Tom Bellhouse laughed before he ran through the particulars of 2-year-old colt Pascaline, who won the Laurel Futurity at Laurel Park Sept. 28.
"It's a run-of-the-mill story, you probably get a lot of these," the West Point Thoroughbreds executive vice president deadpanned about a West Virginia-bred purchased from an Irish consignor in England and sent to a French trainer in Maryland.
Keeping up?
Bred by Mountain State Thoroughbred stalwart Jim Miller, Pascaline went to Keeneland November as a weanling in 2022 and failed to meet his reserve. The full-brother to multiple West Virginia stakes winner Social Chic went back to Keeneland as a yearling and brought $40,000 on a bid by Matt Whyte's Bushypark Stables. An Irish-based 2-year-old pinhooker, Whyte took the son of Upstart to England's Tattersalls Craven breeze-up sale in April. There, South Carolina-based agent and Tattersalls regular Kip Elser spotted the bay colt and called West Point president and CEO Terry Finley.
"Terry has said for a while, 'If you see something, call me,' and I did," Elser said. "The horse went around the horn and there's always a story. He'd been a moderately priced yearling for a good judge, and he improved over the winter. He was not quite a finished article [at the sale], but I liked him."
Just like at an American 2-year-old sale, the horses are breezed beforehand. In addition to the testing Rowley Mile turf strip at Newmarket Racecourse, this year's sale made horses navigate high winds, hail and torrential rain at various points during the breeze-ups.
Pascaline's video shows a green, leggy colt going through his paces with a long stride on a not-so-straight line. The time is not shown.
For several years, Whyte has made the trek to Kentucky to scout yearling prospects for his operation based near The Curragh training center in County Kildare. Consigned by Machmer Hall Sales, Pascaline matched the goal of finding a horse who might appeal to European and/or Middle Eastern buyers the following spring.
"He was a standout," Whyte said. "As we say, he had a typical European walk."
Machmer Hall's Carrie Brogden recognized Whyte's interest and told him, "It's the walk that's doing it for you, isn't it?" It was. Whyte bid the $40,000 to outrun a few other European scouts, and Pascaline was on a plane across the Atlantic. He flourished in his new home, until he didn't.
"He showed us loads of pace, but for some reason about a month before the breeze-ups he lost his gears," Whyte said. "He just started to grow and started to grow and at that stage I couldn't do anything about it, and I had to leave him be. He was a young horse; he needed more time to develop."
Elser saw that, made the $84,943 purchase and Pascaline got back on an airplane. Had the colt stayed on the initial trajectory, the price tag may have been considerably more. Frustrated by the timing, Whyte is nevertheless thrilled for the horse and the connections.
"He didn't make me up, but at the same time my job is to keep trading in horses and now look at him, the rest is history," Whtye said. "It looks like they've given him time to develop, and they've got a nice horse."
The American yearling market works for Whyte, who was headed to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October sale after missing Keeneland September this year.
"We love going over there," he said. "We're getting a lovely type of a horse. You can't beat the physical strength, but the flip side is sometimes you need that extra little bit of time to get there."
Pascaline made the most of it.
West Point, which added Jimmy Kahig Racing, CJ Stables and Edwin Barker as partners on the ownership line, sent him to trainer Arnaud Delacour at Fair Hill Training Center and the Frenchman dialed up an August debut at Colonial Downs. Going 61⁄2 furlongs on the dirt, Pascaline survived a rough trip to fight past even-money favorite Montador by 13⁄4 lengths. Another West Point runner, Start to Win, finished fifth.
Many of the owners watched on a clubhouse television at Saratoga Race Course.
"It was Travers Day," Bellhouse said. "He got shut off, bumped in, bumped out, and then lo and behold he passes horses on the inside. Half the people had the other horse and were upset and half had that horse and were excited."
Delacour continued to give good reports and was thinking about a race at Keeneland before seeing the weather forecast and staying local for the Laurel Futurity. Scheduled for the turf, the $150,000 stakes wound up a dirt race due to rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. Pascaline drew in off the main-track-only list and handled eight others going a mile. The winner stalked Notmyfirstrodeo and Kitty's Son early, advanced to second after 6 furlongs in 1:13.71, built a quick 2-length lead for jockey Victor Carrasco in the stretch and scored by that margin over favorite Studlydoright with Just a Fair Shake third.
"Arnaud kept saying the horse was OK and he looked a winner every step of the race," said Bellhouse. "He was super professional, and it's just a thrill for us and our partners. We're old enough to remember the Laurel Futurity being THE race. It's a race Secretariat won.
Who knows where he fits, but everybody involved with him is thrilled."
At first Miller, the horse's breeder, was disappointed when Pascaline sold to an Irish buyer -- West Virginia-breds don't generate breeders' awards overseas after all -- but happy to see him show up on the Fair Hill breeze list this spring.
