THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2019 LAFFINA THE LATEST SWEET MELANIA EARNS BREEDERS= CUP BERTH WITH JESSAMINE WIN SUCCESS FOR BLACKRIDGE Robert and Lawana Low=s Sweet Melania (American Pharoah), a narrow runner-up in the P.G. Johnson S. at Saratoga in August, became the second graded stakes winner of the week for her Triple Crown-winning sire with a 5 1/4-length victory in the GII JPMorgan Chase Jessamine S. at Keeneland Wednesday. The eye-catching performance earned the filly a berth in the Nov. 1 GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Four Wheel Drive (American Pharoah) earned a spot in the GII Breeders= Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint with his victory in Sunday=s GIII Futurity S. at Belmont Park. ATo win any kind of stakes race, a AWin and You=re In@ race [at Keeneland] is fantastic, so we=re looking forward to going to California [for the Breeders= Cup],@ said Robert Low. Cont. p5 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY Click on the photo to watch our video FRANKEL COLT TURNS TO GOLD AT TATTS by Bill Finley A colt by Frankel (GB) sold for 3.1 million guineas to top the second session of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book As they have been in the racing and breeding business for only 1. Emma Berry and Kelsey Riley are on hand in Newmarket. a bit more then three years and are dealing with a limited Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. number of horses, BlackRidge Partners has operated under the radar. Who are they? The short answer is, a group of investors specializing in the oil and gas businesses, who, so far, can=t seem to do anything wrong. Their first-ever racing investment was to buy into California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) shortly before his win in the 2016 G1 Dubai World Cup. Their second was to snag a piece of Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss) right before her win in the GI Kentucky Oaks in 2016. They bought into two proven horses and did so before their value peaked. But they=ve also shown a knack for finding talent on their own. The first broodmare ever purchased by the BlackRidge team is named Laffina (Arch). They bought her privately after she RNA=d for $290,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November sale. Laffina wasn=t a notable runner during a brief career in Ireland. But no one is looking at her racing record right now, not after her first foal has turned out to be two-time Grade I winner Bast (Uncle Mo). Now it is time for BlackRidge to cash in. Laffina will sell at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, where she is among the more attractive mares in the catalogue. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] V.P., INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Thursday, October 10, 2019 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN News and Features Editor Ben Massam @BMassamTDN Associate Editors Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistants Alexa Reisfield Amie Morosco Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Photographer/Photo Editor Godolphin's Desert Peace, a $1.3-million KEESEP son of Curlin, prior to winning the first Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew over the Kempton polytrack by 1 3/4 lengths. See TDN Europe for more. | Racingfotos.com [email protected] Social Media Strategist Justina Severni SHERWOOD CHILLINGWORTH DIES 7 Sherwood C. Chillingworth, a longtime director and executive Director of Customer Service vice president of the Oak Tree Racing Association, died Tuesday Vicki Forbes [email protected] at the age of 93. Marketing Manager Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen CHANCE IT TO SKIP BREEDERS’ CUP 7 Chance It (Currency Swap) will bypass the GI Breeders' Cup Director of Information Technology Juvenile in favor of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. at Churchill Ray Villa [email protected] Downs Nov. 30. Bookkeeper Terry May MOSLER FILLY TOPS OBS OPEN SESSION 8 [email protected] A filly from the first crop of Mosler topped Wednesday’s open WORLDWIDE INFORMATION session of the OBS October Yearling Sale when selling to International Editor Patti Miller for $75,000. Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN [email protected] European Editor Emma Berry [email protected] Associate International Editor Heather Anderson @HLAndersonTDN Newmarket Bureau, Cafe Racing Sean Cronin & Tom Frary [email protected] 60 Broad Street, Suite 100 Red Bank, NJ 07701 732-747-8060 | 732-747-8955 (fax) www.TheTDN.com TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 3 OF 13 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • OCTOBER 10, 2019 Laffina the Latest Success for BlackRidge (cont. from p1) AWe can=t afford to keep her,@ said Bill Daugherty, one of the partners in BlackRidge. AShe=s become too valuable. She needs now to go to the right farm.@ Daugherty runs BlackRidge along with his son, Will, and their business partner, Bill Barr. For them, racing is a side business. The main business is BlackRidge Resource Partners, an investment firm specializing in the oil and gas industries. AComing from the oil and gas business, we=re used to analyzing deals,@ Daugherty said. ABasically, we use the same philosophies we apply to our main business that we do to the horses. I look at a mare or horse prospect the same way I look at an oil prospect and try to project what the results will be.@ BlackRidge Resource Partners was formed in 2011, five years before the company decided to branch off into racing. For people who live in Lexington and had already enjoyed the sport on a causal basis, racing was a natural path to follow. AIf you live in Lexington, you feel like you=re part of the racing industry every day because it=s such a big part of the community,@ Barr said. ABoth Bill and I have been interested in horse racing for years and spent a lot of time going to Keeneland. In 2016, we decided it was a good time and we had a good opportunity to get started in the racing business.@ That was because the BlackRidge group knew the team at Taylor Made and when Taylor Made presented them with the opportunity to become part of the group that was buying into California Chrome in 2016, they accepted. They enjoyed his 2016 racing campaign in which he won not only the Dubai World Cup, but the GI Awesome Again S. and the GI Pacific Classic, important wins that led to a Horse of the Year title and increased his value as a sire. From the start, BlackRidge has leaned on Taylor Made Senior Account Manager Jeff Hayslett. AWhat=s cool about Laffina is that BlackRidge is a new entity in the business,@ said Taylor Made Vice President Mark Taylor. AJeff Hayslett is one of the longest-standing employees that Taylor Made has. He=s like family. He was the one counseling BlackRidge when they got into the business. He helped them pick out [Laffina], and the rest is history.@ Wanting to support California Chrome as a sire, the BlackRidge partners started shopping the fall mixed sales. The idea was to find mares that would be the building blocks for a broodmare band. Today, they have nine. AWe wanted our broodmare band to start out with a bang,@ Barr said. They had Laffina on a short list of horses they might want to buy, but they thought the asking price at $290,000 was a bit too high. Still, they didn=t give up on acquiring her. TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 13 • THETDN.COM THURSDAY • OCTOBER 10, 2019 Daugherty, with the help of Hayslett, kept talking to the As part of the Taylor Made consignment, Laffina will be in foal consignor, Four Star Sales, and eventually they were able to to Ghostzapper when stepping into the auction ring at Fasig- work out a deal. Tipton next month. Her Pioneerof the Nile foal will be offered as AWhat did we like about her? Everything,@ Barr said. AShe had well. the looks. We really liked how she was built. She was by Arch. I AWith Laffina, it=s very simple,@ said Taylor. AYou don=t have to really liked her pedigree. We=ve had three babies out of her and do a lot of selling. It=s three sentences. By Arch. Only seven years they are all beautiful.@ old. First foal is a multiple Grade I winner. Come look at her The first was Bast, who sold for $500,000 at the Fasig-Tipton yourself and you can determine whether you want her or not. I Saratoga yearling sale in 2018. can=t imagine any breeder in the world not wanting to add her The long wait to see what Laffina could do as a broodmare into their broodmare band.@ ended when Bast won the GI Del Mar Debutante in her second Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning also believes that career start. She followed that up with a win in the GI Laffina presents a rare opportunity, the type of mare who Chandelier S. Next up is the GI Breeders= Cup Juvenile Fillies, checks every box. where Bast may be favored. ALaffina is a very special offering,@ he said. ARarely do you find As much as she has done for BlackRidge, the team is putting a 7-year-old mare that=s a dam of a multiple Grade I winner in business ahead of sentiment.