Havre de Grace's Son a $1.9 Million RNA

The first colt produced from Horse of the Year Havre de Grace was bought back by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $1.9 million due to a mix-up regarding the reserve during the Sept. 13 second session of the Keeneland September yearling sale.

After the War Front   colt out of the champion daughter of Saint Liam did not sell, Pope came to the Keeneland press box to make a statement regarding his status. 

"I was distraught," Pope said. "We told them the reserve was going to be one thing, and then we ran it way past that, and that's not what we intended to do at all. I've been in this business and I've always been honest and done everything the right way, and I want people to understand that this was a total mix-up."

The colt out of Havre de Grace, who won nine of 16 starts, was consigned by Wayne and Cathy Sweezey's Timber Town on behalf of Whisper Hill Farm, which bought Havre de Grace for $10 million from the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment to the 2012 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale. The mare has produced a 2-year-old filly and a weanling filly by leading sire Tapit  , in addition to the War Front colt.

Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland's director of sales, said the issue was between Pope and Timber Town.

"That would be something between her and her consignor," he said. "The reserve we were given is what we went to. If there is any difference between that and the conversation she had with Wayne, I'm not party to it. I have not talked personally to Mandy, so I can't speak to that."

Pope thought the colt sold, and said she was in a "state of shock" to discover he had not.

"We had what we thought was a reasonable reserve on the horse, which many people were told, and there were people around there who knew what that reserve was, and it was kind of obvious it was a reserve because that's how the number was flowing," she said. "So people weren't interested once they see what is happening, and you told them the reserve is 'A' and it's looking like the reserve keeps going. It makes it look like I was not telling them the truth to begin with, which we were.

"A mistake got made, the correct people have taken the responsibility for it, but it is what it is, we can't go back and change it. So what I would like to say is: I apologize to the agents who thought we were trying to take advantage of them, we certainly were not."

Sweezey said before the auction that the presence of the colt in the sale was a rare opportunity for a buyer to acquire a foal out of a top mare like Havre de Grace. Generally, such stock is not offered at public auction, but Pope is following a business model in which she will retain the fillies to race and add to her broodmare band and to offer the males to the public.

"I want people have to understand that I bring these horses to the sale; I bring them to sell them," Pope said. "The ones I don't want to sell, I keep home. I have 'Grace's' 2-year-old filly by Tapit and a weanling by Tapit out of the mare, so I needed to sell this one or wanted to sell this one. So the horse is still for sale at a reasonable price, we think reasonable price, and hopefully people will come by and look at him again, talk to Wayne and Cathy, and if they still have an interest we still are interested in selling the horse. I would be interested in keeping a part of a horse to do a partnership.

"Wayne is working with it and trying to find some people who we knew were interested and trying to go back to them. Of course, the most important thing is the horse go a good home and if it's with me, then I guess that's what God intended. But the intent was to sell him and it still is to try to sell him."

Claire Novak and Erin Shea contributed to this report.