Alicia Wincze on horse racing

Fasig-Tipton’s boutique November mixed sale has produced its first seven-figure horse of the night as Always Awesome, a daughter of Awesome Again in foal to Medaglia d’Oro, sold for $1 million to owner and breeder Charles Fipke.

Always Awesome is out of the Plugged Nickle mare Anzille, who is a half-sister to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner and champion producer Urban Sea. Urban Sea is the dam of champion and sire Galilieo as well as this year’s Arc winner Sea The Stars.

“Take a look at the second dam,” said Jack Werk, who signed the ticket on behalf of Fipke, when asked why the nine-year-old mare stood out. “I would have rather had her at half a million but whatever it takes.”

Grade I winner Zensational, who finished fifth as the favorite in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Park, has been retired by owner Ahmed Zayat and will enter stud at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms with a fee of $25,000 for the 2010 season. A 10% discount will be applied if the stud fee is paid on or before November 15, 2010.

A son of Unbridled’s Song, Zensational won three consecutive Grade I sprints posting victories against older horses in the Pat O’Brien Stakes, the Bing Crosby Stakes and the Triple Bend Handicap.

“Zensational has all the ingredients to be a top class sire,” trainer Bob Baffert said of the colt. “He will be supported with the best mares from our program. Hal Earnhardt has already booked (multiple Eclipse Award champion) Indian Blessing
and Grade I winner Behaving Badly to him.”

Zensational retires with a record of five wins from eight starts with career earnings of $669,300.

“Having already won three Grade I races, we feel that he will be more valuable at stud,” Zayat said. “We are committing a majority of our best mares to Zensational, including the dam of (Kentucky Derby runner-up) Pioneerof the Nile, and we look forward to his chances as a stallion.”

Champion mare Azeri, the 2002 Horse of the Year, has finally found a new home, selling for $2.25 million to Shunsuke Yoshida of Japan’s Northern Farm to lead the opening session of the Keeneland November Breeding stock sale to date.

Consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales, Azeri’s journey in the sales ring has been almost as notable as her racing career. At the 2009 Keeneland January sale, the 11-year-old daughter of Jade Hunter failed to meet her reserve after bringing a final bid of $4.4 million. This time around, the multiple Eclipse Award, who is in foal to Distorted Humor, opened with a bid of $300,000 and inched up by $100,000 and $50,000 increments before finally reaching the $2 million mark.

“We didn’t expect we’d be able to buy this mare,” said Yoshida, who signed the ticket on behalf of his father Katsumi Yoshida. “We just kept on bidding. She will go to Japan. She is a beautiful mare of course and had a really good race result. We got in around $1.7 million, but we never thought we’d be able to get her. We’re not sure (if we’ll sell the foal).”

Azeri’s first foal, an A.P. Indy colt previously named Vallenzeri and now named Take Control, sold for $1.9 million at this year’s Keeneland April 2-year-olds in training sale after establishing a world-record mark for a buyback when he RNA’d for $7.7 million at the 2008 Keeneland September sale.

Her second foal, a filly by Giant’s Causeway, brought $800,000 at this year’s Keeneland September yearling sale.

“You have mixed emotions when you spend years with an important and special mare. She’s becomes part of the farm,” said John Sikura of Hill ‘n’ Dale, who sold Azeri on behalf of the Allen E. Paulson Living Trust. “You feel a sense of loss but the other side is there was a trust that was liquidating its assets and she happened to be the most valuable of the remaining assets. She was here to sell, she did sell. You always hope the mare is better received. I think her accomplishments are so unique. The sales price is probably more a reflection of the marketplace than anything else.”

Having the whole package isn’t always enough in the current market. Swift Temper, who won the Grade I Ruffian Handicap off just 13 days rest in September, failed to meet her reserve in the opening session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale after bringing a final bid of $2.05 million.

The five-year-old daughter of Giant’s Causeway out of the winning Seeking the Gold mare Glasgow’s Gold was consigned by Taylor Made Sales on behalf of owner Mark Stanley. The soft market combined with Stanley’s sentimentality combined to make her a high-priced RNA.

