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NEWS 
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For Irwin it was strictly a case of déjà vu all over again, as he outlasted some dogged competition in the Humphrey S. Finney sales pavilion to land the top lot at the annual public auction. Unlike 3 years ago when he bought Fairbanks for a sale-topping $1.85 million though, this time Team Valor International’s principal had to go to $2.2 million to close out the deal. Reportedly among the underbidders were Live Oak Stud of Ocala, Florida; Stonestreet Farm of Lexington, Kentucky; and Buzz Chace, representing West Point Stable. The baseball coincidence will stick with the colt, as Team Valor has named him Kinsella in keeping with the baseball theme of his female family. Well-known baseball writer W. P. Kinsella wrote a novel named “Shoeless Joe” that was adapted into an award-winning movie named “Field of Dreams,” in which the lead character played by Kevin Costner was named Ray Kinsella. Team Valor has always done well buying yearlings at Saratoga. The last yearlings bought by the stable at The Spa were Audacious Chloe and Fairbanks. The filly is a multiple stakes winner who accounted for Eclipse Award winner Dreaming of Anna in this season’s Gaily Gaily Stakes at Gulfstream Park and the colt has the second best 2007 Beyer figure of 115 for an older horse going long when he won the Grade 3 Tokyo City Handicap prior to running second in the Grade 1 Suburban Handicap. Fairbanks and Audacious Chloe are trained by Todd Pletcher, who will receive Kinsella to train next spring. Team Valor would like to run the colt at 2 in New York, then have him winter and begin his 3-year-old season in California, where he can train on a synthetic surface, which is what Pletcher utilized for Rags to Riches this season. “We don’t buy a lot of yearlings, but we have done very well with them,” said Barry Irwin. “One reason we do well with them is that we are extremely selective. When we pull the trigger, we usually hit our target. This season 6 of the 8 stakes winners to represent the stable were bought as yearlings.”
“First impressions are important in looking at potential racehorses,” Irwin said. “At Saratoga, I had 12 possibilities on my long list of horses worth considering. When I went back for a second look, all but 3 fell off for one reason or another. “I do a grading on conformation on my first and second looks and, as is invariably the case, the numbers fall on the second look. Not so for the sale topper. He moved from an 8.75 to a 9.25. He looked even more impressive the second time I went over him, which is rare, because as horses tire during the showing period, most start showing signs of weaknesses from the stress. Nothing fazed this guy. “I was awestruck when I got my first glance at this colt. I did not spend a lot of time looking at him in the first go over, because I knew I loved him and did not want to tip my hand to anybody. “He is about 16 hands one-half inch tall right now. I expect him to grow another inch. He is big enough, but not too big. He has already experienced a significant growth spurt and I do not expect another major one. “For a colt of his height, depth and musculature, he is extraordinarily well balanced, which is what sold me on him. You see a lot of tall colts that are either klutzes or slobs. He is neither. “The best thing about him, other than his overall balance, is the slope of his shoulder, which in turn allows him to walk like a natural born athlete. His hindquarters are more shapely than overly muscled. “If somebody wanted to knock him they could say that his cannon bone is a little longer than some horsemen desire. A short cannon bone generally denotes a faster or sprinter-like runner and this colt looks like he will run on. “Naturally, everybody wants to know how I would compare him with Fairbanks, because I bought both at the same sale and both cost a lot of money.
