Team Effort at Sales Parlays to Derby Weekend

Sourcing future contenders for the biggest weekend at Churchill Downs—the May 6 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) the following day—is no small feat. Each year bloodstock agents and their teams comb through dozens of catalogs, looking at hundreds of horses in hopes of securing a first Saturday in May runner.

Thoroughbred sales in North America are a key source for such prospects and this year proves no exception, with 10 of the 15 contestants for the Kentucky Oaks hand-picked from public auction. The following day in the Run for the Roses, a 20-horse lineup features 17 that initially stepped through the sales ring.

Shahama , by Munnings  , comes into Friday's race as the highest-priced filly purchase after realizing $425,000 from Dubai-based trainer Fawzi Nass for KHK Racing from the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. Eddie Woods consigned the precocious May foal bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock. Shahama laid down a quarter-mile in :21 flat during the first day of the under tack show before selling as the highest-priced Munnings offering at the sale.

"She was a beautiful filly, had a lovely rich brown color to her, and a little bit of a wide glassy eye on her," Woods recalled. "She was a sweetheart, worked really good. Quite correct and had a good way about her; she moved easily across the ground. She was easy to market, being quick with a long stride, always a handy type."

Shahama will break from post 13 with Flavien Prat in the tack for Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and is making her North American debut for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Favored on the morning line is Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) winner Nest , a Kentucky-bred filly consigned by her breeders Ashview Farm and Colts Neck Stables to the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She sold for $350,000, the highest-priced daughter of Curlin   of the sale's fourth session.

Nest starts Friday from post 4 for the partnership of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Repole Stable, and Michael House. Irad Ortiz Jr. gets the return call after guiding her to the Ashland Stakes win at Keeneland in April.

"We couldn't be more excited; each day she seems to get better and better from a physical and mental standpoint, which comes along with her pedigree, being by Curlin and out of an A.P. Indy mare," said agent Jacob West. "The distance shouldn't be an issue for her. With Irad riding her, he's an incredible jockey, and there is no one better in the world for getting these horses ready than Todd. We are hoping she is the second mare by Curlin out of an A.P. Indy mare behind Malathaat  to win the Oaks, going back-to-back.

"Aron (Wellman) saw her, fell in love with her, and wanted to partner with Mike (Repole)," West recalled. "She was a hair past what we wanted to spend, but we stretched. At the time, her full brother Idol  had just broken his maiden and wasn't even on the page; he went on the next year and won the Santa Anita Handicap (G1) and became a top older horse in his division."

West recalls seeing the filly for the first time in Barn 39 with consignor Bryan Lyster. She received a star on her page and initiated a call to Pletcher, gaining his approval.

"The stars have aligned on this filly. Credit goes to the team and clients who have supported her and were willing to take a chance on my decisions," West said.

West hits the sales grounds every season searching through the weeds, curetting a shortlist to present to his clients, the second step on the path of purchasing.

After getting Pletcher's trainer's approval, West presented the filly to Mike Repole's team.

"In Mike's camp, he has Eddie Rosen, the pedigree expert, and Jim Martin, the racing manager—after she checked the boxes for everyone, it was a go," said West.

Derby Dreams Start in Auction Ring

The first Saturday in May, a long-esteemed yet elusive pinnacle for every Thoroughbred owner, will feature two horses who commanded attention in the sales ring. Both will be saddled by Tim Yakteen in the absence of regular conditioner Bob Baffert, who is currently serving both a regulatory suspension and a suspension from properties owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated.

The seven-figure price tag Taiba  fetched at The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Select Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, was no surprise to agent Gary Young, who purchased the son of Gun Runner   for $1.7 million for Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing Stables. Taiba is the highest-priced offering by Gun Runner to sell at public auction worldwide.

"His work (an eighth in :10 1/5) at the sale was borderline jaw-dropping," Young recalled May 5. "The Gulfstream Sale is a boutique sale with quality over quantity. If a horse clicks all the boxes at that sale, they will be pricey. This horse vetted, and in his workout—when you do the slow-mo—he was faultless. After we bought him, Steve Asmussen (who also bid on the colt and trained Gun Runner to a dual championship) said he looked more like Gun Runner than any horse he had seen of the whole crop."

