Reflecting the surge of interest in horse ownership in slots-rich Louisiana, a total of 174 lots will be offered at the John Franks Memorial 2-year-olds in training and paddock sale at Evangeline Downs on March 13. The figure is an increase of almost 90 percent from last year's sale.
The sale will offer 139 2-year-olds and 35 older horses. A preview gallop show is scheduled for March 12.
MIAMI - On Wednesday morning, the day after he and partner Randy Hartley had sold their world-record $16 million Forestry-Magical Masquerade colt to Coolmore Stud at Fasig-Tipton's Calder auction, Dean De Renzo insisted that it wasn't so much about the money.
"The great thing for us is that they had that much confidence in us and our judgment," De Renzo said. "It's like they gave us a trophy that says, 'We believe in you.' That they trusted our opinion, that feels better than anything in the world."
A total of 315 juveniles have been cataloged to the Fasig-Tipton Texas 2-year-olds in training sale at Lone Star Park on April 4. An under-tack show is set for April 2.
The sale and the workout show are both scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Central.
There are a host of stallions represented in the sale, among them Broken Vow, Dayjur, Deputy Commander, Free House, Grand Slam, Hadif, Johannesburg, Maria's Mon, Mutakddim, Silver Charm, Smoke Glacken, Touch Tone, and Valid Expectations.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The last time consignor Don Graham was at Calder for a 2-year-old sale, he endured a tragedy no horseman ever wants to face. The star of his consignment for the Feb. 7 sale was a Forest Camp filly out of Daggett who had breezed an eighth-mile in 10 seconds at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s under-tack preview. The filly was tipped to be one of the auction's highest-priced lots. But on the way to the paddock for the sale, she reared and flipped over backward, striking her head on the ground. The filly had to be put down, to the horror of Graham and his staff.
Naturally, the talk of Ocala was the world-record auction-price colt sold at the Fasig-Tipton sale earlier in the week. The $16 million for the Florida-bred colt by Forestry out of Magical Masquerade, by Unbridled, was undoubtedly prompted by a great deal of buzz going for him before his entry into the sales ring, given that he had worked a furlong in under 10 seconds, but none of the many surveyed thought in terms of multimillions as a final bid.
MIAMI - The fireworks in the sales ring that produced a $16 million record price for a Thoroughbred at auction took only a few minutes. The colt who brought the record price, however, was the work of years.
Bred in Florida by Padua Stables, the bay colt who wore the sticker labeling him as Hip No. 153 is by the Storm Cat stallion Forestry out of the Unbridled mare Magical Masquerade. The colt's dam is a half-sister to the graded stakes winner Magicalmysterycat, a chestnut daughter of Storm Cat who won the Grade 2 Schuylerville and Landaluce stakes at 2.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Alphabet Kisses, the California-bred mare who won the Grade 1 La Brea Stakes in 2004, has been retired and will be bred to Awesome Again this month, owner John Harris said.
Alphabet Kisses finished her career with a second-place finish in the Pro or Con Handicap for statebred fillies and mares at Santa Anita on Feb. 25. She finished 1 1/4 lengths behind Moscow Burning after leading by 2 1/2 lengths in the stretch.
Alphabet Kisses, 5, won 7 of 17 starts and $590,271.
New York sire Millennium Wind, whose first foals are 2-year-olds of 2006, was represented by a colt purchased for $800,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Calder selected 2-year-olds in training sale on Tuesday.
Consigned by Niall Brennan Stables, agent, he was purchased by agent John Sadler.
The colt was the only one of 17 that sold for $650,000 or more at the Calder sale whose sire stands for less than $20,000.
Millennium Wind stands at Highcliff Farm in Delanson for a fee of $5,000 in 2006.
Only a few breeding operations have produced an Eclipse Award champion and Breeders' Cup winner, and a multi-million-dollar sales horse. David and JoAnn Hayden's Dark Hollow Farm belongs to that elite company following Tuesday's Fasig-Tipton Florida selected 2-year-olds in training sale at Calder.
Consignor John Brocklebank had mixed emotions when a Benchmark colt he offered at the 2005 Barretts March sale of selected 2-year-olds in training was sold for $275,000.
On behalf of Timberline, a group of pinhooking investors led by Salt Lake City businessman Craig Tillotson, Brocklebank had paid $150,000 at the 2004 Keeneland September yearling sale for the colt, and watched him work quickly in advance of the Barretts sale.
