Spendthrift Farm-based freshman sire Yaupon saw his first stakes winner June 5 when Sassy C W blitzed four other juvenile fillies to post a three-length victory in the $145,500 Astoria Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
Making her stakes debut for owners Patricia's Hope and Carolyn Wilson, Sassy C W opened a two-length advantage through a quarter-mile in :21.92 and was never seriously threatened as she completed the 5 1/2-furlong test for 2-year-old fillies in 1:06.04. Trained by Larry Rivelli, Sassy C W entered the Astoria off a front-running, 5 1/4-length score in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight race April 30 at Churchill Downs.
That Churchill win made Sassy C W the first winner for Yaupon, who stands for $25,000 at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington. A grade 1-winning 8-year-old son of Uncle Mo, Yaupon has two starters through June 4 from 174 current 2-year-old foals. He also has 142 reported yearlings.
Yaupon's yearlings of 2024 averaged $165,349 and his juveniles this year have averaged $232,623.
"Right off the bat, that's Yaupon's first stakes horse and first stakes winner," said Spendthrift Farm stallion sales manager Mark Toothaker. "The bar is way up here for him because they've sold so well and are the talk of all the sales, so it's great to get off to a good start with a stakes winner immediately.
"She broke a step slow and rushed up there and went on about her business. She's talented and we're thrilled to death to see her get a stakes win. They just keep going—great weanlings, yearlings, and now 2-year-olds. The expectation has been high. Hopefully this keeps happening."
Sassy C W follows in the racing footsteps of Yaupon, who registered the biggest win of his career at the Spa in the 2021 Forego Stakes (G1) in which he edged Firenze Fire by a head—despite being savaged in midstretch by the eventual runner-up. Campaigned by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt and trained by Steve Asmussen, Yaupon also won the 2020 Amsterdam Stakes (G2) at Saratoga as well as that year's Chick Lang Stakes (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.
Bred in Kentucky by Betz, Lamantia, CoCo Equine, Magers & Burns, Yaupon is out of the winning, grade 1-placed Vindication mare Modification, who also has produced grade 2-placed winner Sawyer's Hill.
