The OBS Winter Mixed Sale takes place January 28th and 29th, and features a catalog of over 700 horses, with a variety of yearlings, horses of racing age, and stallion/broodmare prospects. I’ve taken a look at the catalog and will be highlighting some horses here.
There is one horse of racing age with experience that I’m particularly excited about in this sale, and that’s Hip #266, A Girl Named Jac. This daughter of Point of Entry, out of the War Front mare War Flower, pressed the pace between horses in her debut in an off-the-turf maiden special weight at Indiana Grand before fading to finish third. She returned to win a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs on November 17th, showing a ton of versatility after being bothered at the start and making a nice sustained bid from last to prevail by a head in the stretch.
This filly is from family 4-r, and her fifth dam is a mare named Enchanted Eve, the dam of champion Tempted and ancestress of End Sweep, Wheelaway, Eltish, and Skimming, among others. Her third dam, Daunserly, produced twelve winners and was inbred to the multiple stakes winning mare Camargo – the fourth dam of Daunserly’s sire Oh Say and the dam of Daunserly’s broodmare sire, Thinking Cap.
I love that A Girl Named Jac’s dam is by War Front and out of a Mizzen Mast mare, as both of these stallions are also from family 4-r. War Front has done well with his own family in the past: G1W Homesman, G1W War Flag, G1W Helene Super Star, MGSW Summer Front, G3W Long Island Sound, and G3W Green Dispatch all hail from family 4-r; G3W Royal Artillery and MSW Compelled, and MSW Win the War are out of mares by stallions from family 4-r. Royal Artillery and Compelled are out of mares by family 4-r’s Dynaformer – the paternal grandsire of A Girl Named Jac. In other words, three of this filly’s four grandparents are from the same female family.
This is a pedigree pattern that is not without precedent for success, though I don’t have any kind of exact figures. However, last year’s G1 Frizette winner Wicked Whisper is an excellent example, as her paternal grandsire and both maternal grandparents are all members of family 4-m.
I think A Girl Named Jac is a very talented filly with a very bright future and an exciting pedigree to match, and I’m curious to see how she’s received by buyers at this sale.
One of the newly-turned 2-year-olds in the sale that I’d like to talk about is Hip #316, a Ghostzapper filly out of the Street Cry mare Hold the Gold. This filly’s dam is a half-sister to G1 winner Stately Victor and graded stakes placed Hot Cash, both by Ghostzapper (and another sister produced stakes-placed winner Esposito by Ghostzapper).
The sixth dam of this filly is a mare named Grass Shack, an unraced daughter of Polynesian who was an exceptional broodmare, as the dam of multiple stakes winner Clover Lane and the tail-female ancestress of G1 winner D’Wildcat and Canadian champion and Horse of the Year Deputy Minister – the paternal grandsire of Ghostzapper, – among other stakes winners. More distantly, this is also the female family of Street Cry’s second damsire Riverman – his 7th dam, Inaugural, is the fourth dam of Grass Shack.
Ghostzapper has produced stakes winner Telekinesis from nine starters out of mares by Street Cry. Additionally, he has done well with mares by Dynaformer (the damsire of Hold the Gold), siring 4 stakes winners (from 3 different mares) from 23 starters out of mares by Dynaformer. In addition to those already mentioned under the second dam, he’s sired the full siblings G2 winner Varenka and multiple stakes winner Lift Up, stakes winner Cavalia, and multiple graded stakes placed winner Theodora B from Dynaformer mares.
Even if this filly isn’t a star on the track, I think her solid female family and strong stallion influence make her a valuable broodmare prospect for the future, as well.
There are also a number of interesting yearlings in the sale – I’ll touch on two of them in depth and a few others more briefly.
Hip #8 is a bay filly from the first crop of Midnight Storm and out of the Paynter mare Lily Maria. At first glance, there isn’t a ton going on on the catalog page here – this filly’s second dam was a stakes winner named Heidi Maria, and G3 winner Sweet Whiskey is out of a half-sister to that mare. I’m looking forward to seeing how the versatile Midnight Storm does as a stallion. He’s a son of Pioneerof the Nile and out of a mare who is linebred to Bruce Lowe family 4-r, as both My Tina’s sire Bertrando and damsire Darby Creek Road are from this family, though distantly (they both trace tail-female to the 1829 mare Miss Obstinate).
There’s some interesting linebreeding in this filly to female family 21a – the family of Pioneerof the Nile and In Reality (who Pioneerof the Nile has 5×4, and Midnight Storm shows 6x5x5). Lily Maria has In Reality via his son Relaunch, but also has another member of family 21a, Take Away, as the second damsire of Salt Lake (the second damsire of Lily Maria). Also worth noting is that Lily Maria is by Paynter and out of a mare by a son of Unbridled’s Song, as Paynter’s second dam is by Seattle Song, a half-brother to Lucky Spell (the second dam of Unbridled’s Song).
I would love to eventually see this filly bred to Mucho Macho Man – his 7th dam, Sun Mixa, is the 4th dam of Darby Creek Road, and his sire Macho Uno is a half-brother to Paynter’s sire Awesome Again.
