Consignor Costello Hopes for a Spa Repeat

At last year’s Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale, Pat Costello’s Paramount Sales had an auction that most consignors can only dream about.

All nine horses in the consignment were sold, making Paramount second-leading consignor by gross with more than $4.4 million. Included in the offerings were a Street Cry colt named Rothenburg who topped the second session when purchased by John Ferguson for $1.4 million.

“I thought last year was amazing,” Costello said in his Irish brogue. “It is a rarity that they can all go through the sales ring and get sold in the sales ring. I was very proud of myself.”

Perhaps a result of that achievement, Paramount’s consignment at this year’s Aug. 8-9 sale has nearly doubled from last year, with 16 cataloged.

Costello has his work cut out for him if he wants to have a 100% strike rate this year, but he believes he has the stock to do it.

“It kind of grew from last year,” he said of the increased numbers. “My (clients) wanted to come here. We have some lovely horses and I think the market is going to be good.”

Expected to attract considerable attention is Hip 131, a Smart Strike colt out of the winning A.P. Indy mare Rcuandry, a half sister to grade I winner Honey Ryder and the dam of last year’s session-topper. The colt was bred in Kentucky by Keene Ridge Farm, which had purchased his second dam, Cuando Quiere, for $200,000 from the Wimborne Farm dispersal in 2002.

Costello also has high expectations for some of the others in his group, including Hip 194, a Bernardini   colt who is a half brother to graded stakes winner Ocho Ocho Ocho and is from the extended female family of champion Personal Ensign.

“The Bernardini is a cracker of a colt,” the consignor said of the colt bred in Kentucky by Chadds Ford Stable. Royal Oak Farm bought the winning Horse Chestnut mare winner while carrying the Bernardini colt for $700,000 when she was offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency at the 2014 Keeneland November sale.

Costello said Hip 216 is not a typical Awesome Again  , noting the colt out of  the stakes-winning Smart Strike mare Bisbee’s Prospect is “big for an Awesome Again; many of them can be small.”

Bred in Kentucky by Northwest Farms, the colt was purchased by American Equistock for $90,000 at the Keeneland November sale.

Hip 93, a Malibu Moon   colt out of stakes-placed Missdealornodeal (by Benchmark), is “a nice colt colt with a big walk on him,” Costello said. From the family of grade III winner Soviet Problem, who won 15 of 19 starts, the colt was bred in Kentucky by TNIP.

Costello is expecting a strong showing by his group and for the sale overall. If he were to duplicate last year’s feat, “ I would even give myself a clap on the back,” he said.