APTITUDE LEADS THE WAY

Having never sold a horse for more than $80,000, Elise Kendall thought she might have something special in the Aptitude colt that has been running around her family’s new farm in Paris, Kentucky for the last year. That feeling grew when a stream of prospective buyers and veterinarians visited her barn in the days leading up to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale of selected yearlings, and it was confirmed when Robert Courtney bought the dark bay or brown colt for $350,000 on behalf of Jaime Carrion on Monday.

The unnamed colt is the first foal out of the stakes winning Gulch mare Dancing Gulch, who is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner and prominent young sire Distorted Humor. Second dam Danzig’s Beauty and third dam Sweetest Chant were both Grade 2 winners. Carrion owned and raced Dancing Gulch through her 20-race career and sold her after she failed to produce a foal for him. Kendall said she was a tough mare and that it was no easy task to get her in foal. “It was a lot of work, but this colt came out extraordinarily wellbalanced with an amazing temperament,” said Kendall. “I’ve sold mostly in the $50,000 to $70,000 range, so this is a lovely level to jump to. Fasig-Tipton did a fabulous job getting all the right people here.”

Her husband Scott handles vet work on the 86-acre farm the family bought in 2004, and her son Stuart has served as the mare night watchman. Kendall’s mother Phyllis Wood is the farm’s pedigree expert,
and she selected the breeding. “We thought Aptitude was a really nice race horse, and he’s gonna
go a classic distance,” Wood said. “The Gulch mare was a stakes winner and a half-sister to Distorted Humor, and that’s speed, so we just thought we had a real nice cross there.” The family was celebrating back at Barn 13 after the purchase of the colt they dubbed “Able” because they believe he will be able to do anything.

“This was such a family effort and a lot of fun,” Elise Kendall said. “All that’s left for him is to win the Kentucky Derby (G1), which I’m sure he will do for his new owners.”—Pete Denk Thoroughbred Times

Jaime Carrion was once able to part with Dancing Gulch. Yet when the opportunity arrived on Monday
afternoon at the Fasig-Tipton July Yearling Sale to purchase just the sort of good-looking foal the longtime Florida breeder always hoped the mare would produce, Carrion re-emerged. A son of APTITUDE and the first surviving foal from the half-sister to Distorted Humor (Lot 70) drew a winning bid of $350,000 from Carrion’s agent Tom Courtney. The price remained the session’s best until B Wayne Hughes bid $385,000 for a son of El Corredor (Lot 172), consigned by local breeder Rosilyn Polan of Sunday Morning Thoroughbreds, later in the afternoon.

Consigned and co-bred by Elise W Kendall, the forward looking APTITUDE yearling carried himself well once entering the ring. Displaying an attractive head atop a smartly contoured physique, featuring a solid hip and long back, he is built to perhaps emulate his distance loving and multiple Gr.1 winning sire APTITUDE. “He just looks the part of a racehorse,” said Courtney. For Carrion, the purchase brings the Florida fruit grower near full circle in the saga of the yearling’s dam.- EBN

Date: 19 July 05