“The main difference between the colt and Fairbanks is that this one looks sharper and has a better chance to do something as a 2-year-old. “In terms of quality, I cannot separate them. They are both special.” Kinsella is by Mr. Greeley out of Win My Heart, by King of Kings. One of the reasons Irwin liked him so much at the sale was that he owned a pedigree that promised versatility. “One has to be mindful of the emergence of synthetic racing surfaces when one buys racing prospects from now on,” Irwin explained. “This colt is inbred to Mr. Prospector, a name associated with brilliance on dirt. Mr. Prospector himself also was a fantastic turf sire. “The sire line in tail male of Kinsella is the best branch of the Mr. Prospector line for grass and versatility. Mr. Greeley, the sire of Kinsella, is a son of Gone West, who is Mr. Prospector’s best grass sire. “Gone Wests can run on anything and Gone West has turned out to be a fabulous sire of sires and sire of international runners. I think the Gone West sire line is perhaps the most important branch of the Mr. P line with the possible exception of the branch being developed by his son Smart Strike.” Irwin said that the pedigree of Kinsella is a “fascinating mix of dirt and turf” that should allow the colt to perform well on any type of surface. “Mr. Greeley is well respected in the United States and in Europe and Britain,” said Irwin. “He sires runners on all type of surfaces. He was a sprinter on dirt. His second dam was a Champion Sprinter on turf in France. “Mr. Greeley is the sire of Grade 1 winner El Corredor, the leading sire of his crop through last season. Mr. Greeley is from one of the hottest families in the Stud Book, as his dam is closely related to Street Sense, winner of the Kentucky Derby this year, and Danehill Dancer, a former Irish Champion Colt at 2 who has been Coolmore Stud’s hottest sire of 2-year-olds the past couple of seasons.” The dam of Kinsella is by King of Kings, who was brilliant enough at 2 in Ireland to win the Group 1 National Stakes over 7 furlongs and classy enough at 3 to win the Group 1, Classic Irish Two Thousand Guineas over 8 furlongs. He was New Zealand’s leading sire of 2-year-olds with one of his first crops at stud. Mr. Greeley has emerged the past few years as one of the most popular stallions at stud in North America. His stud fee was $75,000 in 2007. In addition to having sired successful racehorse and young stallion El Corredor in his first crop, Mr. Greeley sired a $5.7-million September yearling at Keeneland last year and is currently represented by Finsceal Beo, the Champion Filly of Britain and Europe at 2 in 2006 and a double Guineas winner this season at 3. So he had a successful son at stud, he is successful in the sale ring and he has the top filly Miler abroad—all at the same time. Kinsella is the first foal from King of King’s daughter Win My Heart. She was a half-sister to $342,719-earner Secret Liason, who won half of her 14 startsw, including the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Handicap at Del Mar. The next dam, stakes-placed Letty’s Pennant, was a daughter of Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Bold Forbes. Letty’s Pennant was a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Sacahuista. Letty’s Pennant is responsible for producing the likes of Stormin’ Fever, a Grade 1 sprinter in New York who is a successful sire in Kentucky; and $1.45-million earner Raging Fever, who could sprint or route and won the Ogden Phipps, Matron and Frizette Stakers—all Grade 1 races—in New York. As Team Valor did when it bought Fairbanks, Kinsella will be divided into 50 shares as a racing/breeding partnership. Total cost of the partnership is $2.5 million, reflecting the cost of the colt at public auction, a 10-percent commission to Team Valor and cost of a one-year insurance policy for mortality. Each 2-percent share will cost $50,000. Interested parties are advised to contact Amy Collingworth at (888) 434-2677 or teamvalor2@aol.com. From Thoroughbred Times comes the following:
by John P. Sparkman
“I expected him to go for $2.3-million,” Irwin said, laughing. “That was my last bid. He’s just an incredible-looking horse,” Irwin continued. “I come out here with no preconceived notions, don’t look at the pedigree first, and this horse just stood out. He has an incredible shoulder and just great balance.” Consigned by Gainesway, agent, the colt is the first foal out of Win My Heart, by King of Kings (Ire), a half sister to Grade 3 winner Secret Liaison from the family of Grade 1 winner Raging Fever and 1987 champion three-year-old filly Sacahuista.
For the second time in four years, Team Valor International President Barry Irwin walked away from Fasig-Tipton Saratoga with the boutique sale’s top-priced horse. In front of an appreciative packed house at the Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion in Saratoga Springs last night, Irwin dug in gamely to outlast agent Buzz Chace and land an eyecatching son of Mr. Greeley for $2.2 million. “My original plan was to do one big, bold bid at about $1.5 million, but I don’t think I communicated that very well to the bid spotter,” he admitted. In 2004, Irwin went to $1.85 million for Fairbanks, a son of Giant’s Causeway who has since become a graded-stakes winner. The bidding on Irwin’s most recent sales topper, consigned by Gainesway Farm, was concentrated inside the pavilion. The “It" Horse... In pursuit of the night’s sales topper, Barry Irwin, just in front of the sales ring, exchanged salvos with a number of interested parties, including Buzz Chace, who sat alongside West Point Thoroughbred’s Terry Finley, as well as Lewis Lakin and Marianne Hesse. Chace, bidding for West Point, looked to be out of the running at $1.8 million, but after a quick word with Finley he upped the ante by another $100,000.
