Wise Racing Wins Bidding War for Paynter Filly

Only minutes into the auction during the April 24 session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, a bidding war featuring several prominent trainers set the board alight. 

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, flanked by trainer Chad Brown and owner Allen Wise of Wise Racing, refused to yield to trainer Bob Baffert inside the Florida pavilion, and on a final bid of $450,000, the group was declared the proud new owners of a powerful Paynter  filly. 

"I understand Bob Baffert was the underbidder, and he knows Paynter better than the rest of us," Ryan said. "Obviously, she sold herself, and she was an exceptional filly. We knew we were going to have to reach for her. I knew it was going to be tough to get her. We knew that Paynter or no Paynter, she was going to sell herself, and she did. There are a lot of smart horse people here that know what they're doing. When I saw Bob Baffert out back, I said, 'This isn't good' when we walked in here."

Ryan said he was particularly pleased to purchase the filly—on behalf of Wise and destined for Brown's shedrow—because he bred the talented juvenile in partnership with Gerry Dilger in the name of Falcon Wood Partners. Out of the Street Sense mare Mallory Street, the filly is from the extended family of grade 2 winner Penny's Reshoot. 

"I actually know the filly very well. I bred her with Gerry Dilger," Ryan said. "We sold the mare when she was in foal to Practical Joke.

"(This filly) blew me away, and she sold herself. She's by Paynter, who I like as a stallion. I think he's an underappreciated stallion. They've all got a lot of heart, and they are tough. He was a very tough race horse himself."

Consigned as Hip 312, the filly was purchased by her consignor, Eisaman Equine, for $50,000 from the Dromoland Farm consignment to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. She breezed an eighth-mile in :10 flat during the OBS under tack show. 

"She breezed phenomenal," Ryan said. "A very powerful filly. She did it the right way. She comes from a great consignor who does a fantastic job. Hopefully, you'll see her on a Saturday afternoon in Saratoga."

"She's a great filly," said Dr. Barry Eisaman, who was pleased with the return on his modestly priced pinhook. As of late afternoon, the filly was the Eisaman consignment's top seller.  

"We buy horses at a modest yearling purchase price," Eisaman said. "We don't really compete for the higher six-figure yearlings, and she was right in our wheelhouse. I think at that time, in September, Paynter was a little colder commercially. Since September, he's done much better, but that helped us to be able to buy her.

"She's a really wonderful, athletic filly that showed herself well here. Her veterinary work was impeccable, and Paynter is catching on as a sire. I couldn't say more about her as an athlete and potential star. She always was very correct and always very healthy, and she's grown noticeably. She's out of a Street Sense mare, and she looks a lot like a Street Sense. She has immense speed and a pedigree that will carry the distance. You should probably go wager on the future for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) next year." 

Both buyer and consignor were pleased to see that the market picked up during the second day of trade. Eisaman said the head winds experienced during the first day of the under tack show had caused a noticeable dent in the market. 

"I think yesterday we did fine," Eisaman said. "We had several nice horses that did well. Overall, I think yesterday was somewhat spotty. I think it's very hard when you have a breeze show session when the conditions are not very good. It's not only that it shaves a bit of time off the teletimer, the horses look different. Baby horses don't like to run into a wind tunnel. So when they do it and you're asking them to do it and they try harder, all at once a very fluid mover looks like someone swimming in a college breast-stroke event. When buyers see that appearance, it's not as pretty. Today, the horses that are selling, their breeze show days were good. There were plenty of horses that sold well yesterday, but there was still some suffering beneath that." 

"The first day is always slower," said Ryan, echoing Eisaman. "Unfortunately, the first-day breeze horses had to deal with a strong head wind, and the track was a little deeper. After that, the track was a little tighter and faster. The first-day horses really were at a disadvantage." 

Shopping from the sidelines for the rest of the afternoon, Brown struck a winning bid of his own later in the sale for a filly by first-crop sire Karakontie  out of the Cozzene mare Oblivious. Consigned by Eisaman Equine, the filly brought $460,000 and will race for Klaravich Stable.