Pope spends big on Stopchargingmaria, record Fasig-Tipton weanling

A Pioneerof the Nile filly, the first foal out of 2015 Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Stopchargingmaria, set a the Fasig-Tipton November Sale’s weanling record on Sunday night when she went for $1.9 million at the auction in Lexington, Ky.

The fireworks didn’t stop there.

Hip 234 — Stopchargingmaria herself — immediately followed to sell for the second-highest price of the evening overall at $4.4 million, trailing only Lady Aurelia, who went for $7.5 million earlier in the evening.

Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm purchased both.

"These two went for a little bit more than I thought they would," Pope said. "But ones earlier were going for two, three times what I thought they were. Sometimes patience pays off to stay.

"...We passed on a couple other mares after I bought the first one conserving money for this. Because there were a couple of lovely mares that we liked in between that we just didn't bet on because we were waiting on this."

This is a family on the rise, as Stopchargingmaria, the former Todd Pletcher trainee who also won the Alabama (G1) and Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), recently had a yearling half-brother go for $2.1 million.

Stopchargingmaria, now 7 years old, is in foal to Tapit. Taylor Made Sales consigned the mare.

"The mare is a gorgeous mare," Pope said. "Obviously an awesome racehorse. The only thing that she didn't have was a championship. She won a bunch of races. She ran at I believe 3, 4 and 5, I believe. Or 2, 3 and 4. Anyway she ran for several years, so we like sound horses that do go on and run for a couple of years.

"And what else could we say about her? In foal to Tapit. We all know how I feel about Tapit, so of course that's very helpful. And she seemed just like a lovely mare and should be a big addition to our broodmare family."