At some point before this year's The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale, Spendthrift Farm made an offer on the Into Mischief colt that it had co-bred with Carolyn Gray and Fletcher Gray, hoping to be able to buy out their partners before the colt hit the auction ring Aug. 5.
"They were too smart to take that offer," said Spendthrift Farm general manager Ned Toffey Tuesday night.
While Toffey didn't disclose how much that offer was, it's likely to have been less than the ticket Toffey signed for $2.6 million on the final night of the Saratoga Sale. The yearling is out of the multiple grade 1-winning mare I'm a Chatterbox.
I'm a Chatterbox is the dam of three foals of racing age, two to race—both winners, including the graded stakes-placed Juniper's Moon. The Kentucky-bred colt was consigned at Hip 163 by Warrendale Sales, agent for Spendthrift Farm and Grayson Farm.
"We bought half of I'm a Chatterbox several years ago," Toffey said. "We raised this colt, we know a lot about him, and he's as pretty as any colt in the sale. We're really happy to have him."
While the co-breeders have parted ways on this colt, Spendthrift and the Grays continue to partner on breeding their mare.
"I'm a Chatterbox has a very nice Into Mischief foal by her side, and she's back in foal to Into Mischief," Toffey said. "This colt convinced the Grays to come back to Into Mischief."
Into Mischief stands at Spendthrift Farm for a 2025 fee of $250,000. He has topped the national sire list by earnings for the last six years.
Hip 163 was the most expensive of six yearling purchases made by Spendthrift Farm through two days of selling. The operation also acquired Hip 182, a Street Sense colt, Tuesday night in partnership with MKW Racing and Breeding for $450,000.
Gun Runner Filly Out of Paradise Woods Brings $2.6M
Multiple grade 1 winner Paradise Woods' first foal offered to the public sold for $2.6 million to Love/Linton, agent for Boyd Racing. Hip 175 is by leading sire Gun Runner , sire of Aug. 2 Whitney Stakes (G1) winner Sierra Leone.
"She stood out compared to everything else in the sale," agent Billy Love said. "I saw her toward the end of the 220 horses I viewed. From that point on, she was on the short list, but I knew everyone else was going to keep her, so it was just a matter of how high she was going to go."
Paradise Woods, a daughter of Union Rags , earned more than $1 million during her illustrious racing career and still holds the record for the largest margin of victory in the Santa Anita Oaks (G2), a race she won in 2017 by 11 3/4 lengths. She is the dam of two foals of racing age, with one winner—Paradise Lane.
Hip 175 was bred in Kentucky by Pam and Martin Wygod and Oliver and Emily Bushnell, and consigned by Lanes End, agent for Tranquility Lake Farms.
Boyd Racing is the stable of Randy and Jenny Boyd. Randy Boyd is the president of The University of Tennessee System and founder of Radio Systems Corporation, Boyd Sports, and tnAchieves.
The purchase was icing on the cake for Love as he celebrated his birthday Tuesday. Love got his start in the industry with Brandon and Ali Rice of RiceHorse Stables in 2016 and has since moved to Ocala, Fla., where he and his wife run Love's Equine.
READ: Love's Equine Brings First Consignment to Saratoga Sale
"That's the first time I've signed a ticket for $2.6 million," Love said. "It's pretty gratifying, that's for sure. As an agent, it's something I've dreamed of for a while. Ten years of hard work led to a good evening on my birthday."