Belmont Contenders Stack Up in Sales Ring

This year the final leg of the Triple Crown, the 155th Belmont Stakes (G1), will have seven horses in the field of nine make a bid for victory who previously passed through the sales ring as younger stock, hammered down to their respective connections.

The morning-line favorite Forte was sold in his second trip through the ring to bloodstock agent Jacob West for owners Repole Stable and St. Elias during the 2021 Keeneland September Sale for $110,000.

"He was in a later book; at that point in the sale, you are mainly looking for athletes," said West. "The big pedigrees have passed you by. It looks like a bargain price now, but Violence wasn't at the top of everybody's radar at the time. A couple of months after the sale, he had three grade 1 winners in the span of 90 days. He came on as a stallion, and I don't think if you brought the same individual back today, we wouldn't be able to buy him for $110,000.

"Forte is owned in partnership with Vinnie Viola, who has a buying team on his side, at that time encompassed Monique Delk and Peter Penny, who played a big role in buying him."

The son of Violence initially sold as a weanling from the Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services banner for his breeder Amy Moore's South Gate Farm, selling for $80,000 to Reiley McDonald's pinhook venture Silver Hill Farm during the 2020 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

The first horse Moore bred returned to the following year's Keeneland September Sale, where Eaton Sales showcased the yearling colt, and West snatched him up during Book 4 of the two-week sale.

"We sold him for a very modest profit, probably broke even, and always when I walked into that colt's field, he was the first to trot up. He was the guy with the personality and was stunning," McDonald said. "He's nearly black with the white stripe down his face; he's definitely a special animal. He's probably as pretty a racehorse as any would ever see."

West added, "It's pretty understood that Mike (Repole) and Vinnie's goal is to buy two-turn horses that can hopefully put us into spots like this weekend in the Belmont Stakes. He was exactly what you look for in those types of horses, tall, lanky, a great mover, very athletic, and had the right muscle tone you look for. That drew us to him, and the pedigree has to come into play with John Sparkman and Ed Rosen. A son of Medaglia d'Oro on top of a Blame mare, you thought he would get the distance, no matter what."

In retrospect, the three-time grade 1 winner and 2022 champion 2-year-old colt might be considered a bargain buy in comparison to some of his competition, namely the $1.3 million son of Tapit , Tapit Trice , who will run in the pink silks for Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm and breeder/co-owner Gainesway June 10.

Three of this year's contenders graduated from the Gainesway program: the seven-figure Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner Tapit Trice, the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October purchase Tapit Shoes (also by Gainesway sire Tapit), and the $35,000 grade 3-winning son of Arrogate, Arcangelo , who was traded at the Keeneland September Sale.

The sole juvenile purchase, Il Miracolo , was acquired last year during the June 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale at Ocala Breeders' Sales. Consignor de Meric Sales traded the son of Gun Runner for $70,000 to buyer Eduardo Soto, who campaigns the colt whose name translates to 'the miracle.' During the under tack show last year, the colt breezed an eighth-mile in :10 3/5. This year's June sale takes place next week in central Florida at Ocala Breeders' Sales June 13-15.

The colt bred by Caroline Stautberg's Willow Oaks Stable was first sold as a short yearling during the 2021 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services for $75,000 to H.A.F. Stable. He returned to the sales ring nine months later at the Fasig-Tipton October Sale with Castle Park Farm but failed to attain his reserve at $190,000.

Other sales graduates are listed in the table provided below.

Corrie McCroskey contributed to this story.