We purchased the third horse through the ring, Hip 2794 on Wednesday. This filly by Caracaro out of Welcome Aboard by Rock Hard Ten was on our short list after bloodstock agent Jun Park (Knicks Go and Sebelius) saw her at the barn on the previous day. When Marc saw her in the back ring on Wednesday morning, he quickly saw why Jun liked her.
Marc watched her go through the sales ring standing right next to the consignors. He was hoping the bidding would stall out early and we could get a bargain. The bidding went just beyond what he was hoping for, but when the hammer fell, the consignor told Marc it didn’t meet the reserve. Marc offered $30,000 on the spot and they accepted. It turns out the consignors own the mare and they didn’t want her ending up overseas or in the wrong hands. They really like the filly and have hopes that a successful career will enhance the value of the mare. They were prepared to take a loss in the short term on the sale of the filly to make sure she ended up with someone that would race her and give her the best chance to succeed.
This filly has buckets of stretch and plenty of scope. She has just enough size at the moment, but she’s very up behind indicating she has growing to do. She has an exceptional “engine” with possibly the best shape and strength in her hind leg we saw at the sale. To put it simply, she is built for speed. While she does have growing to do, we anticipate most of that growth coming between now and next spring. Once the growth plates in her knees have closed, we expect her to come to hand very quickly. She is a typical “Jun” horse. She’s very handy. She doesn’t have extra flesh where she doesn’t need it but has plenty where she does. Above all, she’s a great mover.
Caracaro is a son of Uncle Mo out of the War Front mare, Peace Time. He was runner-up in the Travers (GI) and Peter Pan (GIII) before his career was cut short by injury. Uncle Mo is a perennial top sire in North America and appears to be well on his way as a sire of sires with such offspring as Nyquist, Outwork and Mo Town.
Welcome Aboard is a stakes winning daughter of Rock Hard Ten. She was the winner of 8 races including the Opelousas Stakes and earned more than $220,000. She is the dam of three other foals including winner Majuka Bobby. All have raced and hit the board.
The filly is at Margaux Farm in Midway. We expect her to be based in Kentucky.
