Smiling Tiger Colt Tops Barretts

A colt from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Smiling Tiger (Hold That Tiger) topped Tuesday's Barretts Fall Sale when selling for $190,000 to Steve Gasparrelli's Slugo Racing. The one-day auction produced figures largely even with 2015 results, with 174 horses selling for $2,484,000, an average of $14,276 and a median of $7,350. The buy-back rate was 31.8%. A year ago, 175 head grossed $2,534,500 for an average of $14,483 and a median of $6,500. The buy-back rate was 31.6%.

Greg Gilchrist signed the ticket on hip 182 on behalf of Gasparrelli. The yearling is a son of stakes winner and Grade I placed Erica's Smile (Williamstown) and is a half-brother to stakes placed Derivative (Mr. Greeley). The Cal-bred chestnut was consigned by Woodbridge Farm, agent, and was bred by Premier Thoroughbreds.

“Greg vetted all the horses down and he had six or seven that he liked who fit the bill–I wanted a really nice Cal-bred to take advantage of the Cal-bred purses because financially that's pretty good,” Gasparrelli explained. “Greg called me and said he had a really good horse. Then he told me he was by Smiling Tiger. He is kind of a new sire, so I wasn't sure about that, but Greg said he really looked the part. So maybe I can get in on the ground floor of the Smiling Tigers like the Speightstowns a few years ago. He looks good. He's by far the best-looking horse I saw at the sale.”

Gasparrelli, a California native who owns a medical supplies company based in Chino and Singapore, was prepared to bid higher on the January foal.

“We were going to bid until we got him,” Gasparrelli said. “I was getting that horse, unless I was against Baffert or somebody like that.”

Gasparrelli became a racing fan while going to the races in Southern California with his grandfather as a kid. He bought his first racehorse 3 1/2 years ago and currently has about 14 horses in training with Mike Puype.

“Greg Baugh is a really good friend of mine and he and his uncle Rollin Baugh hooked me up with Mike Puype and I hit it off with him,” Gasparrelli recalled.

Through Rollin Baugh, Gasparrelli purchased a colt by More Than Ready (hip 108) for $210,000 at last year's Barretts March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, but he said he was focused more on buying yearlings.

“I've been buying a couple at the 2-year-olds in training sales, but I'm concentrating on the yearlings–getting them when they are younger,” Gasparrelli commented. “Usually you can get a little bit better pedigree. It's a little bit more of a risk, but more reasonable. At Keeneland [September], I tried to buy six or seven and all the ones I wanted to buy were $500,000 or more.”

Gasparrelli has a solid teaming helping him pick out yearlings.

“Greg Gilchrist and Tom McCrocklin have helped me out looking for horses, Rollin Baugh has helped me out and Alex Solis, Jr.–all good guys, smarter guys than me, who help me out,” he said.

Gasparrelli's racing stable currently includes a mix that runs the full gamut.

“Mainly I want to run in allowance races and higher, but I'm in love with a couple claimers that I have, too,” he said. “It's pretty much spread throughout the spectrum. I'm looking for allowance and stakes horses, but the claiming game is fun, too. Ultimately, my goal is to get some nice stakes horses. I have dabbled a little bit in the breeding. We bred a mare to Archarcharch, so I have that one going, but I probably won't focus on the breeding that much, maybe just do a little on that and focus more on the racing.”

Also bringing six figures during Tuesday's Barretts sale, War Briefing (War Front) (hip 283), a 4-year-old mare in foal to Violence brought a final bid of $105,000 from Qatar Investment Group. Consigned by Checkmate Thoroughbreds, the dark bay is out of multiple stakes placed Fleet Streak (More Than Ready). She was winless in seven lifetime starts. Adrian Gonzalez's Checkmate Thoroughbreds purchased the mare for $20,000 at this year's Keeneland January sale.