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