When renowned Thoroughbred owner/breeder Marie Jones would come to central Kentucky, she would take nighttime rides in her golf cart to visit her mares. The mares would climb in the cart as Jones would feed them buckets of carrots and peppermints.
"They were like lap ponies," said Taylor Made vice president of operations Katie Taylor, who described the routine as one of Jones' "greatest pleasures in life."
Jones, who died Aug. 5, and her husband Aaron, who preceded her in death, will have their stock dispersed during Book 1 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which begins Nov. 3 in Lexington.
That dispersal will be managed by Taylor Made Sales Agency, which has deep ties to the family and was one of its earliest clients.
There are four broodmares and four weanlings on offer. It is one less than originally planned, as Jones' granddaughter, Jennifer, is keeping Cara's Time. The 5-year-old daughter of Not This Time is carrying her first foal by Into Mischief .
But even with that omission from the catalog, there is significant quality on offer from the dispersal.
"They've all been pretty popular. ... They're all very just foundational sort of mares," Taylor said. "They're all bred to top stallions. We've got one in foal to Into Mischief, one in foal to Tapit, one in foal to Candy Ride, one in foal to Goal Oriented, and that's the dam of Princess Noor. ... They're all big, beautiful mares, and they've got great produce records in front of them. Mrs. Jones' program has always been nothing but class, so I think people are kind of gravitating towards that opportunity."
The four mares available are:
- Enchanted Ghost (Hip 63), an 11-year-old stakes winner by Ghostzapper who is in foal to Candy Ride . She is a half sister to grade 2 winner Selflessly.
- Golden Curl (Hip 88), a 10-year-old stakes-winning daughter of Curlin that is in foal to Tapit .
- Sheza Smoke Show (Hip 185), a grade 3 winner by Wilko and the dam of grade 1 winner and BloodHorse Hot prospect Princess Noor. She is in foal to first-year sire Goal Oriented .
- Sweet Kisses (Hip 213), a 9-year-old stakes-placed winner and two-time stakes producer in foal to Into Mischief. The foal is a full sibling to stakes winner Donut God.
Meanwhile, the weanlings are not to be missed.
That they come from a program like the Jones' that has an impeccable reputation should weigh heavily for potential buyers. The Joneses bred Hall of Famer Ashado; champions Speightstown and Ted Noffey; 2010 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Drosselmeyer; Beach Walk, the dam of Life Is Good ; as well as Amour d'Ete, the dam of Early Voting.
Among the weanlings are two Into Mischief colts: one out of Sheza Smoke Show (Hip 187) and one out of Sweet Kisses (Hip 214). Then there are two fillies: one by Nyquist out of Enchanted Ghost (Hip 64) and one by Tapit out of Golden Curl (Hip 89).
"Looking at these two Into Mischief colts that we've got down there, you know they're stallion pedigrees, but they're from stallion-making breeders as well," Taylor said. "That's a huge option to be able to buy into horses like that at a weanling stage, where maybe you might not have to pay exactly what you're having to pay for them as a yearling because she always held onto (horses) until (they were) yearlings.
"I think it's just a pick-and-play sort of thing with these horses. They're all kind of ready to plug into your program and have a really good shot at success."
