Winchell Thoroughbreds, which raced and has had success with offspring of the stallion Tapit , purchased one of his fillies for $300,000 during the July 12 Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale in Lexington. The price was the second-highest of the sale.
Bred and consigned by Gainesway, the filly was produced from the winning Vicar mare Easily and is from the family of grade II winners Softly and Sara Louise and grade III winners Til Forbid, Scoop, Just Louise, Hold Old Blue, Coragil Cat, and City Attraction.
“We like Tapits a lot,” said David Fiske, racing manager and farm manager for the Winchell family who signed the sales ticket. “She was the only one we came to bid on. She is big, she has a lot of length. She is a nice filly.”
Trained by Michael Dickinson for Winchell, Tapit won the 2004 Wood Memorial (gr. I). He stands at the Beck family's Gainesway Farm in Lexington, where his 2011 fee was $80,000.
Fiske said the filly could go to trainer Steve Asmussen, who also conditions Winchell’s Tapizar , one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) before he was taken off the Triple Crown trail after a chip was discovered in his left knee. Fiske said Tapizar is being readied for a fall campaign.
“She is really a super filly by the leading general sire,” said Gainesway’s Michael Hernon prior to the one-day auction. “She’s a beautiful filly to look at. She has size, scope, and presence, and she’s correct.”
