Crawford Farms loaded with 13 yearlings selling on opening night in Lexington
by Dave Briggs
Ten years ago, when she was just starting out as a breeder, Michelle Crawford said she absolutely could envision that Crawford Farms would have a Lexington Selected Yearling Sale consignment of 46, with 13 of those selling on opening night.
“I just had to learn how to do it,” she said. “I think it’s been a team effort and we all put our heads together and it’s been good… This has been my goal to be there and I said, ‘I want to be just like Hanover at Harrisburg’ and I want to sell the best of the best.
“I think we have one of the best trotting broodmares bands that there is. The pacing mares, we’re a little heavy on right now. I think we’ll liquidate some of those… it’s like a recipe, you just keep adding ingredients and taking away ingredients until you get it right. I think, right now, the best we can do is hope that some of the stallions hitting the market are prolific.
“You only have your consignment and what the mare puts on the ground and you hope that they are good individuals and it pays you back, but you have to do business and you have to pay for it and this is the one week a year that we make all of our income.
“Our racing stable, we’ve really cut back on racing for many reasons, but right now it’s probably the least amount of horses we’ve had. We do stay in on the mares. There’s not anything that stayed home this year. Everything we bred is in the sale this year.”
Talking about her jam-packed opening night, Crawford said, “What’s exciting, I think, is that we have a lot of first foals on opening night. We’ve got Beltassima’s foal [Hip #90 Anabella], La Vie En Blanc’s foal [Hip #92 Oakley Dokes] and Sorella’s [Hip #110 Lamourdemavie]. I mean, Sorella is our Hambletonian Oaks winner. La Vie is a sister to Ramona Hill.
“Then, there’s the ones you know like Warrawee Ubeaut’s foal [Hip #44 Seaside Ubeaut]… This filly by Downbytheseaside, is one of the nicest-looking fillies I’ve ever seen. Ubeaut just throws them. She prints them, she’s a huge broodmare. She’s just gotten into that broodmare mode. It’s crazy. So, she’s going to sell all by herself, just looking at her.
“Obviously, Alexis Faith [Hip #53 Zenyara Bloom] has a full-sister to Brandon Blvd and we know what he’s been doing on the track. So, that’s been our ‘one-two’ punch for Crawford Farms in Lexington, watching those boys race each other… My other first foal, out of Anoka Hanover and her Tactical Landing colt [Hip #19 Umbria], he’s stunning. I call him ‘my Karl 2.0’ because he looks very, very similar. He’s been a fan favorite of ours on the farm since he was born. He looks the part and he certainly goes down the chute with the same everything that I look for in a colt.
“Then, Pink Coco Chanel’s foal [Hip #13 Boozay Cowboy], it’s the first foal for her, a Muscle Hill colt, a very nice Muscle Hill colt.
“So, I think our opening night is loaded with things to talk about, including our Stonebridge Sundae filly [Hip #8 Kentuckysmokeshow], this [Captaintreacherous] filly is stunning. She’s earlier in the sale and I worry about how early some of the numbers are, but she’s a sister to a world champion.
“They are all super nice individuals… I don’t really have a ton of flawed individuals over here. There’s really nothing glaring with this group and one was better than the next going down. I was, like, ‘Wow, what a great group.’ So, I’m very excited about our opening night.”
Part of the growth of Crawford Farms has involved opening a Kentucky farm where 2024 Hambletonian winner Karl will greet people for brunch on Friday (Oct. 3) from 10 a.m. to noon. Karl is standing at stud in 2026 at Southwind Farms in New Jersey.
“We also have the [Father Patrick] sister to Karl selling opening night [Hip #38 Ischia]. She’s an amazing individual and she’s got a great video.”
As well, Crawford said she is proud to be selling two yearlings by Crazy Wow — Hip #613 Lovinonlouisv and Hip #715 Crazy Cactus. Crazy Wow stands at Blue Chip Farm in New York.
“I think being in New York is going to help him immensely,” Crawford said of Crazy Wow. “He’s getting a better book of mares, and these two individuals, people are just like ‘Wow.’”
Crawford said everything is primed for her farm, managed by Heather Reese, to have a great sale.
“Keeneland just had a record-breaking sale, so if that’s any indicator of horse sales, I hope it’s unanimous across the thoroughbreds and standardbreds and we end up having a really good sale,” Crawford said. “I do know a lot of people coming in, friends of mine that are coming from Europe this year, so I think there is going to be a strong European presence, which has been give or take since COVID. I feel like that’s been something of a sure thing.
“I feel across the board that the consignment itself will hold its own.”
