Pocket Aces Racing LLC is very excited to introduce the newest addition to our stable, a 2YO filly by Bolt d’Oro out of Relish The Dawn by Ghostzapper. She was purchased out of the OBS March 2YO in Training Sale on Wednesday for $50,000.
While we did not attend the sale ourselves, long-time associates of Pocket Aces Racing LLC, Jun Park (bloodstock agent: Knicks Go, Sibelius and short listed Oscar Season), Kevin Nohltemeyer (manager and trainer, Silver Springs Farm) and trainer Brendan Walsh were in attendance. We asked them all to keep an eye out for any horses that looked interesting and might fall within our budget. They sent us several to look at over the course of the sale, with all of them landing on this filly. We bypassed several we liked through the first day and a half of the sale to focus on this filly. When the hammer dropped at $50,000, we were ecstatic to have the winning bid.
“She is a good physical and has the best parts of the sire and broodmare sire. She has a good strong hip we usually see with Bolt d’Oro and the deep shoulder girth from Ghostzapper. She’s very well put together with a nice stride and impressive breeze,’ said Kevin.
Jun added, “She is a really well-balanced, medium size filly with a solid build and athletic frame. She showed good speed, working in 10.1 and has a very efficient walk. I expect her to be quick and professional in training with potential to be an early runner. I’d really like to see her get a chance on the turf sometime. I think she could really take to it.”
“Other than her work video, what I like best about this filly may be her walking video,” said Marc. “She really reaches out with her hind legs and is very athletic. All four limbs are tracking in a straight line and she has a very strong push off. In the breeze, she’s low and driving with her neck down. She galloped out very strong. She has plenty of speed going in 10.1 rather easily. The walk and breeze video really go hand in hand. She has a very nice shoulder with an almost perfect 45* angle. It really allows her reach out with every stride. She has a huge hip and tons of strength. She looks very powerful. While she’s not super tall, she stands over plenty of ground. She’s got ideal cannon bones which result in a very quick turn of foot.”
Bolt d’Oro was the leading freshman sire of 2022. He is the 20th leading sire overall so far in 2025. He is the sire of graded stakes winners Tamara, Major Dude, Instant Coffee, Ruby Nell, Boppy O and Bold Discovery. He already has three stakes winners in 2025 in Drexel Hill, Look forward and Major Dude. With five crops of foals, his stud career is off to an excellent start. The son of great Medaglia d’Oro posted a record of 4-1-1 with earnings of $1,016,000 from eight starts in his racing career.
The filly is the first foal out of an 8YO Ghostzapper mare, Relish The Dawn. We spoke with Marc McLean of Crestwood Farm after the sale. They raised Relish The Dawn and told us she had a paddock accident as a young horse and that almost certainly had a negative impact on her racing career. While she only raced once, she is a half-sister to stakes winner Icicles. There is a ton of black type on the page including GI winner Neired, stakes winner Figarella’s Queen, graded stakes placed and stakes winning Sea Queen and stakes winners Where’s Chris and Love Appeals.
Ghostzapper has established himself as one of the best broodmare sires in the business. He is the sire of dams of 44 stakes winners and 3 champions. In 2015, his daughter, Stage Magic, produced one of the greatest racehorses of the new century, Justify. By the end of 2018, Justify was a Triple Crown Winner, 3YO Champion and Horse of the Year. He was inducted into The Hall of Fame in 2024. Ghostzapper is also the broodmare sire of 2023 Champion Turf Male, Up to the Mark and Grade I winner, Book’em Danno. We love Ghostzappers versatility with a Triple Crown winner on dirt and Turf Champion to his credit.
The filly will go to Silver Springs Farm from the sales grounds. We plan to give her a couple weeks of turn out to recover from the rigor of the sale and travel. Assuming she recovers in good shape, we’ll get her going and then get her to Brendan Walsh as soon as she’s ready for the track.
