The champion Untapable has been retired following a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Handicap on Saturday night at Churchill Downs, owner-breeder Ron Winchell confirmed Sunday. Future broodmare plans for the mare were not immediately discussed.
“After having a truly great 3-year-old season and currently the No. 1 U.S. earner for Tapit – it’s time!” Winchell posted on his Twitter account Sunday night.
Following a year of optimism and record returns in nearly every segment of the market, the 2-year-olds in training season of 2016 saw the buyers and sellers become more discriminating with their bids and reserves, while figures generally declined for all but the top offerings.
“When they say it’s been a roller-coaster ride, that’s been true for this year more than any other,” said David Scanlon of consignor Scanlon Training and Sales. “The highs are really high, and that middle-to-lower market has just been a very tough place this year.”
Three years after Fort Larned won the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, his younger half-sister Walkabout won her maiden in her fourth start, taking a maiden special weight by 4 1/2 lengths on last Saturday’s Foster card.
Walkabout, by Stroll, runs for owner-breeder Janis Whitham and is trained by Ian Wilkes, just as Fort Larned was.
“It’s been slow, but she’s coming into her own,” Wilkes said of the 3-year-old filly’s development. “She takes a lot more training than her brother, but she’s turning into a nice filly.”
Holy Bull, the 1994 Horse of the Year who is now a pensioner at Darley, never sired a runner who came close to his own brilliance, although he was represented by 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo. His true mark has been as a broodmare sire, with 722 winners, including 53 stakes winners and 61 more stakes-placed runners, produced by his daughters.
The latest of those standouts came at Royal Ascot, where the 2-year-old Caravaggio turned in an impressive performance to win the Group 2 Coventry Stakes.
On an international stage at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting last week, five Kentucky-bred runners emerged victorious to fly the flag for the “Thoroughbred Capital of the World.”
The assault was led by Eclipse Award winner Tepin, as the daughter of the late Bernstein became the first American-based horse to win the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes. Bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall, the mare is out of the Stravinsky mare Life Happened, who is also the dam of multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Vyjack and graded-stakes-placed Prime Cut.
Royal Ascot is widely considered the world’s highest-class Thoroughbred race meeting, and it lived up to its billing once again last week. With six races a day spread over five days of unmatched pageantry and pomp at the Queen of England’s racecourse, 23 of the 30 races earn their winners black type, 18 are group races, and eight are Group 1 races.
Ballena Vista Farm’s freshman sire Calimonco was represented by his first winner when the 2-year-old filly My California scored a 9 1/ 4-length, gate-to-wire victory in a $57,035 maiden special weight at Santa Anita on June 16 in her second start. Her time for the 5 furlongs on a fast track was :58.06.
Bred in California by owner Mercedes Stables and trained by Robertino Diodoro, My California is the first foal from Give My Regards, a winning daughter of Smart Strike and half-sister to graded winner Broadway Empire and Grade 2-placed Cinderella’s Dream.
Multiple Grade 1-winning Get Stormy was represented by his first stakes winner when Get Sassy got up late to win a $34,220 maiden special weight race at Presque Isle Downs on June 16.
Owned by Lloyd Duncan and Blazing Meadows Farm and trained by Timothy Hamm, Get Sassy won the 4 1/2-furlong race by a neck over favored Diamond Dollar at odds of 18.30-1 while making her first start. She earned $21,060 and completed the distance in :52.41.
Bred in Pennsylvania by John R. Penn, Get Sassy was sold for $5,000 as a weanling at the 2014 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
Owner-breeder Mike Repole has sold the breeding rights to his Wood Memorial Stakes winner Outwork to WinStar Farm and Woodford Thoroughbred when the horse is eventually retired to stud at WinStar in Versailles, Ky., it was announced today.
