Sam-Son Farm Tests Commercial Yearling Market

For more than four decades, Sam-Son Farm has been one of the most successful breeding and racing operations in Canada, with 10 equine and two individual members of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Founded by the late Ernest L. Samuel in 1972, the farm has also been represented by three Eclipse Award winners and in 1981 was honored with its own Eclipse as Outstanding Owner. Samuel died in 2000, and the farm was operated by his daughter Tammy Balaz until she passed away in 2008. Both Samuel and his daughter are enshrined in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Sam-Son is now headed by CEO Mark Samuel and farm president Rick Balaz, with Dave Whitford the farm manager.

Now, with an eye toward expanding its business model, Sam-Son will have its first public auction yearling consignment at the Sept. 9-22 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Following one withdrawal, Sam-Son has six well-bred yearlings cataloged, all in the prestigious Book 1 of the marathon auction in Lexington, Ky. In addition to Keeneland September, the farm will follow with two entered through Paramount Sales in the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale.

"It's basically a new business model we're going to try," said Sam-Son racing manager Tom Zwiesler as he awaited potential buyers at Keeneland's Barn 11 on a pleasant fall morning Sept. 6. "We're going to test the waters in the commercial market and hope for the best. Canadian racing is still great, but it is very hard to sustain a 30-horse racing stable without selling some. We're just getting our feet wet with this side of the industry and hope for a good sale."

Zwiesler said Sam-Son's mode of operation has been to breed and race its own stock, with any public auction activity primarily the selling of mares that no longer fit the program.

"The Samuel and Balaz family were strictly racing and would breed, raise, and race and then breed those back," said Zwiesler, who also oversees the Sam-Son training center in Ocala, Fla. "We also have to filter through, selling some mares at the end of their careers. We are among the last families that operate like that."

Having Sam-Son entering the yearling auction fray also provides others within the industry to acquire stock from the farm's best female families. All six of the consignment's yearlings were bred in Ontario and represent leading North American sires such as Curlin , Hard Spun , Uncle Mo , Malibu Moon , and Empire Maker , as well as a filly sired by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah .

Dancethruthedawn, a $1.6 million earner and member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, is the third dam of two of the Sam-Son offerings—Hip 133, the American Pharoah filly, and Hip 337, an Uncle Mo colt. Dancethruthedawn, a Canadian champion for the breeder/owner, is also granddam of Whitney Stakes (G1) winner and $2.9 million earner Moreno.

Misty Mission, the second dam of a Malibu Moon  colt cataloged as Hip 211, is a stakes-winning daughter of Miswaki who was named Outstanding Broodmare in Canada in 2012. Among the seven winners produced from the mare were two-time Canadian champion Irish Mission.

Hip 276, a Hard Spun  filly, is a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner Aldous Snow and from the extended female family of two-time Canadian Horse of the Year Chief Bearhart, who was also voted an Eclipse Award as outstanding male turf horse. Hip 300 is a Curlin filly produced from Catch the Thrill, a daughter of A.P. Indy who was voted Canadian champion 2-year-old filly and is a daughter of Canadian champion Catch the Ring.

Catch the Ring, by Seeking the Gold, is also third dam of Hip 314, an Empire Maker  filly out of multiple stakes winner Checkered Past.

"These are our best and are from Sam-Son families," Zwiesler said. "The Keeneland sales team came to the farm and made their picks, and we followed their lead. Overall, it's a good group."