Hip 101, who led all New York-breds at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling sale, learned his early lessons at Irish Hill Century Farm. Fasig-Tipton photo
You want to get a yearling ready for a sale? Take a walk. A good, long walk. Mix in some hills, get out there and put in the work. That’s the plan at Stillwater’s Irish Hill Century Farm, where a Girvin colt learned his early lessons en route to leading the New York-breds to sell at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic’s fall yearling sale at Timonium, Md. Oct. 3-4.
Irish Hill’s Rick Burke called the exercise a “power walk,” and said it does wonders for young horses.
“It’s a lot of walking,” Burke said. “We do it the old-style way. We don’t use a free walker. We hand walk them. We start out gradually and by the end it’s 2 1/2 miles. We have a 15-acre field that slopes down when you go in, curves up across the top to where it’s fairly flat and comes back down. Everything is gradual. It’s really good for them.”
The regimen paid off when the dark bay colt bred by Mary Lester sold for $140,000 to Tom McCrocklin for Champion Equine. The bid topped all New York-breds at the sale, and was the 10th-highest price overall. Out of the unraced Tiznow mare Tiz Possible, Hip 101 hails from a championship family. Second dam Proud Spell won an Eclipse Award as the champion 3-year-old filly of 2008 thanks to Grade 1 victories in the Alabama and Kentucky Oaks.
Foaled in February at Irish Hill, the Girvin colt took time to mature and was not pointed for Fasig-Tipton’s summer New York-bred sale at Saratoga.
“He’d catch your eye, he just needed time,” said Burke. “He would have gotten lost in the mix at Saratoga. We started in sales prep a few months ago and he was still a little bit immature. The last six weeks he was maturing into himself, the muscle was coming on and he got looking better and better.”
Vinery Sales’ Derek MacKenzie made the same assessment when he saw the colt at Irish Hill this summer, and again when he joined the consignment at Timonium. The colt dealt with Maryland’s rainy and chilly weather, and plenty of scrutiny from buyers.
“It was a good market if they looked good and they vetted good,” said MacKenzie, “but they’ve got to handle everything too, no matter where you take them, and he did.”
Again, the Irish Hill sales prep played an important role.
“They get groomed every day, hooves picked, manes and tails combed, we start bathing them about three or four weeks out and getting them used to that,” said Burke. “Come sale time they’re so well-handled they show pretty good and with the long walking they don’t get tired.”
Burke gives the yearlings weekends off, just to keep them fresh and engaged.
“We walk them five days a week,” he said. “I’ve found that they need a break. By the fifth day, they’re a little frustrated and just want to finish. By Monday, they’re waiting by the door wanting to go again like, ‘Let’s go.’ ”
The five-day schedule also eases the farm’s workload, just a little.
“It’s the old-style way, but it requires manpower,” Burke said. “You’re handling them the whole time too, which really helps them, but it takes time. We’re not set up to do a lot of horses, but that’s OK.”
Tiz Possible delivered a War Dancer colt in 2022 and was back in foal to the New York stallion for next year.
