half-sister. The Quality Road filly, out of the Grade 3-winning In Excess mare Above Perfection, was bred by the Santa Rosa Partners of close friends Gerry Dilger and Mike Ryan. Dilger died in March 2020, a month before the filly, also a half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and stakes winner Inject, was born.

The filly turned out to be the penultimate foal out of her dam, who died earlier this year after delivering a Justify colt.

“Unfortunately she foundered,” Ryan said. “She was a 23-year-old mare, looked like she was 17. We ended up putting her to sleep.”

When the Quality Road filly headed to the auction ring with the consignment of Indian Creek, as agent, Ryan ultimately couldn’t bring himself to let her go. His longtime client Drown bought out the Dilger family’s share, with Ryan previously having arranged to partner with him on his own half.

“It’s a great price for the Dilger family,” Ryan said. “Gerry’s widow Erin is delighted. It’s well past the reserve. . . . The filly, it’s just to me it means so much to have the family. It’s done so much for me and my family.”