$510K Curlin Colt a Home Run for First Finds

Investing in the horse business doesn't have to be complicated. Just ask Tami Bobo. Her First Finds hit a homerun during the opening session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training April 19, when a Curlin colt bought by First Finds for $40,000 as a yearling at last year's Keeneland September Sale sold to David Ingordo, agent for Mayberry Farm, for $510,000. Consigned to the Spring sale by de Meric Sales, agent, as Hip 66, the bay colt is produced from the graded stakes-winning Malibu Moon mare Winding Way, a full sister to multiple graded stakes winner Kauai Katie, an earner of $716,500. The colt was bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and was consigned as a yearling to the Keeneland September Yearling Sale by Warrendale Sales, agent for Stonestreet Bred and Raised. The colt, who hails from a productive female family that includes his second dam More Than Pretty, a stakes-winning and stakes-producing daughter of More Than Ready, breezed an eighth in :10 1/5 at the sale's under tack preview. "I saw him in the back ring at Keeneland and I liked the horse right away," said Bobo, who operates First Finds with her husband, Fernando De Jesus. "I thought he had an amazing walk. I asked the consignor what they needed for the horse, what they were thinking, and I stood there and bought him. He's been a great horse all year for us. He had an amazing winter. The de Merics have been very proud of him, and they enjoyed having him. They said that 'he was a very nice horse.' It's a blessing to be able to buy him at that price and then turn around and send him here to be a solid 2-year-old. I wish the connections that bought him the best of luck. "He was a strong, forward Curlin, solid, trainable," Bobo noted of what she liked about the colt as a yearling. "You have to love a Curlin. Every year at Keeneland I've been blessed in that back ring. I work the back ring pretty hard. It's my buying style. It's just me and Fernando, so we can't shortlist after Book 1. They could walk in the back ring, and we make split-second decisions about what we're going to pay and walk up and buy them." Ingordo indicated the colt is headed to California and will be trained by John Sherriffs. "He's by Curlin who needs no introduction," said Ingordo. "He looks like a horse to go two turns. He has a good pedigree, and he's a horse that if we get lucky, could be a stallion one day. "They did a good job buying him; very fortunate it worked out for them (First Finds)," Ingordo added of the astute pinhook. "The kind of horse like that, who has all the qualities, that's what you are going to pay." Mayberry Farm also picked up a colt, Hip 24, by freshman sire Mo Town at the beginning of the day for $190,000 from the Britton Peak consignment. The bay colt out of Venditabreezed in :10 1/5 during the first under tack show. He comes from the South American family of stakes-winning mare Cure for Sale (ARG), a group and grade 3 winner in Argentina and the United States. Bred in Kentucky by DP Racing, the colt was last sold at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale for $105,000 to H43 Equine from the Taylor Made Sales Agency.