When Dreamfyre stepped up from a listed stakes race on the California fair circuit to win the Sorrento Stakes (G3) at Del Mar last month, she did so over high-quality, promising fillies trained by Bob Baffert (Dua), Simon Callaghan (Benedetta), and Doug O'Neill (Ur in Trouble), among others. The first graded stakes win for owner Dan Eplin and trainer O.J. Jauregui came at a most opportune moment for Darby Dan Farm, consignor of Dreamfyre's full sister—by first-crop sire Flameaway out of John Oxley's graded stakes-placed Appreciating—set to sell as Hip 1164 in Book 3 of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
"It stimulates interest a great deal," said John Phillips, owner of Darby Dan, where Flameaway stands for $7,500, of the black-type catalog update. "And the fact that Flameaway himself is doing so well—we've got 12 winners. But most importantly, we've got winners in major jurisdictions and major stakes races."
Another Flameaway 2-year-old with a notable recent effort is Bella Haze, second in the $500,000 Juvenile Fillies Stakes at Kentucky Downs Sept. 10. And the same day Hip 1164 goes through the ring, another Flameaway filly, She's Fire, will try the Natalma Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine Sept. 16.
Phillips described the newer model of Flameaway—Appreciating as typical of her older sister Dreamfyre.
"She's lovely," Phillips said. "Athletic and straightforward. I like her very much. We're pleased to be presenting her."
Book 3 contains several siblings to active graded stakes winners, appealing partly because those relations have proven to be of high quality without yet establishing their ceiling. Among them are Hip 1300, by Liam's Map out of Jazz Tune, a half brother to grade 1 winner Rattle N Roll; Hip 1338, by Caracaro out of Longride to Wisdom, a half sister to Key of Life; Hip 1346, by Gun Runner out of Madame Mayra, a half sister to Tall Boy; Hip 1456, by Collected out of She Is Bedazzling, a half brother to Ryvit; and Hip 1499, by Gun Runner out of Summertime Green, a half brother to recent Secretariat Stakes (G2T) winner Gigante.
The half to Ryvit, winner of the Chick Lang Stakes (G3), is "here to sell," according to consignor Jody Huckabay of Elm Tree Farm, who said breeder Curt Leake of Louisiana rarely races. Ryvit was the second graded stakes winner bred by Leake after Big World, also a Louisiana-bred, whose five stakes wins included the 2017 La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs. Huckabay added that Hip 1456 is the "spitting image" of his brother.
"He's got a lot of muscle, very well-conformed, very correct," Huckabay said. "Looks a lot like his brother except just a little bit bigger, a little taller. Marked very similar, made very similar. We're expecting him to sell well.
"He's a good-feeling horse and when he's showing he really has a cocky way about him, I guess is one way to put it. He likes to strut his stuff."
