Derby Hopeful Lone Sailor Well Worth his Purchase Price

While Lone Sailor was denied what would have been an emotional win for his connections in the TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) March 24 at Fair Grounds Race Course and Slots, the $200,000 purse he earned surpasses his purchase price.

And bigger opportunities are on the horizon for the son of Majestic Warrior after he punched his ticket to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). Trainer Tom Amoss went to $120,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale to land Lone Sailor for owners Gayle and Tom Benson's G M B Racing from the Gainesway consignment.

Lone Sailor's strong run in New Orleans' biggest race was emotional because Tom Benson died March 15 at the age of 90, less than two weeks before Lone Sailor would finish a neck behind winner Noble Indy in the Louisiana Derby. Amoss plans to ship Lone Sailor to Churchill Downs on April 2 to begin training for the Kentucky Derby, which would mark the second time in three years G M B Racing has been represented in the Louisville classic after Mo Tom, trained by Amoss, and Tom's Ready, trained by Dallas Stewart, finished eighth and 12th respectively in 2016.

Like when he selected Mo Tom out of the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale, Amoss said going into the 2016 Keeneland September sale, the Bensons only asked that he be a value investor and find the right horses. 

That value would quickly show itself as Lone Sailor earned more than $120,000 in his first season of racing and his career earnings, at $334,237, are nearly three times his purchase price. While to date a stakes win has proved elusive, Lone Sailor has placed in three stakes including a third in the Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland.

The first foal out of of the placed Mr. Greeley mare Ambitious, Lone Sailor's second dam is grade 1 winner Aldiza, making Ambitious a half sister to grade 3 winner Altesse (A.P. Indy) and stakes winner Where's the Moon (Malibu Moon). While Amoss liked plenty about the pedigree, seeing Lone Sailor would put him over the top. 

"He was a very, very good-looking horse. He caught my attention the moment he was led out of the stall," Amoss said. "Conformation-wise we liked him. So he was the number one horse for us, and I really thought we were going to pay a lot more for him than what we had to pay.

"That physical presence that he has; he's maintained it. When you see him in the paddock, he has the look—very eye-catching."

Bred in Kentucky by Alexander-Groves-Matz, Lone Sailor would be the second-most expensive yearling by Majestic Warrior purchased at the 2016 Keeneland September sale.

"I think, looking back on it now, he wasn't by a 'wow' sire or one of the hot sires at the time," Amoss said. "I think that made the price a lot less than what we thought we were going to pay."

When Amoss attends sales, he brings along assistant Joel Delacruz. The two then divide up the horses of interest, look them over, and come up with some finalists. At that point, the two men go back and look at those final horses together. It provides an opportunity for Amoss to see something Delacruz missed, positive or negative; and vice-versa.

"It's a two-handed operation," Amoss said.