Hold Still wins fourth, changes barns

The chart is in from Hipodromo Camarero, where on Monday Hold Still won her fourth race from eight starts, this time a $24,000 claimer.

The 2-year-old filly was among 187 sales-tips I made on this blog during the spring juvenile auction season. She was purchased by Guillermo Berrias for $18,000 as Hip 696 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. April auction of 2-year-olds in training, and made her first eight lifetime starts for Wanda Iris Inc., trained by Samuel Diaz.

In those starts, the bay filly by Include-Zitlaly, by Emancipator, won four times, placed second once, and was third in the Clasico Dia de Accion de Gracias S., a Puerto Rico Grade 1. She earned $37,463.

Hold Still was claimed from Monday's race by trainer Juan Diaz for Carlos Oyola Stable, which already owns another stakes-placed sales-tip from my 187 selections, the G3(PR)-placed Montbrook colt Goldenrod Road.

If her dam's record is any reflection, Oyola should get many more starts from Hold Still. Zitlaly raced 46 times and was twice stakes-placed among Illinois-breds at Fairmount Park and Hawthorne, earning $212,327. Hold Still is her first foal.

As of this writing, the sales-tips have 113 of their number to the starting gate, or 60.4 percent of all selections. There have been 46 maiden-breakers, which amounts to 24.6 percent of all selections and 40.7 percent of those to race. Fifteen of the class are at least stakes-placed (8 percent of all choices, 13.3 percent of those to race) and five are stakes winners (2.7 percent of all selections, 4.4 percent of raced foals).

The group has won 64 of 420 starts worldwide, a strike rate of 15.2 percent. They have placed 78 times and finished third on 45 occasions, for an in-the-money rate of 44.5 percent.

Total earnings are now $3,222,486, for an average of $7,673 per start, and $28,518 per starter. The class' median earnings are $9,100. Both average earnings and median earnings are higher, for example, than the average and median earnings of leading freshman sire Congrats, whose foals have posted figures of $26,820/$6,926 thus far in their juvenile seasons.

Follow the entire class of sales-picks, and a few pans, at this former post.

Number of stakes horses reaches 15

As noted in a prior blog post, a Thanksgiving Day Grade 1 race in Puerto Rico provided this blog's Sales-Tip Class of 2010 with two new stakes horses as Concertos Pride and Hold Still finished second and third behind multiple graded-stakes winner La Glamorosa.

Those three formed the trifecta in the Clasica Dia de Accion de Gracias S.-G1 at Hipodromo Camarero.

I had hoped Hold Still could win the race, and she was favored on the morning line (albeit quite narrowly) over La Glamorosa, who had already won a G2 race going a shorter distance at Camarero. Hold Still's prior start was an allowance at Thursday's seven-furlong distance, a race in which she aired by six lengths (beating another stakes horse, La Kamikaze, by nearly 12 in the process), closing into a relatively brisk pace to win in a sharp time of 1:25.67.

Had Hold Still duplicated that effort on Thursday, she might have won by open lengths, as La Glamorosa scored the Grade 1 win in 1:26.71 over a fast strip. But this time, Hold Still came up a bit empty in the stretch, able to overtake the early leader, 5/1 Hjerdish, but not catch up to La Glomorosa, nor able to hold off fellow sales-tip Concertos Pride, who closed from last to grab second.

I recommended both Concertos Pride and Hold Still out of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. April auction of 2-year-olds in training.

Concertos Pride (Concerto-Epistolary, by Deputy Minister) was bred in Florida by Ocala Stud, and sold for only $5,000 as Hip 1003 at OBSAPR. She is conditioned by Raul Perez for owners Establo Rio Canas, and now has two wins and four second-place finishes from eight starts, for $29,954.

I wasn't put off by the filly's 22.2 breeze, which was slower than many at the sale but could hardly be considered poor for an April 2-year-old. And I liked the fact that her dam, from the excellent broodmare-sire line as a daughter of Deputy Minister, had already produced nine winners from 13 older foals, including four stakes horses by four different sires: G3-placed TEXTURIZER (On to Glory); 11-time winner and G2-placed Deputy Lad (Mecke); eight-race winner Valid Chance (Valid Appeal); and Epistola (Buckaroo). Concertos Pride also has major-earning half-siblings of $100K by Forest Wildcat and $97K by Robyn Dancer, plus multiple-winning sibs by Pentelicus and Notebook.

