Arrogate's Romp Enhances Half Sister's Value

Barry Robinette doesn’t know the exact value of a Medaglia d'Oro   filly consigned by Clearsky Farms to the Keeneland September yearling sale, but one thing he does know is that she is worth a lot more than she was prior to the impressive Aug. 27 romp of Juddmonte Farms’ Arrogate in the Travers Stakes (gr. I).

Both the filly, consigned as Hip 226, and Arrogate were bred by Clearsky Farms near Lexington and were produced from the Distorted Humor   mare Bubbler, a $211,622 earner who won six of her nine starts, including four stakes.

"She's certainly worth more today than before the Travers," said Robinette, the general manager of Clearsky. "She looks a lot prettier today."

A late-developing son of Unbridled's Song, who made only his fifth start in the Travers, the Bob Baffert-trained Arroagte and Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith won the Travers by 13 1/2 lengths in final time of 1:59.36 for the 1 1/4-mile distance, which eclipsed General Assembly's Travers and track mark of 2:00 that had stood for 37 years.

NOVAK: Arrogate Blazes to Travers Record

Winning the Travers in his stakes debut, Arrogate humbled a more accomplished group of 3-year-olds and moved himself into the upper echelon of his division. The colt, purchased for $560,000 from Clearsky's 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale, has won four straight races after he finished third in his debut.

One of 12 in Clearsky's offerings at the marathon Keeneland auction, the yearling filly has similar traits to Arrogate at the same point in their development.

"They both are and were kind of gangly and immature," Robinette said. "She has been slow to come around, but she looks like a classic-distance horse. She has a lot of leg to her. I think she will just continue to get better."

Robinette said he was not surprised by Arrogate's Travers win, because he followed the colt's development, but did not expect the margin and final time turned in by the colt.

"I wouldn't say I was surprised that he won, because he had been so good in his last three races, but I was surprised with how big he won," Robinette said. "We knew some people at Juddmonte and knew he had some problems early on."

Arrogate is the latest in an elite group of stakes winners bred and sold by Clearsky since being established in 2009 by successful international businessman and horseman Eamon Cleary, a native of Ireland, who died in 2012 at age 52.

Following Cleary’s mission statement: "To breed and raise top-quality Thoroughbred racehorses to compete at the highest level of racing," Clearsky has bred multiple grade I winner Lord Nelson, Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) winner New Year's Day  , four-time grade II winner Mohaymen, and grade III winners Firing Line and Sky Girl.

Cleary purchased Bubbler for $170,000 from the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale when consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency.