Six Virginia-breds will go through the ring at Keeneland today. First through the ring will be hip # 1031,  Audley Farm Equine, LLC’s Malibu Moon colt. He is out of G1 placed and earner of $525,000, Snowtop Mountain. Hip 1031 was purchased by Michelle Boghossian/Triple B Farms for $100,000.

Hip # 1275 is Dr. Sam English’s Scat Daddy filly out of If Not for Lust. She is consigned by Top Line sales. Hip 1275 was withdrawn.

Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services consigns hip # 1288 for Clarke Ohstrohm. The Into Mischief filly is out of Katara. #1288 was withdrawn.

Taylor Made sells two yearlings for the William M. Backer Revocable Trust. Hip #1137 is out of Virginia Oaks(G3) winner Blind Date by Scat Daddy. Hip # 1349 is by Giant’s Causeway out of My Mammy and is a half sister to recent Penn Oaks winner Sweet Victory. Both #1137 and #1349 were RNAs.

Late in the day, Brookdale Sales will sell another colt for Audley, hip 1402 a Bodemeister out of Ruler’s Charm. Calumet purchased this colt for $130,000.

   Hip number 722, a Pioneerof the Nile colt out Aronia is the first Virginia-bred through the ring Friday. The colt bred by Jim & Katie Fitzgerald’s Chilly Bleak Farm is from the family of Bellamy Road and was sold last November for $140,000. Dromoland Farm is the consignor this time through the ring.

   Hip # 722 was withdrawn from the sale.

   Hip number 950 is an Orb colt out of Nicky’s Way. Bred by Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin, he is from the family of Vision and Verse and is consigned by Eaton Sales.

   Congratulations to everyone at Wolver Hill Farm!!! Hip #950 sold Friday for $425,000 to Lane’s End.

The only Virginia-bred yearling in Keeneland’s book one brought a $125,000 bid from Zayat Stables, LLC yesterday. Zayat Stables is the breeder/owner of last year’s triple crown winner American Pharoah. The Tiznow colt was bred by Lazy Lane Farms in Upperville and is out of Brookhaven, who is from the family of Life at the Top. 

Later in the day: Though not a Virginia-bred, Audley Farm Equine, LLC sold a Street Cry (IRE) filly out of Hazy Glow (IRE) for $320,000 to BBA Ireland.

Below are the yearlings that were either Virginia-bred, owned or consigned at the Fasig-Tipton select sales at Saratoga. Congratulations to all the Virginians involved.

Hip #11 – Louisa Lenehan’s Curlin colt out of Dress The Part sold for $240,000 to Lothenbach Stables, Inc.

Hip #38 Louisa Lenehan’s filly by Animal Kingdom out of Garden District was a $45,000 rna.

Hip #53 – Virginia-bred Paynter colt out of Hottie Dancer sold to Saratoga Seven Racing Partners for $255,000.

Hip #63 – Louisa Lenehan’s Uncle Mo colt out of Jody Slew sold to Crupi’s New Castle, agent for $550,000.

Hip #170 – Smitten Farm’s First Samurai out of Talent sold to Quarter Pole Enterprises, LLC for $105,000

Hip #202 – Andrew Motion consigned this Ghostzapper filly out of Amber Grace for Chapel Hill LLC. She was sold to Steven Carr DVM for $285,000 and will be broken by Paula Parsons in Middleburg.

Hip #204 – Smitten Farm’s Bodemeister filly out of Art Show was purchased by Mike Ryan, agent for $90,000.

Hip 235 – Sold to It’s All About The Girls for $105,000, this Virginia-bred Congrats filly out of Chemise was bred by The Corner Farm and John Behrendt

Two other fillies with Virginia connections were sold at the Saratoga Select sales.  Susie and Pug Hart bred Hip #96, an Eskendereya filly out of Miz United States that was purchased for $225,000 by Frankie Brothers agent for Starlight.

Their NY bred filly by The Factor out of Head Strong Beauty (below) was sold to Patricia Schuler for $230,000 and will return to Virginia where she will be broken at Braeburn Training Center.

Congratulations to everyone involved.

(courtesy of The Paulick Report) Other than some minor scrapes and cuts, Crossed Sabres Farm’s multiple graded-stakes winner Valid emerged from Saturday’s $500,000 Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) in good order, trainer Marcus Vitali said Sunday.

Making his fourth start of the Championship Meet, the 6-year-old gelding went to his knees in mid-stretch after clipping heels with Anchor Down while making a bid for the lead. The son of Medaglia d’Oro was able to gather himself and get back to running to finish fourth behind upset winner Blofeld.

