Heider Family Stables Buys Curlin Filly for $1.05M

Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa's marquee stallion Curlin   continued to show his influence as one of the top sires at Fasig-Tipton's Saratoga Sale when his daughter, consigned as Hip 87, dropped the hammer at $1,050,000 on the sale's opening day Aug. 7. 

Out of the Denali Stud consignment, the chestnut's ticket was signed by agent David Lanigan on behalf of Cindy Heider with Heider Family Stables. 

"We thought she was the nicest filly in the sale," said Lanigan.  "And she's going to be training for Steve Asmussen. Picked out three for Scott (Heider) to have a look at and Steve had a look at those three and he thought this filly was the nicest. … She showed herself really well the whole way through the week. A big, big wide chest and a very big back end on her."

The filly is out of the Justin Phillip  mare Lady T N T , who captured the 2019 Charles Town Oaks (G3). This is the mare's first foal. The mare is a half sister to 2008 Endine Handicap (G3) victress Sweet Hope  (Lemon Drop Kid ), who also finished second in that year's Test Stakes (G1).

Hip 87's second dam is multiple stakes winner High Heeled Hope , who finished second in the 1997 Las Virgenes Stakes (G1) and was third in both the 1996 Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1) and 1997 Santa Ynez Stakes (G3).

Scott Dilworth, who bred the Curlin filly, noted multiple similarities with her dam. Combined with the proven ability of her sire, a two-time Horse of the Year, he's confident the yearling will shine when she gets to the track.

"She's class, class, class," he said of the filly. "Her mama is a beautiful mare with a super amount of speed and hopefully this filly will carry that speed out."

Dilworth, who bought Lady T N T as a 2-year-old and raced her, said this is the biggest selling price from his broodmare band. 

"Oh, yeah," he said. 

With Curlin as her sire, it's easy to understand why. The stallion led the 2022 Saratoga Sale sire standings with an average of $1,071,875 from eight sold. He stood the 2023 season at Hill 'n' Dale for $225,000 and has been a mainstay toward the top of general leading sires list. He is the second-leading North American sire so far this year and has been in the top five in the four previous years. Among his top offspring are Vino Rosso  , Malathaat , Stellar Wind , Clairiere , Good Magic  , Cody's Wish , Elite Power , and Nest .

"Nothing is better than a Curlin filly," Dilworth said.