“I just couldn’t let her go when it came time to do it,” Stanley said. “We’re going to take her home, pet her and feed her mints. We’ll have time to decide (what is next). It just didn’t turn out to be the day to sell her I guess.

“I’m sure the bank would have liked to have seen her sold, it would have been good to reduce some debt. But our daughter went away to college and we can’t let both our girls go in the same year.”

The highest-priced horse to sell so far midway through the session is stakes winner Tears I Cry, a five-year-old daughter of Chester House who is foal to two-time Horse of the Year Curlin. Tears I Cry, who is from the immediate female family of Street Cry, was purchased by Australian-based Vin Cox Bloodstock for $735,000 on behalf of an undisclosed client.

Anyone who saw Zenyatta’s remarkable triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Classic can not deny it was a performance for the ages and one many people now feel deems her worthy of Horse of the Year honors. Before anyone hands her the trophy, however, lets recap what another top female performer had already pulled off this season.

What Rachel Alexandra accomplished in 2009 goes beyond the borders of extraordinary. She ran and won eight times this year over seven different tracks. She beat males three, count ‘em, three times including the remarkable feat of taking down older males in the Woodward. By the time Zenyatta even began her five-race campaign in late May Rachel Alexandra had already scored four graded stakes wins including her 20 1/4 length romp in the Kentucky Oaks and her one-length triumph in the Preakness two weeks later which, by the way, came after she went through the stress of switching barns and being in a completely new environment only days before what was then the biggest race of her life.

Some have tried to argue that for all of Rachel Alexandra’s triumphs this year, she really didn’t beat much. Well, prior to her Breeders’ Cup triumph, Zenyatta had defeated a grand total of two Grade I winners this year (Life Is Sweet and Cocoa Beach).

Rachel Alexandra, by comparison, had defeated the Kentucky Derby winner in Mine That Bird, was six lengths in front of the Belmont, Travers, and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Summer Bird, beat the Stephen Foster winner (Macho Again), the Whitney winner (Bullsbay), a UAE Triple Crown winner (Asiatic Boy) as well as the Santa Anita Derby winner (Pioneerof the Nile) and a horse who has gone on to become a multiple Grade I winner on the turf (Take the Points). And that’s just the boys. Gabby’s Golden Gal, the filly Rachel Alexandra crushed when she went by her like a rocket in the Kentucky Oaks, came back to win the Grade I Acorn on the Belmont Stakes undercard.

As solid as the Breeders’ Cup Classic field was, it wasn’t terribly more challenging than anything Rachel Alexandra had already faced. Summer Bird and Mine That Bird were back. There was Einstein, who had gotten beat by Macho Again in the Stephen Foster; Awesome Gem, a solid handicap horse but by no means a monster; Colonel John, making just his fourth start this year and who hadn’t won a graded stakes race since the 2008 Travers; Richard’s Kid, again solid, but no world-beater, and Grade II winners Regal Ransom and Girolamo. The only major upgrades were four-time Grade I winner Gio Ponti, who starred on the turf this year, and European invaders Twice Over and Rip Van Winkle. And Quality Road literally melted down before he could even get in the gate.

Also, Rachel Alexandra rattled off all her feats as a 3-year-old filly whereas Zenyatta is an older, stronger 5-year-old mare.

Some will hold the fact Rachel Alexandra did not run in the Breeders’ Cup against her, but you can not blame her for the decisions the humans around her make. And considering she had already had a far more rigorous campaign than any of her rivals, you also can’t fault an owner for wanting to give his prized filly a well-deserved break.

This year has presented the racing world with two amazing, once-in-a-lifetime horses in Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta and hopefully, when the ballots come out, we voters will be able to split our votes so that both may be rewarded the Horse of the Year honor they each deserve.

But if push comes to shove and I have to choose, I’m going with the filly who ran more, won more, and beat more. Because as sad as it would be to see Zenyatta not gain a Horse of the Year prize, it would be an absolute travesty if the historic feats Rachel Alexandra accomplished this year were rewarded with anything less than the highest honor.