“I expected him to go for $2.3 million--that was my last bid,” said a slightly flustered Irwin as he let out a deep sigh after stepping outside the pavilion. Explaining the appeal of the colt, he added, “I come out here with no preconceived notions. I don’t look at the catalog, I just look at all the horses, and this horse just stood out. He’s an incredible physical specimen and has everything you look for. “He’s got a great shoulder, incredible balance; you just don’t see a horse that’s that big and has that kind of balance. He’s got what I call ‘The Look,’ for lack of a better expression. He’s just got it.” With the advent of synthetic tracks, buyers are having to take into consideration how a horse will handle an assortment of surfaces, and Irwin said that he expects his new acquisition to be a versatile sort. “One of the reasons I bought this horse is because I thought he could run on anything--dirt, Polytrack, turf, whatever,” he said. “There’s going to be Polytrack everywhere. I’m trying to shy away from certain bloodlines that don’t have an affinity for it.” Irwin said that he expected to sell about 50 shares of the colt at 2 percent each. “That’s how we did Fairbanks,” he said. Gainesway Farm general manager Michael Hernon said “He was bought by a great supporter of international racing in Team Valor’s Barry Irwin, and we think he’s a great prospect.” Hernon added that his consignee had acted the consummate professional since arriving on the sales grounds. “He never turned a hair since he was here and showed extremely well,” said Hernon. “He caught the attention of a broad section of major buyers. “We’d like to especially thank Buzz Chace and Terry Finley of West Point, who were...ultimately the underbidder. They certainly made it a big night for Gainesway. This further endorses Mr. Greeley’s ability to sire top horses, and we’re obviously delighted to have him at Gainesway.”
by Joe Clancy “Awesome,” was how Barry Irwin described Hip 142, moments after going to $2.2 million for the chestnut son of Mr. Greeley.
“It’s nerve-wracking,” Irwin said, wiping sweat from his forehead while standing outside the pavilion. “In a horse race, at least you know where the finish line is, you have a pretty good idea of when it’s going to end. This, it just keeps building, building, building.” The bidding rolled its way past $2 million, the only time it was reached over the two-night sale. The gaudy number contributed to an increase in gross, average and median from the night before. Remarkably, the numbers soared while John Ferguson (who was top buyer on the first night) was silent. “My biggest fear was Godolphin would want to buy him and we’d have no shot,” Irwin said. “I figured if it was normal people, then we could get him. I kept trying to devise strategies and I couldn’t come up with one if they were interested – if they want him, they have the bucks.” Instead, the battle came down to two American-bred partnerships. In 2004, Irwin stepped up and spent $1.8 million for a son of Giant’s Causeway – Fairbanks. That was the most money Team Valor had ever spent at an auction or a private sale in its 21 years of business. The Mr. Greeley colt, bred by Rob Whiteley’s Liberation Farm, quickly elbowed Fairbanks from that special rung. “Oh yeah, it’s the most we’ve spent regardless,” Irwin said. “Fairbanks was the most, we’ve bought maybe four horses for over a million dollars in 21 years.”
“I have an in-house newsletter that I generate twice a week. In a day or two when I relax I’ll tell them what the deal is and on our website we have a news page,” Irwin said. “I would say our clients will probably buy half the horse, we’ll get another quarter through the website and I’ll look for a farm to take the other quarter. This is what I’ve found out – when I find a horse and I’m enthusiastic about it, clients aren’t hard to find, especially when I put my neck on the chopping block like this. I’ll get a response.” The Mr. Greeley colt had invoked responses all week. The big, balanced colt showed off, rousing interest from a plethora of interested parties. Gainesway never imagined breaking the $2-million barrier but Irwin wasn’t backing down. “Just an awesome-looking horse, you don’t see a horse that big that is that well-balanced,” Irwin said. “If you want to be critical you could say his cannon bone might be a little long but otherwise, he walks, he’s correct, he’s got charisma, he’s just an awesome-looking horse. I wish he wasn’t out of a mare by King Of Kings, that would be nice, but anyway, we got him.” Irwin goes to the sales without taking a look at the catalogue. He looks at the horses first, then worries about the pedigree later. “I look at the horses with my wife, Kathleen,” Irwin said. “After I’m finished looking, I guess who it’s by, and she either says yes or no, then I guess the sire line and she tells me who it is. I get about one out of four or five correct. I didn’t guess Mr. Greeley, I don’t remember who I said. When you see a good one like that, you just say ‘wow.’ ” Gainesway’s Brian Graves has been saying that since he saw the colt at Whiteley’s farm back in March. He bought half the horse then, got him to the farm and about 60 days later, bought all of him. A partnership of four people owned him. “I looked at about 20 Greeleys that day and he was the one that talked to me, I loved him right off,” Graves said. “I just bought the horse and he developed, I started thinking Saratoga and he ended up being the only Greeley in the sale. He developed into an awesome horse. That’s what I do, it’s surprising what he brought, but that’s exactly why I do what I do, for horses like him. It’s a dream come true.”
