Woods Signs for $1.2M War Front Filly for Seahorse
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
The War Front filly consigned as Hip 223 leaves the sales pavilion at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale
A bay filly by War Front out of the Suncoast Stakes winner Vaulcluse sold early Sept. 14 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale to prominent 2-year-old pinhooker Eddie Woods, who signed the $1.2 million ticket on behalf of Seahorse Stables.
Gainesway bred the filly and consigned her to the sale as Hip 223. The Kentucky operation purchased the filly's A.P. Indy dam from The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's marquee breeding stock sale, in 2016 for $600,000 out of the Allied Bloodstock consignment.
Vaulcluse has produced the grade 1 winner Lukes Alley (by Flower Alley), the 2014 champion older horse in Canada and winner of the 2016 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1T) and the 2014 Autumn Stakes (G2) and Durham Cup Stakes (G3). Her filly by Curlin , Arrifana , took the 2020 Nellie Morse Stakes and came in second in the Comely Stakes (G3) in 2019 and most recently was sold at the 2020 edition of The November Sale for $300,000 to Solis/Litt.
"When I saw her for the first time, looking for myself as a pinhooker, I thought, 'She doesn't count,'" Woods said. "She's all class, everything she is supposed to be, and maybe a little better. She has a little more leg and scope than most of your War Fronts. She vetted perfectly; she may go back to Ireland. The client couldn't travel. I'm just doing a job that normally they would do on their own."
War Front was bred and raced by Joseph Allen, who was on hand with Woods.
"Joe Allen is thinking of coming in on this one; he is more of a cheerleader for War Front," Woods remarked. "You could sell them at midnight on the street corner when they look like that, and they would bring that kind of money. It's just how it is with these sales."
Eddie Woods at the Keeneland September Sale
Gainesway general manager Brian Graves called the filly a standout.
"We probably didn't have her appraised quite that high, but when a horse gets to the sale, there's a fine line, and when you make it to the line you can be pleasantly surprised," he said. "We're tickled with (the price she brought). …She's just an absolutely lovely filly—she was the best filly we had on the farm. We wish them a lot of luck."
With more on Woods' shortlist, he is hoping to emerge victorious on additional youngsters this week.
"We've got a ways to go, on more purchases," he said. "We have done good buying early in this sale. I think you get a bit of quality and pedigree."