Female Racing Group Buys Animal Kingdom Filly at OBS
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Photo: photos by Z
Jon Kelly at the OBS March sale
A group of female horse owners seeking to emulate the successful entity that races Global Glamour in Australia purchased an Animal Kingdom filly March 13 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-year-olds in training sale.
Consigned as Hip 18 and foaled March 10, 2016, the filly was bought by Sarah Kelly for $170,000 from Halcyon Hammock Farm, agent. Bred in Kentucky by Ron and Fran Stolich, the filly had been acquired by Hal Hatch for $75,000 from James B. Keogh's offerings to the 2016 Keeneland November sale.
Sarah Kelly's husband, Jon, who also bought a Cairo Prince colt for $500,000 during the sale's opening session, talked excitedly about the prospects of the all-female ownership group that is being put together by his wife and Elaine "Legs" Lawlor. Sarah Kelly was not in attendance at the OBS sale, where Jon Kelly was accompanied by agent Jamie McCalmont.
Jon Kelly said it was appropriate that the filly is already named In Her Fashion.
Sarah Kelly is part of It's All About the Girls, an all-female ownership group Anna Seitz launched in North America in 2012. Women from seven different countries belong to the syndicate that campaigns Global Glamour, an AU$65,000 purchase who has earned nearly AU$1.2 million to date.
"We're trying emulate what happened in Australia," Kelly said. "They have a blast."
Kelly said there are 10 women signed up for the group to date, and they hope to wind up with 40 shareholders for the horses, which will race in Southern California.
"These are lovely ladies from all over the world, and I'm proud they've joined in to come to Del Mar to watch their horse run," he said, adding that the tedious licensing process in the U.S. is one obstacle in trying to get the stable, as yet-unnamed, going. "We're going to try to do our best to cut through the red tape.
"One of the biggest problems we have is licensing. There should be one national license with the stable's name on it. It's easy to do in Ireland; it's easy to do in Australia. Why is it so damn hard to do in the United States?"