Catalog updates don't get much bigger than the one for broodmare Spangled Banner, a 15-year-old daughter of Tiz Wonderful who will be offered Nov. 7 at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
The update is the addition of a grade 1 victory by one of the hottest 2-year-olds in the country in U. S. S. Valor, who rolled in the Champagne Stakes (G1) Oct. 3 at Belmont Park. While owner Team Valor International opted to skip the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) to focus on the 2027 spring classics, U. S. S. Valor has most assuredly captured the racing public's imagination.
A son of 2019 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner War of Will , U. S. S. Valor rallied five wide into the stretch of the Champagne to quickly overwhelm rivals and then drew off to a 6 1/2-length score while geared down late by jockey Manny Franco in the one-turn mile test. That most impressive stakes debut followed a 13 1/4-length victory in a 7-furlong maiden special weight Sept. 5 at Saratoga Race Course for trainer Shug McGaughey.
U. S. S. Valor, at 6-1, finished as the top individual choice in the first Kentucky Derby Future Wager that closed hours before Hughes' victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland.
Spangled Banner will be offered as Hip 1912 from the Bluewater Sales consignment Nov. 7, as part of Book 3 of the sale. With excitement generated by U. S. S. Valor, Bluewater Sales' Meg Levy is confident potential buyers will give full credit when considering the 15-year-old mare.
"It's been really fun," Levy said. "Before we sold our big farm on Old Frankfort Pike, we had her for Team Valor. She's just stunning. She's just a stunning individual, and it's just been awesome to watch U. S. S. Valor running. I mean, he's just unbelievable."
Spangled Banner was entered in Keeneland November before the Champagne and Levy is hoping she can be the standout horse of the session. Levy noted that moving up in the sale was an option, but that would have seen concerns in terms of moving from the main catalog to the supplement. Bluewater landed on staying put and getting the word out through advertising, including a banner using Team Valor's red and green colors outside the mare's stall in Barn 8 on the Keeneland backstretch that reads, "Spangled Banner, Dam of U. S. S. Valor, the fastest 2-year-old in the country."
"The poster looks good and it's been fun watching the social media and everything about U. S. S. Valor," Levy said. "One of Team Valor's clients actually wrote a rap song about him. I thought it was fantastic."
In early October, Team Valor founder and CEO Barry Irwin said U. S. S. Valor would skip the Breeders' Cup Juvenile as the connections plot a path toward the 2027 Kentucky Derby (G1). Team Valor captured the 2011 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom.
"I have had many good horses. I have never had anything remotely close to this one," Irwin said on the Oct. 5 BloodHorse Monday podcast. "He is just a different sort, period. I don't think too many people have had a horse like this."
Spangled Banner holds the promise of classic potential going forward. She's being offered in foal to 2020 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Tiz the Law . Five of her six starters are winners, with U. S. S. Valor being a grade 1 winner and Expressman (Liam's Map ) being grade 1-placed.
A winner at 2 on the track, Spangled Banner is a half sister to stakes winners Ladyecho and Soros. Since the conclusion of her racing career in 2015, Spangled Banner has been sold five times at mixed sales, most recently to Barry and Kathleen Irwin for $225,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton August Digital Sale, where she was consigned by Norevale Farm. Team Valor International is the breeder of U. S. S. Valor.
"We're very excited," Levy said. "She's a great physical mare and you couldn't have a better update. I'm just really excited for everybody involved."