Favored at 6-5 in the field of seven, Valid was placed third ahead of Anchor Down following a steward’s inquiry, earning $49,000 and moving over the $1 million mark in lifetime earnings, with $1,009,577 from 36 starts.

“The more I watched it, and the more I looked at it last night several times, he was the winner. No doubt in my mind. It’s a tough way to lose a race. It’s unfortunate,” Vitali said. “He looked good this morning. He looked like he was in a little bit of a fight but nothing major. He’s acting good, ate good last night, had a good attitude this morning. It was just unfortunate luck. I’m glad everybody lives for another race.”

Second in both the Hal’s Hope (G3) and Donn Handicap (G1) to multiple Grade 1 winner Mshawish after winning the Harlan’s Holiday Stakes earlier this winter, Valid has placed in the top three in 12 of 14 career starts at Gulfstream Park. Vitali planned to monitor him further before looking at another start.

“We’ll give him another week or two and we’ll make a decision,” he said. “Right now, we’re looking good.”

Carolyn Rogers, a longtime owner, breeder, buyer, seller, and patron of the Thoroughbred industry, died Feb. 14 in Leesburg, Va., at the age of 88.   Just a day before, Rogers had cheered on her homebred Lovable Lady to a commanding four-length victory at Laurel Park in the fourth race.

Carolyn Rogers, shown here courtesy of LoudounNow, passed away February 14, 2016.

Rogers and her late husband, Sam Rogers Jr., owned White Oaks Farm in Virginia and had been mainstays at the major East Coast sales and races since the early 1960s.    Rogers, who at one time had been a licensed Thoroughbred trainer, was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Phin and Frances Medearis Horton. She was raised in Winston-Salem and attended Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia. Having learned how to ride horses from her father at a very early age, she became an accomplished horsewoman and successfully showed both Saddlebreds and hunters in the highest level of horse shows along the east coast and even Canada.

Sam and Carolyn Rogers’ home-bred Lovable Lady, won a $45,000 allowance race at Laurel February 13th, the day before she passed away.

Together with her husband of 68 years they bred, raced, or pinhooked over 50 stakes winners including Summer Guest, Sharp Cat, Grab the Green, Splendid Try, Diamond Stripes, Recapturetheglory, Changing World, Advice, Irish Playboy, and Miss Golden Circle. In addition, they are tied for the longest consecutive yearling consignors at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga yearling sale at 50 years.

The Rogers’ were one of the earliest weanling-to-yearling pinhookers, and notable graduate Sharp Cat, winner of 7 Grade I stakes, is shown here.

Rogers was preceded in death by her husband four months ago, and is survived by three children: Lyn Rainbow (Bill) Acorn Farm, Ocala, Fla., Susan Parks(Ken) Leesburg, Va., and Sam Rogers III (Matthew Hamblet) Jefferson, Md., as well as four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2016 at Hall Funeral Home at 2:00 p.m. Interment will be in Union Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Old Friends Equine Retirement, 1841 Paynes Depot Rd., Georgetown, KY 40324 www.oldfriendsequine.org

1931 – 2016

Samuel Charles Deane passed away peacefully in his sleep on February 15th, surrounded by his loving family.  Born June 15, 1931 to Floyd Deane and Cornelia Dickerson, Sam was raised in Charlottesville, Virginia by his sister, Florence Burnett.  He was a Korean War veteran, serving two years as an airplane and helicopter mechanic while stationed in Germany.  Upon returning stateside in 1955, he married his sweetheart, Barbara Jane Rose of Fairfax, Virginia, and they remained devoted to each other throughout their 60 years of marriage. Sam was a loving father to four children and an adoring grandfather to eight grandchildren.  Among his many friends and the community, Sam, along with his wife Jane, was well known as the proprietor of The Atoka General Store.  Sam’s life-long passion was training Thoroughbred racehorses.  Training his racing prospects largely from his own backyard, he proved very successful in the Mid-Atlantic region with numerous winners to his credit.  Sam is survived by his wife Barbara Jane Deane; his sister, Florence Burnett; his four children, Laura Karoll of New Jersey, and John Deane, Mark Deane, and Angela Deane of Virginia; and seven beloved grandchildren, John Michael Hill, Taryn Deane, Katelyn Deane, Jacob Deane, Jesse Deane, Jenna Deane, and Morgan Carriero.  Sam was predeceased by his grandson, Sam Deane.  A celebration of Sam’s life will be held on Thursday, February 18 at 3:00 p.m. at the Middleburg Methodist Church, Middleburg, Virginia.  After the service, a reception will follow at the church.

John Sadler…This means the world to me. I want to thank my family for putting up with my bizarre hours, my staff for working hard every day and I’d especially like to thank Hronis Racing, Pete and Kosta, these are really terrific owners. These are the kind of owners that, when you are down, they lift you up.

