HnR’s Sulis Available Along with Sulis 17 at Keeneland November Sale
Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Yearling Sale is rightfully billed as one of the premier, if not the elite, U.S. yearling sale. Entrants are carefully selected and vetted for both outstanding physicals as well as pedigree.
From day one, our philosophy has been to try to breed horses that we cannot afford to buy. The opposite of course is to breed horses that we can’t afford not to sell.
Therefore, I was more than pleased to see HnR bred Sulis 16, a colt by Scat Daddy, appear as Hip 71 in the first book of this year’s Saratoga sale. This is the first HnR bred that made an appearance here.
Since HnR still owns Sulis by Maria’s Mon out of Medicine Woman by Dr. Blum, we have more than just pride on the line as to how Sulis 16 would be received by the discerning, global buyers at Saratoga. Sulis, in foal with a colt to Bodemeister, also produced a wonderful Lemon Drop Kid filly, Sulis 17, who may be her best foal yet, and that is saying something. Bodemeister, of course, sired Always Dreaming, winner of the 2017 Kentucky Derby.
HnR purchased Sulis in 2012 at the Keeneland November sale as Hip 1026 for $105,000. She was in foal to Harlan’s Holiday and produced her first foal, a beautiful filly @ Northview Farm in PA, a registered PA_BRED.
Since we breed to race and sell, we decided to offer Sulis 13 as Hip 509 at the Keeneland November, 2013 sale. With the premature and unfortunate demise of Harlan’s Holiday, there was added interest in the foal. When the hammer came down, Sulis 13 sold for a strong $250,000. This was the highest price for a PA_BRED filly at the Keeneland sale.
HnR Sells Sulis 13 Harlan Holiday filly Keeneland Video
Being a strong fan of Scat Daddy, we bred Sulis to Scat Daddy in 2013. She produced another attractive filly, Sulis 13, also sold at Keeneland in the November 2014 sale. Once again, a Sulis foal registered a six-figure price at $130,000.
We took a calculated risk for our sire choice for 2014, and the verdict is still out on this decision. We decided to breed her to Gio Ponti, a fantastic racehorse, but at that time unproven sire. Unfortunately for us, and many others, Gio Ponti got off to a slow start, which made his 2015 foals unattractive from a commercial point of view. Therefore, we decided to keep Sulis 15, another filly, and named her That’s What We Do.
Fortunately, as Gio Ponti’s horses became three year olds they performed at a much better level producing both a Canadian Classic Winner as well as a Breeders’ Cup Champion. We trained That’s What We Do as a 2 yo at Webb Carroll’s Training Center. We now have her turned her out for further maturing, and will start on her in the fall in FL. We expect her to be a two-turn turf horse.
HnR Sale Sulis 16 Scat Daddy Colt Video
We made a much better sire decision in 2016, once again choosing Scat Daddy. HnR was rewarded with a handsome Scat Daddy colt. Given the commercial value of this foal, coupled with intensified demand based on Scat Daddy’s sudden passing, we again decided to sell. Sulis 16 became Hip 71 in the Keeneland 1st book and produced a sale price of $220,000. This was the colt, resold as a yearling as Hip 72, @ Saratoga for a premium price of $325,000. We are very pleased that the connections had a successful pin hook with this foal.
In 2016, HnR decided to breed to proven, classic quality and chose the Lemon Drop Kid. This mating resulted in a foal that is arguably Sulis’ best foal yet–a phenomenal Lemon Drop Kid filly, Sulis 17. We are very excited about this foal.
Based on our goal to continue to evolve our broodmare band to black type mares that raced for HnR Nothhaft Horse Racing, we have worked to implement this transition steadily over the last couple of years. Therefore we have decided to not only offer Sulis 17 at the Keeneland November 2017 sale but also to offer our wonderful mare Sulis. Anyone seeking a young mare who is a reliable producer of six figures knock out foals should check Sulis out. Anyone looking for one of the best Lemon Drop Kid weanlings available should be looking at Sulis 17. Interested, contact Carl McEntee @Darby Dan Farm (Carl@darbydan.com)
