Spendthrift Building Awareness of Stakes Eligibility

Some of the 2-year-olds entered in the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s March auction are sporting stickers on their rumps indicating eligibility for two stakes at Churchill Downs later this year restricted to offspring of Spendthrift Farm sires.

The stickers, similar in size to the hip number stickers attached to sales horses, are part of an effort by the Lexington-based nursery to increase awareness of sales horses eligible for the restricted races scheduled for Oct. 29 at the Louisville oval.

Inaugurated last year, the Spendthrift Stallion Stakes restricted to 2-year-old offspring of Spendthrift stallions offered a $300,000 purse that was split 50/50 between owners and breeders of the respective purse earners. The race was won by Churchill Downs Racing Club’s Warrior's Club, a son of Spendthrift stallion Warrior’s Reward.

This year, there will be two races—one restricted to males and one for fillies—with purses of $200,000 each.

To help build awareness of which horses cataloged in the OBS sale are eligible for the stakes, Spendthrift representatives have been making the rounds at consignors’ barns to help identify eligible horses. With 57 cataloged for the March 14-15 sale sired by Spendthrift stallions, it’s a large group that could qualify for the races.

“This is an incentive as much as anything to help people who patronize Spendthrift-sired horses,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said the morning of March 13 as he tried to dodge raindrops while working the OBS barn area. “Ultimately it goes back to the breeder and hopefully it helps create value for them. Once they’ve sold something, obviously if something goes on and does well in the race, it builds value on down the line.”

Expanding the stakes lineup to two races is part of what Spendthrift would like to see in an even more expansive event.

“We’d like to see it become a bigger and bigger event,” he said. “The first year it was $300,000 for a single race. This year we are doing two races for $200,000 apiece for colts and fillies. What we’ll do from there, who knows.”

Toffey said the identification of sale entrants eligible for the races is not so much about boosting the farm’s stallions as it is helping consignors get a better return on their investments.

“We’re asking people to put these stickers on horses, whether it’s at a yearling sale or a 2-year-olds in training sale. It’s not about promoting Spendthrift but it is helping that consignor. If this results in an extra bid or two, that’s great. We’re trying to build value for our breeders.”

Although Toffey and the other Spendthrift personnel are helping spread the word about their stallions while strolling the OBS barn area, they are also scouting out racing prospects for their boss.

B. Wayne Hughes’ racing stable consists of 10-15 horses in training at any time, Toffey said, and in shopping the 2-year-olds in training sale he and others assisting the Spendthrift owner are looking for racing prospects with potential to join the farm’s stallion roster some day.

That means the individuals should have correct conformation and are athletic. A strong female family would be an enhancement too, Toffey said.

“Our aspirations for this sale are to come out of here with a horse that can go into our stallion barn and become a really successful stallion a few years from now” Toffey said. “We’re looking for stallion prospect-type horses. We are first and foremost about the athlete. That is the number one criteria. And then we have to make the decision whether we can make them work on paper (pedigree).

“If you worry too much about the paper then you’re probably going to pass by a good horse. When we bought Into Mischief  —if we were very strict on that criteria we probably never would have owned him.”