$1.3 million Bolt d'Oro filly tops third day of lively trade in Ocala

Cover image courtesy of OBS Sales

Gas Station Sushi’s Bolt D’Oro filly hits $1.3 million

Eight years ago, Spendthrift Farm went to US$675,000 (AU$941,000) to purchase graded winner Gas Station Sushi at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton November Sale. She subsequently visited several of the farm's top young stallions for her early covers and struck gold on Thursday when her 2-year-old Bolt d'Oro filly (hip 840) reached US$1.3 million (AU$1.8 million) on a final bid from CSLR's Bill Childs at OBS April.

“Her speed (made her stand out),” said Ned Toffey of the Spendthrift-bred. “She's obviously a lovely filly. I think Into Mischief mares are really popular right now. But most of all, bottom line is just how she breezed. She breezed so well. She was so efficient; it looked effortless, but very fast. And her gallop out was very strong. So she did everything the right way.”

Consigned by Kings Equine, the bay filly impressed during her under-tack preview last week, working a furlong in :9 4/5. Toffey's expectations were exceeded with the price as he acknowledged how strongly she'd come into this week's sale.

“(The price was) probably a little stronger (than we had in mind),” Toffey said. “We thought she was a nice filly, but I think, over the last month and then since she's been here, she's done nothing but get better and better. And that's the way the sale goes a lot. (It depends on) how they come into the sale. She very much came in here the right way.”

Trainer Danny Gargan was thrilled to have such a promising juvenile join his string later this year at Saratoga, saying that Childs had waited for the right moment Thursday to pick up the filly they thought was the best in the sale.

“This is the only horse we've bought so far,' Gargan said. “We passed on several trying to wait for her. I thought her breeze was tremendous. She's a very, very good-looking individual. Her hind leg, her gaskin. We thought she was the best filly in the sale. And we just had to wait. We're lucky enough we were able to buy her.”

OBS March grad Gas Station Sushi won the G3 Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland and also placed in the G2 Eight Belles Stakes, banking over US$187,000 (AU$261,000) on the track before joining the Spendthrift broodmare band. From four foals to race, she has two winners.

“She's got a pretty good pedigree,” Gargan said. “We were expecting her (price) to be a little bit more actually. But we're lucky, we were the last ones bidding. So I'm really excited that she'll be coming to me at Saratoga.”

Liam’s Map filly makes $925,000

Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable added a daughter of Liam's Map (hip 915) to its roster when Monique Delk bid US$925,000 (AU$1.3 million) to acquire the filly for the operation late in Thursday's session of the OBS Spring sale. The gray filly, who worked a quarter-mile in a bullet :20 2/5 during last week's under-tack preview, was consigned by Tom McCrocklin. McCrocklin had purchased her for US$120,000 (AU$168,000) at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.

Viola's wife, Teresa, campaigned Liam's Map, winner of the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, along with West Point Thoroughbreds.

“We are big fans of Liam's Map for obvious reasons,” Delk said. “We always look at his babies and like to support the sire.” The filly is out of Honor Hop (Honor Code) and from the family of multiple Grade I winner Palacio de Amor.

“This filly was big with a beautiful body,” Delk continued. “She looks more like a colt to me. She has a lot of substance to her. And she breezed lights out. There wasn't much not to like.”

Of the market at OBS this week, Delk added, “We've been outrun a few times on some big purchases. We try to stay disciplined. We have a lot of horses, so it's not like we are in need. But if there is something that we love, we are usually in the mix.”

Delk said a trainer for the filly was still undecided.

The result continued a string of strong results for McCrocklin this week. The horseman sold a filly by Omaha Beach, purchased for US$400,000 (AU$560,000) at Fasig October, for US$900,000 (AU$1.26 million) on Tuesday. On Thursday he sold a filly by Ghostzapper, acquired for US$100,000 (AU$140,000) at Keeneland last September, for US$750,000 (AU$1.04 million), and a filly by Oscar Performance, purchased for US$125,000 (AU$175,000) at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga, for US$675,000 (AU$942,000).

Equal fastest furlong runner makes $900,000

A bay daughter (hip 754) of third-crop sire McKinzie became Susan Chu's Baoma Corp “one filly of the year” after bloodstock agent Donato Lanni signed the ticket at US$900,000 (AU$1.26 million). Out of E Built This City, the Wavertree Stable-consignee blitzed her furlong in a sales co-fastest time of :9 3/5.