Last year, his chestnut colt out of G1SW Silvester Lady (GB) sold for $5.7 million to John Ferguson. “Of course, we are delighted with his continued success,” said Michael Hernon. “He’s emerging as a truly international sire.” Gainesway will consign Mr. Greeley’s lone offering here, hip 142, a handsome chestnut out of Win My Heart (King of Kings). “This colt is a particularly attractive horse with great quality and athleticism about him,” said Hernon. “He’s a real clone of Mr. Greeley, I think. He’s got plenty of size and scope and a good leg. It’s a successful cross--being bred back to Northern Dancer-line mares--and it’s a really good family when you get back into it.” The colt, the first foal from a half-sister to GSW Secret Liason, hails from the family of champion Sacahuista; her son, leading sire Hussonet; and MGISW Raging Fever. Hernon added, “He’s a special colt and he’s the only Mr. Greeley in the catalogue. He’s certainly well worth the look and has great potential for the future.”
A Mr. Greeley colt generated some spectacular financial fireworks Tuesday night when he sold for the sale-topping price of $2.2 million during the second and final session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling auction in Upstate New York. But the seven-figure burst wasn't enough to keep the sale from falling behind last year's pace in gross revenue, average price, and median price. The declines were 2.4% for gross, 10.6% for average, and 7.1% for median. "All in all, we're not surprised," said Fasig-Tipton president Walt Robertson, repeating a comment from the previous night when he observed that the setbacks were following downward trends seen at the juvenile auctions earlier this year and Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky select yearling sale in July.
Consignors and buyers interviewed during the auction often described the Saratoga market as okay or fair. This year's final figures were 142 horses sold, a gross of $41,082,000, an average of $289,310, and a median of $227,500. Last year, the 130 yearlings sold grossed $42,085,000 and averaged $323,731. The median reached a sale-record high of $245,000. The buy-back rate rose from 18,8% in 2006 to 24.7% this year. Barry Irwin of Team Valor International battled beat back a spirited challenge from New Jersey bloodstock agent Buzz Chace, who was sitting beside Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds in Fasig-Tipton's Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion, to secure the sale-topping Mr. Greeley colt. A handsome chestnut, the yearling is the first foal out of the 6-year-old King of Kings mare Win My Heart, who failed to finish first in five career races. She is a half-sister grade III winner Secret Liaison (by Housebuster). Other family members include champion Sacahuista , grade I winners Raging Fever and Geri, and group I winner Ekraar. Stepping outside the pavilion after signing the sale ticket for the $2.2-million colt, Irwin took a deep breath, exhaled with a sigh, breathed in again, and said: "I expected to go to $2.3 million. That was my last bid, right there, you saw it. He's incredible-looking horse. "I come here with no preconceived notions," Irwin added. "I don't look at the catalog; I just look at all the horses, and this horse just stuck out. He's an incredible physical specimen. He's got everything you look for. He has an incredible shoulder and great balance. You don't (usually) see a horse that big that has that kind of balance. He's got what I call 'The Look,' for lack of a better expression." The colt's genetic potential to compete on a variety of surfaces also attracted Irwin's interest. In addition to grade I winners on dirt, Mr. Greely has sired European champion Finsceal Beo. "One of the reasons I bought this horse is because I think he'll be able to run on anything. He should be able to run on dirt, Polytrack, turf, whatever. There is going to be Polytrack everywhere, and I've tried to shy away from certain bloodlines that just don't have an affinity for it." Irwin said the colt would probably be syndicated into a 50-share, 2%-per-share "breeding syndicate" and likely would start his racing career in California. Rob Whiteley's Liberation Farm and Oratis Thoroughbreds bred the colt in Kentucky. Gainesway, agent, consigned him to he Saratoga auction. Neil Howard, who is the general manager of Graham Beck and family's Gainesway Farm near Lexington and Brian Graves, who oversees Gainesway's auction yearlings, went looking for young horses earlier this year "to fill out Gainesway's sale yearling consignments," according to Howard. They bought the colt privately on behalf of the farm. When he went through the sale ring at Saratoga he was owned by what Howard described as a farm partnership. "Antony Beck (Gainesway's president) is a wonderful person to work for and very generous, and he allowed a number of us (at Gainesway) to get involved (by investing in the colt)," Neil Howard said. "I only have a very small piece of him, but still, it's special. There's probably about 10 (people in the partnership), mostly in (Gainesway) management. Howard declined to reveal the purchase price of the colt, but said: "We made a significant profit. Howard said he and Graves felt like the colt was a good one when they picked him out, but the yearling soon started to blossom and developed into a standout. "I was excited and nervous all at the same time," said Howard, who shared a high-five with his son, Andy, to celebrate the colt's big price. Related Links:
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