MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2020 THE OLD MAN AND THE SPRINT YEARLING SALE SEASON The Week in Review by T.D. Thornton CONCLUDES WITH The final chapters have yet to be penned in Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect)'s book, but it's safe to say the 7-year-old FASIG-TIPTON OCTOBER sprinter is in the autumn of his career. He's a closer who has excelled in a division where out-and-out front-end speed often dominates, he's run in three consecutive GI Breeders' Cup Sprints that have each drawn as "loaded" affairs won by the eventual Eclipse Award champ, and he'll seek his first Breeders' Cup win in start number four over a host track (Keeneland) whose main-track profile has been tilted toward forwardly placed runners during both of its 2020 meets. Nevertheless, trainer Ron Moquett wouldn't trade horses or places with anyone leading up to the Nov. 7 Sprint. Sunday morning at Churchill, Whitmore went a half mile in :46.80 (1/76) in his final serious breeze before the Breeders' Cup. Cont. p4 IN TDN EUROPE TODAY SUBJECTIVIST LANDS THE G1 PRIX ROYAL OAK Newtown Paddocks | Fasig-Tipton photo Subjectivist (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) earned his first Group 1 win in the Prix Royal Oak at ParisLongchamp on Sunday. Click or by Jessica Martini tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. LEXINGTON, KY - The curtain comes down on a most unusual yearling sales season with the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Sale which begins its four-day run in Lexington Monday at 10 a.m. The auction will be following up on a record-setting 2019 renewal which saw new high marks for average and--from its largest-ever catalogue--gross, and will be held over four days for the fourth straight year as it continues to build its reputation as a must-attend auction for both buyers and sellers. AThis sale has been so good to us almost since we=ve been doing business here,@ said consignor Peter O=Callaghan of Woods Edge Farm. AIt=s a great savior for one that misses its window at Keeneland, whether it doesn=t quite make the cut at Keeneland and then does well in the meantime and comes back here, it can stand up well and get sold. For a horse that misses his date for some other reason, it=s proved to be a great outlet for them. So I love this sale. I absolutely have no fears of bringing any nice horse here, whether it be an expensive foal or a homebred.@ On a chilly, overcast day at Newtown Paddocks Sunday, O=Callaghan said traffic has been good at the barns through two days of showing. Cont. p3 PUBLISHER & CEO Sue Morris Finley @suefinley [email protected] SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT Gary King @garykingTDN [email protected] EDITORIAL [email protected] Editor-in-Chief Jessica Martini @JessMartiniTDN Managing Editor Monday, October 26, 2020 Alan Carasso @EquinealTDN Senior Editor Steve Sherack @SteveSherackTDN Racing Editor Brian DiDonato @BDiDonatoTDN Deputy Editor Christie DeBernardis @CDeBernardisTDN Associate Editors Christina Bossinakis @CBossTDN Joe Bianca @JBiancaTDN News and Features Editor In Memoriam: Ben Massam (1988-2019) ADVERTISING [email protected] Director of Advertising Alycia Borer Advertising Manager Lia Best Advertising Designer Amanda Crelin Advertising Assistant/Dir. Of Distribution Rachel McCaffrey Advertising Assistants Amie Newcomb Kristen Lomasson Photographer/Photo Editor Sarah K. Andrew @SarahKAndrew [email protected] First Step Back. Undefeated Grade I winner Maxfield (Street Sense), who made just one start as a 3-year-old thus far before heading to the sidelines with a condylar Social Media Strategist fracture, recorded his first breeze since that setback Sunday at Keeneland. The Justina Severni Godolphin homebred covered three furlongs in :36.80 (6/11). | Coady Director of Customer Service Vicki Forbes [email protected] MAXIM RATE SCORES IN THE GOLDIKOVA 7 Marketing Manager Slam Dunk Racing and James Branham’s Maxim Rate Alayna Cullen @AlaynaCullen (Exchange Rate) rallied strongly in the stretch to capture the GII Goldikova S. Sunday, closing day at Director of IT/Accounting Ray Villa Santa Anita. [email protected] [email protected] STAGE SET FOR WYETH’S DANCING RAGS 11 WORLDWIDE INFORMATION Katie Ritz tells the story of 2016 GI Darley Alcibiades International Editor S. heroine Dancing Rags (Union Rags), who was one of Kelsey Riley @kelseynrileyTDN the last broodmares owned by the late Phyllis Wyeth [email protected] and is set to sell at Fasig-Tipton November. 