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NorCal Sale Preview
Cal-bred Big Fish, shown winning the 2021 California Cup Derby, is by Cal-based stallion Mr. Big, who has three yearlings cataloged in the NorCal sale
GOOD RELATIONS A BLACK-TYPE BONANZA AT CTBA’S NORCAL YEARLING SALE
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alifornia-breds coming out of just about every major California breeder’s program will be represented by relatives at this year’s California Toroughbred Breeders Association Northern California yearling and horses of racing age sale. It is an auction that produces good runners every year, as attested to by graduates such as Camino Del Paraiso and Big Fish. Te CTBA will conduct this year’s edition Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton beginning at noon. Te horses will be stabled in the permanent barns near the Amador Pavilion. In addition, a $500 travel allowance with a minimum purchase of $3,500 and proof of travel is being ofered to outof-state trainers and trainers from Southern California who attend the sale.
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George Krikorian bred Big Fish, a $45,000 Northern California sale graduate who became a champion California-bred. Big Fish is by Krikorian’s stallion Mr. Big, who will be represented by three yearlings in the sale, all in the consignment of Linda Madsen’s Milky Way Farm. Not only is Hip #54 by Mr. Big, but he is out of the Orientate mare Quick Chick. Tat makes him a full brother to Big Returns, another Krikorian-bred runner. Cal-bred Big Returns won the 2019 Graduation Stakes at Del Mar and earned $131,200. Te second and third dams, Kuanyan and Plate Queen, are also stakes winners. Acclimate is a multiple graded stakes-winning Cal-bred to come out of
CALIFORNIA THOROUGHBRED ❙ August 2022 ❙ www.ctba.com
the Johnston family’s Old English Rancho program. He was recently retired at age 8 with a record of eight wins in 31 starts for earnings of $763,372. Voted champion Cal-bred older male and turf horse of 2019, Acclimate twice won the San Juan Capistrano Stakes (G3T). He also scored in the 2019 Del Mar Handicap Presented by the Japan Racing Association (G2T) and 2022 San Luis Rey Stakes (G3T) Milky Way has hip #26, a colt out of a half sister to Acclimate, in the sale. By Winning Cause, he is from the unraced Vronsky mare Leaps ’n Bounds. Unraced Knows No Bounds produced Leaps ’n Bounds and Acclimate. Old English has shepherded the family for generations, with the Winning Cause colt’s fourth dam being Old English-bred Fancy ’n Fabulous, a two-time stakes winner who ran second in the 1994 Las Virgenes Stakes (G1). Terry Lovingier’s Lovacres Ranch has a large consignment, many by leading California sire Stay Tirsty, who stands at Lovacres. Several come from bottom lines rich in Cal-bred history. Lovingier bred Willa B Awesome, winner of the 2012 Santa Anita Oaks (G1) and that year’s champion Cal-bred 3-yearold female. Tough Willa B Awesome was sold to Japanese interests, Lovingier bred her unraced full sister Wynonna B Awesome to Stay Tirsty and got a colt cataloged as hip #108 in the sale. Te Lovacres yearlings by Stay Tirsty in the sale include hip #56, a flly out of the winning Speightstown mare Reign. Te second dam, graded winner Angela’s Love, has also produced Cal-bred stakes winners Tirsty Always, by Stay Tirsty, and Love a Honeybadger, by Bushwacker. Lovingier bred Tirsty Always and Love a Honeybadger. Lucky J. H. is another multiple Cal-bred stakes winner to come out of a major California breeding program. Bred and raced by John Harris’ Harris Farms, Lucky J. H. won four stakes, including the 2006 Ack Ack Handicap (G3). By Cee’s Tizzy,
