September 24, 2007
TEAM VALOR BUYS YEARLING HALF-SISTER TO GINGER PUNCH,
GRADE 1-WINNING “PUNCH” IS BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF FAVE,
FILLY BY PREAKNESS HERO RED BULLET OFFERED AT $200,000
The half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Ginger Punch has been acquired by Team Valor.
(click on photo for larger image) |
Team Valor International has acquired a yearling half-sister to Ginger Punch, the Bobby Frankel-trained 4-year-old filly that is regarded as the horse to beat in the $2-million Breeders’ Cup Distaff next month at Monmouth Park.
Except for a fifth-place finish on a sloppy track at Keeneland last spring at 3, Ginger Punch has been first or second in each of her other 11 starts, with 6 wins and 5 seconds.
Ginger Punch will enter the Breeders’ Cup off consecutive Grade 1 victories in New York in the “win and your in” Go for Wand Stakes at Saratoga and the Ruffian Handicap.
In both the Ruffian and Go for Wand, she bested Miss Shop, who between these races managed to beat Team Valor’s Unbridled Belle and claim the Grade 1 Personal Ensign at Saratoga.
Ginger Punch will have to be supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup at a cost of $180,000. For another $20,000, Mr. Frank Stronach could own Team Valor’s new filly, as that is the figure at which she is being offered by syndication by Barry Irwin.
Team Valor will syndicate the filly into interests of 10 percent ($20,000), 5 percent ($10,000) and 2 ½ percent ($5,000). Yes, that is correct—your eyes have not deceived you--$5,000. Once a year, Team Valor likes to have at least one horse that is priced for everybody’s pocketbook.
(Parties interested in joining the syndicate which will campaign the half-sister to Ginger Punch are asked to contact Amy Collingsworth at Team Valor’s office in Versailles, Kentucky at (888) 434-2677 or teamvalor2@aol.com.)
Why so cheap?
- Buy Back – The filly was led out of the ring last week at Keeneland’s September yearling sold unsold when she failed to reach her breeder’s reserve. The breeder wanted $150,000.
- Sire – The filly is a daughter of Red Bullet, a well-bred winner of the Preakness from a hot sire line who has not exactly lit the world on fire with his first crop and a half.
- Late Foal – The filly was born in May, which basically eliminates all pinhookers as potential buyers. Being a May foal, she is immature and less well developed than other yearlings.
- State Bred – The filly was bred and born in Pennsylvania, a circumstance that sends a message to potential buyers that the filly is only of regional interest.
- Stronach Castoff – The filly was produced by a mare culled by Adena Springs Farm, which imbues her with the patina of a Frank Stronach castoff. Nobody wants a castoff.
Why does Barry Irwin want her?
Barry Irwin explains why
he is enamored with filly. |
- Front Legs – “Her front legs are extremely well put on. When I work a sale, I generally find about 5 horses in every 100 that have good front limbs. Of those, 3 of them have other conformation faults. Of the remaining 2, they usually don’t pass the vet. I find I have to look at about 500 to 750 yearlings to find one I will buy.”
- Conformation – “I know Ginger Punch very well. She is what we refer to as being a “plain brown wrapper,” which means that she is non-descript. The yearling half-sister is far from being plain. She has quality, a nice head and excellent balance and shape. I like her.”
- Ginger Punch – “Ginger Punch is an exceptionally talented filly who has already done enough to insure a good residual value for her yearling half-sister. What ever else Ginger Punch goes on to accomplish, the benefit inures directly to the owners of the new filly. If she can win the Breeders’ Cup or be named a Champion, either this season or next, it will serve only to enhance the value of our filly. Do not minimize the importance of owning a half-sister to a famous filly.”
- Red Bullet – “Red Bullet is down, but not for the full count. I spoke with a friend of mine who books mares for Frank Stronach. He said it is unfair to rate Red Bullet on his first crop because of the type of mares that were bred to him in Florida. His next crops of foals were produced by mares sent from the bluegrass and will be better. He said the failure to date of Red Bullet is directly attributable to his horses being “weak or sloppy” behind. This yearling filly is strong behind.
