Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum made WinStar Farm and partners an offer they could not refuse when he bought Grade 1 winner Any Given Saturday from them for stud duty.
On Tuesday during the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale of selected yearlings, WinStar and partners threw a little of that money back at their former racehorse, buying a colt from Any Given Saturday’s first crop for $225,000.
WinStar officials signed the ticket under the name Maverick Racing, a Texas-based partnership connected to the Versailles, Kentucky farm. Maverick also owned a piece of Any Given Saturday for part of his racing career.
“This is a beautiful colt. He reminds us a lot of his daddy,” WinStar co-owner Bill Casner said. “You’re always looking at the progeny of horses you raced. We like to support our stallions and we certainly feel very glad about supporting a stallion that Sheikh Mohammed bought from us.
“I told the guys to just give me the short list for this sale without any comments, so I’d go in with an open mind. They gave me a list of 25 horses, and this colt was my favorite.”
The Any Given Saturday colt was bred and consigned by Woodford Thoroughbreds. He is out of the Mr. Prospector mare Go for it Lady and is a half brother to Grade 3 winner Spring Meadow.
Any Given Saturday was bred by Racehorse Management, a division of WinStar. By Distorted Humor, out of Weekend in Indy, by A. P. Indy, Any Given Saturday was a member of the three-year-old class of 2007, which included two-time horse of the year Curlin, ’06 champion two-year-old male Street Sense, and Grade 1 winner Hard Spun.
Any Given Saturday won three graded races, including the 2007 Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) and a victory over older horses in the Brooklyn Handicap (G2).
WinStar President Doug Cauthen said the farm bred six mares to Any Given Saturday during each of his first three years at stud. Any Given Saturday stands at Darley in Lexington. His 2010 stud fee was $25,000.
