Lone Galileo Filly at Keeneland out of I'm a Chatterbox

Homebred I'm a Chatterbox  took owners Fletcher and Carolyn Gray on the ride of a lifetime from 2014-17, capturing three grade 1 races and ending up an Eclipse Award finalist during her 3-year-old campaign. And while the Munnings   mare has long been retired from the racetrack, her second foal is set to take her connections on a different kind of journey at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Consigned as Hip 2 by Blandford Stud, the filly stands out as the lone youngster in the entire sale by the late, great Galileo —who died this July at the age of 23. She was bred in Ireland but foaled in the United States and grew up at Ashford Stud.

"She's a class act," said Carolyn Gray. "She looks right at you, moves right on, does what she's supposed to do. They've never had any issues with her. I think she's going to be an incredible race filly, I really do."

Not only did I'm a Chatterbox earn $2,354,454 to become the top performer ever produced by the Grays' breeding program, but at the conclusion of her career, she earned a trip overseas to visit the Coolmore super sire for not one, but two seasons.

"We hadn't sent other mares to Ireland before, but she was the obviously accomplished mare that deserved to go to him, and the only one that we've bred that we've kept that we felt deserved to go to him," Carolyn Gray said. "Of course, we were just always enamored with him. He was the greatest sire. 

"The opportunity was available to us to send her; we spoke with Ashford and it was kind of a dream to do that. We all felt it would be a good match, so that's what happened."

The resulting product was first a colt named Figlio Del Re, which the Grays retained to race. Then came the filly, a precious commodity given her pedigree and sire's unfortunate demise.

"She's stunning," Gray said of Hip 2. "Back in May during inspections, somebody told us she was a 9 1/2 out of 10, and that was before she was prepped.  You really cannot fault her at all. And obviously she's got the ovaries, so that makes her more valuable, especially, unfortunately, because of Galileo's death."

"They're not making any more of them either," added Padraig Campion, owner of Blandford Stud. "I'm honored to have this filly in my consignment. She's a very attractive filly, strong, balanced, and a very nice mover."

I'm a Chatterbox aborted this year on an Into Mischief   cover. She was bred to Uncle Mo   for 2022 and is currently residing at Spendthrift Farm, where Gray said her pasture mate is none other than champion Beholder . I'm a Chatterbox's dam, the stakes-placed Lost Solider mare Chit Chatter , has a yearling Honor Code   filly that the Grays have retained, and is carrying a foal by Union Rags  . 

"This will probably be Chit Chatter's last foal," Gray said. "She's 22 and she's doing fine, but we think it's time to let her just enjoy retirement. She's an incredible mother, that's why we decided to breed her back. Fingers crossed for a filly out of her, because we love Union Rags. She's in Kentucky, but we'll bring her home to Missouri after she retires."

Figlio Del Re is in training with Graham Motion at Fair Hill Training Center and his first start is planned for Sept. 18 at Belmont Park. The Grays have hands-on knowledge of the colt, who passed through their Grayson Farm in Missouri on his way to early lessons in Texas, and on the way back north to Motion's barn.

"He's a lovely colt, very level-headed, very easy to have around," Gray said. "We had him at our farm for a while before he went to Texas for breaking, and then he came back to Missouri again for about eight weeks. We just laid him off before he started in with Graham because frankly, we thought he might start in and not get a break. We had a paddock that's perfect for him. It was fun to have him around, and then Graham got him at the end of June.

"We took our time with him," she added. "He's doing very well. Graham is very happy with him. He's done everything that's been asked of him and hasn't had any glitches or setbacks. Just an even-tempered, even-training kind of guy."

His most recent breeze was five furlongs in 1:03 4/5 Sept. 9 on Fair Hill's synthetic surface, which followed a :50 4/5 half-mile move on the same surface earlier in the month.

Gray said she and her husband will both be on hand Monday to watch their filly go through the ring in person.

"No pressure at all," she laughed. " It's going to be a big, big day. It feels like sending one of your kids off to school, but they're never coming home. It's really, really tough because like I said, it was a dream to get to go to Galileo, but we can't keep everybody. This is how we make our living."