- Late Foal – “I don’t mind her being a late foal. Unbridled Belle was born on the last day of May and it certainly has not stopped her. I think there is a definite prejudice against late foals because market breeders worry about them and so do buyers that want action as quickly as possible. I think that for her age in months and days that she is above average in size and that she is going to have a well-developed backside with full quarters.
- State Bred – “Once again, there is a definite prejudice against foals born outside of Kentucky. Even Florida-breds take it in the shorts to a certain extent. Pennsylvania is well off the beaten track. For me, I see Pennyslvania as being the next promise land of racing because of the infusion of slots and huge investment into the two biggest racetracks. Being a PA-bred is like being handed a major option to print money and earn black type in state-bred races. Being a PA-bred is a very big plus. Presque Isle held its inaugural summer meeting and the purses were astronomical.”
The new filly has been named Helena Handbasket, a name Team Valor has held in reserve for the right horse. Truth be told, the name was initially rejected by The Jockey Club, which characterized it as being “suggestive.”
Ginger Punch heads into the Breeders' Cup Distaff as
the favorite off of consecutive Grade 1 wins in New York. |
I personally spoke with Rick Bailey, the CEO of the august body in charge of equine registration in the Stud Book and explained to him that the name could be heard every day of the week on any financial channel on cable television. It seems that the economy is ‘going to hell in a hand basket’ all the time! He laughed, agreed and we got the name, which by the way was the invention of my wife, Kathleen.”
Helena Handbasket was produced by Nappelon, a mare with substantial credentials above and beyond that of merely being the dam of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff favorite.
Nappelon was a Grade 2 winner of 17 races that earned $631,139. Her high-water mark came in the spring of her 3-year-old season when she won the Grade 2 Comely Stakes going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct. Nappelon won from 6 furlongs to a mile and a sixteenth.
“She placed in a lot of stakes that are Graded today, like the Pebbles at Belmont Park going long, the Gallant Bloom at Belmont Park, the National Jockey Club Stakes at Hawthorne,” said Barry Irwin. “Earning more than $600,000 a dozen years ago is like winning more than $1 million today.
“She was sound and tough as nails. She raced 71 times during 4 racing seasons, winning or placing in 40 races. You don’t see that occurring with much regularity in the current era of racing. She was a throwback.”
Unbridled's son Red Bullet was a Classic winner of the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes. |
Nappelon was produced by a half-sister to Escaped, winner of the Grade 3 Hessian Handicap, and to the dam of Easy n Dirty, a $764,523 earner who won the Grade 3 Display Handicap and placed in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Barry Irwin is well acquainted with Red Bullet, as he bought that Classic winner’s second dam as a yearling in France in the mid 1980s, imported her to California, where she became a stakes winner and placed in Graded events on both the West and East Coast with her.
Named Aerturas, Red Bullet’s grandam was a chestnut Irwin had bought for $35,000 at the French national yearling sale in Deauville.
“She was as fast as any filly I’ve ever owned,” he recalled. “She ran a half in :43 and change one day at Santa Anita.”
Red Bullet is a son of America’s last great Classic sire Unbridled, a Kentucky Derby winner that sired a Kentucky Derby winner in Grindstone, a Preakness winner in Red Bullet and a Belmont Stakes winner in Empire Maker. His Champions include Unbridled’s Song, a Leading Sire in North America and sire of the $3.7-million Keeneland September Yearling Sale topper.
Red Bullet was produced by a daughter of the French import Caro, who left Classic winners in his homeland before coming to the United States, where he is best remembered as the sire of Winning Colors, the last filly to win the Kentucky Derby.
As a racehorse, Red Bullet was a sensation, winning 4 of his first 5 starts, winning the Classic Preakness Stakes in only his fifth career outing by nearly 4 lengths over Fusaichi Pegasus, who had beaten him the time before in the Wood Memorial Stakes. In between these 2 races, Fusaichi Pegasus won the Kentucky Derby.
As a stallion, Red Bullet has his first crop racing this season at 3. From 34 starters in his first crop, he has been represented by 15 winners, including 3 stakes horses in Power of Freedom (Comet Stakes at The Meadowlands), Carysford Light (second in the Vandal Stakes at Woodbine) and Phil the Power (second in the Princeton Stakes at The Meadowlands).
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