Buyers will be in for a treat on the second day of the Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton’s select sale in New York, Aug. 8, when two exquisitely-bred yearlings stride through the ring. It could be argued that both of these yearlings, two strong-bodied colts from Into Mischief and his Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning son Authentic , are collector’s items in a way in that both of their second dams were some of the greatest race mares of the past two decades.
The first colt, a son of four-time perennial leading sire Into Mischief, is a rare offering from Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Thoroughbreds. Consigned as Hip 135 from Taylor Made Sales, the colt is the first foal out of his dam, the grade 1-winning Bernardini mare Rachel’s Valentina , to be offered as a younger horse at public auction. Adding further novelty to colt’s page is the fact that Rachel’s Valentina was only one of two foals conceived by the great Rachel Alexandra .
Campaigned from the spring of May 2009 through the end of her racing career by Stonestreet, Rachel Alexandra put forth one of the most dazzling sophomore campaigns by a 3-year-old filly the racing world has ever seen. Following a 20 1/4 length demolition in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), she defeated male rivals, including in that year’s Preakness Stakes (G1) and Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) before turning in a performance for the ages when conquering older males in a dramatic running of the Woodward Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.
Retired as a 4-year-old, Rachel Alexandra dealt with a bevy of birthing complications in the breeding shed, which resulted in her limited number of live foals.
Rachel’s Valentina captures the 2015 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Stonestreet owns three of Rachel’s Valentina’s offspring, all of whom are fillies. Her first foal, a 5-year-old son of Curlin named Alejandro, sold to Clark Brewster for $95,000 at this past April’s Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale.
“(Hip 135 is) a colt and we thought we’d take a nice horse up to Saratoga for the sale,” said Stonestreet bloodstock adviser John Moynihan. “He’s a very special horse, at least in our eyes. And hopefully, he’ll be received very well up there and people will think a lot of him like we do.”
Moynihan called Hip 135, an early February foal and medium-sized bay, one of the “top physicals on the farm.”
“He’s a nice blend of both the sire and dam,” Moynihan said. “The mare was a very good 2-year-old and extremely pretty. And this horse looks like he’s going to be a good 2-year-old and is extremely pretty. He’s got the best of Into Mischief and the best of the mare.”
While none of Rachel’s Valentina’s foals have sold as yearlings, Wine Princess , the dam of Hip 221, has produced three six-figure yearlings, including Tapit colt who realized $800,000 in 2018. The daughter of Ghostzapper , a multiple graded stakes winner of $461,561 on the track, has already produced four winners from five foals to run. Her son Smokin’ T (War Front ), twice stakes placed for trainer Shug McGaughey, is the co-second choice in Saturday’s $135,000 Lure Stakes on the Whitney undercard at Saratoga.
Wine Princess takes the 2012 Monmouth Oaks at Monmouth Park
Wine Princess, acquired for $3 million by DATTT Farm at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale, is the best foal from ten winners out of the Hall of Fame race mare Azeri. A three-time champion from ages 4-6, Azeri was crowned Horse of the Year in 2002 following a brilliant 8-for-9 season capped by a five-length romp in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). The winner of 11 grade 1 events, Azeri was elected into the Hall of Fame only six years after her retirement.
Azeri in the winner’s circle after the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Arlington International Racecourse
Hip 221, a flashy bay from the first crop of 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic, is consigned by Denali Stud.
“He’s a colt from the farm that we always really liked and he couldn’t be coming into the sale in better shape,” Denali Stud vice president Conrad Bandoroff said of Hip 221. “He’s one of those horses where as the shipping day approached he continued to get better and better and really started peaking at the right time.”
Bandoroff is most impressed with the colt’s walk, which he says exudes power and confidence.
“He’s just a very athletic, strong colt and we’re excited to show him off (at Saratoga),” Bandoroff said “He moves and just has this swagger and confidence to him. When he’s walking he just gives off this vibe of ‘You better get out of my way I’m going to come through you or over you.'”
The “big Saturday afternoon”-looking Hip 221 also bares the infamous chrome markings of the Into Mischief line through his sire Authentic, as well as through his mother, whose own face is splashed with snippets of white on her forehead and nose.
“He has a very unique and appropriate blaze on his face,” Bandoroff said. “Whether it looks like a wine glass or looks like a Derby rose I’ll let the buyer decide.”
