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37.
Arrowfield Rejoice At Session Topping Colt
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8/08/2002 |
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Saratoga is proving a happy hunting ground for John Messara’s Arrowfield Stud. Just two days after the Messara-bred Quest Star (Broad Brush-Tinaca) won the Grade 2 National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Handicap at Saratoga comes the news that the top-priced colt sold at the second session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale is also out of a mare purchased by Arrowfield Stud’s Byron Rogers last year.
HONOUR AND GLORY
Offered by Taylor Made Farm, as agent, the colt by former Coolmore shuttle stallion Honour and Glory out of the Rubiano mare Ruby Wedding was purchased by Padua Stables for $900,000.
When Byron Rogers purchased Ruby Wedding at the Keeneland November Sales last year for US$150,000 she had already produced the future session topping colt (her first foal) and was in foal again to Honour And Glory. Previously owned by Australian Lindsay Williams, Ruby Wedding is a stakes placed winning daughter of the Spinaway Stakes (G1) winner Share The Fantasy (Exclusive Native). Williams, who raced the Bill Mitchell-trained French Braids and intends to aim his Hollywood Park Sunset Handicap (G2) winner Grammarian at the Melbourne Cup this year, sold the Honour And Glory colt privately in January for approximately $100,000. The colt’s new owners had to wait only 7 months to make 9-times more.
Ruby Wedding was one of three mares Rogers purchased at the Keeneland November Sales last year. All were due to go to Sunday Silence but are now coming to Australia due to the well-publicised problems of Sunday Silence. Ruby Wedding is heading over the Tasman for a date with Cambridge Stud’s Zabeel.
"She is a very good looking mare,” said Byron Rogers referring to Arrowfield’s valuable acquisition. “She was stakes placed and out of a group one winner so I thought she was good buying at US$150,000, even though the stallion she was in foal to wasn't hot at the time”.
“We have a full brother to that colt on the ground which we have entered for November (Keeneland November Foal sale) but might wait a year to sell given that this colt has sold so well.”
“It's a good result for a young mare. Ruby Wedding could run a bit and her dam was a top two year old so we hope this horse can hit the track running"
The session-topper and the highest-priced yearling of the sale to date was a chestnut filly by Storm Cat out of multiple Grade 1 winner Sacahuista (Raja Baba) which was purchased by John Sikura of Hill 'n' Dale Farms for $1.3 million. The filly is a half-sister to multiple Group 3 winner Ekraar (Red Ransom), which also placed in the Group 1 Racing Post Trophy.
The widely tipped sales topper a colt by Storm Cat out of Grade 1 winner Shared Interest (Pleasant Colony) was passed in when bidding stalled at $3.8 million, short of his $4 million reserve.
A Grade 1 winner herself Shared Interest is the dam of 1999 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Cash Run (Seeking the Gold) and Grade 1 winner and high-profile Kentucky stallion Forestry (Storm Cat).
Indeed it was a colt from the first crop of Forestry, out of the multiple stakes-placed President's Girl (Deputy Minister) that was the session’s third highest-priced lot at $800,000.
Unbridled’s Song has continued his excellent sale with a filly out of Rose Jade (Jade Hunter) bringing $525,000 while a colt out of Salty Lady (Salt Lake) made $425,000.
The second day continued the trend of the opening day with across the board declines. Only 44 horses sold on the day for a total $11,820,000, 40 percent down on last year. The average of $268,636 was down from the$398,000 last year while the median dipped to $195,000 compared to $250,000 last year.
Over the two days 90 yearlings have sold for a gross $22,932,000, a 39% drop while the average of $254,800 has declined nearly 27%.
By: Mark Smith
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