Whisper Hill Farm

3rd-GP, $60k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, post time: 2:14 p.m. ET In the name of her Whisper Hill Farm, Mandy Pope went to $1.3 million for a son of Tapit out of MSW & GSP Danzatrice (Dunkirk) at the 2021 Keeneland September, and that looked like money well spent when Tapit Trice went on to a victory in the 2023 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. while placing in the GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. Pope was so enamored of her purchase that she went back to the well...

Billed as a showdown between the top three finishers of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, Keeneland's opening day GI Central Bank Ashland S.--worth not just $600,000 in purse money but also GI Kentucky Oaks points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale--instead featured the blossoming of Whisper Hill Farm's 'TDN Rising Star' Leslie's Rose (f, 3, Into Mischief--Wildwood Rose {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}), who left no doubt about the top filly on the day with a three-length tour de force. George Krikorian's Breeders' Cup winner and Eclipse champion Just F Y I...

2011's GI Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty (Medaglia d'Oro) died Monday at Gainesway Farm according to a release from the farm. The 16-year-old was a multiple Grade I winner throughout her career for Peachtree Stable and trainer Bob Baffert and ultimately captured the lilies before retiring in 2012 with earnings of over $1.7m and a final record of 12-5-2-3. A $130,000 OBS yearling, Plum Pretty would last secure a final bid of $4.2m from Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm at KEENOV in 2012.  She produced a total of 8 foals...

8th-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, 1m, 3:37 p.m. ET. For a $1-million price tag, Sean Flanagan secured TOP CONOR (Twirling Candy) for his stable at last year's OBS March Sale, which tied the colt for the fourth-highest at the auction and made him his sire's highest-priced 2-year-old in 2023. Previously going for $200,000 during Keeneland September, the Chad Brown trainee is out of GSP Divine Dawn (Divine Park), who International Equities acquired with a filly by Nyquist in-utero for $285,000 at the Keeneland November Sale in 2017. A full-sister to GSW/MSW...

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Whisper Hill Farm's Mandy Pope.   Shedaresthedevil, 7, Daredevil—Starship Warpspeed, by Congrats. To be bred to Into Mischief. When we planned Shedaresthedevil's first mating, we chose Gun Runner because we loved the physical match and we also liked the Storm Cat and A.P. Indy in her pedigree for him.   She foaled January 29th, and the filly is everything that we had hoped and dreamed she could be! She is a big, strong chestnut filly...

2nd-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, f, 7f, 12:38 p.m. ET. Whisper Hill homebred TAP MY BELLE (Tapit) makes her first start for trainer Ralph Nicks. The gray is out GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic heroine Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song), who was bred and raced by Gary Seidler and Peter Vegso. Initially, she was purchased by Brushwood Stable for $2.8 million as the fourth highest price at the 2011 Keeneland November Sale. Five years later at the same auction, Whisper Hill made the mare the sales topper when Mandy Pope took her...

2nd-GP, $89K, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 11:30 a.m. The inside four horses, all first-time starters, headline Pegasus World Cup day at Gulfstream Park Saturday. BATTEN DOWN (Tapit) kicks things off for Bill Mott who looks to capitalize on a huge Eclipse Awards night with this Juddmonte homebred. A son of champion older mare Close Hatches, this colt is out of a full-sister to MGISP Lockdown, herself the dam of newly-crowned champion 3-year-old filly Idiomatic (Curlin). He is also a full-brother to MGSW/MGISP Tacitus and from the family of G1 Tattersalls Irish...

1st-AQU, $80k, Msw, 3yo, f, 1m, post time: 12:50 p.m. ET WEATHER DELAY (Curlin), the first foal out of MGISW American Gal (Concord Point), kicks off her career for Repole Stable and trainer Todd Pletcher. The 3-year-old was a $500,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase. Carrying the colors of Kaleem Shah, American Gal captured the 2017 GI Longines Test S. at Saratoga and the following term's GI Humana Distaff S. at Churchill Downs. She was also third as the favorite in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. American Gal brought $3...

6th-Gulfstream, $72,000, Alw (NW1X)/Opt. Clm ($75,000), 1-11, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:23.36, gd, 1 length. LESLIE'S ROSE (f, 3, Into Mischief--Wildwood Rose {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}) earned 'TDN Rising Star' honors when she won by 9 1/4 lengths in her first start at Aqueduct Nov. 19. Through the ring as one of the top ten prices, the Keeneland September graduate made her 3-year-old debut with Lasix and was well-backed as the heavy 1-5 favorite here. The filly allowed Gun Song (Gun Runner) to take the lead from her up the backstretch....

6th-GP, $91k, AOC, 3yo, f, 7f, post time 2:39 p.m. ET LESLIE'S ROSE (Into Mischief) cost Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm $1.15 million at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale, and despite going off at a somewhat lukewarm 9-2 facing five others at Aqueduct Nov. 19, graduated by better than nine lengths over 6 1/2 furlongs en route to 'TDN Rising Star' honors. The St. Patrick's Day foal is out of a daughter of SW & MGSP Wildwood Flower (Langfuhr), the dam of GI Florida Derby-winning 'Rising Star' Materiality (Afleet...

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm LEXINGTON, KY - During a session dominated for much of the day by the short yearlings, the supplemented broodmare Sebago Lake (Tapit) jumped to the lead in the final hips when selling for $700,000 to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm. Overall, through two days of the four-day auction, 430 head have grossed $31,596,700 for an average of $73,481 and a median of $30,500. With continued strength at the top of the market, the Book 1 average dipped just 3.39% from a year ago, but...

Achieving the mark of 'TDN Rising Star' means that you have done something out of the ordinary. Though he may have been green at the start of Aqueduct's fourth race on a slop-filled Sunday afternoon, by the time it was over, Crimson Light (c, 3, City of Light--Crimson Frost, by Stormy Atlantic) proved he earned the title. The colt definitely fit the mold when he came back from a seemingly insurmountable distance to graduate. The Todd Pletcher trainee debuted with Lasix as the even-money choice here, but he hopped so...