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Posted on: 08/28/10
The Live Oak homebred filly Dynaslew ran down a loose leader to win the $200,000 Ballston Spa H. (G2) Aug. 28 on the Saratoga turf. The 4-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Dynaformer won the 1 1/16-mile event by a half-length in a time of 1:40.58, less than a second off the track record of 1:39.80.
Though Dynaslew was never worse than second or more than a couple of lengths off the lead in the Ballston Spa, the outcome was still in doubt with just a furlong to go. Longshot Silver Reunion had cut some solid fractions, getting six furlongs in 1:11, but was uncontested on the front end. Dynaslew made a run at her about a quarter-mile from the wire and eventually poked her head in front inside the furlong marker, pulling away in the final stride to earn a hard-fought victory.
Dynaslew is the first foal out of Slews Final Answer, she also has 3-year-old and 2-year-old that have yet to start. Slews Final Answer tallied five stakes wins in her career, earning $358,567. She is a half-sister to the Grade 3 winner Palmeiro.
The Ballston Spa was worth $120,000 to Live Oak and upped Dynaslew's lifetime earnings to $365,852. She is 5-4-0 in 13 starts. She is trained by Seth Benzel.
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Posted on: 05/20/10
| Lookin At Lucky wins the $1 million Preakness (G1) Jim McCue Photo
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Private Feeling, who Live Oak purchased for $2 million last Nov. 10 at the annual Fasig-Tipton November Sale in Lexington, KY, is now the dam of a Classic winner after Lookin At Lucky scored a 3/4-length victory in the $1 million Preakness (G1) on May 15. The 2009 Eclipse Champion 2-year-old male rebounded from a disappointing sixth-place finish after a very rough trip in the Kentucky Derby (G1). For Private Feeling, her status as a
broodmare continues to grow. Her other foal to race is Kensei (by Mr.
Greeley), won back-to-back Grade 2 stakes in the Dwyer S. at Belmont
and Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga in 2009 to prove he was one of the best
sophomores in the country. Her 2010 foal is a colt by Mr. Greeley,
making him a full brother to Kensei.
Private Feeling is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Grand Charmer (by Lord Avie), the granddam of 3-year-old filly champ Wait a While, winner of six graded stakes who earned nearly $2.4 million. Lookin At Lucky was having a tough time living up to his moniker this year. In both the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby, “Lucky” got severely bumped around, costing him any shot at the win. Garrett Gomez was aboard for both trips, and though trainer Bob Baffert didn't blame him for the trouble at Churchill Downs, he decided a rider switch to Martin Garcia for the Preakness might improve the colt's chances. Baffert's intuition proved right; Lookin At Lucky got a near-perfect trip and a flawless ride by Garcia to put him in the winner's circle. Lookin At Lucky was between horses, some three lengths off the lead in sixth place, going into the first turn. Garcia got into the clear going into the backstretch, slowly making his way forward nearing the far turn. He hooked up with First Dude, who had the lead from the start, as they neared the top of the lane. That pair dueled for the rest of the way, with Jackson Bend, who wound up a head back in third, joining the fray late. The final time for the 1 3/16-miles was 1:55.47. Victory was sweet for Lookin At Lucky's owners. "Today was about redemption, and we got it," said Mike Pegram, who owns the colt along with Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. They have now seen their horse earn $2,113,000 while winning seven of ten starts, with one second and a third. Pegram purchased the son of Smart Strike for $475,000 at the 2009 Keeneland April 2-year-old in training sale.
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Posted on: 05/02/10
Live Oak scored a double victory of sorts as the homebred filly tallied a 3 ¼-length success under Eibar Coa in the $100,000 Beaugay (G3) over Belmont Park's inner turf course on May 1. It was the first stakes win for the 4-year-old Florida-bred daughter of Dynaformer, who was making her second start for trainer Seth Benzel.
