Previewing the Paddock Sale
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With the beginning of Del Mar’s racing season comes another
tradition, the annual Paddock Sale. This Sunday’s auction, run by the folks at
Barretts, will see 39 horses of racing age parade through the sales ring, and
several of these thoroughbreds are longtime stalwarts of the Southern
California racing scene.
The most notable entrant in the sale is probably
Handsome
Mike. A two-time Breeders’ Cup participant, Handsome Mike’s last victory came
in the 2013 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland, and the 5-year-old son of Scat
Daddy is less than $30,000 shy of becoming an equine millionaire.
The auction also boasts a Grade 1 winner who could fetch a
pretty penny. Heir Kitty captured the 2013 La Brea Stakes, and was most
recently favored in the Grade 2 Great Lady M. Stakes at Los Alamitos. The
4-year-old daughter of Wildcat Heir has won four of 18 lifetime starts and
could have plenty of races left in her before going to the breeding shed.
Another graded stakes-winner up for bids is
Ciao Bella Luna,
who captured the 2013 Beaumont Stakes at Keeneland. Now a 4-year-old, the
daughter of Tribal Rule won a restricted stakes race earlier this year at Santa
Anita and ran fifth in a pair of graded races going down the hill at the Great
Race Place.
The sale also includes a number of flashy 2-year-old
prospects. Topping that group is Shh She’s Ours, who broke her maiden at first
asking on Independence Day at Los Al. She figured to be the second choice in
the Cinderella Stakes later in that meet, but she was scratched due to her
antics in the paddock. Her pedigree is exceptional (by Tiz Wonderful, out of a
Forestry mare), and she showed tons of early speed in her debut victory, which
saw her run a scorching opening quarter of :21 1/5.
A complete sales catalog can be seen
here, complete with
pedigree information, replays, and past performances. The sale will begin in
the Del Mar paddock at approximately 6:30 p.m.
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