Bred in Kentucky by Bruce C. Ryan, the colt initially sold at The October Sale, Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky fall yearling sale, for $140,000 from Buckland Sales to pinhooker Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds, which offered him the following year in Miami.

"He just had an air about him, and he doesn't get flustered by anything, which has come through in everything we have done with the horse," Young said. "He has a great mind on him and an inordinate amount of ability. He doesn't always show that ability in his morning works, which is sometimes a bit aggravating, but we have realized that's him. In the past, there have been horses that are just OK in the morning, but in the afternoon, they go into beast mode, and so far, that's how Taiba appears to be."

Young continued: "We hope that 'beast mode' shows up Saturday. He may not show anything in the morning, but we have figured that out. He turned it on in the final quarter of his maiden race and in the second half-mile of the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1). In the long run, it might be beneficial that he doesn't go out in the morning looking to break the land speed record every time he's put on the rail."

Zedan will be looking for a return to the winner's circle after their initially accredited winner, the late Medina Spirit, led them to the enclosure last year. Medina Spirit was disqualified from the 2021 Kentucky Derby victory for a betamethazone positive, which resulted in the multiple suspensions for Baffert.

"When I went to work for Amr, he made it very clear he was more Kentucky Derby-oriented than even the most ardent Derby owners. He said that's what he's in the game for. The first year we won the Derby with Medina Spirit. How people feel about that now is left to interpretation, but winning the Derby our first year, we are looking to go back-to-back," commented Young. "We don't buy a lot of horses but concentrate on quality."

There are a million ways to lose the Derby and only one way to win it, and Young will go into Saturday with a prudent expectation.

"We realize the inexperience factor is what people will point to with Taiba. We have learned over the last 10-15 years that there's a real difference in California speed and East Coast speed, and we are bringing the heat," he said.

A similar characteristic these colts share that caused bidding to climb from competitive parties is the sense of confidence, an air about them, a mind like a steel trap.

Yakteen's second horse for Saturday, Messier , has turned heads this year, running a close second in the April Santa Anita Derby behind stablemate Taiba, and winning on his first asking this year in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3).

Lexington bloodstock agent Donato Lanni signed the sales slip for the son of the late Empire Maker  at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase for $470,000. The Canadian-bred colt from Sam-Son Farm exuded a lot of presence as a yearling and is part of who he is today.

"As a yearling, I thought he was an amazing animal with an ace mind, and he was going to take us places," Lanni commented. "I'm surprised the Empire Makers weren't received that well, but he is a specimen, a beautiful anima … his head and eye. The look, class, and air about him… it's something you see in horses, and very few of them have it."

The colt will break from post 6 for his connections: SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital, Catherine M. Donovan, Golconda Stable, and Siena Farm.

Lanni and his team in Baffert, Tom Ryan, and Gavin Murphy shop all major sales, picking up colts who fit the requirements. Lanni was on hand May 4 to watch Messier work through his paces.

"If you go look at Messier today, he has a lot of presence and an air about him. He's confident, and that's the first thing you see about a horse when they come out or when you approach them," commented Lanni. "To stand and walk for you, he had that demeanor (at the sale), and he still has it today. I watched him gallop May 4 and then stand for his bath, and it's the same thing; he knows he belongs, and that is what really drew me into him.

"He's aggressive on the track, but not too aggressive. He grabs the bit and goes out and sprints. I don't know what will happen this weekend, but I know he will run big, Tim has him looking outstanding, and he's done a hell of a job with him."

Named after Canadian National Hockey League player Mark Messier, the 3-year-old colt is living up to his name.

"Tom Ryan, who manages the horse, has a family history in the NHL, and Mark Messier is a tough dude with a big stature but is calm and cool, so the name fits him, and it's well suited for the horse. This year Messier drew post position 6, and I think Mark Messier won six Stanley Cups, so maybe there is something to it," Lanni said.