Half to Wonder Gal tops NY-bred sale opener

By Timothy Littau and Tom Law

A half-brother to 2014 champion New York-bred 2-year-old filly, multiple stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Wonder Gal sold for $600,000 to highlight a strong opening night of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale Sunday in Saratoga Springs.

Al Gold, owner of recent Grade 1 Haskell Stakes winner and Travers contender Cyberknife, landed the colt, sold as Hip 378[2] and consigned by Perrone Stables Ltd., agent. Bloodstock agent Joe Hardoon handled the bidding for Gold. Hardoon’s $600,000 bid equaled the most expensive price paid for a colt at the New York-bred sale, and co-second highest-priced yearling of all time behind the $775,000 paid by Larry Best’s OXO Equine for the stakes-placed Malibu Moon filly Brattle House in 2019.

The other $600,000 colt was a son of Pioneerof the Nile out of the A.P. Indy mare Score that sold to John Ed Anthony’s Shortleaf Stable in 2018.

Bred by Apache Farm and Godolphin and foaled at Apache Stables North in Mount Morris, Sunday’s session-topping colt is out of the unraced Dixie Union mare Passe. A half-sister to Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-producer Social Queen, the session-topping colt is also a half sibling to $260,000 yearling and two-time winner Freefall. Wonder Gal won four of 18 starts, including the 2015 Empire Distaff Handicap and 2017 Ladies Handicap, and earned $904,800. She also placed in seven graded stakes, including the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Frizette and 2015 Mother Goose, all Grade 1 events.

“He’s a big, beautiful chestnut colt,” Hardoon said. “A lot of size, a lot of leg to him. For how big he is, he’s very light on his feet, a beautiful mover. Really everything you look for in a colt. It really looks like he’ll be a good two-turn horse, and he’s a New York-bred on top of it.”

Consignor Jim Perrone called the sale “absolutely fantastic.”

“The folks are just small breeders,” Perrone said. “They raised him, these people are tremendous horsemen, but we didn’t imagine it would bring that kind of money. It felt like 300, 360 would be a good price for the horse. This market is just unbelievable. We just love it.”

Cyberknife’s success, which also included a victory in this year’s Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and a run in the Kentucky Derby, also played a role in Gold’s interest in the session-topping colt.

“When you have a horse like Cyberknife, you always got to try to look for the next one,” Hardoon said. “Al’s put so much into this game and he’s waited so long for a horse like Cyberknife. We’d like to try to find the next one. And not make him wait as long until he can get the next one so we’ll try to find them sooner rather than later.”

The session-topping colt was one of six yearlings that sold for $300,000 or more during Sunday’s session.

Fasig-Tipton reported sales on 64 of the 84 yearlings offered on Night 1 for a total of $6,900,000, a 6.2 percent increase from last year’s session total of $6,497,500 for 62 sold. The session’s average price of $107,813 rose 2.9 percent from last year’s $104,798, while median dipped 3.8 percent to $77,000.

“Another outstanding session tonight, a great start to the New York-bred sale,” said Fasig-Tipton President and CEO Boyd Browning Jr.  “It’s a place full of people, full of energy again, just like it was for the selected sale. Broad participation across the board. It was a very very very good trade and enthusiastic bidding. It’s a tribute to the quality of the program and continues to be unquestionably the best state-bred program in the world. The quality of the horses continues to incrementally increase each year, both in terms of pedigree and presentation.”

Browning pointed to the significantly low RNA rate – 25 percent – as another key to the opening night’s success.

“A significant portion of those will get sold tomorrow,” he said. “New York-bred sales often have a higher RNA rate than a lot (of others) because of the breeding opportunities, and a lot of times a breeder wants to make sure the horse stays in the state of New York for obvious reasons, for the breeders’ awards. So it was a great start, very very pleased and we’ll look forward to the continuation of the sale tomorrow.”

Less than three hours after winning the featured $150,000 Mahony Stakes just down East Avenue at Saratoga Race Course and two days removed from Senbei being crowned champion New York-bred 2-year-old male for 2021, Dean and Patti Reeves’ Reeves Thoroughbred Racing went to $370,000 to land a filly from the second crop of champion Good Magic.

Offered as Hip 341[6] and consigned by Vinery Sales, agent, the filly is out of the graded stakes-winning Unusual Heat mare Majestic Heat.

“I loved her when I saw her, I thought she just looked fabulous,” said Patti Reeves. “They had her whittled down to the shortlist. …. When I came and saw them I said, ‘if you’re going to get one, get that one.’ ”

Bred by and foaled at Rockridge Stud in Hudson, the filly is the third foal out of the Grade 2 Bayakoa Stakes winner who earned $578,329 racing in Southern California. Rockridge purchased the mare, carrying Hip 341 in utero, for $130,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Majestic Heat is the dam of two foals of racing age and Hip 341’s 2-year-old full sister, the $52,000 Keeneland September yearling Magic Glass, who her debut July 30 at Canterbury Park.

“We really are enjoying the New York program,” Dean Reeves said. “We’ve been successful in it, we’re having a good time with it. The New York program, the incentives are being able to get a lot of money back out of the horse quickly up here in New York. It’s a big deal for us. It turned the money back over for us.”

Dean Reeves said they would probably take on some partners on the session-topping filly.

“We’ve got some people we like to partner with so they’ll come in for different percentages, but we’ll be a majority partner,” he said. “The New York-breds are really a memorable part of our stable. We really look at them whether it’s here, Keeneland or the 2-year-old sale. If they happen to be New York-bred, that’s an added incentive for us.”

The evening got off to a quick start when Hip 314[8], the 13th yearling through the ring and a colt from the second crop of Bolt d’Oro, sold for $355,000 to Greg Martin, agent.

Foaled at Rockridge Stud, the colt is out of the winning Street Cry mare Judge Lee. Bred by Gainesway, agent, the colt was bred by Matthew Nestor and sold as a weanling for $120,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale.

“It wasn’t actually my pinhook but it was a pinhook,” Gainesway’s Brian Graves said. “He’s a big scopey horse by a young stallion who’s doing some good and has a chance to add a graded stakes winner in the Best Pal later tonight at Del Mar.

“He’s been well-received and that was a little more for him than we thought he was going to bring, but obviously two people wanted him badly. So, I think they got lucky. Obviously, the strength that’s carrying from the main sale to the New York-bred sale here.”

Martin said he expected the colt to bring a hefty price, considering his physique, sire and the current market.

“The leg and scope of him (are his best features), he’s just a tall, leggy horse with a nice way of moving,” Martin said. “Bolt d’Oro looks like he has a great chance to be a significant young stallion.

“The market, we knew it was going to be strong, we knew what our budget was and we came very close to it.”

Hip 333[10], a filly by Central Banker and half-sister to stakes winner Jemography, sold for $140,000 and the top price for a yearling by a New York-based stallion.

Saratoga Race purchased the filly out of the winning Menifee mare Liza Lu. She’s the dam of $395,375-earner Jemography, winner of last year’s George W. Barker Stakes at Finger Lakes and placed in two other stakes; and stakes-placed winners Big Time Lady and Good Intent.

The filly was bred by Spruce Lane, Mashnee, McMahon of Saratoga, Robbins, Copper Beach and others, foaled at McMahon of Saratoga and consigned by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, agent. Central Banker, who topped New York’s general sire list in 2021, stands at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs.

The sale continues with the final session at noon Monday.

 

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/08/14/half-to-wonder-gal-tops-ny-bred-sale-opener/

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