Record-Breaking Sale Follows Son’s Breeders’ Cup Victory
The broodmare Streak of Luck topped the Fasig-Tipton November Sale on Monday, selling for $6.2 million to AMO Racing in Lexington, Kentucky. The sale came just days after her undefeated 2-year-old son Ted Noffey captured the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar on November 1.
When Sovereignty powered home under Junior Alvarado at Churchill Downs, the breeding shed theorists had their “I told you so” moment. The Into Mischief-over-Bernardini mare cross had produced a legitimate classic horse, and the dam side of this pedigree deserves far more attention than it’s received.
In racing, where bloodlines are traced with the precision of royal genealogies and names often reflect noble heritage, there’s something delightfully irreverent about a champion racehorse named after a social media typo. Yet Ted Noffey—whose name came from an innocent transposition of Spendthrift Farm general manager Ned Toffey’s name—has proven that what’s in a name matters far less than what’s in the blood.
When the Group One Champion Stakes was about to be run on October 15, there was hardly a punter who would bet against Baaeed. It was considered Baaeed’s race to lose, and lose he did. In fact, he came in fourth. The surprising winner was the long shot Bay Bridge, who became an instant millionaire.
Is there a more exciting horse in training in North America than Maxfield? I think not. The son of Street Sense, (pictured), is unbeaten, was brilliant at two before ankle chips sidelined him just before the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile S.-G1, and is one of the handsomest horses you’ll ever see, big and both masculine and elegant.
It was Bob Baffert day in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on the first Saturday in May, and he won everything but the key to the city. His brilliant colts, Charlatan and Nadal, both unbeaten, took both divisions of the Grade One Arkansas Derby, and his precocious filly Gamine remained unbeaten as well in allowance company.
The April 18 Apple Blossom H.-G1 ended thrillingly in a photo finish between Ce Ce and Ollie’s Candy, with Ce Ce winning by the shortest nose, while favored Serengeti Empress faded badly and finished out of the money. But Ce Ce demonstrated enough tenacity to make her the sport’s newest Grade One winner.
The “big news” of the past racing weekend, Saturday, April 11, in particular, was that a 46-1 shot, Mr. Big News, won the Oaklawn S. and secured a guaranteed place in the Arkansas Derby and in the Preakness S., whenever that may be held.
Three of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks prep races on Saturday, February 1, featured remarkably similar results. The Forward Gal S.-G3 at Gulfstream was won by unbeaten Tonalist’s Shape, by Tonalist. The Withers S.-G3, at Aqueduct, was won by Max Player, by Honor Code. And the Holy Bull S.-G3, again at Gulfstream, was won by Tiz the Law, by Constitution.
If you don’t think the horse racing gods’ favorite child is Bob Baffert, you’d better think again. Here’s what it took for his trainee, Mucho Gusto (by Mucho Macho Man), to win the Lasix free Pegasus World Cup-G1. Baffert calling an audible and deciding to send his horse to Florida, rather than wait for the San Pasqual S. at Santa Anita.