Hip #655, a colt by Race Day and out of the Top Account mare Frosty Cupcake. This is a half-brother to multiple graded stakes placed Imawildandcrazyguy, who was fourth in the 2007 Kentucky Derby. Both sides of this colt’s pedigree are excellent examples of linebreeding to my favorite female family, that of La Troienne.
First, Race Day’s 6th dam is La Troienne’s daughter Big Hurry, and he is out of a mare by More Than Ready. More Than Ready’s 5th dam is La Troienne’s daughter Belle of Troy, and he is out of a mare by Woodman, whose 5th dam is La Troienne’s daugter Baby League. Woodman, as well, is out of a mare by a stallion from that family, as the second dam of his damsire Buckpasser is La Troienne’s daughter Businesslike. That is to say, Race Day is from family 1x and out of a mare by a stallion (More Than Ready) from family 1x who was out of a mare by a stallion (Woodman) from family 1x who was out of a mare by a stallion (Buckpasser) from family 1x. Even more interestingly, each of these four stallions trace to different daughters of La Troienne.
Race Day gets additional sources of La Troienne from his sire, Tapit. Tapit’s fourth dam is by The Axe, whose second dam is La Troienne’s daughter Big Event. Tapit is out of a mare by Unbridled, who has La Troienne’s son Bimelech via his son, Better Self, as the sire of Dr. Fager and Aspidistra (also, Unbridled’s third dam is by Buckpasser). Tapit’s grandsire, A.P. Indy, adds another strain of Buckpasser, plus inbreeding to the full siblings Striking and Busher, out of Baby League, via the dam of Seattle Slew, who was by Poker (a grandson of Striking) and out of a Jet Action (a son of Busher) mare.
The dam of Hip 655 is by the stallion Top Account, who was inbred 4×4 to the full sisters Glamour and So Chic, both out of Striking.
Hip #507 is a chestnut colt by Teuflesberg and out of the multiple stakes-placed Kafwain mare Splash of Roses. The fifth dam of this colt is the great broodmare Miss Swapsco, the dam of champion Ballade, who produced Glorious Song, Saint Ballado, and Devil’s Bag – the damsire of Teuflesberg.
Hip #653 is a bay colt by Central Banker and out of the Pleasant Tap mare Fortheloveof Anna. The most noteworthy point of this colt’s breeding is that Central Banker is out of a mare by Pleasant Tap’s 3/4 brother Go for Gin.
Finally, I’d like to talk about a few broodmares I really like in this sale.
Hip #54 is She Told You, a daughter of Awesome of Course out of the West by West mare She Did Tell. This mare’s second dam is a full sister to Triple Crown winner Affirmed, who is also the sire of Awesome of Course’s second dam. She Told You is currently in foal to Lookin at Lucky, who is out of a mare by Belong to Me. The second dam of Belong to Me, Straight Deal, is the third dam of Awesome of Course, so I’m definitely interested in the foal this mare is carrying. She also has a yearling filly by First Samurai, a stallion who has been fairly consistent.
Hip #41 is Quick and Golden, a daughter of Medaglia d’Oro out of the Storm Cat mare Quick as a Cat. This 13-year-old mare has had five foals to date, but only two to start; her 2014 filly by Cowtown Cat was a winner in Mexico, but her 2013 gelding by A.P. Warrior was unplaced. She has a 2-year-old by Prospective and a yearling by Capo Bastone. She’s currently in foal to Bucchero.
This mare’s second dam, Pearl City, is a G1 winner by Carson City and a half-sister to G1 winner and successful sire Hennessy. Hennessy was a son of Storm Cat, so it makes sense that Pearl City would be given a chance with that same sire. Quick and Golden’s dam is one of four foals Pearl City had by Storm Cat. Incidentally, Storm Cat comes from this same distant tail-female line – his 9th dam, Belle Rose, is the 10th dam of Island Kitty (the dam of Pearl City and Hennessy, and the third dam of Quick and Golden).
I like that Quick and Golden is carrying a foal by Bucchero, a stallion who I’m looking forward to seeing. There are a few linebreeding notes here: Bucchero’s damsire General Meeting shares a second dam with Quick and Golden’s second damsire, Carson City (they come from the previously-discussed family 4-r). Also, Bucchero’s fourth dam is by First Landing, whose fourth dam, Idle Fancy, shows up in the tail-female line of Medaglia d’Oro and his second damsire Silver Screen.
Hip #173 is a 2012 mare named Molly and Lo. She’s by Warrior’s Reward and out of a full sister to Malibu Moon named Patricias Prospect. This mare is unraced and has a 2-year-old filly by Moro Tap, a Texas-based son of Tapit.
Obviously, I love that this filly’s second dam is the excellent mare Macoumba, who produced ten winners as a broodmare, including stakes placed winners Positively and Mutually Benefit (who produed stakes winner Compelled), the top stallion Malibu Moon, and the dams of stakes winners Worth Repeating and Temple City (who is now also emerging as a very useful stallion). Going further back, Macoumba is a half-sister to G1 winner Septieme Ciel and three other stakes winners, and Macoumba’s dam, Maximova, is a half-sister to champion and stakes producer Vilikaia.