Million-Dollar Mares of 2019: Where They’re Headed Now

Racing
Blue Prize, left, and Belvoir Bay, right, were winners at the 2019 Breeders’ Cup World Championships who sold this November at auction. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Each year the excitement of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships is followed closely by the November sales at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland just days later, offering a different kind of thrill for racing fans and insiders.

Many top fillies and mares fresh off the racetrack pass through the ring and command seven-figure prices as racing or broodmare prospects.

Get the scoop on all the recently raced ladies that brought $1 million or more, including future plans, below.


Eclipse Sportswire

Blue Prize

Price: $5 million

Race Record: 23 starts – 10 wins – 8 seconds – 3 thirds

Pedigree: Pure Prize – Blues for Sale, by Not For Sale

Buyer: OXO Equine

Blue Prize made the first four starts of her career in her native Argentina, tallying a Group 1 win, before shipping to the United States for trainer Ignacio Correas IV and owner Merribelle Stable as a 4-year-old. Her racing career ended on a winning note with a convincing victory in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff, one of her three American Grade 1 scores. Blue Prize was purchased by Larry Best’s OXO Equine, which has recently raced horses like Grade 1 winner Cambier Parc and Grade 2 winner Instagrand, to join his fledgling broodmare operation near Nicholasville, Ky.


Eclipse Sportswire

Shamrock Rose

Price: $2.5 million

Race Record: 13 starts – 5 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds

Pedigree: First Dude – Slew’s Quality, by Elusive Quality

Buyer: Mike Shannon, agent

Shamrock Rose was named 2018 champion female sprinter after wrapping up a four-win season with a Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint victory. She couldn’t duplicate that form this spring and was retired, with the intention of selling her this month. Her new owner hasn’t been disclosed by agent Mike Shannon.


Coady Photography

Mia Mischief

Price: $2.4 million

Race Record: 19 starts – 8 wins – 6 seconds – 1 third

Pedigree: Into Mischief – Greer Lynn, by Speightstown

Buyer: Stonestreet Stables

Grade 1-winning sprinter Mia Mischief skipped the Breeders’ Cup this year but demolished her foes in the Dream Supreme Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 1, winning by five lengths. A daughter of top sire Into Mischief, Mia Mischief was purchased by Stonestreet Stables with the intention of continuing to race as a 5-year-old in 2020 and eventually joining their breeding operation.


Viola Jasko/NYRA

Separationofpowers

Price: $2.1 million

Race Record: 10 starts – 4 wins – 0 seconds – 2 thirds

Pedigree: Candy Ride – Shehadmefromhello, by Empire Maker

Buyer: Hunter Valley Farm

After breaking her maiden in her first career start Separationofpowers has raced exclusively in graded stakes, winning a Grade 1 race at ages 2 and 3 and a Grade 3 race this year at age 4. She was purchased by Kentucky’s Hunter Valley Farm for a new partnership with Qatari Sheikh Fahad al Thani.


Eclipse Sportswire

Wonder Gadot

Price: $2 million

Race Record: 18 starts – 5 wins – 5 seconds – 4 thirds

Pedigree: Medaglia d’Oro – Loving Vindication, by Vindication

Buyer: K I Farm

Wonder Gadot was named 2018 Canadian Horse of the Year after a season that included a win in two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown — the Queen’s Plate Stakes and the Prince of Wales Stakes — and a runner-up finish in the Longines Kentucky Oaks. After two losses this year she was retired and sold here as a broodmare prospect. Wonder Gadot is the third Canadian Horse of the Year Japan’s K I Farm has bought as a broodmare prospect since 2016, having purchased Canada’s 2014 Horse of the Year Lexie Lou in 2016 and 2015 Horse of the Year Catch a Glimpse in 2017. K I Farm’s Tomo Nakamura said Wonder Gadot will be bred to Lord Kanaloa.


Eclipse Sportswire

Wow Cat

Price: $1.7 million

Race Record: 16 starts – 9 wins – 4 seconds – 1 third

Pedigree: Lookin At Lucky – Winter Cat, by Cat Thief

Buyer: White Birch Farm

A two-time champion and Horse of the Year in Chile, Wow Cat came to the U.S. as a 4-year-old and found Grade 1 success here as well when winning the 2018 Beldame Stakes. She finished second in a pair of graded stakes this year before an unplaced effort in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Peter Brant, who co-owned the mare in her racing career, bought out partner Stud Vendaval in the name of his White Birch Farm. Brant hasn’t yet decided whether Wow Cat will continue her racing career or retire to join his broodmare band.


