Jimmy Creed Filly Pride of Endswell's Consignment

A really fast workout May 18 by a Jimmy Creed   filly entered in the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale evoked an emotional response from his consignor, Penny Lopez.

"She's just silly fast and you don't get those kind every day," Lopez said, choking back tears after the filly breezed an eighth-mile in :10, co-fastest among those working for the sale. "We just brought her up here and crossed our fingers. We knew she was special and I was hoping she would show up."

Lopez, who with her husband Angel operate the Williston, Fla.-based Endswell, had a stressful wait the day the filly breezed. The only Endswell worker that day, the filly was scheduled to for the final set of the day.

As the under tack show progressed, the work times became slower, further adding to Lopez' stress level.

But at the end of the day, she needn't have worried.

"I was nervous because we knew she was special," the blonde-tussled horsewoman said. "There was a lot of pressure. She's really classy and acts like an old horse."

The filly bred in Kentucky by Spendthrift Farm was purchased by Denholtz Stables for $25,000 from Vinery Sales at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Out of the unraced Harlan's Holiday mare Freedom Fire, the filly is from the female family of grade 1 winner Flat Fleet Feet.

She will be offered as Hip 390 during the sale's final session Tuesday.

Lopez said she and her husband, who ride their horses in their works, were not surprised at the filly's pre-sale work, since she had always been fast.

"The first time I worked her at the farm, she was three ticks faster than anything we've ever had on that track. I thought I clocked her wrong. My husband said he almost fell because she took off so fast. He said 'she's super fast,'" Lopez said. "We're typically not '10 flat people.' We take care of them because if we get stuck with them and have to race them, I need a horse that is left over at the end of the day. Everybody thinks they have to have those crazy fast ones."

Lopez is a second-generation horsewoman whose father, Steve Long, trained in the Midwest and Florida. Long's best horse was champion filly My Juliet, who he trained early in her career. Penny and Angel operate out of a 20-acre farm, with use of an adjacent five-eighths of a mile training center.

Among the more prominent graduates of Endswell's program is grade 1 winner The Big Beast  , bought as a yearling for $32,000 and re-sold for $150,000 as a 2-year-old.

The Jimmy Creed filly is one of three in the Endswell consignment owned in partnership with Denholtz, and Lopez said the consignors have realistic expectations in setting reserve prices.

"We buy at reasonable rates so we don't have to turn a huge profit to stay in the business," Lopez said.