As I noted about Epistolary in the past: "One sign of a good broodmare is her ability to do solid work with almost any sire."

Now Epistolary has produced her fifth stakes horse, none by the same sire. And Concertos Pride's owners have gotten good early returns on their $5,000 investment.

Hold Still (Include-Zitlaly, by Emancipator) sold for more -- $18,000 -- earlier in the sale, as Hip 696. She was bred in Kentucky by Charles H. Deters and is owned by Wanda Iris Inc. and trained by Samuel Diaz. She has now won three times with a second and a graded-stakes third from seven starts, for $32,963.

Her eighth-mile breeze of 10.3 was fair for OBSAPR, and I couldn't look past the fact that her female family simply wins. Her dam ran 46 times, winning six and placing in another 15 including some Illinois-bred stakes races, for $212,327. Hold Still's winning second dam also produced $199,981 stakes winner LA JOYERIA (42 starts). Stakes-winning third dam RAPID RAJA was a half-sister to Cowdin S.-G2 winner NATIVE RAJA and to 24-win stakes-placer Naroctive.

The stakes-placings by Concertos Pride and Hold Still runs the number of stakes horses to 15, or 8 percent of my 187 recommended horses this year, and 13.8 percent of the 109 that have started at least one race.

The class has five stakes winners: RIGOLETTA (Oak Leaf S.-G1, $180,820); GOURMET DINNER (Delta Downs Jackpot S.-G3, Florida Stallion Dr. Fager S., Florida Stallion Affirmed S., $809,660); REPRIZED HALO (Florida Stallion In Reality S., only horse to defeat Gourmet Dinner, $254,016); PULGARCITO (Governor's Cup S., $61,170); and FISCAL POLICY (Bassinet S., $59,080).

There are eight stakes-placers in addition to the new two from Puerto Rico: Delightful Mary (2nd Mazarine S.-G3A, 3rd Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies S.-G1, $310,377); Alienation (2nd Spinaway S.-G1, Adirondack S.-G2, $104,000); Rockin Heat (2nd Summer S.-G3T, Grey S.-G3A, $148,496); Stopspendingmaria (2nd Schuylerville S.-G3, $59,167); Rough Sailing (2nd Arlington-Washington Futurity-G2A, euthanized after a spill in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf S.-G1, $37,534); Spring Jump (2nd White Clay Creek S., $50,160); Goldenrod Road (3rd Clasico Fanatico Hipico-G3(PR), $14,412); and non-blacktype-placed Blue 'Em Away (2nd Osiris S.-N, $16,833).

Of the sales-tip stakes horses, only two cost more than $90,000 at the sales: Delightful Mary was the $500,000 sale-topper at OBSAPR, while Fiscal Policy brought (a surprising to me) $140,000 at the same sale.

And out of 15 stakes-winners or -placers I recommended, 10 of them -- that's fully two-thirds of the 15 -- cost $40,000 or less: Rigoletta; Gourmet Dinner; Reprized Halo; Pulgarcito; Rough Sailing; Spring Jump; Concertos Pride; Hold Still; Goldenrod Road; and Blue 'Em Away.

Those comparative bargains cost a total of $263,000 to buy -- an average of just $26,300 per horse -- and have earned a combined $1,487,522, or $148,752 apiece.

Follow all 187 sales-picks, and a few pans, at this former post.

Foreign Report: Viva Ace is a winner again in Korea; two new stakes horses at Camarero in Puerto Rico

It's been a pretty good week overseas for members of the sales-tip Class of 2010, with a two-time winner on Korean soil and a pair of 2-year-olds finishing second and third in Puerto Rico Grade 1 company at Hipdromo Camarero.

Viva Ace (Macho Uno-Dancing Lake, by Meadowlake) left no doubt that he would graduate from Class 4 company in Korea at BusanKeyongnam racetrack on Friday.

