This is the second in a three-part series looking at the Illinois-bred yearlings in Book 4 and Book 5 of Keeneland September.  It covers four in all: one in Book 4, and three in Book 5.

A previous piece looked at the Illinois-breds catalogued in Book 2 and Book 3.  A forthcoming third piece will discuss the six Illinois-bred horses in Book 6.

Book 4

Hip 2615, Mr. Luv Maker, bay colt by Exchange Rate out of Plus Beau (Beau Genius)

With a name like Mr. Luv Maker, you’d wonder if this Illinois-bred colt were related to the likes of stakes winner Luv Bandit (Military).  He is, in fact, a half-brother to Luv Bandit, a versatile Illinois-bred stakes winner at sprint, mile, and route distances on dirt.  This also makes him a half-brother to Dundalk Dust (Military), a mare who won both the Falls City Handicap (GII) and the Illini Princess Handicap, both going two turns on the dirt.  Dundalk Dust was also third in the Arlington Oaks (GIII) on polytrack, and fourth in the Pucker Up Stakes (GIII) on turf, showing that she could run two turns on other surfaces as well.

Luv Bandit is still competing in allowance-optional company this year at the age of seven.  Durability runs in the family.  Plus Beau’s dam, Do’s Gent, produced seven winners — including a pair who were not only stakes winners, but also able to continue their running careers into advanced age.  Gentleman Beau (Beau Genius), a full brother to Plus Beau, won the Belmont Breeders’ Cup Handicap (GIII) at age four, going two turns on the lawn.  But, he had dirt route form as well, and won stakes races all the way through age eight.  Do’s Gent also produced Do’s and Don’t’s (Commemorate).  Do’s and Don’t’s was a multiple juvenile stakes winner at Woodbine, but kept on running (and winning) in the claiming and starter ranks through his eleven-year-old year.

This family has typically not been the most fashionable at the sales.  The only Plus Beau progeny who really lit up the sales board was Dundalk Dust, but she only drew six figures as a broodmare after her graded stakes success.  As a yearling, she sold for a modest $35,000 at Fasig-Tipton October 2008.  The hard-knocking Luv Bandit, now closing in on half a million dollars in earnings, was a $16,000 RNA at Fasig-Tipton October 2010.  The Plus Beau baby who took the most interest as a young horse at sales, Crafty Beau (Crafty Prospector), was a $48,000 weanling at Keeneland November 1999 and an $80,000 yearling at Keeneland September the next year.

Book 5

Hip 3268, dark bay or brown colt by Munnings out of Fancy and Free (Future Storm)

This colt is likely to find his place going short, based on his breeding.  He has four racing-age siblings, and three winners, but he will be the first foal out of his dam Fancy and Free to go through an auction ring.  All four of those siblings began their careers with trainer Tom Swearingen.  Strawberry Bomb (Munnings), a full sister to this colt, remains in his barn.  She has two wins at six furlongs, one on dirt and one on polytrack, and was most recently second in an IL-bred N2X allowance at Arlington last month, going six furlongs on poly as well.  Bad Boy Peter (Fusaichi Pegasus) brings a splash of black type, having finished second in the 2013 Troy Our Boy Stakes, a six-furlong juvenile sprint for Illinois-breds at Fairmount.  He remains in training, albeit with different connections, and excels in claiming-level four and four-and-a-half furlong dirt sprints on the mid-Atlantic circuit.  Sally Bemo (Bellamy Road) was also a sprinter; a winner of two of her five starts, she won at one turn over polytrack and dirt.

Fancy and Free and several of her half-siblings went through the sales ring with modest results.  Fancy and Free hammered for $10,500 at the CTBA 2005 Northern California yearling sale, but was an RNA.  Her full brother Shadow King (Future Storm) hammered at $22,000 as a yearling at Barretts October 2006, but also RNAed.  Miss Bleus Clues (Mr Purple) was a $12,500 yearling at the 2002 CTBA Del Mar sale, and a $35,000 two-year-old at Barretts May the next year.  All three were relatively modest California-bred runners.  Miss Bleus Clues was the top earner among the three, winning three of 15 starts for a total of $85,251, but Fancy and Free was the only black type earner in that generation of her family with a pair of stakes placings in dirt sprints at the fairs.

Hip 3663, bay colt by Archarcharch out of Endless Parade (Williamstown)

This colt is a half-brother to Drum Major (Dynaformer), a Grade III-winning turf router who won first out at age two, raced through age seven, and currently stands stud in California.  Endless Parade has produced three other winners, out of seven total starters.  Drumette (Henny Hughes) won a maiden special weight sprint over the all-weather at Turfway.  Endless Luck (Giant’s Causeway) won once, a maiden turf mile at Musselburgh.  And, hard-knocking Valley Stream (Gone West) has won four times in 54 starts, with another 16 money finishes.  He has two-turn wins over both dirt and turf, and remains in training now at age seven.  This colt does have two Illinois-bred siblings of racing age, five-year-old Wasted Love (Pollard’s Vision) and two-year-old Parade Endless (U S Ranger).  However, neither have raced.

Neither of those Illinois-bred siblings went through a sales ring, though several of his earlier Kentucky-bred siblings took six-figure auction action.  Drum Major was an $85,000 yearling at Fasig-Tipton July 2003, and sold for $200,000 the next year at Keeneland April.  Endless Luck  sold for $70,000 at Keeneland September 2006, and then sold for $167,177 at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale in 2007, as a two-year-old.  Endless Tales (Tale of the Cat) was also a six-figure weanling ($240,000 at Keeneland November 2006) and a six-figure yearling ($200,000 at Keeneland September 2007).  (Unfortunately, it appears Endless Tales had physical issues after that: he sold for just $5,500 at Keeneland January 2009 as a three-year-old, and broke down in his fifth start at age three.)

Hip 3908, dark bay or brown colt by Majestic Warrior out of Tiber (Roman Ruler)

This colt is the second foal out of Tiber, a three-start maiden.  Tiber’s only racing-age foal is Marco Number One (Spring at Last), an Illinois-bred gelding bred by Michael Reavis and Frank Mancari.  Marco Number One has not yet raced, but he has been on the worktab at Arlington since late July.  Tiber’s dam, Timeleighness (Sir Raleigh), never raced.  But, she has produced winners.  Both of her stakes winners did so at extended sprint distances.  Behaving Badly (Pioneering) was a multiple graded stakes winner at distances between six and seven furlongs, including a win in the 2006 Santa Monica Handicap (GI).  She also produced Timely Numbers (Polish Numbers), a New York-bred stakes winner at a mile on the dirt at Belmont.

Tiber herself was a $97,000 RNA at OBS August as a yearling.  She did sell in foal to Spring at Last at OBS October 2013 for $29,000, then RNAed at $17,000 in foal to Shackleford at Keeneland November last year.  This will be her first foal to go through the sales ring.  Looking up the page to the Timeleighness foals, only one of them attracted a six-figure bid before hitting the track: eventual Grade I winner Behaving Badly was a $150,000 two-year-old in training at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic sale in 2003.  She also sold twice as a yearling: for $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga August sale, and again for $38,000 at Fasig-Tipton October that year.  Tiber’s own $97,000 auction price was the highest yearling sale price among any of Timeleighness’s foals.