Fasig Date for Embellish the Lace

Embellish the Lace (Super Saver) will have an engagement in Lexington Breeders' Cup weekend, but it likely wasn't the first choice Alex and JoAnn Lieblong had for their GI Alabama S. winner. The sophomore filly, retired after suffering an injury in the Sept. 19 GI Cotillion S., will be offered as hip 175 at Sunday's Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She will be consigned by Lane's End, agent.

Embellish the Lace went wire-to-wire to defeat division leader I'm a Chatterbox (Munnings) by 1 1/4 lengths in the Aug. 22 Alabama at Saratoga (video).

“I was tickled pink, needless to say,” Alex Lieblong said of his filly's Alabama victory. “She was in with some very tough fillies–I'm a Chatterbox is simply amazing–they were all there basically, in my opinion. I was more impressed with the way she did it. I don't think Javier [Castellano] ever touched her. When you look back at the time–and that track had to be a tick slower than the day they ran the Travers–she ran it about a half-second slower [2:01.97] than they ran the Travers.”

Lieblong admitted the Alabama victory quickly had him dreaming of the Breeders' Cup.

“Oh sure. I got on that train really quick,” he chuckled. “It's one of the biggest disappointments. That and not having The Beast–but with The Beast, he needs something more than six furlongs. When I had those two, I was excited. But then the air came out of the train.”

The Lieblongs' The Big Beast, winner of last year's GI King's Bishop S., suffered a minor injury and was given the rest of the year off. The “The TDN Rising” was second in this year's GI Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. and GI Forego S.

Lieblong admitted there was some consideration to bringing Embellish the Lace back to the races, but ultimately he made the decision to retire his prized filly.

“For Embellish the Lace to come back to the races, we'd have to do lots of things,” he explained. “And I think she's just got too much worth as a broodmare to go through all those things that sometimes work and sometimes don't. She is just too good a filly to mess with that. I've owned several good fillies in my life, but nothing like her.”

Lieblong purchased the filly from the first crop of GI Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver for $320,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September sale. Out of stakes-placed Expanse (Distant View), she is a half-sister to GI Travers S. winner Afleet Express (Afleet Alex) and to multiple stakes winner and multiple graded placed Reporting for Duty (Deputy Commander). Expanse is a half to graded stakes winner Eye of the Tiger (American Chance), as well as to the dam of “TDN Rising Stars” Grade I winner Materiality (Afleet Alex) and graded winner My Miss Sophia (Unbridled's Song).

“When I looked at her page, that was what first took me to her,” Lieblong recalled. “And then when I went and saw her, I was even more awed. She was my favorite from day one.”

Lieblong does own a handful of broodmares, but admitted he was more interested in racing than breeding.

“I've got a few broodmares,” Lieblong said. “One thing I've learned in this business, thank goodness I've now named fillies after all of my granddaughters, so I don't have to keep any more. Once you get a filly and you name it after your granddaughter, you've pretty much got that one for life. I've gone through that cycle.”

Still he is willing to add Embellish the Lace to his band of mares named after granddaughters if conditions dictate.

“I wouldn't mind keeping her,” he said. “If she doesn't do what I think she ought to do, I'd be more than happy to keep her. But she has a serious pedigree and somebody who knows a lot more than me ought to be handling her.”

Embellish the Lace isn't the Lieblongs only filly in the Fasig November sale. The Arkansas-based couple also have GII Indiana Oaks winner High Dollar Woman (Super Saver) catalogued as hip 76, but the filly may miss her engagement.

“We're probably, my guess, we're not going to sell High Dollar Woman,” Lieblong said. “She had one little issue. And they said she needs 45 days and then come back and we'll X-ray that and make sure that it is what we think it is. And if that's it, she's fine. So more than likely, especially since this happened with Embellish the Lace, I'll keep her.”

Lieblong continued, “The only reason I put them both in the sale was in case something did happen to either one and lo and behold something happened.”

The Fasig-Tipton November sale gets underway at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1.