Chanceland pair take top MHBA Yearling Show honors
Lined up at the MHBA Yearling Show. Photo by The Racing Biz.
From a Maryland Horse Breeders Association release
Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine Voss’s homebred colt by Noble Mission (GB) out of Island Bound, by Speightstown, was Eclipse Award-winning trainer Dale Romans’ pick for Grand Champion at the 83rd annual Maryland Horse Breeders Association’s Maryland-bred yearling show, held on Sunday, June 25 at the Timonium Fairgrounds horse show ring in Timonium, MD.
Manfuso and Voss operate Chanceland Farm in West Friendship, MD. They also bred the reserve champion at the show.
“I was very impressed with the whole event,” said Romans. “It was a lot more stressful than I expected because you could feel the importance for everybody. But it was a lot of fun. I know how much work goes into raising a horse so you take it seriously and make a good decision. The pride of the Maryland breeder is second to none. It’s very impressive.”
A member of the first crop of Frankel’s multiple Group 1-winning full brother Noble Mission, the Manfuso/Voss colt was the winner of Class II (for colts and geldings conceived in states other than Maryland). Romans, who judged 93 yearlings throughout the day, had not been provided any pedigree information on the show entrants.
Of his top selection, he noted, “The colt just has that smooth Northern Dancer-type look that I like in a horse. He’s a young horse so he’s got time to grow up. I don’t know if any of that [Northern Dancer blood] is in there, but that’s what it looks like.”
Noble Mission (by Galileo) has two crosses of Northern Dancer in his pedigree, through Sadler’s Wells and Danehill.
The champion colt is the third foal out of Island Bound, a member of the broodmare band at Manfuso and Voss’s Chanceland Farm in West Friendship. Campaigned by Manfuso over four seasons, Island Bound won the Grade 3 Winning Colors Stakes and was four times stakes-placed with trainer Ian Wilkes before concluding her career under the care of Voss. The first foal out of the mare, a son of Tiznow, sold for $500,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling sale.
Taking the reserve championship was the winner of Class IV (for fillies conceived in states other than Maryland), Manfuso’s filly by Bullsbay out of Sheave, by Mineshaft. The filly is a half-sister to the Yearling Show’s 2017 program cover horse, millionaire Cathryn Sophia.
“The filly, she’s big and strong, correct, moved well. Just looked like class,” said Romans. “It was very close to decide which one was going to be the champion and which one was going to be the reserve.”
It was the first time since 2009 that the same farm exhibited the top two ribbon winners, when Dark Hollow Farm accomplished the feat. Longtime supporters of the show, Manfuso and Voss had also done it before, in 1992.
The leading Maryland stallion of the show was first-year sire Bandbox, a son of Tapit who stands at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, MD, and appropriately took home the Northview Stallion Station Challenge Trophy. Owned by a syndicate, Bandbox had two ribbon winners from five shown. His son Hello Amigo, out of Hello Now, by Tiznow, won Class I for breeder/owner Ellen Charles’ Hillwood Stables. Charles also campaigned four-time stakes winner Bandbox throughout a career which included a victory in the Grade 3 General George Handicap. Hillwood Stable also exhibited a Bandbox—Oriental River filly who earned a fifth-place ribbon in Class III.
All yearlings who entered the show ring are now eligible for the $40,000 premium award, which will be split and distributed twice, with $20,000 going to the exhibitors of the four show contestants who earn the most money as 2-year-olds during 2017, and another $20,000 divided among the exhibitors of the four highest-earning 3-year-old runners the next year.
Complete results follow:
Class I. For colts and geldings foaled in Maryland, the produce of mares covered in Maryland. (26 exhibited):
1. HELLO AMIGO, dk.b./br.c., 05/02/2016, Bandbox—Hello Now, by Tiznow. Owned and bred by Hillwood Stables LLC, Washington, D.C.; 2. ch.c., 03/13/2016, Friesan Fire—Lotosblume, by Mr. Sekiguchi. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss, West Friendship, Md.; 3. TRI TRY COLORS, b.c., 03/09/2016, Tritap—Parade of Colors, by Leading the Parade. Owned by John E. Williamson III, Reisterstown, Md. Bred by John E. Williamson III and Clover Hill Farm Inc.; 4. ch.c., 06/05/2016, Super Ninety Nine—Dancing Anna, by Cuvee. Owned and bred by Spendthrift Farm, Lexington, Ky.; 5. ch.c., 05/31/2016, Super Ninety Nine—As Long as Ittakes, by Sky Classic. Owned and bred by Country Life Farm and As Long As Ittakes LLC, Bel Air, Md.
Class II. For colts and geldings foaled in Maryland, the produce of mares covered in states other than Maryland (20 exhibited): 1. b.c., 04/18/2016, Noble Mission (GB)—Island Bound, by Speightstown. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss, West Friendship, Md.; 2. b.c., 03/28/2016, Bodemeister—Plum, by Pure Prize. Owned and bred by Dark Hollow Farm, Upperco, Md.; 3. b.c., 04/14/2016, Bodemeister—Safe Journey, by Flatter. Owned and bred by Dark Hollow Farm, Upperco, Md.; 4. b.c., 03/04/2016, Tapizar—Red’s Round Table, by Cuvee. Owned and bred by Dark Hollow Farm, Upperco, Md.; 5. dk.b./br.c., 05/03/2016, Super Saver—Roadtohanna, by Not For Love. Owned and bred by Sagamore Farm, Reisterstown, Md.
Class III. For fillies foaled in Maryland, the produce of mares covered in Maryland (23 exhibited):
1. SAY YES DI DI, gr/ro.f., 03/31/2016, Mojave Moon—A Queen’s Smile, by Ops Smile. Owned and bred by Bonita Farm, Darlington, Md.; 2. FILLE D’ESPRIT, b.f., 02/03/2016, Great Notion—Sweet Valor, by No Armistice. Owned and bred by Sweet Spirits Stables LLC, Silver Spring, Md.; 3. PORTULACA, b.f., 05/02/2016, Etched—Rhythmically, by Meadow Monster. Owned and bred by Monica Ryan, Colts Neck, N.J.; 4. REDEEMED SPIRIT, b.f., 02/23/2016, Redeemed—Toussaud’s Spirit, by Civilisation. Owned and bred by Sweet Spirits Stables LLC, Silver Spring, Md.; 5. dk.b./br.f., 04/09/2016, Bandbox—Oriental River, by Orientate. Owned and bred by Hillwood Stables LLC, Washington, D.C.
Class IV. For fillies foaled in Maryland, the produce of mares covered in states other than Maryland
(24 exhibited): 1. b.f., 03/28/2016, Bullsbay—Sheave, by Mineshaft. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso, West Friendship, Md.; 2. BRUCIA LA TERRA, b.f., 04/14/2016, El Padrino—Happy Refrain, by Not For Love Owned and bred by Sallyellen and Hugh Hurst, Glen Arm, Md.; 3. ch.f., 03/16/2016, El Padrino—La Gatita, by Tale of the Cat. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss, West Friendship, Md.; 4. b.f., 04/06/2016, Tizway—Piano Bar, by Carson City. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso, West Friendship, Md.; 5. dk.b./br.f., 02/17/2016, Maclean’s Music—To Give, by Bluegrass Cat. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss, West Friendship, Md.
Champion—b.c., 04/18/2016, Noble Mission (GB)—Island Bound, by Speightstown. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso and Katharine M. Voss, West Friendship, Md. (Class II)
Reserve Champion—b.f., 03/28/2016, Bullsbay—Sheave, by Mineshaft. Owned and bred by Robert T. Manfuso, West Friendship, Md. (Class IV)