Eclipse Sportswire

Belvoir Bay

Price: $1.5 million

Race Record: 28 starts – 12 wins – 6 seconds – 2 thirds

Pedigree: Equiano – Path of Peace, by Rock of Gibraltar

Buyer: Mike Shannon, agent

Belvoir Bay was one of the best stories of this year’s Breeders’ Cup, winning the Turf Sprint in track-record time less than two years after she was feared lost in a wildfire that destroyed San Luis Rey Downs training center. The multiple graded stakes winner pushed her career earnings to more than $1.6 million with the win before shipping to Kentucky, where she sold to agent Mike Shannon for a partnership that is still being built.


Eclipse Sportswire

Vasilika

Price: $1.5 million

Race Record: 36 starts – 18 wins – 5 seconds – 5 thirds

Pedigree: Skipshot – La Belle Marquet, by Marquetry

Buyer: Katsumi Yoshida

Recent Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf runner-up Vasilika won five of her first 18 starts before being claimed for $40,000 by trainer Jerry Hollendorfer in February 2018. She reeled off eight straight wins later that year, including the Grade 1 Rodeo Drive Stakes, and won five more races in 2019 before heading to Kentucky for the sale this week where she was snatched up by Japan’s Katsumi Yoshida to become a broodmare.


Eclipse Sportswire

Secret Spice

Price: $1.4 million

Race Record: 14 starts – 3 wins – 5 seconds – 2 thirds

Pedigree: Discreet Cat – Chimayo, by A.P. Indy

Buyer: Katsumi Yoshida

Secret Spice won her graded stakes debut this spring in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile and followed that up with a trio of graded stakes placings before a disappointing effort in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She was bought by Katsumi Yoshida to join his broodmare band in Japan.


Eclipse Sportswire

Talk Veuve to Me

Price: $1.3 million

Race Record: 13 starts – 3 wins – 4 seconds – 1 third

Pedigree: Violence – Biblical Point, by Point Given

Buyer: Stonestreet Stables

Talk Veuve to Me won the Grade 3 Indiana Oaks and placed in several other graded stakes including a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes. Stonestreet Stables’ Barbara Banke said the filly may return to the races but will eventually have a home in Stonestreet’s broodmare band and would most likely be bred to Curlin when that time comes.


Eclipse Sportswire

Mopotism

Price: $1.05 million

Race Record: 26 starts – 3 wins – 5 seconds – 6 thirds

Pedigree: Uncle Mo – Peppy Rafaela, by Bernardini

Buyer: Don Alberto Corp.

Mopotism rarely won but often finished in the top three when racing exclusively in graded stakes through much of her career. She last finished third in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps Stakes in June. Mopotism was purchased by the Solari family’s Don Alberto Corp. for their U.S. breeding operation. They operate a well-known breeding farm in Chile and have interests in many industries. 


Chelsea Durand/NYRA

My Miss Lilly

Price: $1.05 million

Race Record: 9 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 5 thirds

Pedigree: Tapit – Wicked Deed, by Harlan’s Holiday

Buyer: Lake Villa Farm

My Miss Lilly won the Grade 2 Gazelle Stakes on the road to the Longines Kentucky Oaks as a 3-year-old and placed in another graded stakes since then. She is a full-sister to graded stakes winner Just Wicked and was bought by Japan’s Lake Villa Farm to join its broodmare band.


SV Photography

Rymska

Price: $1.05 million

Race Record: 15 starts – 7 wins – 5 seconds – 1 third

Pedigree: Le Havre – Foreign Raider, by Lend a Hand

Buyer: White Birch Farm

Bred in France, Rymska began her career racing there before heading to trainer Chad Brown in the U.S. Here in the states she won four graded stakes, including at least one at ages 3, 4, and 5, highlighted by a win in the Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes this year. Rymska was purchased by Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm and may stay in training for 2020 but will eventually join his breeding operation.


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