Taylor Hopes for Warrendale Trifecta in Derby

Kitty Taylor, owner of mid-sized consignor Warrendale Sales, is finding the trifecta may have to be her wager of choice for this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

The three-horse wager could do the trick as Taylor will be rooting for Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) winner Exaggerator, Lecomte Stakes (gr. III) winner Mo Tom, and Southwest Stakes (gr. III) winner Suddenbreakingnews as all three were consigned by Warrendale to the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale.

"It's really fun because everyone keeps asking, 'Which one do you want to win?' And I say, 'I'd like a trifecta,' " Taylor said. "It's hard to go against Mo Tom because he has had two horrific trips the last two times and is due for some luck. Exaggerator—people started to get off of him until they saw what Nyquist did in the Florida Derby (gr. I). So, then people remembered who he'd been locking horns with. And Suddenbreakingnews has that terrific late run."

Launched in 2002, Warrendale has registered its fair share of graded stakes winners in recent years, including 2015 Canadian Horse of the Year Catch a Glimpse, who was purchased for $75,000 by Windways Farm from the Warrendale consignment to the 2014 Keeneland September sale.

After not having a previous Kentucky Derby starter, Taylor is enjoying this year's riches while crediting her breeders, several whom have been with Warrendale for years.

"To have three in one year is insane. Besides that, we sold Catch a Glimpse the same year," Taylor said. "Theoretically, if you came to our barn, you had a good chance of getting a graded stakes winner.

"It's really fun and we're very excited. We feel very fortunate to have the clients we have who are raising these types of horses."

Taylor recalled each of the three Derby hopefuls as yearlings. 

Bred in Kentucky by Joseph Murphy, Exaggerator, by Curlin  , was purchased for $110,000 by trainer Keith Desormeaux for current owner Matt Bryan's Big Chief Racing.

"Exaggerator was a big bay, a really pretty horse out of a Vindication mare; everybody is starting to love Vindication mares," Taylor said. "He came up in the year that Curlin was kind of hanging in the balance to a degree. And horses like Exaggerator have helped Curlin explode."

Mo Tom was bred by Steven and Brandi Nicholson's Silver Fern Farm and Hargus and Sandra Sexton. Out of the Rubiano mare Caroni, who already had produced stakes winner and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) runner-up Beautician and stakes winner Bella Castani, the Uncle Mo   colt was offered in Book 1. He sold for $150,000 to current owner Gayle Benson's GMB Racing.

"He was a big bay, kind of stretchy horse," Taylor said. "Not super beautiful but not unattractive."

Suddenbreakingnews achieved a nice price—$72,000—considering he was sold as a double cryptorchid; neither testicle was descended, which typically means such colts will be gelded, as Suddenbreakingnews was.

Suddenbreakingnews was also bred by a long-time Warrendale client in Robert Berger's Branch Equine—breeder of Catch a Glimpse. The son of Minehshaft was landed by current owner Samuel F. Henderson.

"When we got $72,000 for him, we were high-fiving," Taylor said, noting the double cryptorchid condition can make such yearlings difficult to sell. "He's a very pretty horse out of a mare named Uchitel."

Taylor, who gets a kick out of people in racing noted, said with a laugh: "Uchitel is named for the woman (Rachel Uchitel) Tiger Woods had the affair with and got in trouble with."

As for the people involved at Warrendale, Taylor is thrilled with her current team that includes partner and director of bloodstock services Hunter Simms, who previously worked as yearling foreman at Arthur Hancock's Stone Farm.

"He has been a wonderful addition to Warrendale. It kind of works well for us because I'm going to be 59 this summer and I think Hunter has just turned 30," Taylor said. "It's nice because I know the people of my generation—the 50-and-up group and their history—what they like to buy and who they buy for. Then it's nice to have someone younger who can recognize the younger people coming in and what motivates them when they're purchasing horses."

Taylor said she likes the current size of the Warrendale operation.

"We're not big and we're not small. Anywhere from 100 to 125 horses gives you enough volume that you still know all of the buyers are going to come to your barn," Taylor said. "To me it's critical to get buyers to filter through your barn so that if they come and they only have three horses on their list, theoretically my job is to try to get three more on their list. We like our size the way it is."

Warrendale appreciates loyal breeders who return each season.

"We have a lot of long-term breeders that we sell for," Taylor said. "We just try to emphasize service to our clients. We're very straightforward. I was an Army brat, so I was raised in a very straightforward environment as you can imagine. We just try to present a good product and put it in front of people and tell them how the horse was raised and be very transparent. That seems to work for us."