Colt From First Crop of Palace Malice Brings $550,000

Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners came to the April 24 session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and found exactly what he wanted in a dark bay colt from the first crop of Palace Malice . 

"We like them," said Wellman, who admitted to having a particular proclivity for the offspring of the son of Curlin . "We've got two right now, one that we bought as a weanling and one that we bought as a yearling. We tried really hard here last month for another, but we came up empty. We were happy to land this colt. We thought he was a total standout." 

One of the first to pass the half-million mark during the second day of the sale, the colt was hammered down to Wellman on a final bid of $550,000. Bred in Kentucky by Justice Farm and Greg Justice, the strapping 2-year-old is the fourth foal out of the Malibu Moon  mare Moon Beamy and is a half brother to stakes winner Daddy Justice. 

Pinhooked to the sale as Hip 368 by Albert Davis of Old South Farm, who bought him for $110,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, the colt breezed an eighth-mile in :10 during the under tack show.

"He looked a whole lot like he did now," Davis said. "Just a big, pretty, well-balanced colt with a good walk. You'll never know if they can run, but he looked like he could and I think he can. He's basically done everything like we want them to do. He grew up and filled out, came here, and did his job."

While he was pleased with the final price, Davis said time and experience have helped him learn to manage his expectations. 

"I never expect anything. I hope," Davis said. "I knew he was a nice horse, and I hoped to be well paid. He's the only (Palace Malice) that I've had, but based on him, I'd like to have another one. 

"Historically, the first day here is the weakest, and the second and third days are the best. The horses that are perceived as being nice horses are selling well. I think the middle market and lower market are still tough." 

"We knew it was going to be a battle going in," Wellman said. "He was an incredibly classy colt through and through, really fast on the racetrack, and carried himself with total class throughout the entire week. When he walked in the back ring, you could tell he was cut from a different cloth. Time will tell, as always. Hopefully our opinion of him today proves to be true in about a year." 

Wellman said price was relatively immaterial when it came to buying the colt as the team was already set on sending the colt to trainer Todd Pletcher for conditioning and had gone so far as to choose a name. 

"Obviously, Palace Malice is extremely special to us, having been campaigned by Dogwood Stable and Mr. Campbell," Wellman said.

A revolutionary of the Thoroughbred racing industry, W. Cothran "Cot" Campbell was inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame in 2018 as a Pillar of the Turf. The founder of Dogwood Stable, considered to be the first racing partnership ever established, Campbell died in 2018 at 91. 

"A lot of the partners that were part of Palace Malice have morphed into the Eclipse program, which we are incredibly grateful for. In fact, we were pretty adamant that we were going to buy this colt today. We had already picked out a name for him. He will be named after Mr. Campbell, and he will be named Cothran." 

The colt was the second horse to be purchased by Eclipse at the South Florida sale. The partnership struck straight out of the gate during the first session Tuesday for Hip 1, a Blame  colt out of the War Front  mare Facethefront. Bred in Kentucky by B.D. Gibbs Farm, the colt was consigned by All In Line Stables, agent, and purchased for $290,000. 

"The market is the same that it has been for five or six years now," Wellman said. "The quality, or what is perceived to be quality, is selling well, and the other stuff is struggling to find its way through the market. 

"I do sense that there is some trepidation in the air with the current events and the status of the industry at the moment. I thought yesterday that was a little more prominent than today—there is a lot better energy in there today. The big players are here, the heavyweights are duking it out, so that's good. I think we are bound for a tick of softening, hopefully. But, again, we just paid $550,000 for a colt that's run a quarter of a mile. You have to put that in perspective."