Wavertree Grad Tenma in Kentucky Oaks Spotlight

A consignor heading into an auction can have no greater endorsement than a former sale graduate excelling in grade 1 races on the most prominent stages. Multiple grade 1 winner Tenma  is such a horse for Ciaran Dunne’s Wavertree Stables.

Consigned to last year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale by Wavertree, Tenma was bought for $850,000 by Donato Lanni, agent for the Baoma Corp. of Charles and Susan Chu after breezing a rapid :09 4/5 (co-fastest time of her session) at last year’s under tack preview. Bred in Kentucky by Bobby Flay, Tenma is a daughter of Nyquist   out of the unraced Tapit   mare Amagansett.

A grade 1 winner last year at 2, Tenma won the 2024 Del Mar Debutante (G1) in her second career start. Following a third-place finish in the Oak Leaf Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, she closed out her freshman campaign with a win in the Starlet Stakes (G2) at Los Alamitos Race Course.

Unbeaten in two starts this year at 3 for trainer Bob Baffert, Tenma is the sixth-ranked 3-year-old filly on the Kentucky Oaks (G1) leaderboard with 108 qualifying points. She recently solidified her place among the best of her division April 5 with a decisive 2 1/4-length victory in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1). Prior to that outing, Tenma captured the Las Virgenes Stakes (G3) by 6 1/2 lengths at Santa Anita in her seasonal bow on Feb. 2. A winner in 5-of-6 career starts and never off the board, Tenma has banked $549,000.

“She was a star from day one,” recalled Dunne. “We started getting really excited about her in January of last year. She never did anything to dampen our hopes, which is unusual because they love to burst balloons. She came here and performed fabulously on the racetrack. And then she showed herself like a queen all week.

“We got a good price for her, and we were very happy with the home she got,” Dunne added. “Obviously, if they get to go to Bob (Baffert), they get every opportunity. You really don’t have a lot of horses like her because they don’t make a lot of horses like her. When one of them that you think is that level breaks the glass ceiling, it’s very rewarding. There are so many of them that burst the bubble rather than continue blowing it up. It’s exciting. The Oaks and (Kentucky) Derby are the pinnacle races. To have one in there with a real shot is very exciting. Those good ones are very different, and they are hard to come by.”

Wavertree returns to this week’s OBS Spring Sale with another carefully curated group of promising juveniles drawing significant attention from buyers in search of the next potential superstar.

Among the standouts in Wavertree’s OBS Spring consignment this year is Hip 619, a colt from the first crop of Independence Hall   who turned heads with a bullet :20 2/5 breeze for a quarter-mile during the fourth day of the under tack preview last week. The colt is out of the Candy Ride   mare Waltzing, a half sister to graded stakes winner Dancing Solo  and grade 1-placed Dancing . This is also the family of grade 1 winners Voodoo Storm and Pool Play.

Bred in Kentucky by St. Simon Place and Schiano Racing, the dark bay or brown colt was a $285,000 graduate of last year’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was acquired by Superfine out of the St George Sales consignment. Prior to that trip through the ring, the colt sold to Dudley Racing for $120,000 out of the Grovendale Sales consignment at the 2024 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale.

“He falls into that Tenma category,” Dunne said of the speedy colt.  “He has advertised himself from a very early stage, like the good ones do. He showed up every time we asked him to do something. And obviously, we weren’t expecting :20 2/5. How do you expect that? The good ones have a way of getting it done. Physically, he’s a stunning horse. He’s a big rangy horse, very athletic. He surpassed all expectations. I would say that the only way anybody doesn’t like him is if they don’t like horses.”

Dunne is no stranger to Independence Hall, having trained him as a 2-year-old. A multiple graded stakes winner, Independence Hall, who stands at WinStar Farm, won the Nashua Stakes (G3) as an undefeated 2-year-old. At 3, he won the Jerome Stakes and added the Fayette Stakes (G2) at Keeneland as a 4-year-old en route to banking $881,500 for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Robert and Kathleen Verratti, Twin Creeks Racing Stables, and WinStar Farm.

“We always thought he was a really good horse,” Dunne said of Independence Hall. “He’s been good to us. I absolutely like what I’ve seen of his offspring. They are not supposed be as fast as they are. For them to be showing the speed they are, it’s very exciting for WinStar.”

As for what he expects from the market his week, Dunne said, “I think we have a really good bunch of horses here. We had a good breeze show, very solid. The traffic has been good at the barn. The optimism here is high.”