"I might have bought him back had I known, but then I saw he was back at Fair Hill and working so I figured he was in good hands," Miller said. "He was a good-sized horse and a little bit high strung as a young horse. Nothing horrible, but that mare tends to throw fairly calm horses and he was a little less calm than some of the others."
Miller raced Pascaline's dam Tres Chic, a daughter of Harlan's Holiday bred in Kentucky by Fox Hill Farms, after claiming her for $4,500 out of her third and final lifetime win in April 2012. In 11 starts for Miller, she finished second twice. As a broodmare, she has produced four winners from five foals to race. Social Chic, a 6-year-old gelding also by Upstart, has won a dozen races and earned $436,538 (through Oct. 11). Miller thought Airdrie Stud stallion Upstart fit his mare, and has been proven right twice.
"He's a beautiful horse, and he has that toughness," Miller said of the son of Flatter. "Tres Chic isn't that big. She had a lot of breeding behind her, she's from an old Claiborne family, but wasn't much of a racehorse. I've always been a fan of Flatter -- because of the size and the toughness. Tres Chic was a bit small, 15-2, but very wide and muscular. The Upstart gave her more size and length."
Pascaline's third dam, Oath, was bred by Seth Hancock's Cherry Valley Farm and won a Grade 1 as a 2-year-old in 1996. The half-sister to Grade 1 winner and champion War Pass sold for $2.7 million as a broodmare in foal to Storm Cat in 1998 and produced three winners.
Tres Chic's dam Safely lost all three starts, but produced four winners.
As part of a downsizing of his stable, Miller sold Tres Chic, in foal to Upstart, for $20,000 at Keeneland November in 2022. He owns three mares himself, is a partner in some others and has turned over much of the farm management to trainer Anthony Farrior. Miller shares most of his racehorses with Farrior clients Ultra Championship Racing or Rick Burnsworth now, but had high hopes for a Blame filly out of the graded stakes-placed Honey Chile and some others.
Miller got into racing through his uncle, Norman Haymaker, a trainer who started two horses in the Kentucky Derby in the late 1950s, and has been represented by multiple Grade 3 winner Aurelia's Belle as an owner and a slew of success stories as a breeder, including Grade 2 winner and stallion Race Day, Grade 1-placed Gouverneur Morris, multiple stakes winners Harlan's Destiny, Twirling Owen, Run to Daylight and others.
"If you think you've got it all figured out, guess what? You don't," Miller said about the Thoroughbred game. "It's been fun, been a good run. I've had a lot of really good horses over the years and I'm very happy with that. The breeding is fun to see the babies and it's more of a family affair. Racing proves them out. It's sad to see them sell sometimes, but I'm glad when they do well."
Looking at Laurel
Like the rest of the region, Laurel labored through a rainy spell in September, which washed away turf racing for an extended period. The Selima, for 2-year-old fillies, shared the Sept. 28 card with the Laurel Futurity and wound up on the dirt with a field of six. Pure Majestic led from the start to score by 11⁄4 lengths for No Guts No Glory Farm and trainer Jerry Robb. Jevian Toledo rode the winner, a Kentucky-bred daughter of Tapit purchased for $100,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's yearling sale . . . The Japan Turf Cup wound up the Japan Dirt Cup, and went to California shipper Dean Martini for owner David Bernsen and trainer Peter Eurton. Toledo rode the winner, a 7-year-old Kentucky-bred son of Cairo Prince, who scored by 61⁄2 lengths in 2:04.94 for 11⁄4 miles in his first trip to Maryland in 37 starts. . . Out-of-towners ruled two stakes on the Sept. 22 card too as Irish Three Racing's Irish Maxima won the Weather Vane for Parx Racing-based John Servis, and Amo Racing USA's Miss New York landed the Twixt for Monmouth Park-based Jorge Delgado. That 4-year-old daughter of Good Magic won a Laurel allowance a month earlier . . . On the turf Sept. 14, Bridlewood Farm and Madaket Stables runner No Show Sammy Jo (GB) lived up to her heavy favoritism while winning the All Along Stakes for trainer Graham Motion. It was her third win in as many starts this year and fourth consecutive after finishing fourth in her May 23, 2023, debut . . . Waterville Lake Stables homebred Loon Cry shipped in from New York to win the Sensible Lady Turf Dash for trainer Christophe Clement. The New York-bred daughter of More Than Ready also won for the third consecutive time after taking two races at Woodbine . . . Trainer Brittany Russell won with all four starters on the Sept. 29 card. Two weeks earlier her stable star Post Time made his first start in Maryland since February and dominated the Polynesian Stakes by 111⁄2 lengths for Hillwood Stable and jockey Sheldon Russell. Bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. Tom Bowman, Dr. Brooke Bowman and Milton Higgins III, the son of Frosted improved to 8-for-8 in his home state while winning for the ninth time in 13 starts and pushing his career earnings to $997,910. In his three starts leading up to the Polynesian he placed in the Westchester-G3, Metropolitan Handicap-G1 and Whitney-G1 in New York.
