Flying Dutchmen Buy Two Million-Dollar Yearlings
The 3-year-old colt Owen Almighty put Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing in the spotlight this spring with a win in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and a fifth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) after leading entering the stretch.
But fillies remain a key component of the stable and its farm operations, a point emphasized by Flying Dutchmen’s acquisition of Hip 887, a Not This Time filly, for $1 million at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale during the fourth session Sept. 11. She was the only filly to bring seven figures during the session.
Hunter Rankin, Flying Dutchmen’s president, signed for the filly’s purchase. Flying Dutchmen is run by Travis Boersma, the co-founder and executive chairman of Grants Pass, Ore.-based Dutch Bros. Coffee.
Warrendale Sales consigned the filly for her breeder, Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. The filly is out of the grade 2-winning Quality Road mare Road to Victory , making Hip 887 a half brother to stakes winner Corporate Power .
“We love the family, obviously,” Rankin said. “Barbara was so great to buy from—they raise their horses the right way.”
Hip 887 became the 11th yearling by Not This Time to sell for $1 million or more during the ongoing sale that began Sept. 8, and by the end of the session that total had reached 12. The second-ranked sire in North America by 2025 progeny earnings behind Into Mischief , Not This Time stood this past breeding season for $175,000 at Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Ky.
Flying Dutchmen Add Life Is Good Colt Late in Session
In the closing hour of the sale, Rankin signed for an even pricier yearling by acquiring Hip 1142, a Life Is Good colt, for $1.25 million for Flying Dutchmen. The group assembled with Rankin let out a few cheers of excitement as the hammer fell after a back-and-forth bidding with other parties in the sales arena.
“When you’re buying horses, they’re all undefeated right now, so you’ve got to be excited,” Rankin said.
He called the Boersma family “special people,” mentioning that Boersma’s son, Payton, chief operating officer for Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing, was among those in attendance.
“They get excited with every horse we buy, as we all do,” he said. “The horse will be named within 24 hours. They name them right away. It’s just a really cool thing to be a part of.
“It’s hard to say if this is going to be the best one, but if you keep buying horses like him, you’re going to be successful. It’s really hard to get them. Obviously, I know we outbid some really good people, and obviously, it’s maybe a little more than what we had hoped to spend. But if you want to put nice horses in the barn, you have to spend real money.”
The Life Is Good colt consigned as Hip 1142 in the ring at the Keeneland September Sale
Flying Dutchmen spent $3,745,000 in purchasing five yearlings Thursday, led by the two seven-figure yearlings.
The colt was the highest-priced yearling sold by WinStar Farm’s first-crop yearling sire Life Is Good. Life Is Good’s 34 yearlings sold have averaged $392,647 at the September sale through Thursday.
The Hinkle Farms-bred and -consigned colt, produced from the unraced Indian Charlie mare Indian Bay, is a half brother to three black-type runners, all of whom are grade 1-placed. Two of those runners, both by First Samurai , are stakes winners: Japanese group 3 winner Shivaji and domestic stakes winner Tarabi . The other, Westwood (Authentic ), is not a stakes winner but ran third in this year’s Santa Anita Derby (G1) behind Journalism and Baeza .
Anne Archer Hinkle of Hinkle Farms said Hip 1142’s price exceeded expectations.
“That was insane. That’s a huge sale for that horse,” she noted.
