End of An Era for Patchen Wilkes' White Horses

Beautiful Devil, a 7-year-old mare scheduled to be sold Nov. 16 at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, lacks the pedigree attractive to most buyers.

The only black type on the catalog page for the daughter of Devil His Due being offered by Warrendale Sales, agent, as Hip 4147 are two stakes-placed horses appearing in the third and fifth dams.

But what the mare lacks in residual value, she more than makes up for with her looks. She will be the last white horse sold that was bred by Patchen Wilkes Farm, the Lexington nursery of businessman Warren Rosenthal, who died in October at 96.

In foal to Speightster , who is represented by his first crop of yearlings this year, Beautiful Devil was a winner who has produced white foals, including a Flat Out  filly that was sold for $14,000 at this year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Beautiful Devil is out of the winning Skip Away mare Spot of Beauty, whose best foal from four winners is White Dragon, a Cowboy Cal horse who earned the U.S. equivalent of $136,751 in Japan.

The mare traces to White Beauty, the first Thoroughbred with a white coat to be registered by The Jockey Club, and Beautiful Devil's foals represent the seventh generation of white Thoroughbreds in the line.

Warrendale's Hunter Simms said Beautiful Devil has value for the right buyer.

"She has produced only white foals, and all have been correct," Simms said. "She does not have a page that most buyers like to see, but she is a bit of a novelty.

"She is a horse that someone could add to their broodmare band, especially if they are part of horse country, and have some fun with."