Korean conditions don't advance a horse from the lowest ranks -- Class 4 allowance -- simply when he breaks his maiden. Horses continue to race in Class 4, with 2-year-olds often facing older, until their lifetime earnings reach a level that promotes them to Class 3. Horses foaled outside of Korea face one another in foreign-bred races, while domestic horses benefit from fields for exclusively Korean-breds.

Viva Ace finished second in his 1,000-meter Korean debut at Busan on Oct. 17. He broke maiden at 1,200 meters in a field of 10 on Nov. 7. Despite a packed field of 14 Friday that included two 3-year-old Australian-bred winners and a pair of U.S.-bred juveniles who both had second-place finishes on their young records, Viva Ace crushed them all going 1,300 meters (about 6.5 furlongs), winning by a dozen lengths.

The dark bay or brown gelding is owned by Hong Kyung Pyo and is trained by Kang Hyoung Gon. Though he was ridden by You Hyun Myung in his first two starts, Viva Ace benefited from a weight-break Friday by carrying apprentice rider Song Keong Yun to victory. He has now earned the equivalent of $33,339 from three starts.

I shortlisted Viva Ace when he went through the ring as Hip 90 at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic Sale of 2-year-olds in Training this May. I was was hired to find the better prospects among the sale's least-expensive horses, and Viva Ace eventually sold to Korean interests for just $20,000, well below the average price at the sale.

I liked him for his 10.3 eighth-mile breeze, which was fairly fast for EASMAY, and because his second dam, CORMORANT'S FLIGHT won five stakes from 10 total victories for $330,138, and second dam DOUBLE SUEZ was eight times from 2 to 4, including a stakes race, for $80,161. Double Suez produced three stakes horses, including Laurel, Delaware Park and Philly Park stakes winner THUNDER FLASH and G2-placed Reef Reef.

What I didn't so much like about the colt was his lengthier pasterns, which give me some concern about long-term soundness. But he's certainly been sharp in the short term.

Two other solid early performers in a foreign market are fillies Concertos Pride and Hold Still, who finished second and third Thursday in the Clasico Dia de Accion de Gracias S.-G1 at Puerto Rico's Hipodromo Camarero. They are the 14th and 15th stakes horses from the 187-member sales class, bringing the number of stakes-placed runners to 8 percent of all selections and 13.8 percent of the 109 that have raced.

Since it takes a couple of days for charts to make their way to my inbox from Puerto Rico via Equibase, I'll detail their mutual race and update their records and accurate earnings on this blog in a couple of days.

The win by Viva Ace drives the class' overall record to 57 wins from 367 recorded starts, a strike rate of 15.5 percent. As a group, the 109 starters have at least hit the board in 45 percent of their starts. Their combined earnings are now $3,046,754, which averages to $8,302 per start and $27,952 per starter.

Follow all 187 of my 2010 sales picks (and a few pans) in the list at the end of this former post.

What, me Hold Still? 'Tipped' filly wins in good time

Hold Still was a bargain-basement purchase at this year's Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. April auction of 2-year-olds in training.

The time she posted Monday in winning an allowance race at Puerto Rico's Hipodromo Camarero suggests she was better than the $18,000 price she commanded at auction.

Hold Still (Include-Zitlaly, by Emancipator) rated well off a moderate pace of 23.57, 47.17 and 1:12.97 in the field of imported 2-year-old fillies, then stormed home on the rail to win by a fast-widening six lengths over Golden Seas. Her time for seven furlongs was a pretty fair 1.25.67. Finishing third, beaten 11 1/4 was twice Puerto Rico graded stakes-placed La Kamikaze.

The show filly and Hold Still have taken turns finishing ahead of one another at Camarero since being imported. Each has beaten the other in prior allowance races and La Kamikaze finished second in the recent Clasico Dia de la Raza-G2(PR) at a shorter distance, when Hold Still was fourth.

Hold Still has now won three of six starts, with a second (to La Kamikaze in allowance company). Her other off-the-board finish was in her debut.