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 14 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • OCTOBER 26, 2020 Fasig October Preview cont. from p1 marketplace to continue this week in Lexington. AWe had quite a good day here Saturday,@ O=Callaghan said. AI AI=m sure everybody is saying the same thing,@ Bandoroff said. think we had over 70 cards, which is pretty good for here, AThey are going to look at 1,500 horses and decide which 150 certainly on a Saturday. And we are tipping our way along quite they really want. I expect the polarization will be as severe as it=s nicely today. You always look to see some more faces that we been any time this year. That would be my guess. There was a haven=t seen yet, but they always seem to arrive here late, period at Keeneland [September Yearling Sale] where it did pick whether it=s today or tomorrow morning. You very much have to back up and the middle market surfaced. But there was a period play it out until the last minute. A lot of the action happens at where there was none. It was either you got them sold at a price this sale at the last minute. There are a lot of horses to get you were happy with or there was the bottom. There was around, so we don=t fully know where we stand yet.@ nothing in between.@ Of the make-up of the shoppers he has seen, O=Callaghan said, Derek MacKenzie of Vinery Sales did find reasons to be AThere has been a mix of end-users and pinhookers. You=d optimistic about a potentially more competitive middle market always like to see more end-users, but there are a lot of at the October sale. pinhookers here. There are even some of the Irish pinhookers AI have been actually pleasantly surprised with the market this here, that will always be good for the sale.@ year,@ MacKenzie said. AIt=s better than I thought it would be. He continued, ABut like most years here, the top 10% of this The depth of the domestic market was better than I thought it catalogue will sell very well and after that it will be touch and go would ever be. Keeneland Books 5 and 6 were better than as to what happens to the rest. It definitely trends that way they=ve been in the last three or four years probably and every year. If you=re lucky enough to get one or two at the top Timonium was better than it had been, too.@ end of what=s here, you=ve a good chance of doing well. And if Buyers continue to be selective in their bidding, but sellers can you don=t, you might struggle a little bit.@ be rewarded above expectations for yearlings who meet all the Watching the action from Denali Stud=s Barn 1 Sunday, Craig criteria. Bandoroff said he expects the prevailing polarization in the Cont. p4 LORD NELSON First Yearlings: $460,000 $325,000 $220,000 etc. Look for more at F-T October TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 14 • THETDN.COM MONDAY • OCTOBER 26, 2020 AThey have to do three things--and you=ve heard this a million times--they have to be by the right sire, they have to look great and they have to vet absolutely spotless,@ MacKenzie said. AIf you do hit those three things, you do great. And if you don=t have those three things, you=re in big trouble. You=re scratching and going racing or going to the 2-year-old sales or you=re just letting them go for what they bring.@ In all, 1,008 yearlings sold at the 2019 October sale for a total of $38,258,900. The average was $37,955 and the median was $13,000. A colt by Candy Ride (Arg) topped the auction when selling for $560,000. He was one of 13 yearlings to sell for $300,000 or over. Last year=s renewal of the October sale has already produced Grade I-winning juveniles Gretzky the Great (Nyquist), who captured the GI Summer S., and Simply Ravishing (Laoban), victress of the GI Darley Alcibiades S. The Week in Review cont. from p1 Whitmore in the Vanderbilt post parade this summer | Sarah Andrew "He's just a cool dude. He's very consistent, and I'm expecting good things out of him," Moquett said in a post-workout video interview posted by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. "We've always got a lot of pressure when Whitmore runs because a lot of people love him and follow him, and we're kind of into that. So we want to put on a good show, and we want it more for Whitmore than we do for anything." Whitmore carries the colors of a partnership between Robert LaPenta, Head of Plains Partners, LLC, and Moquett.