Sam-Son Farm disperal continues in Keeneland January horses of all ages sale

Following the recent turn of the calendar, the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale represents the turning of a page for the industry. Stock from three dispersals, including that of the legendary Sam-Son Farm, will highlight the offerings.

Sam-Son began dispersing its holdings last November and continues with 21 broodmares in foal at Keeneland January. The auction, which runs from Monday to Thursday, also includes dispersals for Paul Pompa Jr., who died last year, and for Spry Family Farm

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Sam-Son Farm, founded by Ernie Samuel in 1972, is responsible for runners who have earned 84 Sovereign Awards in Canada and four Eclipse Awards. After Samuel’s death in 2000, his daughter Tammy Samuel-Balaz led Sam-Son until her own death in 2008. The farm is currently led by president Rick Balaz, CEO Mark Samuel, Kim Samuel, farm manager Dave Whitford, and racing manager Tom Zwiesler. They unanimously decided last year to initiate a dispersal.

“Our horses have given generations of our family such fulfillment and excitement over the years and we felt that the time had come, after five decades, to now share that legacy with the world,” the Samuel and Balaz families said in a statement. “It was a bittersweet decision, but one that we are committed to pursuing with integrity, transparency, and respect.”

Sam-Son is perhaps best known for the family of its homebred Dance Smartly, a Hall of Famer in both the U.S. and Canada. The 1990 Sovereign champion juvenile filly, Dance Smartly went on to sweep the 1991 Canadian Triple Crown and win the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She was honored as Canada’s Horse of the Year for that season, as well as with divisional Eclipse and Sovereign Awards. She then went on to an outstanding broodmare career, producing Grade 1 winner and Queen’s Plate winner Dancethruthedawn and another Queen’s Plate winner in Scatter the Gold, among others. Dance Smartly was also a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Smart Strike, who went on to become a perennial leading sire and an influential sire of sires in the U.S.

The Sam-Son broodmares at Keeneland include several opportunities to buy into that illustrious family, led by Danceforthecause, out of Dance Smartly’s daughter Dancethruthestorm. Danceforthecause is the dam of Grade 1 winner Say the Word and Grade 2 winner Rideforthecause. The dispersal also includes Dancethruthedawn’s daughters Coastal Dawn and Dancing Fancy, and Grade 2-placed stakes winner Dance Again, who is out of Dancethruthedawn’s daughter Dance With Doves.

The Sam-Son group at Keeneland also includes Song of the Lark, dam of Canadian Horse of the Year Up With the Birds; Fun in the Desert, dam of Canadian champion Desert Ride; Canadian classic winner Smartyfly; graded stakes winners Deceptive Vision and Southern Ring; and several half-sisters to champion and classic winner Irish Mission, including Mythical Mission, who is classic-placed herself.

Pompa, who entered Thoroughbred ownership in 2000, is best known for his involvement with dual classic winner and champion Big Brown. Pompa, died last October at age 62. Lane’s End, as agent, will consign his 39 horses at Keeneland January, ranging from yearlings and active racehorses to broodmares. His yearlings of last year will be offered at the 2-year-old in training sales later this spring.

“Mr. Pompa’s industry involvement was admirable on every level,” Lane’s End sales director Allaire Ryan said. “He was dedicated to and ever enthusiastic about his investments as a breeder, owner, and fan. He created strong relationships around a lifelong passion and never wavered from his philosophy to do right by his stock and enjoy the sport.”

The dispersal includes three graded stakes winners of 2020 – Country Grammer, Regal Glory, and Turned Aside. Country Grammer won the Grade 3 Peter Pan, then was fifth in the Travers before an injury knocked him out of the postponed Kentucky Derby. Regal Glory, a dual graded winner on the Saratoga turf in 2019, won the Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Ladies’ Turf. Turned Aside won the Grade 3 Quick Call at Saratoga, then added the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship.

Grade 2-placed Sustained, the dam of Turned Aside, and graded winner Mary’s Follies, dam of Regal Glory and two other graded/group winners, will also be offered. Both have yearling colts by Pompa’s Grade 1 winner Connect.

The Spry dispersal, with Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales as agent, consists of 46 horses of all ages. The dispersals should provide a boost to the January sale, which will contend with the selective marketplace seen as the mixed sale season began last November. Last year’s January sale, led by the $640,000 broodmare prospect Enaya Alraab, finished with 1,108 horses sold over five days for revenues of $42,487,500, an average of $38,346, and a median of $14,000, with a buyback rate of 21 percent.