NEWS: SALES

Town and Country Farms goes to $300,000 for Cluster of Stars at F-T Kentucky Winter Mixed

Monday, February 10th, 2014
Fasig-Tipton Photo

Fasig-Tipton Photo

by Sarah Mace

Star sprinter Cluster of Stars, an undefeated multiple graded stakes winner, brought the second highest price of the day in the opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale Sunday when she was purchased as a broodmare prospect by Town and Country Farms from the consignment of Taylor Made Sale Agency, Agent XII for $300,000.

Bred by Michael McPoland and Sean Finn and foaled at Rockmount in Saugerties, Cluster of Stars is one of two winners out of Babyurthegreatest, a Florida-bred six-time winner by Honour and Glory ($83,520). Cluster of Stars’ second dam, also a multiple winner, is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Portentum, by Fast Gold ($393,297) and stakes producer Tokio Tahiche.

Retired in November 2013 with $549,600 in earnings and a perfect seven-for-seven record, the 5-year-old daughter of Greeley’s Galaxy (Hip 99) was campaigned by Harvey Weinstein’s Turtle Bird Stable and trained by Steve Asmussen and his New York assistant Toby Sheets.

Unraced at two, Cluster of Stars won a single start at three, debuting at Aqueduct in February 2012. In 2013 she reeled off five straight victories, including four stakes races. Her greatest triumphs were back-to-back Grade 2 scores five months apart in the Distaff Handicap at Aqueduct in April and the Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont in September, where she defeated Grade 1 winners Dance to Bristol and Dance Card. Cluster of Stars’ final career start was an effortless 3 1/4-length victory in the Iroquois Stakes on Showcase Day.

Shannon Potter, advisor to Paris, Kentucky-based Town and Country, headed by Louise Courtelis and daughter Kiki Courtelis, said, “She’ll join the good collection of mares we’ve been building up. She was probably the prettiest mare on the grounds, and what she did on the track speaks for itself. What she did was unreal.” Potter added that Cluster of Stars would probably be bred to first-year sire and Grade 1 winner Graydar.

Greeley’s Galaxy, the sire of Cluster of Stars, stood at Susan and Howard Kaskel’s Sugar Maple Farm from 2007 to 2010 before relocating to Louisiana.

The second session of the Kentucky winter mixed sale (Hips 177-588, including 35 addendum horses) will be held Monday at 10 a.m. This is the last major event on this season’s mixed sale calendar.

 

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