Dynaslew entered the Beaugay off a victory in a Gulfstream Park optional claimer on Apr. 2. The 1 1/16-mile Beaugay was decided in the first half mile, when jockey Eibar Coa was allowed to set a leisurely pace of :50 4/5 over a course rated good. Keeping her foes at bay around the turn, Dynaslew sprinted clear in the lane, widening for the final margin. She stopped the clock in 1:42 1/5, earning a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure.
Dynaslew is the first foal out of Slews Final Answer, she also has 3-year-old and 2-year-old that have yet to start. Slews Final Answer tallied five stakes wins in her career, earning $358,567. She is a half-sister to the Grade 3 winner Palmeiro.
The Beaugay was worth $60,000 to Live Oak and upped Dynaslew's lifetime earnings to $191,252. She is 4-3-0 in ten starts.
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Posted on: 02/17/10
Live Oak's Points of Grace was named the 2009 Champion Turf Female at the 35th Annual Sovereign Awards ceremonies on Jan. 29 in Toronto.
As a 4-year-old, Points of Grace won five of her nine starts in 2009, including her first graded stakes victory on June 11, when the daughter of Point Given took the $312,700 Dance Smartly S. (G2) at Woodbine. The Malcolm Pierce trainee closed out her championship campaign with a half-length victory in the River Memories S., also at Woodbine, on Oct. 31.
Points of Grace was given a freshening following the River Memorial, and has recently begun working for a return for a 2010 campaign, recording a pair of 3-furlong workouts at Fair Grounds in New Orleans.
Bred in Kentucky from the Topsider mare Fateful, Points of Grace was purchased by Mrs. Weber and the Live Oak Plantation team for $170,000 at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale.
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Posted on: 01/18/10
Private Feeling, who Live Oak purchased for $2 million on Nov. 10 at the annual Fasig-Tipton November Sale in Lexington, KY, saw her already-stellar stature as a broodmare continue to grow when her son Lookin At Lucky was named the 2009 Eclipse Champion 2-year-old male on Jan. 18.
For Private Feeling, it marked her second “A List” runner of 2009, as her 3-year-old colt Kensei had also won back-to-back Grade 2 stakes in the Dwyer S. at Belmont and Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga to prove he was one of the best sophomores in the country.
Lookin At Lucky's runner-up effort in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) was his only loss in 2009. The son of Smart Strike was previously undefeated and is a multiple Grade 1 winner. Lookin At Lucky would go on to win the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (G1) on Dec. 19 at Hollywood Park to give the brilliant colt his third Grade 1 win and fourth overall graded stakes triumph of his juvenile campaign.
Private Feeling is an integral part of the world-class broodmare band at Live Oak, which also includes regally-bred Grade 1 winner My Typhoon (Ire). Live Oak purchased My Typhoon as a weanling at the Tattersalls Sale in Europe, and she carried the Live Oaks silks with distinction during her racing career in the United States, winning eight stakes – including the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga – and earning over $1.3 million upon her retirement at the end of 2007.
My Typhoon is a half-sister to 2009 European Horse of the Year Sea the Stars, undefeated in six races in 2009, all in Group 1 company.
Sea The Stars, by Cape Cross, was the first horse in 20 years to capture the prestigious Epsom Derby and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. He then dominated the best in Europe had to offer with triumphs in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park, the Juddmonte International at York, and the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown. He went on to cap his campaign with a brilliant victory in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Sea The Stars’s recent fame has only added to the regal family’s status as one of the best in the world. Urban Sea, the dam by Miswaki, was a world-class racehorse who defeated males in winning the 1993 running of the Arc de Triomphe, Besides Sea The Stars, Urban Sea also produced Galileo (Ire), a multiple Group 1-winning performer by Sadler’s Wells, who earned more than $2.2 million in his career as one of Europe’s best horses of the last decade.
The late Urban Sea passed away in March, 2009 due to foaling complications at her home at Irish National Stud. She leaves behind a legacy that includes a splendid daughter with all of the credentials to carry on her legend as a broodmare at Live Oak Stud.
