Team Valor Bids in Yearling Filly from First Crop Of
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August 10, 2010 TEAM VALOR BIDS IN YEARLING FILLY FROM FIRST CROP OF CORINTHIAN, WELL-GROWN DAUGHTER OF BROOKLYNSANGEL WILL BE NAMED FABLISS, STRONG FILLY BRED TO RUN MIDDLE DISTANCE ON BOTH DIRT AND TURF Team Valor struck early in the first session of Saratoga’s annual yearling sale to secure a filly from the first crop of Corinthian out of a stakes-producing half-sister to Toccet on a bid of $130,000. In a sale that fillies have dominated in recent years, 86 fillies were catalogued by Fasig-Tipton. Barry Irwin inspected each filly on the grounds, came up with 6 possibilities, which were cut in half after equine practitioner and consultant Dr. Jerry Johnson of Lexington, Kentucky put the kibosh on 3 of them. Fabiliss photographed the morning after she was bought at Saratoga yearling sale by Team Valor International. Irwin said “The only one we considered a possible bargain was the Corinthian filly, because of the change in buying patterns since the start of the economic downturn. In years past, yearlings by first crop of sires sold for wild premiums. But in the recession, buyers have gravitated toward proven sires.” Team Valor was outbid on 2 other fillies, losing out on bids of $750,000 and $250,000. The first one went for $875,000 and the latter $260,000. So as not to attract any undue interest on the part of the vendors, who in fact turned out to be an in- house partnership of family members from The Taylor Made clan of Taylor Made Farm that had bought her privately as a weanling out of a field on Destiny Oaks Farm in Ocala last winter, Barry Irwin tapped first-time sale attendee and new Team Valor partner Sanjay Srikanth to bid on its behalf. Barry Irwin stood in the front row of the balcony behind the auctioneer and directly facing Srikanth, who was informed by Kathleen Irwin, seated next to him, to watch her husband and make slow, deliberate bids as long as Irwin was wearing his sunglasses. Irwin put on his Ray Bans about halfway through the bidding process. Srikanth bid $90,000, then $110,000 and finally $130,000. “Wow, Sanjay is one cool customer,” marveled Kathleen Irwin. “I thought he had waited too long to make the winning bid. But he did great and we got her. I think that long pause sent a good message to anybody trying to run us up!” Irwin was using some tried and tested bidding techniques he has developed over the years and this one was eerily reminiscent of the day Team Valor bought Audacious Chloe on one bid, when Irwin at that venue tapped new stable employee Lisa Jane Moeran to make one bid at $300,000 and to watch him across the sales pavilion for signals on any further bids. Lisa Jane got the job done on a single bid and the stable secured the filly from the consignment of—aw, no fair, you already guessed it!—Taylor Made Farm. “Hey, let’s hope this filly goes on and does as well as Audacious Chloe,” Irwin said of the multiple stakes winner and track-record-setter Audacious Chloe won 4 stakes at Monmouth and Keeneland. that was resold in foal last year for $650,000. Irwin over the years has benefited greatly from his association with Taylor Made Farm, and runners that got their start at the Nicholasville, Kentucky nursery that carried Team Valor International’s colors to stakes victories include Grade 1 Beldame Stakes heroine Unbridled Belle (left) and stakes winner Winning Point. Celebrated conformation judge Irwin said he was won over by the filly because of her overall quality, athletic build and exceptional pastern angle. “One thing I noticed a lot in this particular public auction was the number of horses with poor pasterns,” he said. “They were either too upright or too long, both of which probably lead to more forelimb unsoundness problems than any other conformation fault. “When I had this filly walk to me, she moved straight and true. When I looked at her from the side, I immediately was taken with her striking quality and the perfect 45-degree angle of her pasterns. She is a filly with a lot of pizzazz and spunk. “In terms of type, she is bred to run a middle distance. In appearance, she looks lightning fast to me. She is a February 25 foal and I would expect her to be ready to run when Belmont Park opens next spring. She has cat-like quickness, as well as a lot of scope. She is one helluva prospect and we bought her right.” The new filly has been named Fabliss in a verbal homage to his dam Brooklynsangel, who is the dam of the ultra-promising, but ill-fated Tiny Woods, a $180,000 Keeneland September yearling bought by the Legends racing syndicate, for whom he was a talking horse