SF's Homebred Weanlings Stand Out at Keeneland November

From the farm to the sales grounds, breeding exceptional offspring year after year runs like a well-oiled machine for SF Bloodstock. Helping to keep things moving forward in a positive manner is the 14-year-long partnership that the breeding/racing outlet holds with Neal Clarke and Conor Doyle of Bedouin Bloodstock. The majority of horses bred by SF are sent to the two Irishmen, who are based out of their Atlas Farm near Nicholasville, Ky. Weanlings consigned by Bedouin in Book 2 at this year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale are a product of the team's around-the-clock care, according to SF's Tom Ryan. "Neal and Conor raise all of our stock. It's a fantastic farm," Ryan said. "They do things in somewhat of an old-fashioned way, but with the very best of care and attention. "These foals have been turned out throughout their sale prep, these are ready to transition into anybody's program and move forward... It really gives us the flexibility to run our program globally. I'm often away for weeks at a time and you never really feel any concern because (they are) consummate horsemen." A common factor between this year's crop of weanlings is not only the care with which they were handled up until arriving at the Keeneland shed row, but in how they were bred. Hip 778 is a Twirling Candy colt out of one of SF's foundation mares, Heatherdoesntbluff. The dam is a producer of 2011 Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1) winner Killer Graces, 2015 Mervin H. Muniz Jr. Handicap (G2T) winner Chocolate Ride, and the stakes-placed Rockin Heather. Keeping in line with her dam, Killer Graces has already proven to be a producer herself with two winners in Japan, including Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Killer Ability (JPN) and Killer Presence, who was third in the Wasurenagusa Sho in 2019. "Heather has been a wonderful mare. We've had Michigan Bluff, who's Heather's mother, as well. We've had the whole family," said Neal Clarke. "All of the ones out of Heather we were fortunate enough to foal and raise. "We've done very well at the sales with her. She's a lovely mare. They like Twirling Candy an awful lot and so they bred this mare to him. We've got a lovely horse, an athletic horse. He's young but we think he's going to do very well." Ryan echoed Clarke's sentiment, adding that the mare is very useful due to her ability to produce a classy foal regardless of the sire she is paired with. "She's been with us a long time. We bought her at one stage, we sold her, and we bought her back, and I'm very glad we did," Ryan said. "She's been a very good producer for us. She produces sales horses, racehorses, she's just a fantastic mare to have in a program because we've used her for proven sires, unproven sires—we've used her in every which way. "This Twirling Candy colt she's put on the ground is probably one of the better Twirling Candys we've been able to develop. We're very excited about this horse." Another weanling representing SF's band is Hip 705, a Game Winner colt out of the Indian Charlie mare Czechers. The colt is a half to the multiple graded stakes winner Switzerland, who last out won the March 26 Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Atlantis Dubai (G1). This year marks the first foals for Game Winner, who entered stud in 2021 at Lane's End. Despite the sire's fairly unproven status, both Ryan and Clarke were confident in the colt. "We felt that she fit Game Winner very well physically. Game Winner was a very tough, durable 2-year-old by Candy Ride," Ryan said. "Candy Ride is, in my opinion, probably the best sire of sires in the town at the moment with sons like Twirling Candy and Gun Runner—both firing on all cylinders. We feel strongly about Game Winner and felt he deserved a mare of Czechers' credentials." Clarke said: "Physically, he's a beautiful-walking colt. He is very representative of the mare. She really puts a lovely horse on the ground, very athletic horse. We're very impressed with the Game Winners at this point...We're happy to get these horses out there in the hands of good buyers and see how they go." Bedouin will also put a daughter of Quality Road through the sales ring with Hip 787, who is out of the Bernstein mare Inlovewithlove. The dam produced Lovely Bernadette, winner of the 2017 Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2T). "This mare just puts such a solid horse on the ground every year... SF has been really bullish on (Quality Road) the last two or three years or more," Clarke said. "They have bred a lot of their very good mares to this horse and it's paying dividends at the moment. They've got some lovely foals, and more on the farm that we kept as yearlings. "Physically, she's a lovely, elegant filly. She looks just like her mother. She has a lovely walk on her. She's a real queen out here." Quality Road entered stud in 2011 at Lane's End and sits just behind Into Mischief in second on the 2022 North American leading sires list. He will stand the 2023 season for $200,000. "His yearling averages are surpassing the Curlins and the Into Mischiefs of the world. There's a lot of blue sky with Quality Road and we're excited to offer this filly," Ryan said. Looking back on his relationship with Ryan and SF through the years, Clarke expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to move high-quality horses through his program. "They're by far the best clients you could ever want to have and they're so reasonable and good to deal with," Clarke said. "They have really upped our game a lot and have allowed us to have all these beautiful horses. We're grateful to have them and it's been a long, long ride—and long may it last."