Medaglia d'Oro Filly Sells for $1.45 Million
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Photo: Fasig-Tipton Photo
Hip 191, a Medaglia d'Oro filly, brought $1.45 million.
A Medaglia d'Oro filly from the consignment of Craig and Holly Bandoroff's Denali Stud lit up the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale bid board Aug. 9 when she was bought by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $1.45 million.
The filly is out of the stakes-winning Thunder Gulch mare Whisper to Me, the dam of grade II winner Overheard, and was bred in Kentucky by Josephine Abercrombie's Pin Oak Stud.
"She is big and strong with a lot of quality," Craig Bandoroff said prior to the sale. "The only reason she's here is that Mrs. Abercrombie owns the dam and two daughters."
Pope said the filly was the standout horse in the sale.
"She stands over a lot of ground, has good conformation, and as often as she was shown, she always had a forward walk, she always had her ears up. You could always go up and pet her, she never pinned her ears," the buyer said. "She always had so much class. An unbelievable amount of class.
"I figured she was going to be around a million, a little higher than I had hoped. I knew if I wanted her, I was going to have to go after it."
Pope said the filly will ship to Whisper Hill Farm in Ocala, Fla., and be broken this fall and winter and then to GoldMark Farm, for the final preparation for racing.
Pope also bought Woodford Thoroughbreds' Medaglia d'Oro—West Coast Swing filly offered two hips earlier, spending $550,000; and agent Marshall Silverman's Curlin —Peppy Rafaela filly at Monday's first session for $225,000.
"I think I bought three very athletic fillies," Pope said. "Now I need to put my seller's cap on."