Hills Lands $430,000 Hard Spun Colt for Welsh

Early in the morning of April 23, Patrick Welsh called his trainer Timothy Hills and told him he was ready to up the ante. 

Sent down to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, Hills had been charged with finding, and hopefully buying, several top juveniles from the South Florida sale to help expand Welsh's stables. He was told to bid aggressively and make sure he came home with the best. 

"He said, 'Go buy me some horses, and I don't want to finish second in the bidding,'" Hills explained. "He bought one in Miami for $350,000 and he said, 'Let's go get some more.' In fact, this morning he said, 'I'm going to bump up what I can spend. How do we do that?' I told him, 'Don't worry, I'll make a phone call.'"

Early in the day, Hills struck for Hip 135, a Girolamo colt out of the Honour and Glory mare Honour Isabel. Consigned by Craig Wheeler, agent, the colt was bred in Florida by Craig Wheeler Thoroughbreds and worked an eighth-mile in :10 2/5 during the under tack show. A half brother to grade 1-placed Pretty Boy Flash, he cost $130,000. 

But when a son of Hard Spun  entered the ring more than an hour later, Hills worried for an instant that his directive to win each bidding war might not be possible. 

"I was slowing down but my wife kept elbowing me to go one more," Hills said. 

In the end, the final hammer fell the way of Hills, who scored the colt for $430,000, the highest price achieved during the first session of the four-day sale. 

"We really liked the colt," said Hills, indicating he will train the pricey purchase. "He'll go right to Monmouth Park. He's very athletic, had a great walk and great attitude." 

Consigned as Hip 207 by Wavertree Stables (Ciaran Dunne), agent, the colt worked a quarter-mile in :21 flat during the under tack show. With weather affecting many horses' performances during an extended breeze show, Hills said he was pleased with that overall performance. 

"It's hard to tell with the synthetic," Hills said. "They all sort of go the same, so you really have to pick them apart to see. It's kind of misleading, actually. In Timonium or even Gulfstream, when you have a dirt track there are some horses that just don't work well. No one seems to work bad (when you have synthetic). Not that that's a bad thing, but it can be misleading."

Bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey, the colt is the eighth foal out of the stakes-winning Pulpit mare Katerbug. He was purchased for $105,000 by Red Wings Enterprises from the Lane's End consignment to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. 

"I bought him as a yearling," Dunne said. "He worked great and he's a beautiful horse. We didn't really see that coming but it was one of those pleasant surprises for a change."

"Good horses are selling really well and that's the future," Hills said. "You look at the cheaper tracks and their short fields, they're dying a slow death and that's just the way it is. They better face it."

But with new legislation creating a $10 million purse enhancement at Hills' home track of Monmouth Park, Hills said he feels more than enough incentive to buy big in the hopes of generating equally big returns. 

"Maybe we can justify what we're paying for these," Hills said. "We're looking for a few more."