Author Archives: Debbie Easter

2021 Virginia Stallion Season Auction – February 10, 2021

Virginia Stallion Season Auction | February 10, 2021

Save money and buy No Guarantee seasons at the Virginia Stallion Season Auction February 10th. Check out our large list of quality seasons at vabred.org which is updated daily. Many of our seasons are owned by breeding right holders who are motivated to sell.

Want to secure a Stand and Nurse or No Guarantee season prior to February 10th? Call Debbie Easter at 434-531-2480 

Attachment Rate Could Pick Up the Derby Pieces for Romans and Virginia Breeders

By Carl Danbury

The morning line for the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby shows Tiz the Law as the overwhelming favorite to capture the blanket of roses a little after 7 p.m. this Saturday, (Sept. 4). Not since 1989, when entry mates Easy Goer and Awe Inspiring were installed as 3-to-5 favorites, has the morning line been so skewed for the favored horse(s).

Yet, one look at the past performances of the 18 horses entered, his Sackatoga Stable owners should be confident that Tiz the Law will provide them a second Derby champion to stand along Funny Cide. Despite starting from post-position 17 where all 41 previous starters have been denied, with only Forty Niner (1988) cracking the exacta, Tiz the Law will break just inside Authentic and outside of Honor A.P., the other two most likely winners of the race.

Few will give Virginia-bred Attachment Rate, who will break from post-position 13, much of a chance. After all, the son of Hard Spun and Arista (out of Afleet Alex), is one of eight others to be accorded 50-to-1 odds on the morning line and has just one maiden win in eight career tries. However, veteran Louisville-based conditioner Dale Romans, the second leading trainer in Churchill Downs history and winner of 124 graded stakes in 1,010 career starts, believes Attachment Rate could be sitting on his biggest effort to date, and expects he’ll need it to be competitive with Tiz the Law.


Attachment Rate training at Churchill Downs Monday Morning
Cody Photography

Attachment Rate was foaled at Wolver Hill Farm near Middleburg (Mr. and Mrs. C. Oliver Iselin III) and was sold as a weanling at the Keeneland sale in Nov. 2017 for $100,000. At the Sept. 2018 yearling sale at Keeneland, Romans, acting as the agent for owners Jim Bakke and Gerry Isbister, purchased the colt for $200,000.

Romans has gotten the cold shoulder from 10 previous hopefuls he sent to the Derby starting gate and his best finishes were with Paddy O’Prado in 2010 and Dullahan in 2012, both who finished third. His lone Triple Crown victory thus far is the 2011 Preakness Stakes with Shackleford, who upset favorite Animal Kingdom in Baltimore. Romans said Attachment Rate reminds him of Dullahan.

“I am excited to watch this horse run because I am still waiting on his biggest effort. And, it could be this week,” Romans said. ”I realize he needs to step up just a little bit and that Tiz the Law needs to stub his toe to get beat, and that’s for all others too, but I believe both of those things are possible.”

Romans has tabbed veteran jockey, Joe Talamo, to ride Attachment Rate. Talamo has been in the irons for the colt’s last two starts, a second-place finish to Art Collector (who will miss the race Saturday due to injury) in the Ellis Park Derby, Aug. 9 and a fifth-place finish in the BlueGrass Stakes at Keeneland, July 11, during which Attachment Rate was cut off and jostled by Rushie shortly after the start.

As for pre-race instructions to his pilot, Romans prefers to focus on the characteristics of the horse because too many unexpected things can happen during the course of a race.

“I never tell a rider what to do, but in a perfect world I’d like to see him sit four or five lengths off the leaders and be a little bit out in the clear where he’s not going to get stopped. If those in the front can’t get to the mile-and-a-quarter, or if the pace is too fast, then be ready to pounce,” Romans related.

Romans is forecasting a quick pace because both Authentic and Tiz the Law prefer being forwardly placed. In fact, Authentic, who has never faced a field larger than seven starters, rarely has had dirt kicked in his face at all, while Tiz the Law has been the premier threatening stalker in all seven of his career starts. Both are likely to break quickly from posts 17 and 18 so as not to get trapped going too wide entering the first turn.

“They’re going to have to go fast to clear us and we should be far enough out not to get covered up,” Romans stated.

The key to Attachment Rate’s success is his stamina and his newfound ability to switch leads.

“If he switches leads, that’s the key. Early in his career, we couldn’t get him to do it but in the last two races he has,” the trainer said. “I am confident that he will do it in this one. It was just a mental issue with him and I think he has turned the corner.”

When it comes to getting the distance, Romans is certain Attachment Rate will have no issues with the 10 panels.

“Every rider that has ridden him has said his best racing came after the wire. They couldn’t pull him up,” Romans asserted.

If the pace falls apart in front of him, Attachment Rate could be there to pick up the pieces, both for a local trainer thirsty for a victory in his hometown and for Virginia breeders hungry for an overdue defining victory.

