A Smart Strike filly consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency was purchased by Torrealba Holdings Oct. 23 for $800,000 to become the new sale topper at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale.
The filly, produced from the multiple stakes-winning mare Handpainted (by A.P. Indy), went through the ring early during the sale's third and final session and was hammered down to Doug Cauthen, who signed the ticket on behalf of Torrealba.
Hill 'n' Dale's John Sikura said he was uncertain of what the filly would bring, but noted the final price was attributable to having the right buyers interested.
"We thought this filly was special and had a lot of quality, and a lot of people seemed to like her," Sikura said. "It could have been anywhere. If she brought $1 million, it wouldn't have surprised me. If she brought $550,000, it wouldn't have surprised me. It's really a matter of appealing to the right people, and the price then takes care of itself.
"When we feel we have a special offering what they make is very...you're really uncertain. Because if you really have the right people involved, anything can happen."
In addition to her fashionably well-bred dam, who also produced stakes winner Patena, the filly bred in Kentucky by Hill 'n' Equine Sales and N.E.T.P. has a female family replete with black-type runners. Second dam Daijin is a sister to grade I winner Touch Gold and half sister to Canadian Horse of the Year With Approval and is the dam of Canadian champion Serenading.
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