Jack and Laurie Wolf, along with Don and Barbara Lucarelli, were busy at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale Aug. 5-6, where they bought four solid youngsters.
Two of the purchases, a Giant's Causeway filly and a daughter of Tale of the Cat , are of particular interest as they may end up part of a new venture started off the partners' Starlight Racing model by Laurie Wolf and Barbara Lucarelli—StarLadies, an all-female partnership group in the initial stages of development.
"Going back to last year, Laurie Wolf and I had tossed about the idea of having a female partnership and buying only fillies, and having only females in the group," Lucarelli said. "We want to give women a start in racing, get women out there, get them involved, instead of always just hanging on the coat tails of your husband."
StarLadies, a group of 10 women who each have invested $60,000 to participate in the partnership, will follow the highly successful Starlight Racing model.
"Fillies only, (consultant) Frankie (Brothers) picks them out, we're looking for the most athletic horse that we can find with the best pedigree we can afford," Laurie Wolf said. "We're running with the same MO that we have with Starlight. We're not changing much of anything; we've got a business model that works. The only thing we're tweaking is, it's only women and fillies."
The StarLadies partnership purchased what could be its first yearling in July, a Lemon Drop Kid filly out of the Yonaguska mare A Little Gem, although the exact division of the horses between StarLadies and Starlight won't be determined until after the end of the Keeneland September yearling sale.
"We won't decide how the fillies are divided until we finish buying," Wolf said. "We know what we have invested and what our budget is. Once we finish buying, the fillies will be divided between the two groups."
Wolf said the partnership, comprised of some new faces and some Starlight partners' wives, has already filled for the first crop. They will purchase approximately six yearlings from the premiere sales, concluding with Keeneland.
The StarLadies racing group has also pledged to donate 1% of the earnings from their 2013 crop to New Vocations, a retirement program for off-track Thoroughbreds. And women who participate will have the added pleasure of interacting with former jockey Donna Barton Brothers, who is the chief operating officer for Starlight. More information on StarLadies Racing here.
Starlight Purchases from the Saratoga yearling sale:
Hip 5—Tale of the Cat filly out of Acadia, consigned by Paramount Sales, agent, for Randal Family Trust— 75,000
Hip 58—Harlan's Holiday colt out of Havenlass, consigned by Dromoland Farm (Gerry Dilger)—$320,000
Hip 68—Giant's Causeway filly out of Indy Business, consigned by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services (John Stuart)—$270,000
Hip 137—Lemon Drop Kid colt out of Stormy B, consigned by Dromoland Farm (Gerry Dilger)—$350,000