before succumbing to Colitis X in California earlier this season. Trained and promoted by Bob Baffert as a top-class prospect, Tiny Woods debuted exactly a year ago at Del Mar and took an important scalp when he defeated Sidney’s Candy, who established himself alongside Lookin at Lucky as one of the top two 3-year-old colts in California. Sidney’s Candy came right back to break the Del Mar track record in his maiden win and this season to win the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby at the direct expense of Lookin at Lucky, who currently is the top-ranked 3yo colt in the United States. Tiny Woods and Sidney’s Candy both debuted in the same maiden race at Del Mar. Tiny Woods, who had 2 wins and 2 placings in 5 starts, ran only once this season at 3 when he was second to Sidney’s Candy in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes going 7 furlongs at Santa Anita and died shortly afterwards of Colitis X, the same disorder that did in Team Valor’s Sailor’s Cap and Fast Look. He was the first winner for Legends racing stable. Brooklynsangel, the dam of Tiny Woods and Fabliss, is a half-sister to $931,387-earner Toccet, who was one of the most accomplished colt of his generation, winning the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park, the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity in Southern California and the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct, between 8 and 9 furlongs. He is now at stud. Cozzene’s Angel, the second dam of Fabliss, placed running long on turf in a stakes at Monmouth Park and was a half-sister to 2 stakes winners, including multiple stakes winner Courtly Candor. The next dam was responsible for no less than 8 European stakes winners including sire Chartino. Corinthian (above) was a top racehorse. An earner of $1,267,273, he was a multiple Graded stakes winner who took the most important race for a budding stallion when he came home first at Belmont Park in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Mile. That same season he added the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Monmouth Park. He also won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap. When Corinthian won the Met Mile, he defeated Champion Older Horse Lawyer Ron. When he won the Breeders’ Cup Mile he won by 6 ½ lengths, defeated Discreet Cat and ran a zero number of the Ragozin Sheets. Barry Irwin said “On paper, where very few, if any, races are run, this filly should be able to run all day. Her Dosage is low, her sire was a router, her broodmare sire ran long, her grandam ran long and Toccet (below) went 9 furlongs at 2. “However, based on physical type, the filly looks to be fast, much like her brother Tiny Woods. I see this filly as being precocious and fast. I would be surprised if she was not a very productive filly at 2. She should be able to get a mile. Tiny Woods was by Roman Ruler, a fast horse, whereas Fabliss is by Corinthian, a middle distance runner. “This filly has a body that is typical of fast American juveniles that can run up to at least a mile. She also is bred to run on grass, as Corinthian is a son of Pulpit, a noted grass sire, and the grandam is by grass genius Cozzene, while the family is all grass in the fourth generation. So there could be plenty of options with this filly.” Fabliss came down with colic the day after the auction, which required a surgeon adjacent to the track to reposition the intestine, which developed a twist. “This is a one off situation and she should never look back,” Irwin said. “The filly will spend a week at a farm on Long Island before being vanned down to Fenwick Farm for breaking and training in South Carolina. Interested parties should contact Amy Collingsworth at [email protected] or 859 873-1003. FACT SHEET Name Fabliss Sex filly Color bay Age yearling Bred Florida Born February 25, 2009 Height 15 hands 3 inches Trainer NY/FL trainer to be determined Eligibilities Breeders' Cup Sire Corinthian Dam Brooklynsangel Broodmare Sire Aggressive Chief Sire Line Pulpit ... A.P. Indy ... Seattle Slew Dam Sire Line Chief's Crown ... Danzig ... Northern Dancer Inbreeding 5 x 5 Secretariat 5 x 5 Raise a Native Family Grade 1 winner Toccet, GSWs Simon Du Desert, Venize, Toupie, SWs Miss Walkie Talkie, Courtly Candor, Chartino, Canaletto, Fay Wray, Collecta, Fenice and Graded-placed Tiny Woods. Dosage Profile 2 6 9 3 0 Dosage Index 1.67 Center of Distribution 0.35 Total Valuation $162,500 10 % $16,250 5 % $8125 Insurance Mortality Insurance at 2.85% ($3705) to be invoiced quarterly LINKS PEDIGREE SIRE CORINTHIAN PEDIGREE PAGE GRANDSIRE PULPIT PEDIGREE PULPIT TOCCET MORE TOCCET ECLIPSE VOTING .