“Day” has some time to relax between her BC victory and the sales ring (Fasig-Tipton photo)
Late in the session at Monday’s 2014 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, in back-to-back sales, star New York-bred turf runners Dayatthespa and Discreet Marq each brought over $2 million. Their destinies however, will be different. Dayatthespa will join the elite broodmare band of Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stable, while Discreet Marq, purchased by Moyglare Stud, will return to Christophe Clement to resume training.
Dayatthespa (Hip 184), frontrunning winner of the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Saturday and the first of the pair to go under the hammer, was offered as a racing/broodmare prospect from the Lane’s End consignment. She ultimately went to Banke, with Bloodstock advisor John Moynihan at her side, for $2.1 million as the eleventh top seller of the night after protracted bidding.
A 5-year-old chestnut City Zip mare bred by Castellare DiCracchiolo Stable, Cracchiolo & Goldsher, Dayatthespa brought $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton New York preferred yearling in 2010 before being purchased privately as a 2-year-old in training by Pete Bradley, who formed a partnership group consisting of Bradley Thoroughbreds, successful Broadway producers Jerry Frankel and Ron Frankel and optometrist Steve Layman.
Bradley told the TDN that he experienced a range of emotions during the bidding. “I’m very happy with the price, but the way the bidding went…it stalled around the $1.7 million range, and we were kind of there scratching our heads. She was over her reserve, but it was close, and we thought, ‘Do we want to race her still?’ But we didn’t; she was here to sell, and she sold to a good group.”
Fasig-Tipton photo
Bradley, at first uncertain as Stonestreet’s plans, told the TDN, “I’m so glad she went to Stonestreet. It’s a great operation. I don’t know if they’ll run her again; if they do, she’s in great hands from that standpoint. And then they’ll give her every chance to be a top-quality broodmare.”
Shortly, however, the Lexington Herald-Leader tweeted, “John Moynihan says Dayatthespa will not go back into training, heading to the broodmare band.”
A winner of ten stakes races, topped by the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland in 2012 and, within the last month, Keeneland’s Grade 1 First Lady and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, Dayatthespa has earned $2,288,892, catapulting herself over the weekend to third on the all-time top new York-bred earner’s list. She has been trained by Chad Brown throughout her career.
[UPDATE: On the first Saturday of the Keeneland November sale people will have a chance to bid on Wholelottashakin (Scat Daddy), a graded stakes placed New York-bred broodmare prospect who knocked heads with Dayatthespa on several occasions, finishing second to her in the Sweetest Chant at Gulfstream Park in 2012 and and in the 2013 renewal of the Yaddo Stakes at Saratoga (Hip 1293).]
Next in the ring strode the almost-white grey Discreet Marq (Discreet Cat), last seen winning the 1 1/16-mile, $200,000 Ticonderoga for New York-bred turf fillies and mares by three lengths on Empire Showcase Day and becoming a seven figure earner ($1,067,900).
A four-year-old daughter of Discreet Cat foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia, Discreet Marq is third-generation homebred for Patricia and Frank Generazio out of the multiple stakes winning and graded stakes placed Marquetry mare To Marquet, and was offered on behalf of the Generazios by her trainer Christophe Clement (Hip 185).
Fasig-Tipton photo
The subject of spirited bidding from the outset, Discreet Marq was ultimately hammered down to Moyglare Stud for $2.4 million as the seventh top seller in the session. Moyglare Stud’s Fiona Craig spoke to the TDN. “She’s a classy mare with a great outcross and a proven performance record,” Craig said. “And she’s a great looker.”
Craig also revealed that we will have more opportunities to see Discreet Marq in action. “She’ll go back to Christophe Clement,” Craig said. “She’s only a 4-year-old, so she’s got a whole other year and then eventually she’ll go to Ireland and we’ll breed her and send her to the best and hopefully she’ll produce something that looks like she does.”
Clement, needless to say, was thrilled at the prospect of having Discreet Marq back in his barn. “I’m delighted to have her back. I love the horse. I’m very happy for Mr. and Mrs. Generazio, because I think it was a very good sale. And I’m delighted for Moyglare, which has been a very loyal customer over the years and I think she has all the making of a top-class mare. I definitely think she can race another year. We’ll train her for the [Grade 1] Matriarch [on November 30 at Del Mar] next time, in three weeks, and we’ll go from there.”
Discreet Marq won last year’s Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks and six other stakes races including the Grade 2 Sands Point.
Finally, in the “quality New York-bred mare” department, we should certainly not leave out Storm Dixie, a stakes placed daughter of Catienus bred in New York by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who went to on produce none other than Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior), winner of last year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, Grade 1 TVC Coaching Club American Oaks, Grade 1 Alabama and Grade 1 Beldame. Princess of Sylmar topped last night’s sale, bought by Shadai Farm in Japan for $3.1 million. A little later her Storm Dixie herself went through the sales ring selling in foal to Tapit, sold a short time later for $1.9 million to Olin Gentry, agent.