There are no questions left. Just a legacy. The undefeated champion mare Zenyatta unleashed her famous closing kick on the extreme outside in the lane to collar four-time Grade I winner Gio Ponti by one length and become the first female runner to win the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic before a crowd of 58,845.

For all her accomplishments, the one point of criticism for the perfect mare was the fact she had never faced male runners. In her first try against the boys, she turned the argument into a moot point, soaring up five wide through the pack to cover the 1 1/4-mile distance in 2:00.62.

“There are tears coming to my eyes,. I can’t believe it,” said trainer John Shirreffs, who also saddled Life Is Sweet to victory in Friday’s Ladies’ Classic. “She is a great, great filly. She is all heart. The way the crowd took to her was just amazing. They cheered for her, they clapped for her, the love her. What a wonderful relationship.”

Gio Ponti got up for second over European invader Twice Over with Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird fourth.

Edward Evan’s Quality Road has been scratched at the gate from the $5 million Classic after refusing to load and bucking several times he was forced inside the gate blindfolded.

The son of Elusive Quality was extremely fractious was loading reportedly did injure himself when he flailed about inside the stall.

Shortly after top filly Goldikova defended her title in the Mile, fellow European invader Conduit followed suit, winning the $3 million Breeders’ Cup Turf for a second straight year by a half length.

As expected, the front-running Presious Passion bounded out to a monstrous advantage out of the gate opening up by double-digit lengths at one point in the 1 1/2-miles test.

The quirky gelding was still game when the field came to him around the final turn stubbornly holding a short advantage at the top of the lane. Conduit’s closing kick proved too much though as he collared the speedster in deep stretch to become the first horse since High Chapparal (2002-03) to repeat as the Turf champion. Ironically enough, High Chaparral also earned his second Breeders’ Cup win at Santa Anita.

Presious Passion held off the filly Dar Re Mi for second. Final time for the race was 2:23.75.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey finally have a Breeders’ Cup winner. The Nicholasville-based couple’s four-year-old gelding Furthest Land collared champion Midshipman in deep stretch to claim the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile by a three-quarters of a length over Ready’s Echo.

Sent off at odds of 21-1, Furthest Land was coming into the Mile off a narrow win in the Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park on September 26. The gelded son of Smart Strike tracked Midshipman a close up third and fourth while saving ground along the rail down the backside through fractions of :23.97 and :47.47.

At the top of the lane, jockey Julien Leparoux swung him out and with nothing but daylight ahead of him, Furthest Land found another gear and drove past Midshipman in the three-wide path, holding off an equally-game Ready’s Echo on his outside to hit the wire in 1:35.50.

Midshipman, winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, held for second with favored Mastercraftsman fourth.

There in no question who rules the turf. The amazing French-based filly Goldikova emulated her predecessor Miesque on Saturday, putting in a brilliant rally from next to last in the 11-horse field to earn her second consecutive victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Mile.

Goldikova is trained by former jockey Freddie Head, who 11 years ago guided the legendary Miesque to her second straight Mile win. Though the four-year-old daughter of Anabaa had strung together three straight Group I triumphs this summer, including victories against males, she had finished third in her last Breeders’ Cup prep, the seven-furlong Group I Prix de la Foret at Longchamp on October 3.

Any question about Goldikova’s form was suitably dismissed in her one-mile tour of Santa Anita. Displaying the mettle worthy of a champion, Goldikova began charging through the field coming off the turn for home and was four and five wide as she set down for the stretch run under jockey Olivier Peslier.

Courageous Cat made a game run himself on the outside, but couldn’t withstand the onslaught of the defending race winner as Goldikova bested him by half a length at the wire.

“She was a little far back but the pace was strong,” said Head, who became the first man to win back-to-back Breeders’ Cup races as a jockey with Miesque in 1987-88 and as a trainer. “I was confident she would win when she came with her run in the stretch. She’s very special. It’s been a long season and now to make this long trip in November. We haven’t discussed her future - maybe we’ll come back and try for three.”

Justenuffhumor came up for third with Court Vision in fourth. Final time over the firm turf was 1:32.26.