SUPER SAVER HALF TOPS SARATOGA

A half brother to 2010 Kentucky Derby winner and Eliza Park stallion, Super Saver, has topped the opening session of Fasig Tipton’s Saratoga Select Yearling Sale in upstate New York when knocked down to Sheikh Mohammed for $1.2 million.
Despite the dip in the Dow it appears there’s dough for the right horse and, according to Sheikh Mohammed’s agent, John Ferguson, the yearling colt from AP Indy mare, Supercharger has it all: “I’ve said it before, but it’s incredibly difficult to breed a horse who looks like that.
“He’s just an outstanding athlete who showed himself off time and time again.
“Obviously the mare has produced a Kentucky Derby winner (Super Saver), but not only that, we have a Group One winner in Girolamo, who is one of our most exciting stallion prospects. He’s in the (yearling’s) pedigree … it’s a fantastic family!”
Clearly Ferguson will have fingers crossed that his latest acquisition can match the deeds of his half brother Super Saver.
Described by trainer Todd Pletcher as “his fastest 2YO”, Super Saver won the 83rd Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes-G2 by five lengths (in stakes record time) before going on at three to take out the 136th edition of the Kentucky Derby.
“We have fielded considerable interest in Super Saver since it was announced he would be standing at Eliza Park this spring,” Eliza Park’s Nominations Manager, Mark Lindsay, points out. “It’s hardly surprising when you consider the success of Kentucky Derby winners in this country (within the past three decades, Kentucky Derby winners boast a greater percentage of stakes winners to runners in the southern hemisphere than Golden Slipper winners!).
“He (Super Saver) was also very popular in his first season at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, covering 140 mares – 100 of those either stakes performed or the dams of stakes performers and 10 of those being Group One winners.
“But it’s also the pedigree and athleticism that John Ferguson alluded to when they spoke to him at Saratoga.
“Super Saver’s not only a cracking type … he really does hail from the first family of American thoroughbred breeding. Seven strains of La Troienne! And his first four dams are by AP Indy, Mr Prospector, Northern Dancer and Buckpasser.
“And we’re not talking ancient history either: Super Saver won the Derby last year, his half brother Brethren was a Group winner this year and Girolamo – that Ferguson mentioned – won a Group One at Belmont last November.
“It just goes to show that even though the stock market is wreaking havoc, people are prepared to pay for class.”

Super Saver stands at Eliza Park at an introductory fee of $16,500.
For further information, phone Mark Lindsay on 0416 334 338 or Phil Marshall on 0407 853 782.