Saratoga Sale to Offer Shahama, Boardroom Half Siblings

What Denali Stud vice president Conrad Bandoroff calls the "Saratoga magic" will be on full display Aug. 8 when the yearlings step into the sales ring at Fasig-Tipton for day one of The Saratoga Sale.

With 90 youngsters slotted for the first day of selling, many hailing from some of the finest families the American Stud Book has to offer, buyers will be keen to turn their attention to a trio of yearlings sired by first-crop stallions that boast some exciting updates courtesy of recent success by their half siblings.

The most recent of these updates came July 31 at Monmouth Park with Shahama's stylish victory in the Monmouth Oaks (G3). Her half brother, a colt by first-crop stallion Catalina Cruiser , will be on offer from Denali Stud. The colt consigned as Hip 51 is not only related to Shahama but is a half sibling to two-time champion, classic winner, and sire Lookin At Lucky and multiple graded stakes winner Kensei.

Watch: Half to Lookin At Lucky, Shahama Stands Out at Saratoga

"His pedigree speaks for itself," Bandoroff said. "'It's a stallion's pedigree. He's a half to Lookin At Lucky, a half to Shahama, who just won the Monmouth Oaks impressively."

Lookin At Lucky, the sire of two grade 1 winners in North America, has become a stallion sensation in Chile. The son of Smart Strike has sired 13 group 1 winners and has been the leading sire in that country two times.

Hip 51, a bay colt bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock, is out of the Belong to Me mare Private Feeling. Acquired by First Finds for $200,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, he was his sire's co-highest-priced weanling sold last year.

Catalina Cruiser, a strapping son of Union Rags , was a multiple graded stakes winner on the track sprinting and around two-turns that earned more than $700,000. He stood the 2022 season at Lane's End for $15,000.

"The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Catalina Cruiser is physicality," Bandoroff said. "He was a big, impressive horse. And that's what I see in this horse. From what I've heard people say about the 'Catalinas' is that they are very balanced horses. They hit the ground softly and that certainly rings true with this colt."

Hip 28, a chestnut colt consigned by Mill Ridge, is a half brother to June 4 Royal North Stakes (G2T) winner Boardroom. Campaigned in Canada by LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Josie Carroll, Boardroom has collected three graded stakes victories in her career sprinting on both turf and synthetic surfaces. She sold for $475,000 to agents Solis/Litt during the Ocala Breeders' Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, where she was consigned by Q Bar J Thoroughbreds.

"This colt has been out and seen," Mill Ridge general manager Price Bell Jr. said of Hip 28, a Kentucky-bred colt out of the Rahy mare Money Madness. "He's just an exciting horse by a first-crop sire. Physically, he looks fast. He's got a lovely gaskin, a lovely forearm. He's just a good-moving, good-minded colt. When we were prepping he loved to work. He was always keen to work and exercise."

Bell explained that Hip 28, a son of Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner Vino Rosso , is the product of a shrewd breeding match-up from Polo Green Stable's Nobu Araki. Vino Rosso's dam Mythical Bride, is a half sister to Commissioner, the sire of Boardroom.

"After Boardroom sold well and did well on the track I thought it was very clever for Nobu to breed Money Madness to Vino Rosso because obviously something in the Commissioner line was working," Bell said. "It was a clever breeding."

In addition to Polo Green, the colt was bred in partnership with RTA Family Trust and George Saufley. Sycamore purchased Hip 28 for $100,000 at Keeneland November. Another half sibling to the colt, juvenile Ever a Rebel, by Bolt d'Oro , finished second first time out in a five-furlong maiden special weight May 12 at Belmont Park. He has yet to run back but currently is training at Saratoga Race Course with Wesley Ward.

Although Hip 93's page updates aren't as recent as the first two, the Sequel Bloodstock-consigned filly is sired by a hot first-crop sire Omaha Beach . Omaha Beach has been turning heads with his offspring since last year. The grade 1-winning War Front  stallion has averaged $127,152 with his yearlings in 2022 as of Aug. 7. During the freshman sire showcase at the Fasig-Tipton July Sale, he topped all first-crop sires with a filly selling for $410,000. In all, Omaha Beach had five yearlings sell for an average of $236,000 in July, nearly eight times his current stud fee.

The filly is a third generation homebred for New York breeders Chester and Mary Broman, who have enjoyed decades of success both on the track and in the sales ring. The filly is out of the Cat Thief mare Stolen Star, the dam of current runner Captain Bombastic as well as the Broman-raced Highway Star, a multiple graded stakes winner and millionaire.

Captain Bombastic, also bred and consigned by the same connections, was picked up for $80,000 by Bradley Thoroughbreds at the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. The New-York bred son of Forty Tales, still in training with Steve Asmussen, has amassed $521,820 in earnings and captured stakes races as a 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old.