Resolute Probably Going Banke-Rupt

[RolloTomasi]

Babies Making Babies

With an eye toward*the biggest prize in the sport—stallion prospects—John Stewart's Resolute Bloodstock bought a pair of seven-figure yearling colts Aug. 5 on opening night of Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale.

That’s grounds for immediate firing if I ran the Blood-Horse. The biggest prize in the sport are “stallion prospects”? These 2 co-authors are either shills or interns that get told what to do by the breeding conglomerates.

And why does it take 2 people to right a sales recap anyway?

Stewart went to $1.7 million for Hip 75, a Gun Runner** half to grade 1 winner and sire Leofric**, from Bluewater Sales, agent. Earlier in the night, Stewart bid $1.5 million to land a Charlatan** colt and half brother to leading freshman sire Complexity** from Warrendale Sales, agent for Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. Stewart said he is thinking about his colt purchases through the lens of his racing stable and their stallion potential.

What an astute investor in the sport. He bought horses to race & breed. As opposed to what?

Pulling milk wagons & giving pony rides in the infield?*

“I think you have to. There were some great physical horses here, but then you're asking yourself if this one does everything it's supposed to do, what are you gonna do with it if it doesn't have (a stallion's) pedigree page," Stewart said.

Yeah, the history of racing shows that good racehorses don’t make great sires unless they have blue blood.

Stewart knows what he’s talking about.

And then he pays $3.4 million for a yearling whose grandsire is Candy Ride, a great racehorse with an obscure pedigree that has gone on to be a sire or sires…

“We think we got two of the five nicest colts tonight, and that was something on our list with us starting a breed-to-race operation. We're trying to fill in (the racing stable). We have 23 yearlings right now. And you know you have to participate in these sales if you want access to some of the best colts. You just look at Sierra Leone and some of the other horses that have come out of these sales.”

Sierra Leone? That horse has trumped Dollar Bill as the worst hanger in racing history.

Hell, he’s making me rethink the career of De Roche…

The Gun Runner colt, out of the unraced Unbridled's Song mare Lady Godiva*, is closely related to Leofric, who is by Gun Runner's sire,Candy Ride.

"He's a great physical specimen and he's a Gun Runner colt, I mean, what else do you have to say about him?" Stewart said.

That Gun Runner’s top route horses are all brittle, middling, & inconsistent performers: Taiba, Sierra Leone, Early Voting, Red Route One, Il Miracolo, Cyberknife.

Hip 57, the Charlatan colt Stewart purchased earlier in the night, has one of the best and most current pages in the Saratoga sale. Out of the Yes It's True mare Goldfield*, the colt is a half to Complexity (Maclean's Music) and Doubledogdare Stakes (G3) winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) runner-up Valadorna (Curlin). Valadorna is the dam of current 3-year-old Tuscan Gold, who finished third in the Louisiana Derby (G2) and fourth in the Preakness Stakes (G1).

Wow; that was the best pedigree of the night? A horse related to Complexity—a dud racehorse & probably a flash-in-the-pan 2yo sire—and Tuscan Gold who comes from a 3yo crop so weak that Tuscan Gold actually is considered a division heavy?

This Fasig-Tipton Texas at Saratoga?

“We think Charlatan is going to emerge as a good stallion, and Stonestreet bred (Hip 57). That says a lot. Any time Barbara Banke's name is associated with something, it gives you a lot of confidence as a buyer," Stewart said.

Confident buyer? What about confident voter?

This is the person who this spring hosted an exclusive fundraiser for Donald Trump & then whined (wined?) when he put her name at the top of the very public invitations?

I guess she’s Undecided…

Hip 57 is from the first crop of grade 1 winner Charlatan. The brilliant son of Speightstown stands at Hill 'n' Dale Farms for an advertised fee of $50,000. He won the Arkansas Derby (G1) and the Malibu Stakes (G1) as a 3-year-old, with a runner-up finish in the Saudi Cup (G1) at age 4.

What a career; he was actually DQ’d from the Arkansas Derby.
He might have been declared the winner a couple years later, so it’s good black-type…

“Everyone loved him," Day said. "He's beautiful, he has*a stallion's pedigree, great physical, and a great representation of Stonestreet and Charlatan. We are thrilled that Mrs. Banke and the whole Stonestreet team gave him to us to sell.”

Why does he have a stallion’s pedigree? He’s by a new sire, who ultimately wasn’t much racehorse.

And Stonestreet “gave him” to us “to sell”. Sounds like a keeper to me.
But be careful, Banke doesn’t like it when you publicly thank her for her support…

Stewart said he was on track with what the colt would bring, but he was prepared to spend even more.

Maybe he can donate the difference to a good political cause.

Or buy some cheap wine to help him through the disappointment when these seven-figure yearlings don’t pan out…

“There were a few horses here that in my mind are one hundred percent coming home with me, and he was one of them," Stewart said. "It takes a lot to go through our whole process, to go through 120 horses and get down to six or 10 that you're gonna buy.”

Yea, what a rigorous process it must be as evidenced by your earlier quote:
“He’s a great physical specimen and he’s by Gun Runner, what else do you have to say?”

I guess Stewart & his team extrapolated their sales buying process from the shrewd judgment of your average American teenaged girl: “He’s pretty & his dad is popular!”

“And Hip 85 ($1.9 million Curlin filly), that was a really nice horse that got away from us, but it got a little too expensive for what I thought the horse was at this point in time as a broodmare prospect.”

Never mind that he’s buying yearlings primarily as broodmare prospects rather than racing fillies:

This f’n guy is out of his mind. A filly by Curlin—a sire who pulled one of the greatest feats ever when siring 3 BC wins in each of the last 2 BCs—out of a half-sister to top stallions Not This Time & Liam’s Map.

You waiting to see if Curlin can sire 3 more BC winners this year?