Sam-Son Farm Dispersing Racing and Breeding Stock

Sam-Son Farm, one of the most celebrated and successful Thoroughbred operations in North America, announced Oct. 28 that it will be dispersing its breeding and racing stock during the next 12-18 months. Sam-Son is partnering with Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland to present this rare opportunity for buyers to acquire world-class racing talent and breeding stock from one of the true breed-to-race operations in the business.

Ernie Samuel founded Sam-Son Farm in 1972 and built it into a world-renowned racing and breeding operation. After his death in 2000, his daughter Tammy Samuel-Balaz took over the reins and led the farm to numerous victories and awards until her own passing in 2008. The farm is now run by farm manager Dave Whitford and racing manager Tom Zwiesler, under the leadership of owners Rick Balaz, (president), Mark Samuel (CEO), and Kim Samuel, who have sustained and built upon the farm’s sterling reputation and legacy of success. After serious consideration and discussion, the owners have unanimously decided to initiate an orderly dispersal and to step back from active participation in the racing and breeding world.

Sam-Son Farm has bred and raced 44 graded stakes winners in the famed red and gold silks, including 37 classic winners and 14 grade 1 winners. The legendary operation has garnered 84 Sovereign Awards, including 2019 Owner and Breeder of the Year, and four Eclipse Awards.

The Samuel/Balaz families said: "We are enormously proud of the quality and longevity of Sam-Son Farm and have enjoyed nurturing and celebrating every stage of the equine cycle from breeding, to raising, to racing, to retirement, and often returning to the breeding shed. Our horses have given generations of our family such fulfillment and excitement over the years, and we felt that the time had come, after five decades, to now share that legacy with the world. It was a bittersweet decision but one that we are committed to pursuing with integrity, transparency, and respect. Our horses and our amazing, dedicated employees deserve no less."

Sam-Son's champions include Dance Smartly, the first Canadian-owned and -bred horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race. In her undefeated 3-year-old season of 1991, she became the second filly in history to win the Canadian Triple Crown.

Other champions include Breeders' Cup winner Chief Bearhart, Eclipse Award winner Sky Classic, Dancethruthedawn, Quiet Resolve, Rainbow’s for Life, Ruling Angel, Silken Cat, Soaring Free, and Wilderness Song. Sam-Son also bred and raced grade 1 winner and influential sire Smart Strike, a half brother to Dance Smartly. The son of champion sire Mr. Prospector had a magnificent career at stud. A true sire of sires, Smart Strike topped the American general sires list in 2007 and 2008 and was inducted into the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame in 2008.

Sam-Son’s dispersal program will debut at The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's breeding stock sale, with two stunning racing/broodmare prospects and two outstanding in-foal mares. This consignment will consist of 2019 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Desert Ride, recent grade 2 winner Rideforthecause, stakes winner and track record holder Desert Isle in foal to American Pharoah , and Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) winner Shared Account in foal to Speightstown .

Rideforthecause, a lightly raced daughter of Candy Ride  out of the Giant's Causeway mare Danceforthecause, notched her first stakes win Sept. 12 in the Canadian Stakes Presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2T) at Woodbine. She represents one of the oldest and most successful families in the Sam-Son program, dating to foundation broodmare No Class.

Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser winner Desert Ride dates to Oleana through five generations, giving her the unique distinction of being a descendant of the oldest family in the program. She is a daughter of the Distorted Humor  mare Fun in the Desert, who is a half sister to champion Eye of the Leopard . Desert Isle is by leading broodmare sire Bernardini  and is also a member of this family. She is a half sister to Eye of the Leopard, making her a daughter of the champion filly and broodmare Eye of the Sphynx.

Sam-Son will also offer Shared Account, the first Breeders’ Cup winner and dam of a Breeders’ Cup winner to ever be offered at public auction. The accomplished daughter of Pleasantly Perfect is carrying a full sibling to Sharing, the winner of the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T). Incidentally, both Pleasantly Perfect and Speightstown were also Breeders' Cup winners, making this offering a genetic masterpiece that is surely primed and ready to yield future generations of top-class racehorses.

"Sam-Son Farm has been an iconic name in Thoroughbred racing and breeding for nearly half a century. This program has produced numerous grade 1 winners, champions, and Hall of Fame racehorses. Sam-Son horses have had a profound influence in top pedigrees around the world and will continue to do so for many generations. Although saddened to see them dispersing their Thoroughbred holdings, we are honored to assist them in this process," stated Boyd Browning Jr., president and CEO of Fasig-Tipton.

Sam-Son Farm will present its remaining in-foal mares at the 2021 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. This consignment stands at 21 and will feature a unique audio-video presentation of each individual mare on the morning of Jan. 9. This quality group includes grade 1 producers Danceforthecause and Song of the Lark, as well as young stakes-winning mares Checkered Past, Dance Again, Deceptive Vision, Mythical Mission, Smartyfly, and Southern Ring. Covering sires include American Pharoah, Into Mischief , Kitten's Joy , Speightstown, and Street Sense .

"Keeneland and Sam-Son Farm have enjoyed a long, successful relationship," Keeneland president-elect and interim head of sales Shannon Arvin said. "Over the years, a number of Sam-Son horses have raced here, and the farm received the prestigious Keeneland Tray during the 2005 Spring Meet to recognize its graded stakes success—a milestone that only 20 owners have reached in track history. We are privileged that Sam-Son has entrusted Keeneland to offer this distinguished group of mares at the January Sale.”

This announcement represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to invest into some of the most successful and lasting bloodlines in North-America that, until now, had been very difficult to access.