Five years ago, Stonehaven Steadings enjoyed one of its biggest days in the sales ring when a colt by Quality Road, co-bred by the Reddoch family's operation, topped the 2021 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring sale on a bid of $1.5 million. The youngster went on to become champion Corniche. Leah and Aidan O'Meara, daughter and son-in-law of the farm's founders Jeff and Chiquita Reddoch, will be back in Ocala next week and dreaming of a similar result when they send a filly by Curlin (hip 800) through the ring Thursday. The filly enters the sales ring Thursday with the benefit of a major pedigree update after her half-sister Meaning (Gun Runner) stamped herself as a major GI Kentucky Oaks contender with her victory in the GII Santa Anita Oaks last weekend.
Both fillies are out of Figure of Speech (Into Mischief). The mare, who was third in the 2019 GI Spinaway Stakes, was acquired privately by Stonehaven Steadings at the height of the pandemic.
“It was 2020 and we still didn't know anything about how the yearling sales were even going to happen,” Leah O'Meara recalled. “There was still so much uncertainty when my dear friend Christina Jelm called me and they had this filly at the time who was retired off the track and she had her on the private market. We went to look at her and we bought her. It was a little nerve-wracking acquiring something in such an uncertain time–and a Grade I mare at that. For us, she would have been on the top end of what we had. But it worked out well.”
Meaning, who sold for $440,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September sale, was the mare's second foal and, according to Aidan O'Meara, was a star right from the start.
“Every year, you have a few that really look the part from day one,” he said. “And they get you excited the whole way along the process. There would be maybe three or five that you think could be stakes caliber horses, and then there is the odd one that you kind of go, 'This could be something legit if it works out.' Shanghai Bobby was like that, Corniche was like that. And that filly looked like she could be really something when we sold her that day.”
Leah and Aidan OíMeara | Keeneland
The O'Mearas were at Keeneland for Blue Grass day when Meaning was skipping away to victory at Santa Anita last weekend.
“A-Mazing,” Leah said when asked what it was like watching Meaning win the Santa Anita Oaks. “There were two TVs that had Santa Anita on and we went and found a spot. I am sure people were wondering what the heck we were screaming at, right? Because the race at Keeneland wasn't off yet. And we just celebrated like you wouldn't believe. It was so much fun to see her do it in that kind of fashion.”
With that victory out of the way, it was time to focus on Meaning's 2-year-old half-sister, who will be offered through the de Meric sales consignment. Like Corniche before her, the filly had been offered at Keeneland last September where she RNA'd for $300,000.
“She was a medium-sized filly, I think was the main thing,” Aidan said. “But she was always a filly who carried a lot of leg. She was a lot leggier filly than you would have imagined for her size. And I always had a feeling that she would be one that was going to grow. And she has done that. I was talking to Tristan [de Meric] just today there and he said she's a perfect size down there. I think anyone that saw her in September will be surprised by how well she's done, growth-wise.”
The de Merics have partnered with Stonehaven Steadings on the filly, another flashback to Corniche, who RNA'd for $385,000 at Keeneland in 2020.
“I can still remember, we didn't really know Tristan very well at the time,” Aidan said. “We were in Barn 11 right in front of the pavilion. Tristan was walking by and we had maybe two vet hits on Corniche. I was astonished. He was a beautiful horse. But it was 2020 and he was hip 10. The first 50 hips of that sale was a disaster. Tristan was walking by and I was thinking will I say something to him or won't I? And he was about to go past the barn. He was three steps away from passing the corner of the barn and being gone. And I just shouted at him at the last second, 'Tristan will you come down here and have a look at this fella and see what you think.' And he loved Corniche and we did something on him and the rest is history there.”
Rerouting horses from the yearling sales to the 2-year-old sales has been something Stonehaven Steadings has developed over the years.
“We have some friends in the 2-year-old business and putting our heads together we can say this one might slip through the cracks here at Keeneland, what do you think about taking her on to a 2-year-old sales or how do you think she would fit in your program,” Leah said. “We get feedback that way and then absolutely set that reserve wherever we want it to basically not give them away as a yearlings.”
Aidan added, “Nowadays, if there is a horse that we really think a lot of, and for whatever reason, everybody at the sale isn't vibing the same way we are, we will stand by what we have and believe in our horses and believe in our program and take our shot at the 2-year-old sales. Because we've raised them right. They are hardy and we know just about everything we've ever sent on to the 2-year-old program has trained through it and come out the other side and turned out to be nice racehorses for a lot of people.”
Curlin
-Figure-of-Speech-filly-OBSAPR26-print25-credit-Sandra-Madison-1.jpg" alt="" width="1155" height="825" /> Hip 800 | Sandra Madison
The Curlin filly was on the track at OBS Thursday, breezing a furlong in :10 1/5.
Her dam, Figure of Speech, has a yearling colt by Flightline slated for the September sale, and is due to Nyquist any day now before a return visit to Gun Runner.
“For people who are looking to buy that Curlin filly, that mare has been very well bred and there is a lot of potential residual upside there if one of the three or four of those can do something down the line,” Aidan said. “And who knows what happens with Meaning in the meantime.”
As for Corniche, he is well on his way to making a name for himself at stud. Already this spring, he had a million-dollar 2-year-old at the OBS March sale and his first starter was his first winner at Keeneland on opening day last week.
“It's a dream to see a first winner for Corniche at Keeneland, our home track,” Leah said. “Our hope is to see him go on and sire champions. He is off to a good start. Just seeing his sales prices, there is so much respect for him. It's really just a beautiful thing.”
The post ‘A-Mazing’: Curlin Filly Enters OBS Sale with Added Meaning appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
