The lag time between submitting your horse for a public auction’s catalogue and the printing and distribution of the sales catalogue can create some interesting issues for buyers and sellers alike. When the Keeneland November, 2017, sale took place, its opening day was November 7, and a Tapit weanling out of the Grade 1 winning mare, My Conquestadory, brought $775,000, a huge investment on a weanling.
This filly was My Conquestadory’s second foal. Her first, a colt by Tapit, had failed to meet his $525,000 reserve at the 2017 Keeneland September Sale of yearlings. The fact that the weanling filly brought so much more could indicate a number of things: she was a better individual, and/or somebody knew something.
This is because on November 14, 2018, that Tapit colt, now named Bourbon War, broke his maiden at first asking at Aqueduct, and went on to finish fourth in the Remsen S.-G2. The Tapit filly is entered in the upcoming Keeneland April Sale of two-year-olds in training, but at the time of the catalogue printing, Bourbon War appears on the filly’s page, hip number 130, as a winner at two and three of only $79,900, without any black type.
But the gamble of the buyers of the weanling filly, Baccari Bloodstock, has paid off, as, since cataloguing, Bourbon War finished second in the Fountain of Youth S.-G2, behind Code of Honor, and is entered in this Saturday’s Florida Derby, in which he’s drawn the excellent four spot in the gate, and will face off against the FOY winner and the FOY post time favorite, Juddmonte’s Hidden Scroll, who had the misfortune to draw the one hole.
If Bourbon War wins the Florida Derby, or even hits the board, his points accrued may be enough to get him into the Kentucky Derby. More than this, though, this family’s tale is all about the great risk of pinhooking at the highest level, and the great reward that is possible. When hip 130 goes through the Keeneland sales ring on April 9, there is a good chance she may be the sales topper, with a full brother poised to start in this country’s most prestigious race.
Pinhooking is all about the gamble that a family will improve, and an individual will improve, and in this case we know that at least the former has occurred. Tapit alone insures some pinhooking success, with his offspring appearing in virtually all major races. But success at sales is all about the female family and its production. With this update for My Conquestadory’s first foal, her second foal should bring stellar results for her risk-taking purchasers.
— Roberta Smoodin