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.
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DRF Past Performances
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.
MIAMI - Fasig-Tipton's select juvenile auction sold 154 racing prospects at Calder Race Course on Tuesday, but it will go down in history for just one: a $16 million Forestry-Magical Masquerade colt, the most expensive horse sold at public auction.
After a grueling bidding war against Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum's agent, John Ferguson, Coolmore Stud agent Demi O'Byrne signed for the record-breaking colt. The colt will be trained by Todd Pletcher, according to O'Byrne.
MIAMI - It was one of those last-minute decisions. Dean De Renzo was sitting next to his business partner, trainer Randy Hartley, at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale last July, and Hartley had just bowed out on the bidding for a striking Forestry colt. The auctioneer had his gavel suspended, about to hammer the colt down to another bidder, when De Renzo suddenly raised his hand and bid $425,000, more than they had planned to spend on a horse that they hoped to resell profitably seven months later as a juvenile.
LAS VEGAS - Winner of the Hopeful and Champagne stakes, First Samurai was the leader of last year's 2-year-old division until he finished third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile behind Stevie Wonderboy. Possessing high speed and high class, he is one of only a few runners by Giant's Causeway to demonstrate his talent on dirt.
At nine furlongs, the Fountain of Youth Stakes should answer whether First Samurai will be a major contender for the Kentucky Derby or Metropolitan Mile.