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Posted on: 11/16/09
Private Feeling's 2yo colt Lookin At Lucky is an Eclipse front-runner
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The Live Oak team of owner Charlotte Weber, general manager Bruce Hill and advisors were present in Lexington, KY on Nov. 10 for the annual Fasig-Tipton November Sale, one of the top select mixed sales in the world. The team was looking for a unique offering to add to Live Oak’s elite band of broodmares back at the Ocala-based farm, and they found it in Hip No. 146 – 10-year-old Grade 1 producer Private Feeling. By the emerging top broodmare sire Belong to Me, Private Feeling proved to be one of the most accomplished and hottest broodmare offerings in this year’s sale lineup, as her 2-year-old son Lookin At Lucky was fresh off a narrow runner-up defeat in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) after a gallant effort from the far-outside post position. The highly-regarded Lookin At Lucky was previously undefeated and is a multiple Grade 1 winner. For Private Feeling, it marked her second “A List” runner of 2009, as her 3-year-old colt Kensei had also won back-to-back Grade 2 stakes in the Dwyer S. at Belmont and Jim Dandy S. at Saratoga to prove he was one of the best sophomores in the country. That level of production is rare from a broodmare, and it made Private Feeling one of the hottest commodities in Thoroughbred breeding. With a final bid of $2 million, Team Live Oak purchased Private Feeling – who is in-foal to Mr. Greeley making it a full sibling to Kensei – from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency. “Belong to Me is a good broodmare sire, and her produce record pretty well did it all for us; pretty is as pretty does,” Hill said. “She’s proven and she’s obvious, but hopefully we can keep that (success) up. With all due respect to everybody else, we thought that Lookin At Lucky was the best horse in the field (of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile) after the race. With his post position (No. 13), what he had to go through, and the way he closed, he appeared to be the best horse in there with all due respect to the winner.” Lookin At Lucky would go on to flatter Hill’s comments by winning the $750,000 CashCall Futurity (G1) on Dec. 19 at Hollywood Park to give the brilliant colt his third Grade 1 win and fourth overall graded stakes triumph of his juvenile campaign – one that makes him a front-runner to be honored as an Eclipse Champion. The Eclipse Awards will be held on Jan. 18 in Beverly Hills, CA. While 2010 breeding plans have not yet been decided for Private Feeling, the bay mare will join the ranks of Live Oak’s world-class broodmare collection and will take up residence at the storied farm in central Florida. “We’re very pleased to have her,” said Hill. “We don’t know for sure (which stallion she’ll be bred to). We’ll kick that around a little bit before we make that decision. We don’t have that firmed up yet. She’s carrying a colt (based on fetal sex determination), but that didn’t have any impact at all on our buying her. Colt or filly, we would have been good.”
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Posted on: 09/21/09
(Click for larger image)
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Live Oak Plantation added a nice prospect to the racing stable when it acquired the sale topper – a lovely filly by red-hot sire Medaglia d’Oro – at the OBS August yearling sale. It took less than a month for the Ocala-based operation to get another top daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, as Team Live Oak – led by Mrs. Charlotte Weber and general manager Bruce Hill – were on hand at the annual Keeneland September yearling sale in Lexington, KY to purchase Hip No. 570 for a session-topping price of $1.3 million during Day 3, Sept. 16th. Medaglia d’Oro has emerged in 2009 as one of the hottest names in the stallion game, siring 11 stakes winners – 5 graded – from his first crop which includes the superstar filly Rachel Alexandra. His fillies have been particularly special, headed by the aforementioned Rachel Alexandra, who is arguably one of the industry’s brightest stars to grace the racetrack in years. Live Oak has now added a pair of Medaglia d’Oro’s best yearling fillies offered at public auction this season, nabbing the top individuals at both OBS and Keeneland. Hip 570 is a gorgeous, strong-built bay filly out of the graded stakes-producing Unreal Zeal mare Beaties for Real. She entered the sale ring Wednesday with a tremendous presence, and the buyers quickly responded by making her the highest-priced filly in the sale. “She’s a very strong, well-balanced filly. I would certainly say she’s elegant and very nice,” Hill said. “She’s what we’re looking for—an end-user, long-term investment.” Consigned by Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck’s Summerfield sales agency, the filly is a Florida-bred and was raised across town from Live Oak’s Ocala-based operation at Gilbert Campbell’s Stonehedge Farm South. She is a half-sister to Grade 3 stakes winners Friel’s for Real and Ryan’s for Real. Although not the direct underbidder, among those bidding was a representative of Darley, which stands Medaglia d’Oro. Hill said the final price was as far as Live Oak was going to go. “We were hoping it would be less than a million dollars but we’re not surprised,” Hill said. “We’ve got bruises from bidding against [representatives of Sheikh Mohammed] all year long and years past, so we anticipated that. We anticipated we would have to reach down to get her.”
