Rock steady
The buzz is “They sold well, they looked well, and they are athletic.”
First-crop sire Rockport Harbor has received the endorsement of numerous horsemen including farm and racing manager Todd Quast and bloodstock agent Nick de Meric.
Quast currently has two Rockport Harbor youngsters in his program at T. Paul Buhlman’s stunning GoldMark Farm. “When we went to all the yearling sales this year, Quast earnestly pointed out, “Of all the freshman sires, to me, he looked like the best one. Across the board he had the best yearlings.”
Throughout the nineties, Quast oversaw a long list of future champions and graded winners for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
The enthusiasm for Rockport Harbor became infectious during the summer sales. A total of 70 of his yearlings sold at an average of $60,360. At Saratoga Select, he fetched $130,000 and $190,000 for the only two offered. A good percentage of the crop was earmarked for Keeneland, where a colt out of All the Crown (Chief’s Crown) was purchased by Toyomitsu Hirai for $285,000. The Rockport Harbor was the most expensive of five horses that the Hirai family purchased with the guidance of Naoya Yoshida, D.V.M., and Marie Yoshida. He is a half-brother to four black-typed siblings including the G2 winner Devil’s Preacher.
A filly out of G2-placed Rosthern (Broad Brush) fetched $210,000 for Audley Farm, whilst another striking colt with two black-typed half-brothers and a double dose of Raise a Native was hammered down to Bradley Thoroughbreds Brokerage for $160,000.
A winner of his first three starts by an unprecedented 22 1/2 Lengths, Rockport Harbor, much like his sire, proved to be so much more than a sprinter. He readily stretched to a mile without effort in the G3 Nashua and repeated at nine furlongs in the G2 Remsen to sustain a perfect record throughout his two-year-old campaign.
A handsome $470,000 yearling himself, it is little wonder that Rockport Harbor’s progeny are displaying such vital potential.
At $140,000, the highest priced colt at the Ocala Breeders’ Select Sale was, as agent Nick de Meric put it, “a self-contained and attractive horse.” De Meric signed the ticket last August for Ron and Lybby Gay’s Florda home-bred; the half-brother to G2-placed True Addiction and out of the unraced Hennessy mare, Java Jolt. “I liked his general outlook on life. He had a sort of presence about him at the sale.”
In addition to what attracted him to the colt, de Meric said, “I liked his size and strength and his substance, and I liked his walk.”
An avid pinhooker based in Florida, de Meric was struck by how many Rockport Harbors actually ended up on his short list of horses that he was considering buying. “Although this was the only one that I brought home, there were several of them that I would have been happy to have. I thought they were a very clean bunch top to bottom.”
“I see a lot of the Pleasant Colony coming out in him as he gets into his training,” de Meric described his colt. “He has a bit of spark about him. He is a big, strong rugged colt and amiable to train.”
His second dam is a Graded stakes-winning full-sister to G1 Flamingo S. winner Cherokee Colony. The colt is entered in the Keeneland two-year-old sale in April, although sending him off to the racing stable is not entirely out of the question.
In training at GoldMark Farm is the steel gray colt out of Deputy Reality (Deputy Minister) that was picked him up at Keeneland in September for $65,000. He is the first foal for the half-sister of graded-placed A. P. Reality out of Stakes Winner Halo Reality. The colt has tremendous bone structure with an intelligent eye on a very masculine head – a lot like his dad. He looks to be a savvy investment for owner Michael Imperio. Having just been broken at the start of November, the colt is already showing a competitive nature when galloping upside his workmate in his daily mile and a quarter routine. With his head bowed and a rounded top line, his angular hips and shoulders propel into smooth powerful strides. The strength of his well formed hocks is indeed impressive. The good natured colt is nominated for the April Florida and Kentucky two-year-old sales, but as yet his owner is undecided if he will sell.
GoldMark Farm’s Rockport Harbor filly out of Tasso Run (Cherokee Run) is an elegant and efficient daisy-cutter who pushes well off her hind end at the gallop and gives every indication that she is enjoying her work. Quast selected her from the J. Mack Robinson dispersal at Fasig-Tipton in Kentucky and paid $110,000 on behalf of the farm. She is nicely conformed; having a deep chest, a muscular rear and quite correct about the legs. As precocious as this lass looks, we may well see her running at two. She will don the same gold and black colors that accompanied Backtalk to victory in the G2 Sapling this past season.
Rockport Harbor placed second in the Rebel S. at three and displayed fortitude when winning the G3 Essex H. at four although plagued by a recurring hind hoof wall injury that he sustained when winning the Remsen. His bloodlines are free of Northern Dancer and the female family has no added Mr. Prospector strains. A quick study of the fairer side of the pedigree reveals what may truly set him apart as a stallion.
Rockport Harbor’s dam is sired by Copelan, a six-time stakes winner at two and three including wins in the G1 Champagne S., G1 Hopeful S., and the G1 Futurity S. It is Copelan’s dam however that is one of the most interesting genetic factors in the family. Arguably the best, aside from Precisionist that Fred W. Hooper ever bred, Susan’s Girl is the only filly throughout the twentieth century to win a three-year old championship and then two older female championships. As well, she just missed out in the voting at two to Numbered Account. At three, Susan’s Girl won nine of her thirteen starts, and was never out of the money. She won a record 24 stakes from 63 starts and the tough and versatile mare fulfilled her owner’s goal of becoming the first million dollar winning female.
Rockport Harbor will stand the 2010 season for $12,500 stands and nurses.
04 January 2010