by Pete Denk

Carol Kaye-Garcia was one of the few Maryland breeders to walk away from the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Eastern fall yearling sale in a good mood after her Tapit filly sold for $182,000 on Tuesday.

It was the second-highest price of the sale and the only filly to reach six figures. Kaye-Garcia bought the filly’s dam Purloin—a ten-year-old winning Forest Wildcat mare—when she was in foal to Tapit for $16,000 at the 2008 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.

“Sometimes everything just falls into place, and this was a great year to have a Tapit. It’s mostly luck, I think. I really do,” Kaye-Garcia said of the filly, named Steal the Dance. “I can’t claim fame for putting that pedigree together. Gainesway [the Lexington farm that stands Tapit] put it together. I bought the mare in foal. So I guess I was the smart one to buy her, because nobody else liked the mare at the time.”

Cary Frommer, an Aiken, South Carolina-based pinhooker, purchased the Tapit filly as agent and said she will point her to the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Calder sale of selected two-year-olds in training.

Kaye-Garcia is the wife of Maryland trainer Carlos Garcia. They have 15 mares at their Wellington Park Farm in Woodbine, Maryland. Kaye-Garcia is a hands-on breeder and preps her own horses for the sales.

She sold fove of the six yearlings she brought to the sale, including a Tenpins colt out of Alpine Cat, by Forest Wildcat, that sold for $52,000. Sally Thomas consigned four of Kaye-Garcia’s horses, including the Tenpins colt and Tapit filly.

“I had the right consignor. Sally did a wonderful job,” Kaye-Garcia said.

Despite her personal success, Kaye-Garcia had the plight of regional commercial breeders on her mind. Very few horses sold for enough to cover stud fees and the costs of getting to the sale.

“I had a great sale, but it was disappointing overall,” Kaye-Garcia said. “If you have the sire, and the right individual, and they’re clean, then you can do okay. The buyers are around for the nice individuals, but there’s no one for the bread and butter horses.

“I enjoy the business. If you enjoy horses you can stick with it even in these times. If you’re just in it for the money, you’re probably going to be doing something different.”

Pete Denk is sales editor of Thoroughbred Times