I recommended Hold Still when she sold as Hip 696 at OBSAPR. She's by a decent sire of useful racehorses in Include, and is the first foal out of Zitlaly, a stakes-placed winner of $212K who made 46 lifetime starts. While that alone was enough to make me ignore an average breeze time of 10.3 for an eighth (which was hardly a bad time), I also like the fact that she is inbred 4x4 to the outstanding Hoist the Flag, and 5x5x5 to his sire, the great Tom Rolfe, with the extra strain coming via the blacktype-winning mare File, dam of Zitlaly's paternal grandsire, Forty Niner.

Granted, Hold Still has collected her three victories at Camarero, not at Saratoga, but I suspect several American racing stables would be glad to have a 2-year-old filly capable of 1:25 and change over seven furlongs and looks better the more ground you give her; especially one they could've bought for twenty grand.

It will take a couple of days for the full chart information and earnings to be exported from Puerto Rico. (Does a PDF have to pass through customs or what?) I'll update her earnings and record in the complete list of my 187 juvenile sales tips of 2010 at that time.

He's getting warmer ... warmer ...

Whenever and wherever you next see Rockin Heat entered for a race, bet him to place. Though he must soon be destined to win.

The Rock Hard Ten colt is among the most consistent of my juvenile sales-tip Class of 2010. He's a gutsy, talented horse who -- by trackside reports -- is really growing into a good-sized frame.

But in the four times he's raced as a 2-year-old, he hasn't quite found enough at the finish, to finish first.

After getting beat a head and a length during August in maiden special weight company on the Polytrack at Woodbine, Bear Stables entered the colt in the Grade 3 Summer Stakes on the turf. He again finished second by just a length, to the Todd Pletcher-shipper Pluck.

Back on the main track Sunday at Woodbine, Rockin Heat contested the Grey S.-G3 against a strong field of juveniles. And in a four-horse blanket finish, Rockin Heat finished with a rush on the outside to -- yet again -- finish second, this time by a half-length to WinStar Farm's Blue Laser, one of the horses who handed him a prior defeat in the maiden ranks.

It was the best result for the 187-horse sales-tip class on a Sunday that saw a third, two fourths, a fifth and a ninth in various maiden races, a fourth-place finish by Hold Still in a Grade 2 race in Puerto Rico, and stakes winner FISCAL POLICY scratched-out as the morning-line favorite of the E.L. Gaylord Stakes at Remington Park by her trainer, Tom Amoss.

Rockin Heat was an $85,000 purchase when catalogued as Hip 97 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. April auction of 2-year-olds in training. I like the early work by his young sire, Rock Hard Ten, the colt's dam, Makin Heat, was a stakes winner at Laurel and Delaware Park, second dam Warmedbythesun won 15 races out of 93 starts from ages 2 to 8, and third dam Tongario bore nine winners, including (besides Warmedbythesun's 15 wins) the victors of 17, 10, 10 and eight career races.

I could tell on the breeze video that this colt was going to be a big horse. Yet he breezed 21.3, showing he was precocious, too.

And he just keeps getting better. Surely that will eventually result in victory.

But, after a slow week, the win percentage of the class is in decline.

So far, 89 of the 187 selected horses have made their debut; that is 47.6 percent to race. Of those, 33 are winners, for 17.7 percent of all recommended horses and 37.1 percent of those to race.

The class has made 249 combined starts, winning 42 (16.9 percent), placing another 47 times (35.7 percent in the exacta) and showing 24 times (45.4 percent in the money). They have earned a combined $1,553,534, which averages $6,239 per start.

Click here to follow the careers of all 187 horses I recommended from selected juvenile sales.

Finding the bright side in a disappointing weekend; Delightful Mary now graded stakes-placed

Heading into the Columbus Day weekend, I had high hopes for my blog's sales-tip Class of 2010.

Beginning Thursday, the class of 187 runners -- which have already achieved a few impressive accomplishments -- had 15 maidens going in 12 races on two continents, two winners seeking their second and third lifetime victories, respectively, and five horses with live chances in six stakes races, four of those graded.

After Saturday's racing, the group had gone winless from a dozen starts. There were a couple of good efforts in the mix; three maidens finished second and another third, for instance. And the two winners were each beaten less than a length for third place in steps up against tougher, non-stakes company.

