More Than Ready Colt Shines at Midlantic Breeze Show

A More Than Ready   colt consigned by Kirkwood Stables, agent, breezed the fastest quarter-mile May 11 to highlight the first of three days of the under tack show for the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. 

Breezing over the dirt track at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Md., the dark bay or brown colt (Hip 166) worked in :21 2/5. He failed to meet his reserve in March as part of Kirkwood owner Kip Elser's "Gulfstream Gallop" program at The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's 2-year-olds in training sale in Florida, but Elser was pleased to see the colt flash his speed for buyers on Tuesday.

Elser began taking a group of 2-year-old gallopers to The Gulfstream Sale in 2018. The sale was not held in 2020 due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We were just starting to get some momentum and get people to really pay attention to it (the Gulfstream Gallop) and have some faith in it when we had to take a year off. I was disappointed but not surprised. It's an education process," Elser said Tuesday. "This will probably help. We're showing horses that can go fast, we're just choosing not to at that stage.

"There's no question. He's a fast horse."

Hip 166 was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Stables out of the grade 3-winning Forestry mare Separate Forest . He is a half brother to Hendy Woods , who last year won the Indiana Grand Stakes and was second in the Edgewood Stakes Presented by Forcht Bank (G2T).

Elser bought the colt under the Gulfstream Gallop banner for $75,000 out of the Summerfield consignment to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, with WinStar Farm stallion More Than Ready playing an important role.

"There's 200 plus stakes winners all over the world in his career. What's not to like about him? He's just been a phenomenal sire all the way," Elser said of More Than Ready. "I've loved him for a long time. I bet on him the day he broke his maiden for Todd (Pletcher) at Keeneland. He's a wonderful, wonderful horse."

Elser said Hip 166 also reminded him of another More Than Ready colt he had purchased with trainer Dallas Stewart for the late Tom Benson—the multiple graded stakes winner and millionaire Tom's Ready .

Hip 166 was a $115,000 RNA at The Gulfstream Sale, where he galloped, and Elser noted that buyers at juvenile sales want to buy the fast breezers.

"I didn't necessarily expect him to be the fastest of the day but I knew he'd breeze well," Elser said. "We had him in Miami and he galloped well, but he was in the gallop group down there and did not get enough response. So we took him home, gave him a couple weeks off, and breezed him a couple times.

"I think an awful lot of him, I did earlier in the year, and I believe I'm right."

Two juveniles shared the fastest eighth-mile time Tuesday of :10—Hip 109, an Empire Maker filly consigned by McKathan Brothers Sales, agent, and Hip 164, a Malibu Moon   colt offered by Eddie Woods, agent.

The Empire Maker filly was bred in Kentucky by Gainesway TB's, Brian Graves, Neil Howard, Passerellos, and Sheerwater. She is out of the Deputy Minister mare Pontiana, who also produced multiple stakes-placed and six-figure earner Addibel Lightning . Her second dam is two-time Ballerina Handicap (G1) winner Shine Again .

New Day Training purchased the bay filly for $125,000 from Gainesway's consignment to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale. 

The Malibu Moon colt was bred in Kentucky by Castleton Lyons and Kilboy Estate from the Seeking the Gold mare Seeking Atlantis. He is a half brother to grade 3-placed winner Seeking Her Glory  and multiple stakes-placed winner Castellani . His second dam is the multiple grade 3 winner Atlantic Ocean, who produced grade 3 winner Converge . 

The bay colt was a $135,000 RNA when consigned by Paramount Sales to the 2020 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. 

Elser said he was pleased, as always, with the track throughout the day.

"They do a great job with the surface here. It's a great crew. They know their surface," he said. "One of the things that helped today was they cut back the numbers in each set to 22. Everybody got a fresh racetrack no matter what set you were in. This colt (Hip 166) went relatively late in the day and he had the same racetrack that everybody did all day long."

The under tack show will resume Wednesday at 8 a.m. ET. The auction will take place May 17-18, only a couple days after the May 15 Preakness Stakes (G1) held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.