Wente Strikes Again: Speaker's Corner Colt Brings $875K

Tommy Wente Jr. celebrated a career-defining moment at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale April 16. His homebred Speaker's Corner colt (Hip 704), co-bred with Scott Stephens, drew a massive $875,000 bid—the highest price ever for a homebred sold by Wente. Hip 704 turned in a speedy furlong workout in :09 4/5 during the under-tack show for consignor Omar Ramirez Bloodstock, agent. "He worked lights out," Wente said. "I thought maybe he'd bring $300,000-$400,000, then he just kept going. I'm so proud. "We try to raise them right. We're trying to raise racehorses." According to Wente, the colt stood out as the finest physical individual at St. Simon Place, his Lexington-based partnership with Calvin and Shane Crain, which bred grade 1 winner Rattle N Roll. Setbacks and a modest sire obscured the colt's true potential, which Wente believed was immense. "We didn't want to take a discount (by putting the colt in a yearling sale)," Wente said. "We just gave him all the time he needed. Then it came to a decision—we missed the last (yearling) sale. So we said: 'We're going all the way.'" A client of Omar Ramirez Bloodstock partnered on the colt heading into the 2-year-old sale. "He was another horse that just got better and better," he said. The colt was purchased by Lauren Carlisle, agent for an undisclosed client. "Mark (Casse) will train him. He loved the colt, and I liked him too. I just followed his lead," Carlisle said. "He's a beautiful horse." Carlisle described the colt as a "grown man." "He's a big, robust horse," she said. "We're thinking big, hopefully dirt, two turns. He was pretty high on our list." Wente was not the only one to reach a personal milestone; the colt also fetched a career-high price for seller Omar Ramirez. "Thank you to the owners who gave me the opportunity to sell this horse," Ramirez said. "I'm really, really happy. A great day so far." The colt was bred in Kentucky out of the graded stakes-placed mare Danessa Deluxe. Wente bought the mare for $7,000 in foal to Sharp Azteca at the 2023 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. Hip 704 is from the first crop of the Darley's Speaker's Corner, who stood his first season at stud in 2023 for a $20,000 fee. The grade 1-winning sprinter is a son of 2006 champion 2-year-old male Street Sense. Twenty-five hips earlier in the sale, Wente's $4,000 gamble blossomed into a $450,000 windfall when Hip 679 sold to prominent owner D. J. Stable. Hip 679, a colt by Not This Time, also consigned by Ramirez, agent, breezed a swift furlong in :09 4/5 during the under-tack preview. Wente bought the colt as a yearling at the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale for a modest $4,000. Wente noted the horse had some physical issues, but decided to take a chance on the colt, given the success of Taylor Made Stallions' marquee sire, Not This Time. Wente and Ramirez partnered on the horse. "I don't give up on those kinds of horses," Wente said. "I was just so blessed to be at that place when that horse came in the sales ring. I hit that horse one time, and I got him for $4,000." The colt was bred in Kentucky by Milam Farm and is out of the graded stakes-placed Midnight Lute mare, Courteous.