The last time Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo brought a horse that breezed a furlong in :09 3/5 to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, it was Shisospicy, who went on to defeat males in the 2025 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) and was named 2025 champion female sprinter.
On the final day of the under-tack show for the OBS Spring Sale, Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds sent out a colt (Hip 1056) by the undefeated 2022 Horse of the Year, Flightline , to work a blistering furlong in :09 3/5, tying for the fastest time of the under-tack preview.
With all eyes on Hip 1056, the duo aims to replicate past success, scouting another potential champion from their meticulously curated consignment.
"He's one of the smartest horses I've ever been around, just classy," Hartley said. "When he went to the track, he was just breathtaking. He's so professional. Going to the pole, I could just tell he was going to breeze good by how well he was traveling, and I knew he could run."
Hartley said a hush fell over the grandstands, signaling the realization that they had witnessed something remarkable.
"There's been hype about him for a couple of weeks now; everyone's been talking about him," he said. "He looks like a 3-year-old compared to most 2-year-olds. He's a special horse. He went out in 44 seconds for the half-mile, just on his own. He can do it, he's got such a big stride."
Shisospicy and Hip 1056 share more than just speed—both horses are out of an Into Mischief mare. The Flightline colt is out of the multiple stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed mare, Lucrezia, and was bred in Kentucky by Edward and Beverly Seltzer and W.S. Farish. Into Mischief currently sits ninth on the leading broodmare sire list.
"I think Into Mischief is going to be just as good on the bottom side as he is on the top side," Hartley said. "I never thought I'd see a stallion that I thought would be better than Storm Cat. We're older, and we've seen a lot, but Into Mischief, I think, is going to go down as the best stallion we've ever seen.
"He's a big colt (Hip 1056), and you wouldn't necessarily think a big colt like him would have that kind of speed. Looking at him, he's big and strong, but he looks a lot like Into Mischief, too. He's got that Into Mischief hip and body, and if you watch his video, he just has so much power when he pushes off."
While Hartley and DeRenzo are plenty familiar with the progeny of Into Mischief mares, they also had a behind-the-scenes look at Flightline's start to his career. They were able to witness Flightline's brilliance firsthand, as he was broke and trained on their farm by April Mayberry.
"He was absolutely the prettiest Tapit I've ever seen," he said.
Later on in his career, Hartley and DeRenzo would see the Tapit colt again—this time facing their lucrative pinhook, and multiple grade 1 winner, Taiba , in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), which Flightline won by an easy 8 1/4 lengths.
"We were there when he won the Breeder's Cup. I haven't seen a horse like that since maybe Secretariat to dominate like that," Hartley said.
Given their history with Flightline, Hartley said they were determined to buy a horse by the young stallion. In November of 2024, Hartley/DeRenzo purchased the Flightline colt, now consigned as Hip 1056, under Classic Equine on behalf of client Tom Durant as a weanling at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $575,000.
"Tom (Durant) likes to do a little bit of all of it. He likes to pinhook some and race," he said. "We're very thankful to have a client who allows us to buy these kinds of horses. They're rare to come through a 2-year-old sale."
Originally slated for last year's Fasig-Tipton The Saratoga Sale, the colt was scratched following a minor injury that required stitches. What seemed like a tough blow at the time may have been a blessing in disguise, with the colt now generating a great buzz amongst the sales grounds.
"We were all about to croak. It was a lot of money." said Hartley about the scratch of the colt. "I loved the colt so much that we went back to try and buy the weanling (half brother) in November.
"We wanted a Flightline so bad. We paid a lot of money for him, but if he would have been a yearling, he would have probably cost double what he did as a weanling. Sometimes I feel you get a little bit of a discount as a weanling because they're smaller, and that's why we went for him."
Hartley said the colt has jumped through every hoop, coming out of the breeze exceptionally well, vetting clean, and remaining happy. Saving the best for last, Hip 1056 sells during the final day of the OBS Spring Sale, April 17.
"I feel like the right people are calling," he said. "It's harder to get up to the bigger numbers, but I think he's going to do pretty well.
"We sold the first $1 million horse ever sold at OBS, back a long while ago. It would be nice now that we're getting older, we're like the old guys on the block, so it's nice to come here and do good. We don't have a lot of horses; we always have a smaller consignment."
Hip 1056 is not Hartley/DeRenzo's only bullet in the chamber. They also bring Hip 570, a filly by 2021 champion male sprinter, Jackie's Warrior . The filly also breezed a co-fastest furlong in :09 3/5, emulating her sire's speed.
"She (Hip 570) is gorgeous. She's as pretty as him (Hip 1056)," Hartley said.
Hip 570 is out of the graded stakes-winning Indian Charlie mare Brazen Persuasion, who is the dam of six winners from six to race, including stakes-placed Ruggs (Gun Runner ). The filly was bred in Kentucky by Fred Hertrich III and John Fielding. She was purchased as a yearling for $140,000 by Arleigh Bonnaha out of the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment at the 2025 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Hartley/DeRenzo's two other entries include Hip 247, a filly by Practical Joke , who breezed a furlong in :10 1/5, and Hip 1102, a filly by first-crop sire Life Is Good , who breezed a furlong in :10. WinStar Farm's Life Is Good was represented by his first winner last week at Keeneland, when Waggley won a maiden special weight by 3 1/2 lengths.
"We've always been a little smaller. It's hard to get racehorses when you're smaller, because so much can happen along the way," Hartley said. "For having a small group of horses, we've been very fortunate to produce some really good horses. That's what keeps people coming back, is you have to produce a Shisospicy or a Taiba."
Given Hartley/DeRenzo's proven ability to identify raw talent and translate it into both auction ring and racetrack success, the buzz should come as no surprise for the action that awaits next week in the sales ring at OBS.
