Narvick Shops OBS to Fill New Stable for Saudi Prince

A daughter of Speightstown  from the family of grade 1 winner Capo Bastone  was purchased by Emmanuel de Seroux's Narvick International, as agent, for $650,000 nearing the midpoint of the March 12 first session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale.

"She's a homebred of a client of ours," said consignor Niall Brennan. "She's owned by the breeder, a real gentleman in Alabama. We sold her half sister last year, a Bernardini  filly called It Justhitthe Wire that Kiaran McLaughlin has and that won impressively down at Gulfstream. This filly is every bit as nice and I hope nicer. I think she's a lovely, lovely filly. She's got a classic look to her and a beautiful Speightstown. Great mind for a filly, nothing has bothered her here. You love to see that when they come."

Consigned as Hip 92 by Niall Brennan Stables, agent, the chestnut filly is out of the grade 3-placed Mizzen Mast  mare C J's Leelee, who placed second in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) and Regret Stakes (G3). The mare is a half sister to Adena Springs stallion Capo Bastone (by Street Boss), who won $731,756 in 17 starts on the racetrack. 

The filly, who worked in :10 March 7 during the under tack show and was described by Brennan as a "lovely mover," was bred in Kentucky by Carl Gessler Jr. and Danny Wiginton.

Brennan said he was impressed by the filly's calm and workman-like demeanor throughout the rigors of the under tack show. 

"We're really challenging these young babies when they have to come here and go as fast as they're expected to do,"  Brennan said. "It's great when you see them come back and act like nothing bothered them, because you can't challenge them any more at this stage of the year than we're doing—aside from having a race, which they haven't had yet.

"She's got a great mind, lovely demeanor, and handles everything beautifully. Whether it's on the dirt or the synthetic, she moves the same, she doesn't change anything. She's just a quality filly. She vetted clean and people loved her. Most people seemed to land on her. She's probably one of the better fillies in the sale in most people's opinion, it seems, and she sold accordingly. I think there was a lot of interest in her." 

While Narvick has found success in the past sending many of their OBS-purchased horses for clients to Japan, De Seroux said the filly will likely remain in North America as part of a new stable being formed in the name of Saudi Arabia's HRH Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud. A trainer for the filly has not yet been selected. 

"Prince Sultan is starting to build a program in the U.S. so he's buying some quality fillies and hopefully some colts as well to get going," De Seroux said. "We stretched out. We didn't expect we'd have to pay so much. We thought that was big price for her. She is a beautiful filly, nice mover, and has a good pedigree."

"I'm very happy," said Brennan. "I think there were a lot of good people bidding on her and I think I would have been happy wherever she went. Narvick bought her and we've been very lucky. They work it hard. That's why they are here. ... This is a filly with a lovely pedigree, so hopefully there is upside for her going forward." 

Later in the day, De Seroux went to $600,000 to secure Hip 169, a filly by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah  consigned by De Meric Sales, agent. Also purchased on behalf of Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud, the filly is out of the stakes-winning Flatter  mare Flattermewithroses. Bred in Kentucky by China Horse Club, she worked a quarter-mile in a brisk :20 4/5 during the March 7 under tack show. 

"She's a gorgeous type," De Seroux said. "She's beautiful, she's all class, she's a wonderful mover, and we love American Pharoah. I think she has a fantastic future. We thought, based on the market, that would be more or less what we would have to pay for her. Hopefully she's well worth it." 

Rounding out the day's purchases by Narvick for Prince Sultan Bin Mishal Al Saud were two colts: Hip 212, a $300,000 son of American Pharaoh out of Heart of Paradise consigned by King's Equine, agent, and Hip 251, a $240,000 son of Tiznow  out of Jazz Flute consigned by Eddie Woods as agent.