But from three stakes starts, a trio with real potential came home empty-handed (win-wise, anyway) with Pulgarcito a distant fifth in the Kip Deville Stakes at Remington Park Friday (a race won in barely more than 1:09 flat for six furlongs) and Rough Sailing a wide and troubled sixth in the Grade 1 Dixiana at Keeneland on Saturday.

The only stakes-placing was a new addition to the stakes-horse list, Delightful Mary, who finished second as the heavy favorite behind Wyomia in the Mazarine S.-G3 at Woodbine in Canada.

Delightful Mary was the $500,000 sales-topper from the April Ocala sale of 2-year-olds in training. She came into the Mazarine off two victories by open lengths at Woodbine, going six furlongs among maidens and at a mile-seventy while hand-ridden in allowance company. But Wyomia got the jump on everyone Saturday -- after a late veterinarian's scratch at the gate caused the field to be unloaded and reloaded -- and after setting moderate fractions, she had plenty in the tank to hold off Delightful Mary at the wire.

The Grade 3 placing did pay more than $44,000 in U.S. currency, elevating Delightful Mary's earnings from three starts to a tidy $112,377. ... A start, at least, toward paying back the sum plunked down for her at OBSAPR on behalf of owner John Oxley. And she should have plenty of good, winning days ahead.

We'll discuss her more at length on those days.

On Sunday and Monday of the holiday weekend, eight more maidens get a chance to collect their first victories, one of those in stakes company. Rockin Heat is 3-for-3 at finishing second, including his last start in the Grade 3 Summer Stakes on turf at Woodbine. Today, he'll take a shot at breaking maiden in the Grade 3 Grey Stakes on Woodbine's Polytrack, though he seems to be drawn-in amongst the toughest company of his life.

Other stakes starters include FISCAL POLICY -- one of the class' three stakes winners thus far -- trying to run her overall win-streak to three in the E.L. Gaylord Stakes at Remington, and dual-winner Hold Still in the Grade 2 Clasico Dia de la Raza at Hipodromo Camarero in Puerto Rico.

The class of 2010 includes 33 winners. Through 243 starts, they have combined for 42 wins (17.3 percent strike rate), 46 second-place finishes (36.2 percent in the exacta) and 23 show finishes (45.7 percent in the money). Collective earnings have reached $1,495,772, or $6,155 per start.

Follow the entire sales-tip Class of 2010 in the list at the bottom of this former post.

Seconditis Saturday yields a new stakes horse

It hasn't been the best week and weekend so far for runners from the group of 187 horses I named on this blog as recommendations from this year's East Coast juvenile sales.

It also hasn't been the worst.

At a time when I felt relieved to finally break through Saturday evening for the week's first win with a 2/1 second-favorite at Fairplex, the class still managed to bank more than $100,000 in a day and finished second four times -- including in a Grade 3 stakes race at Woodbine (by a maiden) and, as if to reinforce that second was where we belonged, in a dead-heat at Charles Town.

The new stakes horse, who deserves top billing this week, is Rockin Heat (Hard Rock Ten-Makin Heat, by Makin), who has yet to break his maiden but also has never finished worse than second in three lifetime starts. The colt and rider Eurico Da Silva lodged a bid in the stretch of the Summer S.-G3 at Woodbine, but couldn't outfinish Garrett Gomez and Pluck, who won the roughly quarter-million-dollar race by a length as the 5/2 favorite. Rockin Heat was sent off at more than 10/1, but finished two and a quarter lengths ahead of 3/1 shot Stormy Rush.

Rockin Heat is trained by Reade Baker for owners Bear Stables Ltd. He banked $48,480 in American currency (an even $50K Canadian) has now earned $70,400 without winning a race.

I recommended Rockin Heat at the OBS April sale, where he sold for $85,000 as Hip 97.

"Hard to believe you'll get much of a deal on this Kentucky-bred," I wrote, though the horse did end up selling for a bit less than the sale average.

