Lynne Boutte is used to selling mostly blue collar horses. But May 24, she was among the white-collar crowd during the second session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training in Timonium, Md.
Corkage, a fast bay daughter of More Than Ready consigned by Boutte, as agent, brought $300,000 from Mandy Pope of Whisper Hill Farm in Florida early in the afternoon.
The price was the second-highest for a horse sold so far during the two-day auction and was the most expensive ever sold by Boutte.
“This is special,” she said with tears in eyes. “Now I’m going to cry.”
Boutte and her husband, Chris, live in Florida where they pinhook, break, and train horses. In the name of Black Swan Stable, they purchased Corkage for $50,000 from Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Najid Fares, at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale. They were acting on behalf of a partnership headed by John DeStefano, according to Lynne Boutte.
“We bought them racehorses the last couple of years and we bought them some racehorses this year,” she said. “They wanted to try pinhooking one and he (DeStefano) said, ‘Go for it,’ and we did.”
Bred in Kentucky by Fares Farm, Corkage worked an eighth of a mile in :10 1/5 prior to the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic auction. She is out of the winning Unbridled mare Uncork and is a half sister to the winner Unhinged (by Dehere). Uncork is a half sister to added-money winner Chetten County (by Giant's Causeway ) and a full sister to Detach, the dam of grade II winner Apart (by Flatter ). Apart scored in the May 21 William Donald Schaefer Memorial Stakes (gr. III) at Pimlico.
“She was just like she is now when we bought her; she just wasn’t grown up yet,” Boutte said. “She’s been a pleasure. I’m thrilled with the price.”
Boutte gave Pope a big hug after the Whisper Hill owner purchased the filly.
“I liked everything about her; there was nothing not to fall in love with,” said Pope, who was sitting in the Timonium Sales Pavilion with her advisor, Chris Brothers. “She’s gorgeous; she’s correct, and she moves really well on the track. She went very fast and she has a good attitude. You couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Added Brothers, “We thought she was the best horse.”
The price “is more than what we had planned to pay,” Pope said. “We only made a couple of bids actually. We were hoping to buy her for around $150,000 to $200,000 to be honest with you. But it was the usual thing; the really nice horses have plenty of people who want them. You have to be willing to pay for them and then you cross your fingers because everything goes right so you can win that money you spent back.”
Bob Hess Jr. will train Corkage, Pope said.