Cal-bred News

Check the Return on Investment
From This NorCal Sale Grad

SANTA ROSA, Calif. (Aug. 18, 2008) -- If you skipped the 2004 Northern California Yearling Sale, you missed a chance to turn $3,200 into $631,868.

Bai and Bai was hammered down at that sale for the smaller amount and has since won the larger amount in a 23-race career that includes nine victories, seven of them stakes. She’s won at distances of 5 ½ furlongs to 1 1/6 miles, on dirt, on grass and on synthetic.

Want one like that? Then don’t miss this year’s Northern California Yearling Sale, to be held Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, beginning at noon.

Bai and Bai is by Falstaff, out of the Fappiano mare Bai Shun, who was purchased by current California Thoroughbred Breeders Association director Bill Nichols on behalf of client Jim Spence for $10,000 at the 1998 Keeneland November Sale. Bill and wife Lillian purchased Bai Shun from Spence and bred Bai and Bai under the name Mares’ Nest. They earlier co-bred with Walter Thomson the multiple stakes winner Sea Orbit.

Harry Wilson of Danville bought Bai and Bai for $3,200 and raced her with co-owner George Vinson of Sacramento. She debuted in a $32,000 claimer, breaking her maiden at that level in her second start. William Delia trained her through a 2006 3-year-old California-bred championship season that included a victory in the California Cup Juvenile Filly.

In 2007, Beverly Lewis and her son, Jeff, purchased Bai and Bai privately and turned her over to trainer Craig Dollase. For Dollase, Bai and Bai finished second in the Alameda County Handicap and Clement L. Hirsch (to Nashoba’s Key) before winning the $133,900 Solana Beach Handicap and Las Madrinas. Bai and Bai was given a break after winning the Mar. 1, 2008 Foster City Handicap, but is back in training for Dollase with three recent workouts at Del Mar.

In addition to Bai and Bai, graduates of the 2004 Northern California Yearling Sale include More Angels, purchased for $10,000 and a stakes winner of $395,739; Mamita Chulla, purchased for $4,000 and a winner of $204,698; Winter Warning, purchased for $25,000 who is a stakes winner with $98,223 in earnings; Western Sovereign, purchased for $15,000 who is a stakes winner with $87,320 in earnings; Star Quality, purchased for $5,000 and a winner of $81,177; Come On Margaret, purchased for $4,200 and a winner of $97,776, along with multiple stakes winners Lomard and Double Credit.

This year’s sale moves to Santa Rosa after four years at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. The sale begins at noon. For more information, contact Cookie Hackworth at 626-445-7800 ext. 243 or email cookie@ctba.com.