I'm a fan of the early work at stud by his sire, Rock Hard Ten, and dam Makin Heat was a stakes winner at Laurel and Delaware Park. She's already produced winners, second dam Warmedbythesun (by Lobsang) won 15 times from ages 2 to 8, and third dam Tongario (Grey Dawn II) bore nine winners, including foals who claimed 17, 10, 10 and eight victories. The colt made his own case by looking the part, and breezing a 21.3 quarter despite being by a classic distance-type sire, whom he seems to take after by having a bit of size.

One would have to think Rock Heat will break his maiden soon; after all, on Saturday he was but a length back of winning his way into the Breeders' Cup.

After picking up a second place finish on Friday at Camarero in Puerto Rico, where dual-winner Hold Still was defeated in an allowance by a stakes-placed filly whom she had beaten last out, Saturday's racing started with three straight place-finishes, as well, capped by Rockin Heat.

The sales tips made up one-fourth of a 12-horse field drawn into a whopping $90,000 maiden special weight race on Owners' Day at Parx Racing (blech, Philadelphia Park). And, two of them came through, though not quite enough to win.

Hard Rock Candy made it 4-for-4 second-place finishes by getting by and holding off debuting sales-tip Circumstance in deep stretch for a big chunk of change. Hard Rock Candy -- who just has to break through sooner or later -- has earned $47,140 without winning a race, after failing to meet her reserve with but a $32,000 top bid at OBSAPR, where she was Hip 940. Circumstance was also to have gone through the ring as Hip 388 at OBSAPR, but was withdrawn.

Also in that race was firster One Punch Knockout, yet another OBSAPR horse ($70,000 as Hip 89) who never seemed to be all that involved, mentally or physically, from the outset.

A bit later in the afternoon, some 90 minutes before Rockin Heat raced, There Goes Molly got into a turf-mile, statebred maiden special weight at Belmont off the also-eligible list. She'd shown little in two tries at Saratoga and was sent of at 59.5/1. Well, surprise, surprise. Molly closed from deep to get up for a clear second under Abel Lezcano, finishing with "good energy" though still beaten more than eight lengths by runaway winner Hessonite. There Goes Molly, who failed to sell at a $6,000 top bid at EASMAY, earned $9,360 for the start.

After a couple of disappointing finishes, including by an Aragorn firster perhaps undone by having an Arlington turf race washed onto the main track, the last place-finisher came in the form of debuting Mugsy Dehere in the fourth race Saturday evening at Charles Town. Sent off at 8/1, he and 14/1 Southern Will could not be separated at the wire and dead-heated for "place" behind far-gone winner C V Eis, who aired by seven lengths.

The class picked up its first winner of the week -- and another repeater -- about 20 minutes after Mugsy Dehere finished deadlocked for second at Charles Town. Gibson Home Run, a debut winner at Del Mar, won for the second time in three starts, this time at Fairplex, where he was sent off second-favored at 2/1 in a $40,000 starter allowance. He cornered like he was on rails and posted a time just a shade over 1:12 for six furlongs; decent considering that at FPX, he has to make two turns instead of one.

Gibson Home Run (Gibson County-Tanja, by Allen's Prospect) was bred in Florida by McKathan Bros., and sold for $30,000 as Hip 546 at OBSAPR. He is trained by Peter Miller for owners Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Kevin Tsujihara, and was ridden by Fairplex's all-time leader, Martin Pedroza.

I tabbed him after his scalding 9 4/5 drill caught my eye and I realized that while his multiple stakes-winning dam has never really reproduced herself, she does have six winners from eight prior foals. He's justified my confidence thus far, and has earned back $26,960 of his purchase price.

Saturday night saw two more stakes-starters, but recent maiden-breaker Sultry Gibson could only pull off winning the photo for fourth in the $100,000 Miss Shenandoah Stakes at Charles Town (won by the dazzling Twelve Pack Shelly) and, despite being non-blacktype stakes-placed already, Blue 'em Away found himself short in Canada, getting beat a neck for fourth in the Winnipeg Futurity. Neither of those finishes was enough, of course, to score catalog blacktype for the horse in question. Each now has made an impressive six starts so far as a juvenile.

