By Jessica Martini
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Lane Richardson's Richardson Bloodstock enjoyed its biggest sales success to date at the OBS March sale earlier this month and the Texan will look to keep the momentum going with a three-horse consignment at Wednesday's Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Selected 2-Year-Olds in Training sale.
Richardson's father, trainer Michael Neatherlin, acquired a colt by Mucho Macho Man for $170,000 at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale and, returned to the sales ring at OBS two weeks ago under the Richardson Bloodstock banner, the youngster (hip 282) sold for $575,000 to Larry Best's OXO Equine LLC.
“I was very excited about that sale,” Richardson said Sunday. “It was my biggest sale to date. He was a very nice colt and I was really pleased with him. He did everything that we thought he could do.”
Richardson has been consigning under his own name since 2015, when the star of his consignment was future multiple graded stakes winner Airoforce (Colonel John). That colt, a $20,000 FTKOCT yearling purchase by Neatherlin, sold for $350,000 at the OBS April sale and went on to win that year's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. and GIII Dixiana Bourbon S. before finishing second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf for owner John Oxley and trainer Mark Casse.
For the 31-year-old Richardson, a fourth generation horseman, the pinhooking and sales scene was a natural fit.
“My dad has been in the game for a long time–he pinhooked and he's been a training all of his life–and my mom worked for Fasig at the Texas office for a while,” Richardson said. “I really liked the 2-year-old sales and pinhooking a lot more than the racetrack. My dad still races at the track and I do the farm and the babies and all the sales. We do well together.”
Richardson Bloodstock will offer three juveniles at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream sale, led off by hip 60, a colt from the first crop of Strong Mandate and followed by a colt by Liaison (hip 132) and a filly by Bodemeister (hip 146).
“I'm stoked about the three at the Gulfstream sale,” Richardson said. “I think that they are very, very good horses. I'm very happy with them. They are moving over the track great and they've been training great. So I think we are coming into the sale the way we need to be coming into it. People have already been out looking. And we've been getting some positive feedback, so that's always good.”
The Bodemeister filly, out of Group 1 placed Katana (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}), is a half to graded stakes winner Broken Sword (Broken Vow). She was purchased by Neatherlin for $225,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.
“She was an expensive yearling, but she's lived up to expectations,” Richardson said. “She is a really special filly. We think the world of her and we always planned when we bought her to bring her to this sale. This is where we wanted to bring her.”
Hip 60, a $60,000 Fasig October purchase, is out of Unbridled Magic (Giant's Causeway). The first crop of the Grade I-winning Strong Mandate has been in demand in the sales ring, with a colt from Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables consignment bringing $775,000 at OBS March.
“My Strong Mandate is super fast and a good-looking chestnut colt,” Richardson said. “And by the way Ciaran's sold at the OBS sale, I'm pretty happy with how the Strong Mandates are selling so far.”
Hip 132 is a colt out of the unraced Hidden Temper (Miswaki), a half-sister to graded stakes winner Runspastum (Woodman), and he is a half to Panamanian champion Mr. Tommy (Stephen Got Even) and stakes placed Conniption Fit (Dunkirk) and Subtle Irony (Artie Schiller). He was an $80,000 Fasig October yearling.
“The Liaison is a big, stretchy, good-looking bay colt,” Richardson said.
The Gulfstream sale is the second stop on a marathon course of juvenile auctions for Richardson–who sold three at the OBS March sale and will offer 12 juveniles in the Texas sale, eight in the OBS April sale and a further four in the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale in Timonium. But with the help of family and friends, he's taking it all in stride.
“I left the day after OBS and headed straight down here to Gulfstream,” Richardson said. “It's life on the road. I think I get to head back home to Weatherford for four or five days and then load up and head right back to [OBS] April. And then either head back home and pick up horses or meet horses in Lexington and head to Maryland. But after Maryland, we're finished with it. It's a long couple of months, but it's well worth it. I enjoy it. I have a bunch of good friends that live here in Florida, so I've been able to benefit from the friendships I have down here. It's kind of a home away from home.”
And back in Texas, Richardson's sister Jaylan Neatherlin is overseeing the family operation.
“My sister Jaylan takes care of everything while I'm on the road,” he said. “She has the horses at the farm and she runs my Texas sale for me. It's consigned under Richardson, but she runs all the Texas sale for me and she does a great job. It's a family operation. We don't have anybody from the outside, so I don't have to worry about anything when I'm on the road.”
The under-tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale will get underway Monday morning at 9 a.m. The sale will be held in the Gulfstream paddock Wednesday beginning at 3 p.m.
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