The latest advertisement for next week’s Manitoba CTHS Yearling Sale was all kisses and cuddles on Friday morning in trainer Devon Gitten’s barn with groom Clairmonte Parris, and that’s one of the reasons his 84-year-old co-owner bought him.
“He was just beautiful, and he kept kissing me,” said Anne Champion, who purchased Monday’s $40,000 CTHS Sales Stakes winner Mr. Splash for $22,000 at the 2023 yearling sale. “We also liked his pedigree.”
The longtime Manitoba owner-breeder then partnered with Mr. Splash’s breeder Larry Falloon to campaign the most recent two-year-old stakes winner at the Downs.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Assiniboia Downs groom Clairmonte Parris with CTHS Sales Stakes winner Mr. Splash.
“Larry really treats horses nicely, they’re like kids to him,” said Champion, who has partnered with Falloon on a few other horses, including multiple stakes winner Lucky Chuckee.
A two-year-old Manitoba-bred gelding by Nonios-Dreaming of Sasha by Wheaton, Mr. Splash pressed the pace as the third choice in the CTHS Sales Stakes and drew away to win the rich restricted race by 2 1/4-lengths Monday, putting $24,000 in his owner’s pockets.
“It was a bit unexpected,” said Champion, who won her first race as an owner with her late husband Dave in 1990 and has owned horses ever since.
“We bought our first horse and got into racing when our son died,” said Champion. “It helped fill the void. He was only 29 and he had AIDS at a time when you weren’t allowed to have AIDS. You couldn’t be gay in those days. So we would take him out to see the horses, because the horses didn’t care.”
Horses are like that. If you’re a kind loving person, they’ll sense it long before you show them.
The Champions had two children, and daughter Wendy will be flying in next week to take Mom to the Manitoba CTHS Yearling Sale, which takes place Thursday, Aug. 22 at 2:30 p.m. on the Red River Exhibition Grounds. Viewing starts on Wednesday at 10 a.m. Wendy was at the sale with her mom last year too.
Anne and her husband Dave were regulars at the Saturday morning I Won Bigg handicapping meetings until Dave died four years ago, and Anne can’t get out to the track to see her horse in the barn now due to mobility issues, but she still enjoys watching her horses run on television.
“I can’t push the walker in the sand,” said Champion, who has fond memories of their early years owning horses. “I remember we would all dress up when we had Winover Stable. I have over 130 win pictures. What am I going to do with them all?”
Make room for more Anne, as Mr. Splash looks like he could have a bright future.
A good problem to have, some might say, and there will be a lot more buyers looking to add the same to their shopping list at the sale on Thursday. The big money will be focused on three of the 31 horses in the sale, which means there’s a good chance there will be some bargains among the other 29 rambunctious youngsters offered for sale.
Hip #24 is a half-sister to the mighty Escape Clause, who was purchased at the local yearling sale in 2015 for $5,000 and went on to become the best racehorse ever bred in Manitoba. Escape Clause won the 2019 La Canada Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita and finished a game second — beaten a nose by the best mare in North America, Midnight Bisou — in the 2019 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1).
A winner of numerous stakes while compiling a record of 20-5-4 from 35 starts, Escape Clause earned US$866,100 and won the 2018 Sovereign Award as Canada’s Champion Older Mare. The daughter of Going Commando-Danger Pay by Circulating was bred by Cam Ziprick and Arnason Farms, and Ziprick is the consignor for her half-sister in this year’s sale. The dark bay by Speculating already has a name too, and one that is sure to attract additional attention: Bring the Bourbon.
Also from the Ziprick consignment this year is Hip #26, Spec of Gold, a bay gelding by Speculating-High Pioneer by Pioneering. Spec of Gold is a half-brother to multiple local champions Hidden Grace and Melisandre. Hidden Grace, a $15,000 purchase in the 2017 yearling sale, won multiple stakes, 18 races, and earned US$309,671. Melisandre, who is still competing, has also won multiple stakes, 11 races, and earned $US190,168.
The third horse we’ll mention is Hip #2, a gray colt by 2019 Eclipse Award winner and Champion US Sprinter Mitole, who won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) and earned more than US$3 million. Consigned by the breeder of this year’s CTHS Sales Stakes winner Falloon, and unnamed as of yet, Hip #2 is out of the mare Piccadilly Line by Air Force Blue, and his half-brother by multiple Grade 2 stakes winner Munnings sold in a June two-year-old sale in Ocala for US$250,000.
Falloon bought Piccadilly Line in foal to Mitole for $US16,000 at the 2022 Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale. The 64-year-old also added he’s having time right now farming 1,100 acres in Foxwarren while taking care of 11 broodmares and numerous youngsters. “I just love the horses,” said Falloon.
Which makes him the perfect ownership partner for Anne Champion.