Including Hold Still's placing at Camarero, the class has reached 200 starts, winning 34 of them (17 percent) and placing or showing in another 55 for an in-the-money rate of 44.5 percent. Not including Hold Still's cash from Puerto Rico (as the final chart isn't in yet to list her earnings), the group has banked $1,160,037, for $5,829 per start.

Follow the progress of all 187 sales picks here.

Sales class has second multiple winner

I'm not updating records and earnings while on a road trip this week that will end with the Travers and Personal Ensign on consecutive days at Saratoga. But I do take note today that my sales-tip Class of 2010 picked up its second multiple winner when Hold Still collected her second victory at Hipodromo Camarero in Puerto Rico.

Hold Still (Include-Zitlaly, by Emancipator) collected an allowance win Wednesday after breaking maiden in her last start, which was her second at the track. Charts are slow in arriving from Camarero via Equibase, so I'm not certain yet what she earned, nor even how fast she covered the six furlongs. I do know that she paid $12.50 to win.

The bay filly was an $18,000 purchase as Hip 696 at OBSAPR. She only breezed 10.3, which was just average for that sale, but I recommended her based on a dam who raced 46 times, from a very professional family with occasional blacktype performers.

Follow the progress of all 187 of my sales picks at this former post; records and earnings will be updated next week, when I get off the road.

'Seconditis' weekend extends to graded stakes, but two more sales tips are maidens no longer

After starting an active three-day stretch with a couple of near-misses -- horses getting beaten a neck and a nose in maiden special weight races -- my juvenile sales-tip Class of 2010 had a strong Sunday to cap the weekend.

The Sabbath saw a pair of fillies I selected from this year's sales clearing their maiden hurdles in their second and fourth starts, respectively, and a third filly moving forward from a first-out maiden score to place in a Grade 2 stakes race in her second lifetime effort.

Let's tout the blacktype first.

Alienation, a filly owned by Jill Baffert and trained by her hall-of-fame husband, Bob, broke her maiden in fleet fashion at first asking over the Hollywood Park grass on July 5. Baffert scratched his wife's filly from the recent Sorrento S.-G3 at Del Mar, which would have been run on synthetic, and shipped her east, where she posted a bullet work in the mud -- five furlongs in essentially a minute flat -- leading up to the Adirondack S.-G2 at Saratoga.

On Sunday at the Spa, Alienation was pressed on the pace by Miss Sarah Brown (who would finish last of 10) through fractions of 21.72 and 45.07 and disposed of everyone else in the field by at least five lengths; everyone but Position Limit, that is. The Bellamy Road filly overtook the tiring leader and drew off to win the $150,000 race by five lengths, the same margin Alienation finished ahead of third-place Coax Liberty.

Earning $30,000 for her efforts, Alienation (Rock Hard Ten-Alienated, by Gone West) has now banked $54,000. She was a $60,000 purchase, so has nearly earned that back in just two starts, but has likely elevated her potential commercial value above that purchase price with G2 blacktype on her own page, and certainly has every hope for an even more promising future.

In tipping her as Hip 719 at OBSAPR, I noted that in addition to her brisk, 21-flat quarter in the under-tack show, her dam was a minor stakes winner with multiple blacktype siblings, whose second dam was a half-sister to G1 winners JUDGE ANGELUCCI, WAR and PEACE.

"If this filly earns any blacktype of her own ... this price looks very reasonable down the road," I wrote. "In fact, it already does."

Well, there you go.

Also on Sunday, maiden-breakers No. 15 and No. 16 from my 187-horse list of sales tips collected their first lifetime victories in widely disparate environments; one at Hoosier Park and the other at Hipodromo Camarero in Puerto Rico.

Fiscal Policy scored first in Indiana, building upon a third-place debut to take the field practically gate to wire in a five-furlong maiden special weight. She drew off to win by four and a quarter lengths for jockey Leandro Goncalves, covering the distance in 58.40.

The filly by Wildcat Heir-Betty's Courage, by Montbrook was foaled in Florida, bred by Robert L. Dodd. She is owned by Klaravich Stables Inc. and W.H. Lawrence, and trained by Tom Amoss. Her $21,000 share of the purse bumps Fiscal Policy's earnings to $24,080.