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Posted on: 09/01/09
Live Oak Plantation added another top prospect to its revered racing stable on August 24th with the purchase of a grand-looking filly by red-hot sire Medaglia d’Oro for a sale-topping tag of $275,000 on Day 1 of the annual OBS August Selected Yearlings Sale in Ocala, FL.
Selling as Hip No. 108, the big bay filly made a strong presence in the sales ring as the bidding escalated to a high price for the four-day sale. Live Oak general manager Bruce Hill signed the ticket on behalf of Mrs. Weber.
“This filly checked off all the boxes,” said Hill. “She showed very well, so from that perspective she was sort of a cherry pick. She’s a big, scopey filly and looks like a racehorse and has a good attitude.”
Out of the stakes-winning Phone Trick mare Lolabell, the filly was bred in Florida by Rick McDonald and Deirdre M. Wulff, and was consigned by Summerfield Sales. She will stay in Ocala where she will be trained and broken at Live Oak before embarking on a racing career in 2010.
Medaglia d’Oro has ascended to the top of the stallion ranks in 2009 with the emergence of superstar filly Rachel Alexandra, and his fillies have been a hot commodity with the majority of his first-crop stakes winners being fillies.
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Posted on: 07/12/09
Courtesy of Woodbine Racecourse
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Live Oak color bearer Points of Grace captured her first graded stakes victory on June 11th when the strapping chestnut daughter of Point Given made all the running in the $312,700 Dance Smartly S. (G2) at Woodbine. Conditioned by Malcolm Pierce, Points of Grace broke sharply in the 1 1/8-mile turf event for fillies & mares and found herself in an unfamiliar position – bounding along on the early lead. The new tactics would prove to be successful, as Points of Grace, under new rider Luis Contreras, dictated the pace through an honest opening half-mile in 47.03 seconds over the local course rated as good. When the real running started on the far turn, Points of Grace was more than up to the challenge, opening up on the field of eight distaffers in the stretch and impressively striding out to a powerful 2 ¼-length win on the wire. The final time was a fast one – 1:45.51, earning her a career-high 100 Beyer Speed Figure. A 4-year-old, Points of Grace won for the fifth time in eight starts, moving her career earnings to $295,532. Bred in Kentucky from the Topsider mare Fateful, Points of Grace was purchased by Mrs. Weber and the Live Oak Plantation team for $170,000 at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale.
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Posted on: 06/10/09
Live Oak Stud broodmare My Typhoon (Ire) welcomed the second Grade/Group 1-winning sibling to her illustrious family on June 6th when her half-brother Sea The Stars (Ire) impressively won the $2.48 million Epsom Derby (G1) in England to become Europe’s leading 3-year-old in training.
Sea The Stars, by Cape Cross, won for the fourth straight time in taking the Epsom Derby over England’s best sophomores, and he moved his earnings to over $1.6 million from just five starts. He now owns a prestigious Epsom Derby championship to go along with his win in the 2000 Guineas (G1) last month at Newmarket, becoming the first horse in two decades to accomplish that double. Sea The Stars was also a Group 2 winner at the Curragh in Ireland last season as a 2-year-old.