“This horse is for a wonderful, wonderful lady, Susan Chu,” Lanni said. “They're (Susan and her husband Charles) wonderful people. We all need a lot of luck to have really good horses, and she seems to have a lot of luck. She creates her own luck too.”

Lanni has signed plenty of OBS tickets for Baoma Corp, picking up another US$900,000 (AU$1.26 million) filly last year by Curlin who became graded stakes winner Himika (Curlin). Two years back, another filly came home to the Chus for US$850,000 (AU$1.18 million) and became Grade 1 winner Tenma (Nyquist).

Out of a winning City Zip mare, this filly was purchased by Red Wings (the partnership of Paul Reddam and Ciaran Dunne) for US$155,000 (AU$216,000) as a Keeneland September grad and is a half to stakes-placed Fulminate (Get Stormy).

“We try to buy (Susan) one filly every year and I was saying, 'that's the one',” said Lanni. “I'm happy we got her. She breezed really, really well. Everybody saw what she went in and she came back excellent. She vetted, physically she looked good, mentally she looked good. She just jumped over every hoop, and there are some big hoops they have to jump. It's a premium when they do what they do, and you have to pay for that. But I'm happy we got her. I love her. I wasn't sure if we were gonna get her or not, but you never know what's going to happen. It's a crazy sale. Just when you think it's not going to get crazier, it gets crazier, which is a good thing.”

Lanni indicated that the progeny of McKinzie, such as Grade 1 winner Chancer McPatrick, continue to perform well through their 2-year-old season and beyond.

“McKinzies seem to have speed,” Lanni said. “They seem precocious and then they seem to come back as 3-year-olds and they want to go two turns. I think he's getting things done at the farm. He went up, had a really good start, but he's coming on. He's continuing his success. It's good to see. I feel good about buying McKinzies.”

Massive pinhooking results for Wente

Tommy Wente added to his ever-expanding list of astute transactions with a pair of impressive scores within minutes of each other at OBS Thursday. Through Omar Ramirez's consignment, he sold a colt by Not This Time (hip 679) for US$450,000 (AU$628,000) to D.J. Stable. Wente had purchased the colt for just US$4000 (AU$5600) at last year's Fasig-Tipton October sale.

Wente and Ramirez returned a few hips later to sell a colt by Speaker's Corner (hip 704) for US$875,000 (AU$1.2 million) to Lauren Carlisle, agent. Wente co-bred the colt with Scott Stephens and had purchased his dam, Danessa Deluxe (Summer Bird), for US$7000 (AU$9770) at the 2023 Keeneland January sale.

“I had four really good yearlings last year and he was one of them,” Wente said of hip 704. “Two of them went to Bob Baffert and one of them went to Michael McCarthy for some money. And then this colt here, the Speaker's Corner, was the best of the four. But I just couldn't get him to the sale. He had some growing issues. He was a big horse. We were down to the last sale and I had to scratch him out.”

Wente re-routed the colt to the 2-year-old sales and, on Ramirez's recommendation, picked up a new partner in Robby Norman, co-owner of GI Santa Anita Derby winner So Happy (Runhappy).

“He just needed the time,” Wente explained. “He is a big horse, but he's a very athletic horse who went really fast. He went in :9 4/5 with a gallop-out in :32 1/5. Freaky athletic for a big horse like that.”

Timing was also key to Wente's other success Thursday.

“The Not This Time was kind of a crazy deal,” Wente said. “I was at Fasig-Tipton one day and I saw this black thing come in and I knew it was a big stud fee. He was sitting at $3,000 and they were asking for $4,000. So I hit it one time. The next thing I know, they dropped the hammer. So I took the ticket and I gave it to Omar. I said, 'Omar, here you go. Here is your half, and I don't want any bills.' Omar smiled and grabbed the ticket.”

Wente added, “He had knee problems. He had some vetting problems. But again, a horse that needed some time, needed some clean up. He cleaned up really well and the horse just took off. He never looked back. He grew and he's beautiful.”

Reflecting on the two results, Wente said, “Today was just a really good day.”