Fiscal Policy sold for a whopping $140,000 as Hip 801 at OBSAPR. I noted that her unraced dam had produced a solid, non-blacktype winner from two foals, and this filly's 10-flat eighth was promising. Her second dam was the stakes-placed Copelan mare Grand Betty, who produced G3 winner POSITIVE ENERGY, and this is the female family of G1 winner FAMILY ENTERPRIZE, among other stakes horses. Fiscal Policy's fifth dam is reine de course Bramalea, dam of breed-shaping sire Roberto.

"I thought she might bring less than the average Wildcat Heir (around $74,000 at the time), but she brought much more," I wrote after the then-unnamed filly sold. She was nearly the session-topper on the third day of the sale.

Later in the afternoon, Concertos Pride broke through in her fourth start in Puerto Rico. The filly had placed second among winners at first asking, losing to a horse who has now won at least thrice already. Then, Concertos Pride disappointed in two straight races against maidens (won by another of my sales picks, Hold Still).

The race was a six-furlong maiden special weight, but since it takes a few days for full charts from Hipodromo Camarero to filter their way to Equibase -- and then to me -- I'm not sure yet of the margin, or what Concertos Pride has earned from the win.

Concertos Pride sold as Hip 1003 at OBSAPR, and brought only $5,000. Though her dam was only placed, never a winner, I like that she is a daughter of a top broodmare sire in Deputy Minister, and had already produced nine winners from 13 foals, four of them stakes horses. That's the resume of a filly who should win somewhere, and pretty soon, she did. I'll need to see the time for six furlongs to see whether it's a race that would have been competitive somewhere in the States, even if at a lower-tier track.

The weekend, which included a first-time starter in Korea (to be reported later), boasted 15 races for my sales tips, with three wins, three seconds and a third, plus the third horse to achieve at least a blacktype-placing.

From 107 races, my sales picks have logged 17 wins (15.9 percent) and, with 15 places and a dozen shows, an in-the-money rate of 41.1 percent. Total earnings now have reached $539,028, not including the win by Concertos Pride or the race in Korea, dollar-figures from which aren't yet accessible for me.

Follow the race results of all 187 of my sales tips (and a few horses I didn't like) here.

Maiden-breaker No. 8, or 'numero ocho,' as it were

I've been a bit slow to blog this one, as I've hoped for the final chart to reach my inbox to get her official earnings updated. But since charts from Hipódromo Camarero in Puerto Rico are apparently imported to Equibase by carrier pigeon, I'm gonna go ahead and name-drop her now and update the statistics later.

Hold Still (Include-Zitlaly, by Emancipator) broke through to the winner's circle in her second start, eclipsing seven other rivals in a maiden special weight at Camarero on Wednesday. She became my eighth 2010 sales tip to break maiden, paid $6.10 to win, and covered 6 furlongs in 1:14.21, according to the finish-line photo Camarero posts on its Web site.

(Now the chart is in; she earned $5,700 for the win.)

Finishing fourth by a nose in that photo is the 2, Concertos Pride, another sales recommendation of mine from the same auction, OBS April. She was second against winners in her first out, and since has mysteriously failed twice against maidens.

Hold Still was an $18,000 purchase as Hip 696 at OBSAPR. (Concertos Pride sold for just $5,000.) In recommending her, I noted that while her 10.3 breeze was "only fair" (by that sale's standards), her female family wins. Her dam raced 46 times, winning six and placing in another 15, including stakes races among IL-breds at Fairmount and Hawthorne. Her winning second dam produced three foals that had raced as of the catalog, all were winners, and two earned black type, including LA JOYERIA ($199,981). (A fourth now has started without placing.) And her third dam, Rapid Raja, was stakes-placed and a half-sister to NATIVE RAJA (Cowdin S.-G2) and Naroctive (24 wins).

Pretty good bet to find a racehorse in this filly, even though she was banished to Puerto Rico and didn't exactly break maiden in "racehorse time."

But she's a winner, which a lot of them never are. And you could spend more and get less.

Track the performance of all 187 of my sales picks (and a few pans) in the list at the bottom of this past post.