NEWS
Impressive maiden winner Funny Sunny sells for $380,000 at Keeneland November
Posted: Tuesday, November 16, 2010 3:34 PM
by Pete Denk
Funny Sunny, a two-year-old Sharp Humor filly who won her debut at Hoosier Park on October 13, sold to Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm for $380,000 at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale on Tuesday.
Pope said undefeated Funny Sunny would be sent to trainer Bob Hess Jr. and could make her next start at Gulfstream Park.
Out of the Relaunch mare Sunny Laugh, Funny Sunny was consigned by WinStar Racing, agent. WinStar Farm bought Funny Sunny for $60,000 at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Calder sale of selected two-year-olds in training.
“We were just supporting Sharp Humor like we do at all the sales, trying to support our stallions,” said WinStar President Elliott Walden. “She looked like a nice filly, so we bought her. And she can run.
“She was very impressive in her debut. The filly that was second to her [Red Hot Maria] came back and won at Churchill. People look at Hoosier and think the horses aren’t that much. But when the purses are twice as big as they are at Turfway Park, you’re forced to run there.”
WinStar sells a group of horses of racing age every year. Walden said this year’s sale had nothing to do with WinStar owner Kenny Troutt’s recent buy-out of partner Bill Casner.
“We have 40 yearlings ready to come in,” Walden said. “We clean inventory and try to raise some money. We have it in our budget to sell between $1.5-million to $2-million at the end of every year. It’s all part of our bigger plan.”
Bred in Kentucky by Highclere, Funny Sunny is one of four winners produced by her 13-year-old dam, including stakes-placed winner Awesome Launch, by Awesome Again.
Pope and her adviser, Chris Brothers, said they thought Funny Sunny showed considerable raw talent in the debut.
“She got hung wide around the turn, had no clue what she was doing, and then all of he sudden she realized, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to be a racehorse,’ and then she just took off and passed them,” Pope said.
Whisper Hill is in Citra, Florida. Pope has been in racing since the early 1980’s, but she recently increased her participation in hopes of upgrading her stock during the down market.
“My thinking is if you’re able to get into the market in a bigger way right now, prices are down, so we’ll see how it works out,” Pope said. “I’ve been working on the farm a lot, and I’m going to enjoy getting out to the races.”
Tuesday’s session at Keeneland features a group of horses of racing age and stallion prospects being sold by operations such as WinStar, Darley, Shadwell, and Zayat Stables.
Robert V. LaPenta’s 2008 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Da’Tara is scheduled to be offered as hip #3308.
Pete Denk is sales editor of Thoroughbred Times.
