Mi Bago continues climb with Florida stakes win; NY-bred tops February digital sale

Stuart Morris went to the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale in 2017 with fairly specific instructions from his father Jeff about a mare. And ignored them.

The intended purchase didn’t measure up, for whatever reason, and Stuart spent $12,000 on Wabanaki instead. Consigned by Sequel Thoroughbreds, the New York-bred daughter of Indian Charlie never raced and neither had her three foals. Carrying a foal by New York sire Freud, the bay mare traced to a deep female family though, and Stuart liked what he saw. Dam New Harmony had produced six winners. Second dam Battle Creek Girl had produced 15, topped by Canadian champion Wavering Girl and graded winners Tricky Creek, Parade Ground, Parade Leader and Speed Dialer.

Going on eight years later, Wabanaki’s son Mi Bago is blossoming into a New York-bred star after winning the Colonel Liam Stakes at Gulfstream Park March 1.

The $215,000 turf stakes for 3-year-olds turned into a showcase for the son of Vekoma, who led at every call for Irad Ortiz Jr. and won by 4 1/2 lengths in a quick 1:32.51 for a mile. Trained by Mark Casse for Gary Barber, the bay colt won his second stakes of 2025 and his third consecutive race while improving to 5-for-7 lifetime with $387,850 in earnings.

Bred by the Morrises’ Kentucky-based but New York-supporting Highclere operation, Mi Bago was foaled at Dr. Jerry Bilinski’s Waldorf Farm in North Chatham in 2022 and was raised at Highclere in Lexington. In 2023, the colt sold as a short yearling for $62,000 at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky’s February mixed sale as part of the Stuart Morris consignment.

“He was always a really cool horse,” said Stuart. “He was a bit unassuming, very simple, uncomplicated. The horse didn’t have a lot of flash about him. He was one you forgot about because he took care of himself so well. You liked looking at him, he moved well, he was a correct, simple, uncomplicated horse. All you had to do was feed him and vaccinate him and let him be himself.”

The strategy has paid off at every step.

Original buyer Carlos Munoz tried to pinhook Mi Bago at Fasig-Tipton’s New York-bred yearling sale at Saratoga, but he failed to meet his reserve on a bid of $90,000. A year later, with Munoz as owner/trainer, Mi Bago dominated maidens in his debut sprinting on the dirt at Colonial Downs in Virginia. Barber bought the colt privately after that win and sent him to Casse. Twenty-four days out of the maiden win, Mi Bago finished sixth in the Funny Cide Stakes against fellow New York-breds – his only start in the program – at Saratoga.

Casse regrouped and moved Mi Bago to the turf. In October, he won the Algonquin Stakes at Woodbine. A month later, he finished fifth in a stakes on Breeders’ Cup Weekend at Del Mar. A month after that, he won the Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream and added the Dania Beach on the Florida track’s synthetic surface on New Year’s Day.

For a substitute mare, Wabanaki did her part. Her foals now include five winners, three sold by Highclere for a combined $147,000. In foal to Highly Motivated, she sold for $45,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s December 2024 digital sale.

For Stuart Morris, the success has been fun to watch. Mi Bago joined racing Hall of Famer Silverbulletday, 2019 New York-bred turf male champion Gucci Factor and a slew of others on the farm’s roster of stars.

“Mi Bago is another cool horse to come off that farm,” he said of Highclere, a former cattle farm his father purchased in 1979. “We moved there when I was 4 years old and I just turned 50. It’s been a pretty remarkable run.”

The story could get even cooler, as Casse and Barber nominated Mi Bago to the English 2000 Guineas[2] at Newmarket May 3.

RACING NOTES: Mi Bago was one of three New York-breds to win open stakes last weekend. At Aqueduct Saturday, Bank Frenzy won the Stymie[3] for LSU Stable and trainer Rudy Rodriguez. Bred by Chester and Mary Broman, the Central Banker gelding won for the seventh time in 15 starts and improved his career bankroll to $506,670 . . . Central Banker completed a weekend double a day later when Sunday Girl won Aqueduct’s Correction Stakes[4] for Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eighth Note Stable and trainer David Duggan. Now a six-time winner, Sunday Girl was bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds (where Central Banker stands) and Spruce Lane Farm. Mitre Box bought her for $100,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old sale in 2023 . . . New York-breds have won eight open stakes (through March 4) this year.

 

New York-breds earn Kentucky Derby points

Sovereignty and Journalism hogged most of the attention this weekend among the national 3-year-old leaders on the road to the Kentucky Derby, but New York-breds took their swings too.

In the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park Saturday, River Thames led in deep stretch but couldn’t hold off Sovereignty’s late charge. Bred by CTR Stable, River Thames was beaten a neck while settling for second, and earned 25 points toward a spot in the Derby field for CHC and WinStar Farm.

Unraced at 2, the Maclean’s Music colt won a 6-furlong maiden race January 11 and followed up with a 1-mile allowance score February 1 for trainer Todd Pletcher. CHC, Siena Farm and WinStar’s Maverick Racing paid $200,000 for the colt, out of the Discreet Cat mare Proportionality, at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred yearling sale in 2023.

At Aqueduct Saturday, Chester Broman’s homebred Sand Devil finished second in the Grade 3 Gotham for trainer Linda Rice, earning 25 Derby points as well. The son of Violence and the Mineshaft mare Mineralogist (a multiple New York-bred stakes winner) won his first three starts including the Damon Runyon Stakes in February. Sand Devil represents a deep Broman family through his dam, granddam Seeking The Ante and third dam Antespend (a 1997 purchase from Kentucky’s Elemendorf Farm as a 2-year-old).

 

February Digital sale success

Another New York-bred made headlines to bring February to a close, this time in the digital sales ring.

A 2-year-old colt by freshman sire Yaupon out of New York-bred champion Frosty Margarita sold for $250,000 to top the Fasig-Tipton February digital sale. Shane Yeager purchased the topper with bloodstock agent Dennis O’Neill handling the bidding. The colt was sold as Hip 42[7] as the property of De Meric Sales and off a traditional virtual inspection and video of an untimed gallop at De Meric Farm in Ocala, Florida.

Bred by Gabrielle Farm and Saratoga Glen Farm and foaled at Saratoga Glen Farm in Stillwater, the colt is the second foal out of the multiple stakes-winning Frost Giant mare Frosty Margarita. The same partnership bred her first foal, the placed Malibu Moon gelding Malibu Margarita.

Gabrielle Farm bred and raced Frosty Margarita, an eight-time winner who earned $599,876. She earned New York-bred champion 2-year-old filly honors in 2015 and won four stakes during her 36-start career.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2025/03/05/mi-bago-continues-climb-with-florida-stakes-win/

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