My Typhoon, who Live Oak purchased as a weanling at the Tattersalls Sale in Europe, carried the red polka dot silks brilliantly during her racing career in the United States, winning eight stakes – including a Grade 1 – and earning over $1.3 million. She retired at the end of 2007 and was bred to Awesome Again in 2008, and she now has a colt by that stallion at her side at her new home at Live Oak Stud in Ocala, FL. My Typhoon was bred back to Distorted Humor on an early cover and has been pronounced in foal with another colt.
Sea The Stars’s recent fame has only added to the regal family’s status as one of the best in the world. Urban Sea, the dam by Miswaki, was a world-class racehorse who defeated males in winning the 1993 running of the Arc de Triomphe (G1), the grandest race in France and one of the biggest in the world. Along with Sea The Stars, Urban Sea has also produced Galileo (Ire), a multiple Group 1-winning performer by Sadler’s Wells who earned more than $2.2 million in his career as one of Europe’s best horses around the turn of the millennium.
The late Urban Sea passed away earlier this year in March due to foaling complications at her home at Irish National Stud. She leaves behind a legacy that has had global reach at the highest levels of the Thoroughbred industry – and she leaves behind a splendid daughter with all of the credentials to carry on her legend as a broodmare at Live Oak Stud.
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Posted on: 06/05/09
One of racing’s oldest graded stakes winners has retired at the age of 11. Live Oak Plantation’s Revved Up ended a decorated nine-year racing career that included 14 stakes victories – three graded – from an overall record of 20 wins from 43 starts. He retires to pasture at his birthplace of Live Oak Stud in Ocala, FL with earnings of $1,548,653. Revved Up was a turf campaigner who toured most of North America’s top courses through the span of this decade under the care of trainer Christophe Clement. The gray-turned-near-white gelding ran at 13 different racetracks and captured stakes over nine different courses in his career. From 2005-07, Revved Up became the first horse to win three consecutive runnings of the Bonnie Heath Turf Cup H. on the Florida Million program, and he won the Chris Thomas Turf Classic S. at Tampa Bay Downs for the second straight year in May of 2008, which was his final start. Revved Up’s biggest career win came in the Niagara Breeders’ Cup H. (G2) at Woodbine in 2005. “He’s an amazing horse. To race for as long as he did and win nearly half of his starts is a remarkable feet,” said Clement. “He was extremely unusual how long he lasted and how consistent he was. He always ran his race. He is one that is difficult to replace in your stable.” Revved Up is an all-Live Oak homebred. He is by former Live Oak color bearer and stallion Sultry Song out of the With Approval mare Win Approval. Revved Up is also renowned for being the older half-brother to Miesque’s Approval, who was the 2006 Eclipse Champion Turf Male and Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) winner for Live Oak. “Revved Up is an absolute pleasure for Mrs. Weber and the Live Oak staff, and we look forward to having him back at the farm as a full-time resident. He is family,” said Bruce Hill, general manager at Live Oak Stud. “Revved Up's racing career was the embodiment of Mrs. Weber's breeding program. He was sound, durable and talented, and his record speaks for itself through nine years of racing.”
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Posted on: 04/01/09
Live Oak Plantation’s Remarkable Remy, a 4-year-old New York-bred daughter of Hennessy, was one of the top 3-year-old filly turf performers in the state in 2008 after scoring a pair of stylish wins in the $121,000 Pebbles S. at Belmont last October and $85,000 Caveat Competor S. at Saratoga last August.
Now four, the honest gray remains in training for Live Oak under the care of conditioner John Kimmel. Also a stakes winner at two, Remarkable Remy owns five career wins from 14 starts with earnings of $285,930.
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Posted on: 02/26/09
My Typhoon (Ire) ended her illustrious racing career in the red polka dot silks at the close of 2007, and the brilliant daughter of Giant’s Causeway has taken up her second career as a broodmare at Live Oak Stud, where she produced her first foal, a colt by Awesome Again, on Jan. 30.
Now seven, My Typhoon retired from racing as a Grade 1 winner and millionaire at the end of her 5-year-old season. The classy chestnut mare will be bred back to Distorted Humor.