Derby Notes by the Numbers

  • Smarty Jones and Nyquist are the most recent winners from post position No. 13
  • Tiz the Law’s final quarter mile time in the Travers was a blistering :24.53 and was already in the lead by four lengths at the mile mark
  • The longest-shot and most recent Virginia-bred Kentucky Derby winner, Sea Hero (1992), paid $27.80 to win with Jerry Bailey up.
  • The very first Virginia-bred to win the Kentucky Derby was Reigh Count in 1928, for owners John and Fannie Hertz, of Yellow Cab Co., and rental car fame. Reigh Count sired Count Fleet, the 1943 Triple Crown winner, and Count Fleet went on to sire Count Turf, winner of the 1951 Kentucky Derby. That was the first time that a son and grandson of a Derby winner also wore the blanket of roses.
  • The most recent Virginia-bred starter in the Kentucky Derby was Bodemeister in 2012. He set fractions of :22.32, :45.39, 1:09.80 and 1:35.19 before being overtaken in the final strides by I’ll Have Another.

2020 VTA Yearling Futurity, September 9, 2020, 9 am – 1 pm, Warrenton Horse Show Grounds, Warrenton, Virginia

Dear VA-Bred, VA-Sired & VA-Certified Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners,

It is time to gussy up your Virginia-Bred, Virginia-Sired or Virginia-Certified yearlings for a chance to win big at the Nineteenth Annual $27,500 Virginia Breeders Fund Yearling Futurity!  This event will be held Wednesday, September 9, 2020, at 9:00 a.m., at the Warrenton Horse Show Grounds, Warrenton, Virginia.

CRITICAL EVENT DETAILS:

  • Rules and Procedures: Please review the Rules and Procedures Information sheet for details about eligibility, participation fees and more.
    CLICK HERE for Rules and Procedures Information sheet
  • Entries: The attached entry form must be completed and returned to VTA along with copies of current Coggins, for each participating yearling by September 1st. Non-VTA members must submit check payment for entry fees.
    CLICK HERE for Futurity Entry form
  • Email entries to: page.easter@easterassociates.com or mail them
    Attn: Page, Virginia Thoroughbred Association, 250 West Main Street, Suite 100, Charlottesville, VA 22902.
  • Awards: $7,500 in prize money will be divided within each of three classes:
    • 1) VA-Bred or VA-Sired yearling colts/geldings ($7,500)
    • 2) VA-Bred or VA-Sired yearling fillies ($7,500)
    • 3) VA-Certified colts, geldings and fillies ($7,500)

Groom’s prizes will also be awarded. 

3 –Year- Old Bonus Award: Any Virginia-Bred, Virginia-Sired or VA-Certified yearling that completes in the ring will be eligible to complete for a percentage of a $5,000 bonus to be awarded at the completion of their three-year-old year. The bonus award is based on total earnings at the end of their three-year-old year.

  • Coggins: Each entry MUST be accompanied by a legible copy of a current Coggins – NO EXCEPTIONS. If a Coggins is not received prior to the event date, the yearling may be ineligible to participate!

REGISTER YOUR THOROUGHBRED:

Participating Virginia-Bred and Virginia-Sired thoroughbreds must be registered with the Virginia Breeders Fund. If your yearling has not been registered, you may do so by going to the VTA website at www.vabred.org/vbf/register-here prior to September 9th.

Participating Virginia-Certified Thoroughbred yearlings must be registered with the VTA. These yearlings must have completed their six month residency requirement, at a certified farm, and their owners issued a VA-Certified certificate, before being allowed to compete. 

ABOUT THE JUDGE:

The judge for this year’s competition is Rick Abbott, a former longtime Pennsylvania bloodstock agent who along with his wife Dixie, had a successful sales consignment business, Charlton Bloodstock. The Abbotts, who were both active in show horses and hunting when they met and married in the early 1970s, earned a reputation as conscientious, honest horse people with a strong work ethic.

Among the horses bred, raised and/or sold by Charlton were graded stakes winners Miss Union Avenue, Palmeiro and Afleet Again. Their most prominent broodmare was $10,000 private purchase Christmas Strike, a half-sister to Ned Evan’s Grade 1 winner Christmas Kid. Among the 12 offspring of Christmas Strike were Double Down Vinman, a 20-race winner who earned nearly $450,000 and four stakes-placed runners, including Holy Christmas, the dam of stakes winner and graded-placed Holy Lute.

The Abbott’s retired in 2016 and sold their 160 acre farm near Coatesville, Pennsylvania. In a Bloodhorse article published four years ago, Abbott said any emotion attached to retirement is associated with the farm and not the business. “The emotion is not about giving up the business as much as it is about giving up the farm,” he said. “We have been there 36 years. We raised our children there. It’s a beautiful place and we love it, but it really needs to be a business. We’re sentimental about the farm, but I’m ready to give up the business. We’ve been doing it for 40 years.”

COVID-19

Because of the Covid-19 outbreak, our popular judging contest and post futurity seminar will not be held this year. We hope to provide a box breakfast at 7:30 AM prior to the first class.

We ask that all participants and spectators wear face masks and practice social distancing as required by Virginia Law.

We look forward to seeing you in Warrenton, on Wednesday, September 9th for the Nineteenth Annual VA Breeders Fund Yearling Futurity!

Questions? Contact Page Easter at the Virginia Thoroughbred Association
Direct Line: (434) 326-9811
page.easter@easterassociates.com