Voting in the 3-year-old filly division: Stellar Wind, 108; I’m a Chatterbox, 47; Found 46; Lady Eli, 34; Lovely Maria, 12; Curalina, 11;Include Betty, 2; voter abstentions, 1

Stellar Wind won the Grade III, $100,000 Santa Ysabel Stakes February 28 at Santa Anita Park                              Benoit Photo

Our thoughts go out to the family of longtime VTA member Tony Smith who sadly passed away last Sunday. Over the years, Smith who raced under the name of Concepts Unlimited, was a familiar face at Colonial Downs. He could be found in Nellie Mae Cox’s box enjoying the races and cheering on  his horses along with partners and friends Nellie Mae Cox, Anne and John Tucker, and Bob and Beverly Bouse.  All Giving was the most accomplished horse he owned. The Allen’s Prospect mare was a multiple stakes winner and earned almost $600,000.  All Giving’s first foal Little Cherie just won an allowance race at Turfway Park on January 1st after running unplaced in the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (gr.I). Below is the obituary printed by the Richmond Times Dispatch.

SMITH, Charles Anthony “Tony” Jr., 69, of Midlothian, died Sunday, January 10, 2016. He was preceded in death by his wife, Susan S. Smith; and sister, Marie S. Beil. He is survived by his children, Charles Anthony Smith III and wife, Ingrid, Susan Cassandra Zimmerman and husband, Bruce, Shannon Smith Horan and husband, Brendan and Bryan Sheppard Smith and wife, Robyn; nine grandchildren, Susan, Wayne, Alyssa, Lauren, Bryan, Payton, Caitlyn, Brian and Jacob; sister, Catherine Jeanette Smith; uncle, William Holzgrete; brother-in-law, Guy Sheppard and wife, Susan; and many loving family and friends. Tony was a 1964 graduate of Benedictine High School and attended VCU and graduated with a B.S. in economics. Tony was a loving father, grandfather, brother and a friend to many. The family will receive friends 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday (today), January 12, at Bliley’s-Staples Mill, 8510 Staples Mill Rd., with a prayer service starting at 7 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, January 13, at St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church, 2700 Dolfield Rd., Richmond, Va. Interment will follow in Holy Cross Cemetery.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of former VTA member Hugh Motley. Motley a highly-regarded horseman from Keswick, Va., who started his own bloodstock agency and sold Thoroughbreds at many of America’s top sales, died in Wellington, Fla., on Jan. 9 of complications from pneumonia. He was 60.

Motley began riding as a child when his family moved from Virginia Beach to Keswick when he was 10. For more than 25 years he also had his own business breaking and training yearlings on his family’s Highground Farm near Keswick.

Motley began his Thoroughbred career working for his cousin, L. Clay Camp, who had his own bloodstock agency. Motley and many other young Virginia riders, including horse show legend Rodney Jenkins, also would help Camp show his yearlings at venues up and down the East Coast including the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale.

“Hugh could do pretty much anything when it came to horses,” said lifelong friend John Coles of Middleburg, Va. “We started fox hunting together when we were 10. He was a wonderful horseman, a guy with a great sense of humor, and everybody just loved him.”

Motley served as Master of Fox Hounds for the Keswick Hunt from 2000-05. He also played polo for many years as a member of the Charlottesville Polo Club.

“He was a great rider with a natural seat,” said friend Tommy Lee Jones. “He did a great job as Master at Keswick. People just enjoyed riding with him. He knew how to have a good time, and he was always harder on himself than he was with anybody else.”

Hugh Douglas Camp Motley was born Jan. 30, 1955 in Virginia Beach, the son of Frank Robertson Motley and Caroline Camp Sherman who preceded him in death. He attended the Blue Ridge School in St. George, Va., and graduated from Christ Church School in Richmond before starting his career in the horse business.

Motley was an avid golfer and a voracious reader. He was a member of the Keswick Hunt Club, and a past member of the Keswick Club and Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville. In addition to his farm in Keswick, Motley also spent part of the year living with his family in Wellington.

Motley is survived by his wife of 40 years, Kathleen Buchanan “Winkie” Motley; a daughter, Sheila Camp Motley of Wellingon, (married to Mathew Allen); a sister, Mary Motley Kalergis of Charlottesville; a brother, James Coleman Motley of Salt Lake City, Utah; and a grandson, Collins Camp Allen.

The family requests donations be made in memory of Hugh Motley to two charities: the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation (821 Corporate Drive, Lexington, KY 40503) and the Little Keswick School, P.O. Box 24, Keswick, VA  22947.

Reprinted courtesy of the Bloodhorse.com