In the Gold, another Grade 1 winner for Live Oak with career earnings of $745,617 on the racetrack, gave birth to an Empire Maker filly on Jan. 27. The 7-year-old daughter of Golden Missile will be bred back to Smart Strike.
Graded stakes winners Cat Fighter and Silver Charades also foaled out recently at Live Oak. Cat Fighter, a 9-year-old Storm Cat mare out of Strategic Maneuver, had a Bernardini filly on Jan. 22, while Silver Charades gave birth to a Mizzen Mast filly on Jan 21.
Cat Fighter will be bred back to Awesome Again, and Silver Charades to Arch.
The gray mare Elle Runaway was another new addition to the Live Oak broodmare band in 2008, and the stakes-winning El Prado mare had her first foal on Jan. 5 – a filly by Malibu Moon. The 7-year-old will be bred back to Lemon Drop Kid.
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Posted on: 09/20/08
Team Live Oak convened at the annual Keeneland September yearling sale in Lexington, Ky., and Mrs. Charlotte Weber, along with general manager Bruce Hill, added four promising young racing prospects to the distinguished stable during the first week of the world’s largest annual Thoroughbred auction.
The headliner was a regally-bred colt selling as Hip No. 340, an athletically-gorgeous son of top sire Giant’s Causeway signed for by Mrs. Weber for $1.15 million. The colt is out of the Kris S. mare Vertigineux, which makes him a half-brother to a slew of racing’s biggest names. Zenyatta, this year’s top filly-in-training and a multiple Grade 1 winner, and millionaire Balance, a leading 3-year-old filly of 2006 and multiple Grade 1 winner, have provided for one of the hottest Thoroughbred families in the world, making this yearling colt by Giant’s Causeway a top commodity.
Live Oak also acquired an Unbridled’s Song filly on Day 1 of the sale for $400,000. Out of multiple Grade 1 winner Stop Traffic, by Cure the Blues, the gray filly was purchased as Hip No. 73. Live Oak grabbed a pair of other solid colts with top-class pedigrees, including an A.P. Indy colt, selling as Hip No. 251, and an Awesome Again colt, selling as Hip No. 430.
Purchased for $450,000, the colt by leading sire A.P. Indy is out of multiple graded stakes winner Ocean Drive, and hails from the direct family of millionaire Sun King and Grade 1 winner Traitor. The Awesome Again colt, Live Oak’s final purchase at the 2008 renewal of Keeneland September, commanded $475,000. He is out of the Fit to Fight mare Fitnah, and is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Dreams Gallore and Grade 3 winners Absent Friend and Fateful Dream.
The four yearlings have been shipped to the historic Live Oak Plantation in Ocala, Fla., where they will be introduced to the lush pastures before beginning a career as equine athletes this winter.
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Posted on: 08/04/08
Live Oak Plantation’s 4-year-old homebred Rockerfeller has emerged from relative anonymity this summer to become one of the premier sprinters in North America, and his performance while winning the $109,300 Teddy Drone Stakes August 3rd on the Haskell undercard at Monmouth Park was likely his best to date.
Rockerfeller, who has always run with a late-closing style, showed a new dimension in the Teddy Drone, swiftly breaking from the gates and dictating the pace of the six-furlong contest. Under Eddie Castro, the bay Maria’s Mon gelding set fractions of :22.34, :44.62 and :56.16 before turning for home and streaking away from the field to hit the wire 3 ¾ lengths clear of favorite and course specialist Joey P. Rockerfeller stopped the clock in a crisp 1:08.09 and earned a gaudy Beyer Speed Figure of 113 – his career best.
Rockerfeller raced in maiden and entry-level allowance conditions for the first 15 starts of his career before moving to the South Florida barn of Marty Wolfson this spring. Since, he has won three of four starts by a combined 16 ¾ lengths, including winning the Ponche Handicap at Calder and running third to top sprinter Benny the Bull in the Smile Sprint (G2).
Out of the Deputy Minister mare Lienholder, Rockerfeller earned $60,000 for his win in the Teddy Drone to move his career earnings to $262,138.
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