At the conclusion of the 2019 March OBS 2-year-old sale, 309 horses sold for $44,422,500 combined, with an average price of $143,762 and median price of $80,000. I’ll be taking a look at the pedigrees of a few of the horses who went through the auction ring earlier this month.
The sale topper was Hip 33, a colt by Tapit and out of the multiple G1-winning Roman Ruler mare Artemis Agrotera, who sold for an OBS March record price of $2,000,000 to L.E.B. Agent for West Point, Masiello, Siena Farm. Artemis Agrotera was out of a full sister to G1W Stephen Got Even, and I like the move to reintroduce the A.P. Indy sire line to this family.
Tapit is by Pulpit (a son of A.P. Indy out of a Mr. Prospector mare), and by Unbridled (a grandson of Mr. Prospector). Artemis Agrotera, meanwhile, is a daughter of Roman Ruler (a grandson of Mr. Prospector) and out of an A.P. Indy mare. Tapit has done well with mares by sons and grandsons of Mr. Prospector, producing nearly 9% stakes winners from 230 starters, led by G1 winners Ring Weekend, Constitution, Zazu, Dance Card, and Pretty City Dancer, and I like that the parents of Hip 33 are bred on opposite crosses. The grey colt breezed an eighth of a mile in :10.2 seconds, and he certainly looks like a big, powerful horse with a lot of reach to his stride.
The other horse to sell for seven figures was Hip 194, a Pioneerof the Nile colt out of the Malibu Moon mare Golden Artemis. This colt is a half-brother to G1 winner My Conquestadory, who excelled on the turf but who has already produced a talented dirt runner in Kentucky Derby hopeful and Fountain of Youth runner-up Bourbon War (by Tapit). Empire Maker (the sire of Pioneerof the Nile) and A.P. Indy (the sire of Malibu Moon) have had moderate success together, with Empire Maker having famously sired champion Royal Delta out of a mare by A.P. Indy, as well as two other black type winners from 29 starters, a rate of over 10% SWs from starters. Empire Maker’s son Pioneerof the Nile has not had as much success with the A.P. Indy line, with G3 winner Dark Nile (out of a Bernardini mare) being the most successful of three SWs from 80 starters by Pioneerof the Nile and out of mares by A.P. Indy and his sons and grandsons. TrueNicks rates this mating a D, but I think there’s more to be said for the decision to send Golden Artemis to Pioneerof the Nile.
Interestingly, Pioneerof the Nile’s third dam is by a stallion called Kanumera, a stakes-winning son of Native Dancer and out of the mare Believe Me, an Alibhai mare born in 1954 who is also the second dam of Preakness Stakes winner Elocutionist. Kanumera’s fourth dam was the 1924 mare Cinq a Sept, winner of the 1927 Irish Oaks and Park Hill Stakes, and an instrumental 20th-century broodmare who is also the ancestress of the immortal Triple Crown winner Secretariat and two-time Prix de l’Arc du Triomphe winner Alleged, among others, as well as a tail-female ancestor of Malibu Moon. Pioneerof the Nile has only had six starters out of Malibu Moon mares, and three of them have become winners.
I also liked the looks of Hip 544, a filly by Commissioner and out of the unraced Stonesider mare Tregrandibambini. This filly’s dam is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Willet, a daughter of Jump Start (who, like Commissioner, is by A.P. Indy). This filly consigned by Brick City Thoroughbreds sold for $450,000 to Gulf Coast Stables LLC after breezing a quarter mile in 21 seconds flat. I really like the prospects of Commissioner as a stallion, as a son of A.P. Indy and out of a multiple stakes-winning Touch Gold mare who has been a good producer, also producing GSW Laugh Track and the dam of Wood Memorial winner Vino Rosso.
I really like the pedigree of this filly, as her female family is filled predominantly with sprint influences – her second dam is by Hutcheson Stakes winner Distinctive Pro; her third dam is by the stallion Night Invader, who was good enough to win the 9f Washington Park Handicap at age 3 but who was also a precocious 2yo who equaled the 5 furlong track record at Gulfstream Park in his maiden victory; and her fourth dam is by a stallion named Nehoc’s Bullet, who was third in the 7f Bay Shore Stakes as a three-year-old – while her sire’s side trends more toward stamina influences close up, with Commissioner (who is by a Belmont Stakes winner and out of a mare by a Belmont Stakes winner) having run 2nd in the 2014 Belmont Stakes, but with additional speed influences such as MSW sprinter Dr. Blum and Lt Stevens further back in his pedigree, along with the fact that his half-brother Laugh Track was second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. I think that could lead to this filly being a little more precocious than one would expect from a stallion who was most successful going a route of ground.
Hip 230, a son of Into Mischief and out of the Distorted Humor mare Hysterical, sold for $350,000 to Martin Anthony. Into Mischief has done very well with Distorted Humor, with ten winners and two stakes winners from only twelve foals to race, including G1 winner Practical Joke, and four additional stakes-placed winners. It could be worth noting that Into Mischief’s Breeders Cup Dirt Mile winning son Goldencents was out of a mare by Banker’s Gold, who, like Distorted Humor, is by the stallion Forty Niner. With such an incredible strike rate of stakes horses, it’s not surprising that this colt, who seems to be physically typical of his stallion’s get, sold for a generous sum after breezing an eighth of a mile in 9 4/5 seconds.
While six- and seven-figure price tags were not uncommon at the sale, there are always those horses that are just as good, but the slip through the cracks for one reason or another and end up being fantastic bargain purchases. One of the horses on the lower end of the price spectrum that nonetheless caught my eye was Hip 234, a chestnut filly from the first crop of Jack Milton and out of the Langfuhr mare I’lltakeit who sold for just $30,000 to Frank Bertolino. This filly’s fifth dam is the great Darby Dan foundation mare Soaring, by Swaps. Soaring has founded a dynasty of champions and stakes winners that includes the likes of Devil’s Bag, Glorious Song, Singspiel, Soaring Softly, and Wavering Girl, the dam of I’lltakeit.
Jack Milton is a son of War Front who was a G1 winner on the turf, and who is out of the Forty Niner mare Preserver. Forty Niner is a member of Bruce Lowe family 1-n, descending from 1897 One Thousand Guineas winner Chelandry. Chelandry’s fourth dam was a mare named Ellen Horne. Ellen Horne was also the second dam of the great Bend Or, who was the great grandsire of Chelandry (whose sire Goldfinch was by Bend Or’s Triple Crown winning son Ormonde). Chelandry is the eighth dam of Forty Niner, as well as the eighth dam (via a different daughter) of G1 winner Believe It, the sire of Preserver’s dam Berth.
Both Jack Milton and I’lltakeit are bred on a cross of Danzig with Raise a Native. Stallions from the Danzig sire line have not been particularly successful when crossed, with a strike rate of only 3.87% stakes winners from 4,362 runners (from 1/2011 through 1/2019). By comparison, Danzig’s sire line produces 4% SWs from mares by other stallions, while broodmares by Langfuhr produce 5% SWs by other stallions. Langfuhr’s daughters, in particular, have not had much success with stallions from the Danzig sire line, with 2 stakes winners from 72 starters. War Front, however, has shown some success with mares from the Danzig sire line, siring stakes winners Secretary at War and Vow and Declare from only twenty-two starters through January 2019, so I’m not as deterred by what would initially seem like a “bad nick” (indeed, TrueNicks gives this mating a D).