Shamrock Rose: Champion for Sale

There are dozens of fillies and mares in the catalogue for Fasig-Tipton's November Sale that jump right off the page. Some stand out for their pedigrees, some for their accomplishments on the racetrack, some more for their perfect looks than anything else. Quality is everywhere, easy to find as you browse through the pages. But of all the horses that will sell Nov. 5 during the “Night of the Stars” there is only one who can be called an Eclipse champion.

During a memorable four-race run in 2018, Shamrock Rose (First Dude) put it all together and showed the sport that she was the best filly sprinter in the country when she came off just weeks of rest to win the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. That victory featured a last-to-first move under Irad Ortiz Jr. and was enough to convince the voters the honor her with an Eclipse Award.

The Breeders' Cup win also put her in a special category as she became the only 3-year-old ever to win the Filly & Mare Sprint.

“Although we think there might be some future champions in the catalogue, Shamrock Rose is the only U.S. champion that will be offered at public auction this year,” said Fasig-Tipton President and CEO Boyd Browning. “It's not often that champion fillies or mares come into the sales ring. She earned that championship based on her accomplishments. She's very valuable and a great opportunity for someone.”

Entering the summer of 2018, Shamrock Rose wasn't on the top of the list of potential leaders in her division or an Eclipse Award candidate. She had broken her maiden during her 2-year-old campaign in a stakes race, winning Woodbine's Ontario Debutante S. as a first-time starter. But it took almost 11 months for her to get back to the winner's circle. When she did, her comeback win went largely unnoticed as it occurred in a Pennsylvania-bred race at Presque Isle Down, the Malvern Rose S. But it was the first sign that after a 3 1/2-month freshening, this was a new horse.

“From the middle of her 2-year-old year through the beginning of her 3-year-old year she went through a little lull where I didn't think she was doing great,” said her trainer, Mark Casse. “I brought her home, gave her some time and the rest is history. We brought her back and she became a winning machine. Her performance in the Breeders' Cup, off a two-week layoff against older fillies? Tremendous.”

After the Presque Isle race, she returned home to her base at Woodbine and won the La Lorgnette S. there. With her three stakes wins to that point all coming over Tapeta surfaces, it was easy to peg Shamrock Rose as a synthetic track specialist. She put that to rest in her next start, winning the GII Raven Run. S. at Keeneland on the dirt.

That could have been her most noteworthy accomplishment of the year as not many trainers would have brought the horse back 14 days later in the Breeders' Cup, let alone one that had to be supplemented at a cost of $130,000 in order to get into the race.

“After the Raven Run it was Mark who said we should go in the Breeders' Cup,” said Penny Conrad, who, along with her husband Manfred, owns Shamrock Rose. “We really had to go out on a limb because she wasn't nominated. Then, after all that, to win was unbelievable.”

“A lot of people thought we were crazy coming back in two weeks and doing what we did,” Casse said. “Except for the Conrads, thank goodness. It was very, very rewarding.”

The Conrads, who race under the name of Conrad Farms, proved that you don't have to deal in big numbers to achieve success at the highest levels of the sport. The couple, who live on their farm in Wellesley, Ontario, have been involved in the sport for about 10 years and breed and buy only a handful of horses each year. When at their peak, their holdings might include five race horses and five broodmares. They bought Shamrock Rose for $120,000 at the 2017 OBS April 2-Year-Old Sale.

“They're just regular people,” said Meg Levy, whose Bluewater Sales will consign Shamrock Rose.

They are also bottom-line oriented. They had their best year ever in 2018 thanks to Shamrock Rose, who made $848,076 during her 3-year-old season. That came one year after they campaigned their homebred, State of Honor (Honor and Serve), who finished second in the GI Florida Derby to make into the field for the GI Kentucky Derby, where he finished 19th.

They enjoy the thrills the sport offers, but see their venture into racing and breeding as more a business than a hobby. Therefore, it makes sense to sell because doing so will yield a substantial profit on their initial investment of $120,000.

“Yes, I would like to keep her,” Penny Conrad said. “But we haven't had a great year in 2019 and we run this as a business. We feel it's time to sell her.”

That means that someone else will enjoy the fruits of her promising breeding career.

“When most people are looking at breeding opportunities, whether it's with stallions or with fillies and mares, you look for brilliance, an explosive turn of foot,” Browning said. “With this filly, you have that. When they asked her to go, she went and she did so at the very highest levels.”

Only four, Shamrock Rose will have many opportunities to prove herself in her new career after selling at Fasig-Tipton. For those looking for a mare who looks to be as sure as they get when it comes to predicting future success in the breeding world, she is not the only choice at this sale. But she is the only Eclipse champion.