Driving to Horseshoe Indianapolis to watch his homebred Fireball Baby run in—and win—the $100,000 Hoosier Heartland Stakes for the second year in a row, Richard Rigney took advantage of the phone bidding service to land a $925,000 Twirling Candy filly Sept. 14 during Day Three of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Perhaps absence loosens the purse strings a little; the Woods Edge Farm homebred is the most expensive horse the owner has purchased at public auction. At any rate, a rock-solid physical and a huge walk had Rigney and trainer Phil Bauer all-in on the filly, who was consigned as Hip 621.
"We just love the horse; we really like Twirling Candys," Rigney said. "The horse had a huge walk. We thought she had one of the best physicals of all the fillies in Book 1 and 2. She vetted clean; she fits into our program."
This is the only foal out of the winning Distorted Humor mare Double Sharp, who sadly died giving birth to the filly. Second dam Bsharpsonata won the Forward Gal Stakes (G2) and Davona Dale Stakes (G2) in 2008 and earned a top-level placing with a second in the Ashland Stakes (G1). This is also the family of Backtalk, winner of the Sanford Stakes (G2) in 2009.
Peter and Jenny O'Callaghan of Woods Edge acquired Double Sharp for $255,000 from Bluewater Sales' consignment at the 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale and added her to their personal broodmare band.
"My wife and I bred the filly and she was just a killer individual," O'Callaghan said. "Stunning filly, so simple, beautifully made in size, length, motion was correct, beautiful head. There was an army of people that followed her in to bid for her. She was vetted at least 15 times, maybe more. There was almost a who's who list of guys on her.
"Our reserve was a fraction of that. That's where she ended and we were incredibly delighted and grateful to Richard Rigney and Phil Bauer for buying her… very grateful for the underbidders as well. It was a great sale. We actually lost the mare having that foal, so maybe she's destined to be a good one—that's usually the case."
After early lessons at Barry Berkelhammer's Abracadabra Farms, the filly will join a racing stable of about 24 head under Bauer's care. Based in Kentucky, Rigney Racing is coming off a solid meet at Saratoga Race Course, where they won six of 13 starts.
"We had an awesome summer; Phil did a fabulous job," Rigney said. "I said, 'Hey Phil, I'd be happy if we win one, (if we win) two I'd be over the moon.' He just kept knocking it out of the park. I'm super thrilled to be a partner with Phil, he's just great, it's been awesome."
Fireball Baby continued that streak of success with her season debut Wednesday. The 6-year-old daughter of the late Noble's Promise also won the Lady Fog Horn Stakes in 2020-21, took the Julee Rodriquez Memorial ITOBA Stallion Season Fillies Stakes in 2019, and won the Indiana Stallion Stakes and Miss Indiana Stakes in 2018. She has an 8-4-4 record from 25 starts, with earnings of $595,564.
"Fireball Baby is a rockstar," Rigney said. "Some of these things are super emotional to us and it's a big deal. She's done great and we're like, 'Hey, let's just keep rolling with her.'"
For O'Callaghan, the filly's sale was a highlight of a busy day that saw Woods Edge consign 11 horses for gross receipts of $5,205,000 and a $473,182 average, topped by the sale of a $1.15 million Gun Runner colt (Hip 694) purchased by Justin Casse for a partnership consisting of John Oxley, M.V. Magnier, and Breeze Easy.
"It's very gratifying," O'Callaghan remarked of seeing their homebred flirt with the seven-figure mark. "We work very hard with a great team at home. Lisa Reynolds that's been with me from the beginning, all the way to all the guys that work the barns and all the guys at home that don't come to the sales, looking after all those horses that are coming in for the next books.
"You can't do it without the people. This is a great game but it requires a lot of labor, a lot of man power, and it's the same with every end of this game. You can't do it unless you have a good team. We have a great team, they work tirelessly.
"Like every farm, we need a couple scores every year. We have a several-hundred acre operation; it takes a lot of money to run those places and we have a lot of mares at home to feed and the stud fees for next year, so when you get a couple of scores it just keeps you ahead and takes a bit of pressure off."
