Peninsula comes into Lexington twice as nice with all dual eligibles
by Debbie Little
Carter Duer’s Peninsula Farm returns to this year’s Lexington Selected Yearling Sale with 26 yearlings that are all dual eligible.
“I’m happy with the group I’ve got,” Duer said, adding with a laugh, “I might not be happy after the sale, but I know last year we had some that weren’t on everybody’s list, but they’re out there racing and doing pretty well, and I think this year will be the same.
“Out of 26, I think I’ve got quite a few horses that’ll present themselves well.”
As usual, the Georgetown, KY, farm located in the rolling hills of the Bluegrass, offers quite a variety with yearlings by 16 different sires, with 22 of the 26 being trotters, split close to evenly between fillies and colts.
Although Duer tends to temper his excitement when it comes to discussing his top yearlings, it was obvious he’s happy with his Captain Coreys.
And why not? As the breeder of Captain Corey, he is, after all, an expert.
“I look at every one that races like my own kids,” he said of Captain Corey’s offspring. “I live and die with every one that races, the good ones and the bad ones. But he’s just been unreal, what he’s done, how he’s competed, you know, with these other horses, with the limited number of decent mares that he had, it is absolutely unreal.
“He was special from day one for some reason and he’s never let me down; he hasn’t as a sire either. He’s actually better than I thought he could be, but he’s a very, very good horse. He’s just one of those horses. Why he came? I have no idea. He shouldn’t have been what he was. And he’d have been good no matter who had trained him, although he did get the best in the world, but he’d have been good anywhere, because he was just one of those horses.”
Peninsula offers a total of four by Captain Corey, all of which Duer likes.
The three Captain Coreys selling on Day 2 are: Hip #164 My Wish, a filly out of Cantab Hall mare The Erm, Hip #178 GH Cory, a colt out of Vinyasa by Creatine, and Hip #320 Midwind Meme out of Credit Winner daughter Mississippi Moment.
Hip #596 Big Velvet, a son of Captain Corey out of Rosalie Swan by Sebastian K S sells on Day 3.
“My son named [Big Velvet] after some country song that he knew,” Duer said. “I don’t know who it is, but he’s a nice colt like all those Captain Corey colts. They’re very strong and dark.”
If you watch the colt’s video on the sale’s website you’ll hear the song Big Velvet by Paul Cauthen.
Duer was very optimistic about one of his 23 agent yearlings, Hip #46 Midwind Bridgette out of the Donato Hanover mare Boccone Dolce, but unfortunately, she had a slight mishap a while back.
“Probably the best one I have may not make the sale,” Duer said. “She’s a Tactical Landing filly out of the dam of Bond, and I’m not sure whether they’ll send her or not.
“The only bell ringer I thought I had was the Boccone Dolce filly. I thought she’d be very, very special, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to get her. I just don’t know.
With the filly’s video now up, her sale appearance seems likely. Stay tuned.
Duer’s first horse in the ring is Hip #43 Always Bee Ready, a daughter of Ready For Moni out of the Balanced Image mare Beehive, dam of Bee A Magician.
“She’s a very nice filly,” Duer said. “She’s a sister to one that brought two and a quarter last year, but he went to Europe, and I really don’t know anything about him, but she’s very nice.”
Also selling on Day 1 is Hip #95 Midwind Lovestory, a Bulldog Hanover filly out of the Captaintreacherous mare Love For Sail, the dam of It’s a Love Thing.
“She doesn’t stand exactly like I’d like her to stand, but you have to deal with that sometimes,” Duer said. “But she’s a very, very pretty filly; has a very nice film.”
A few others that Duer pointed out were: Hip #202 Aperfectrajah, a colt by Alrajah One IT out of Asixpakfromperfect, a solid producer of several stakes winners including 2012 Peter Haughton champ Aperfectyankee; Hip #143 Mystique Landing, a Tactical Landing filly out of Shape Shifter, a sister to Allegiant; Hip #207 Echo Hill, a Muscle Hill filly out of foreign-bred mare Be The One S; and two colt and a filly by King Of The North, Hip #581 Graceful King, Hip #723 Southern King, and Hip #514 Flawless Lady out of Hillbar a daughter of Bar Slide.
Two that may mean the most to Duer in this year’s sale are Hip #274 CHD Squared and Hip #303 The Guru.
“Well, my initials are CHD, I have a grandson that’s CHD, and they named him that,” Duer said of the Tactical Landing colt. “I wasn’t for that, but that’s why he’s got that name, and he’s a very nice horse. He’s supposed to have been a filly, but he’s not.
“That’s the reason we’re still breeding [award-winner Honorable Daughter]. She’s got some age, but she’s in foal now. If she doesn’t have a filly this time, I’m retiring her. The mare was a great mare herself. Most all of them can do something. She’s never had the big horse, but you know a lot of them don’t.”
The Guru is named for Duer’s friend, Hall of Fame trainer Ron Gurfein, who died in 2021 at the age of 80.
“There are a lot of people now that don’t even know who he was,” Duer said of Gurfein. “He’s a very, very nice horse, or I wouldn’t have named that one after him.”
The son of Ecurie D DK is out of Luv U All, the dam of Captain Corey. Her three previous foals at the sale, which includes Captain Corey, sold for an average of $205,000.
Peninsula also has a first foal value play on Day 3.
“I have one Green Shoe that I really like out of a mare called Ever Lovin by Muscle Hill [Hip #492 Peanutbutter Toast],” Duer said. “He’s a very, very nice horse. He’s as good as the ones I’ve got, but he’s not listed that way where he’s selling, but he’s about as good as I’ve got.
“I’ve got some very, very nice horses, and I would tell anybody that, and if they look at them, some of them, they’re better than the pedigree looks. But there are some of them that I think this time next year, we’ll know about. Which ones I don’t know, or else I’d buy some in there.
“If I was smart enough to know what maybe some people think I know, I’d be a multi-millionaire, because I’ve had the opportunity to be around so many good horses that I could have maybe even bought or been involved with. Some of them I knew would be good, some of them I didn’t, but, you know, nobody knows too much about these things.”
