NEWS: SALES

NY-Bred Flatter Colt Tops OBS March; 2nd Highest-Priced 2YO of 2011

Thursday, March 17th, 2011
by Sarah Mace

A New York-bred colt by Flatter (Hip 265) topped the two-day OBS March Select sale and, at the same time, commanded the second-highest price for a two-year-old so far this year when purchased by Kaleem Shah in the second session of the sale for $925,000 on the advice of future conditioner, Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.

The March 6 colt sold after a session of spirited bidding between Shah (with Baffert on a cell phone) and John Moynihan (acting for Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Stable). The second-highest seller at the OBS sale, a Kentucky-bred Bernardini filly, wasn’t even the same ballpark, with a price tag of $500,000. In fact, the only two-year-old to command a higher price so far this year was the sale-topper of the Fasig-Tipton Florida sale bought by John Ferguson Bloodstock earlier this month for $1.35-million.

Bred by Doug Koch’s Berkshire Stud in Pine Plains, the dark bay or brown colt first sold as a yearling at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred sale, going to Gary and Betty Biszantz’ Cobra Farm for $90,000. When offered as a two-year-old, the colt was owned by a partnership of Cobra Farm (50%), trainer Stanley Hough (25%) and Don Piser (25%).

As a two-year-old prospect, the Flatter colt certainly helped boost his own market appeal by turning in a :20.60 quarter-mile breeze in the under tack show, one of the two fastest clocked at the distance. The day before the sale, consignor Shari Eisaman (of Eisaman Equine) said, “The thing we keep hearing is that he had the best video, and people just love how he moved on the track.” Eisaman was also quick to point out that the colt also had the right pedigree, physical development, and temperament in his corner: “It helps that Flatter is by A. P. Indy and is a full brother to [leading freshman sire] Congrats,” Eisaman said. “He’s grown and matured since being a yearling and is an intelligent horse with a low level of stress.” The Flatter colt gets an A+ TrueNicks rating.

The colt’s dam, Silence Please, an unraced Quiet American mare, is already a proven producer. All three of her foals to start (all New York-breds) have won, including Dogwood Stable’s Sky Music, a colt by Sky Mesa, who won twice at two last year, including the restricted Restrainor Stakes in his second start, and at three has placed in two more New York-bred stakes races. Silence Please has a yearling colt by Bluegrass Cat, is expecting a foal by Bernstein next month and will be bred back to Flatter this year.

The second dam, multiple-winner Notice Me (Distinctive), is also a noteworthy producer and producer of producers. She has 10 winners from 11 to race, including Grade 3-placed Royal Ruby, New York-bred stakes winner Give Notice (dam of New York-bred stakes performer Never Give In), and New York-bred stakes-placed Look Upon (dam of Grade 1-placed Keep the Peace [Touch Gold], earner of $323,553 and New York-bred multiple stakes-winner Shine Upon [Congaree]).

After the sale Baffert told the Thoroughbred Times Today, “I think this horse could have topped the [Fasig-Tipton] sale at Palm Meadows; I’m glad Sheikh Mo [Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, for whom Ferguson acts as bloodstock advisor] wasn’t here.” Elaborating to the TDN, Baffert explained the appeal of the colt. “He has the pedigree to go long,” Baffert said. “He’s fast, and he looks very, very sound. When you’re at the sales, and one of them jumps out like that, you need to buy them. Those are the horses that get you to the big races. You’ve got to go with your gut feeling, and our gut feeling was that he is a big-time horse.” This was the only offspring of Flatter catalogued for the sale.

The numbers for New York-breds, were, of course, buoyed up by the sale topper but were solid overall with an impressive clearance rate. Nineteen of the 22 to go through the sales ring sold (over 86%) for an average of $133,737 and median of $80,000. The overall sale average was $104,766 (down -1.5% from last year) and median was $70,000 (down -6.6%).

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