Lookin At Lucky Filly Tops Fasig First Session

TIMONIUM, MD–A Lookin At Lucky filly consigned by CandyLand, Agent XX topped all returns Monday evening at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale when Kentucky-based horseman Spider Duignan stretched to $175,000 to scoop up hip 119.

The first 150 hips went through the ring during day one, with the rest of the 513-horse catalogue scheduled to sell Tuesday. Monday's session was added to accommodate the large number of entries for the sale, which was conducted in one day in 2016.

Because of the format change, year-to-year comparisons should come at the conclusion of Tuesday's session, which will begin at 10:00 a.m.

On Monday, a total of 81 yearlings changed hands for $2,109,200. The average was $26,040 and median was $15,000. The buy-back rate was 36.7%.

Duignan purchased Monday's top lot on behalf of a group of partners. She will be trained by New York-based Michael Dilger, who was standing next to Duignan during the bidding. Duignan and Dilger have teamed up before with the likes of multiple stakes-placed Dreams to Reality, who is also a daughter of Lookin At Lucky.

“She's a very good physical–classy,” Duignan said of hip 119. “The mare's been a very good producer; all her foals have run good numbers, and her full-sister's a decent filly.”

Trainer Gary Capuano paid $14,500 for hip 119's dam Slow and Steady (Malibu Moon) as a weanling at the 2002 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic December Mixed Sale. A four-time winner and $123,510 for Capuano and partners, she's been an even better producer, responsible for the likes of multiple stakes winner Steady Warrior and stakes winner Steady N Love (Not For Love). She also produced the two-time stakes-placed Hanky Doodle (Cherokee's Boy) and the 3-year-old full-sister to hip 119 in multiple stakes-placed Lucky in Malibu, who annexed a Laurel allowance Sept. 15 for Capuano, Z W P Stable and Non Stop Stable.

“That was a little higher than what we expected, but she looks like a pretty special filly,” said CandyLand General Manager Mike Palmer. “Her physical is second to nothing.”

He continued, “I thought the filly could possibly bring $200,000, but we're in the first day of a two-day sale that started at 4:00 for the first day. So I think it's an experimental thing, and I think if the filly sells tomorrow she brings $200,000 because people start getting desperate for good fillies. This filly here, in my opinion, was a very special filly.”

Palmer was soon greeted back at the CandyLand barn by Capuano and the filly's co-breeders, Dave Picarello and Foard Wilgis.
“That mare's just been a great producer, and we thought we had a really nice horse that maybe we could cash in on and get a decent price,” said Capuano. “We're happy with it. The mare's been a great producer–this is a really nice baby, and we thought maybe we could maximize our returns, but if we didn't sell her we were fine racing her. She's a really nice filly, and we're hoping she does well.” —@BDiDonatoTDN

AUDLEY BACK IN ACTION AT TIMONIUM

Audley Farm hasn't consigned horses at a Thoroughbred auction in more than 20 years, but the historic Virginia-based nursery made a splash Monday in its return to the ring when agents Nick Sallusto and Hanzly Albina went to $140,000 to acquire hip 28 on behalf of Maurice and Samantha Regan's Newtown Anner Stud.

Audley bred the filly's talented sire Bodemeister–responsible fo the likes of this year's GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming–before selling him for $260,000 at the 2010 Keeneland September Sale.

Dam Pink Champagne (Speightstown) won the 2003 GIII Natalma S. and Audley paid $475,000 for her in foal to Speightstown at KEENOV '05. Her second dam was MSW/MGSP Turkappeal (Turkoman) and she hails from the family of Speightstown, Irap, Mani Bhavan, et al.

“We had high expectations for the filly–we really liked her,” said Audley Equine manager Jamie McDiarmid. “I thought she was a beautifully lined filly and she was all class the whole week. We had a lot of action on her, everyone seemed to love her, and she showed great. I couldn't be happier for my people on the farm and the owners. That was the first sale for Audley Equine [as consignor] in over 20 years, and I think we had a pretty good one, so I'm very happy.”

McDiarmid admitted that it was extra sweet to return to the sales with a filly by Bodemeister.

Audley is one of a number of consignors selling at the Midlantic Fall Yearlings sale either for the first time or first time in years, and cited similar reasons to others, which include a resurgence in the Thoroughbred industry in Maryland and the surrounding states. Audley's location in Virginia means its produce qualify for the new Virginia-Certified Residency Program.

“We just thought in the Mid-Atlantic, Audley should be a part of the [scene],” said McDiarmid. This [region] is starting to lift off a little bit, as you can see, so we thought it might be a very good time to put our name out there. We'll be local sellers in this area–we have different people [consigning] in Kentucky–but when we came up here we thought the farm had the right juice to get us there.”

Founded in 1749 and for more than a century owned by the family of George Washington, Audley raises both Thoroughbreds and purebred Angus cattle. Its current principals are residents of Germany. 

WANTZES, FROMMER DO MORE BUSINESS IN TIMONIUM

At the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale, David Wantz of Copperville Farm paid $42,000 for a daughter of Speightstown from the Cary Frommer consignment. Turned over to trainer Ollie Figgins III, the chestnut miss–eventually named Dance to Bristol–showed immediate promise–and took stakes at two and three before really blossoming at four, capping a seven-race win streak in Saratoga's GI Ballerina S.

Wantz and wife Susan did more business with Frommer in Timonium Monday when the noted Aiken-based horsewoman paid $135,000 for hip 77, a filly by Maclean's Music consigned by Bill Reightler, agent. Susan Wantz bred the filly in West Virginia.

“I have a lot of faith that Carrie will do right by the horse,” said David Wantz before Susan added, “I was crying before I saw Carrie bought her. That makes me feel good because I know she's in good hands.”

An April 22. foal, the bay is the fourth foal out of the unraced Rowdy Woman (Fastness {Ire}), who was given to the Wantzes by the late trainer and breeder Donald Townsend.

“A friend of ours passed away, and we took the mare, and his wife wouldn't take her back,” said Bill Wantz while standing right near the lawn jockey adorning his silks that guards the door to the sales pavilion. “It was his mare. We owned a share in Kela, and we didn't have a mare to breed to him that year, and Donald said, 'You just take my mare' and we've had her ever since. I bred her to some stallions maybe not as good as [Maclean's Music], but she's producing runners.”

Wantz noted that Rowdy Woman is back in foal to Maclean's Music, and that her 4-year-old son Kowboy Salute (Kodiak Kowboy) is nearing a first start at Charles Town.

As for hip 77, he said, “They looked at her until she was so tired that she didn't even want to come out of her stall, so we had a feeling, but you never know. Just look at her–she's beautiful. She's big, elegant. We've been a big believer in Maclean's Music since she went to stud. She's a little downhill; everything about her says racehorse.”