Thorostride
By Sarah Mace
Hip 33, a striking grey son of Tapit bred by Chester and Mary Broman, lit the bid board on fire in the opening session of the OBS March sale Tuesday when he brought a sale record price of $2 million. The huge price tag also takes the New York-bred juvenile marketplace into record territory. The program’s previous top 2-year-old seller was a $1 million colt from the final crop of Scat Daddy out of Risky Rachel who sold at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale.
L.E.B signed the ticket for the Tapit colt on behalf of a partnership consisting of West Point Thoroughbreds, Rob Masiello and Siena Farm. The Bromans are also retaining a one-third interest in the youngster, who will be trained by Steve Asmussen. Becky Thomas’ Sequel Bloodstock consigned the colt on the Bromans’ behalf. On March 7 he turned in a :10 1/5 breeze.
Currently named Chestertown –the name of the Bromans’ farm in Chestertown New York, 50 miles north of Saratoga – the colt is the first foal out of stellar Broman homebred Artemis Agrotera, by Roman Ruler. A big, strapping mare, Artemis Agrotera won three graded stakes topped by the Grade 1 Frizette and Grade 1 Ballerina, earning $943,800 before graduating to broodmare duty. She currently has a yearling filly by Uncle Mo and was bred to Arrogate in 2018.
The colt’s second dam is Indy Glory by A.P. Indy, also bred and campaigned by the Bromans. A full sister to Grade 1 winner, millionaire and sire Stephen Got Even and to stakes winner Grand Merger, Indy Glory was a stakes-winning router with multiple graded placings. The Bromans purchased the colt’s third dam Immerse (Cox’s Ridge) at the 1997 Keeneland November sale for $350,000.
Becky Thomas said, “I’ve trained for Mr. Broman for so long. I had Artemis Agrotera–she was close to 16.3 and was massively big. This colt comes in and he’s a big gray version of her. He’s not a typical Tapit. He’s got a lot of substance. He was just one from the very beginning that I took out of company, even galloping in November, because he was way too forward. He’ll be a later 2-year-old – not late though – because he’s very quick.”
The spectacular showing by the Tapit colt should not overshadow outstanding results achieved by multiple other individuals from the New York-bred juvenile contingent in the OBS March opening session. A pair of fillies sold for north of $400,000, while Majestic City earned the day’s bragging rights among New York sires, when a filly was snapped up by Klaravich Stable for $270,000.
The second top-selling New York-bred filly is Hip 206, a daughter of Uncle Mo also bred by the Bromans and consigned by Sequel. She brought $425,000 from trainer John C. Kimmel, agent, after breezing a speedy quarter in :9 4/5. Named Gotta Go Mo, the filly is the first foal out of Hard to Stay Notgo, a multiple stakes-winning Broman homebred trained by Jimmy Jerkens who earned $212,440 from eight starts. The mare is also a half-sister to Broman-bred stakes winners Mark My Way and Haul Anchor.
Chester Broman purchased the filly’s second dam Whichwaydidshego (Storm Cat) for $425,000 at the 2009 Keeneland November sale. Whichwaydidshego is a winning half-sister to the multiple Grade 2 winner Fed Biz and issues from the family of Minardi, Tale of the Cat and Johannesburg.
A Lemon Drop Kid filly, Hip 155, went to Dominic Brennan, Agent for Highland Yard LLC for $400,000 after breezing a quarter in :21 flat. Consigned by Boutte Sales, Agent IV, she was bred by Stonewall Farm and is out of Ever So Pretty, a winning daughter of Stormy Atlantic who is a half-sister to Stormello, winner of the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity, Grade 2 winner My Best Brother and Grade 3 winner Gala Award.
The top selling New York-sired juvenile at the sale was Hip 277, a chestnut filly from the first crop of multiple graded stakes winner Majestic City who was purchased by Klaravich Stable from the de Meric Sales consignment for $270,000 after breezing an eighth in :9 4/5. Bred by Barry Ostrager, the filly is out of Landing My Way, a multiple winner by Southern Image, who is a half-sister to stakes winner and graded stakes performer Daring Reality and whose only foal to start is a winner.
A $17,000 RNA as a weanling at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton fall mixed sale in Saratoga, the filly brought $100,000 from de Meric the following summer at the Fasig-Tipton preferred New York-bred yearling sale. Landing My Way has also produced a pair of younger full-sisters to the sale filly, most recently a February 9, 2019 foal. Majestic City, a son of City Zip, stands in New York at Barry Ostrager’s Questroyal North in Stillwater for a 2019 fee of $3,500.
Deserving of honorable mention from OBS Day 1 are three more juveniles who were hammered down for six figures.
- Another multi-generational product of the Bromans’ breeding program and consigned by Sequel, Hip 45, sired by Hard Spun and out of Beautiful But Blue, went to Charles H. Boden, Agent for Colts Neck Stables LLC for $220,000.
- Hip 28, a chestnut Kitten’s Joy filly bred by Mia Gallo, Ken and Sarah Ramsey & Averymerrymoment LLC sold to Oracle Bloodstock, Agent for Peter J. Callahan for $150,000. Out of Averymerrymoment, she is a half-sister to stakes winner Satisfy.
- Also purchased by Boden for Colts Neck Stables was Hip 207, a colt by Normandy Invasion out of Harlan Light bred by Seth Gregory and sold for $100,000.
