Anvil And Lace never disappoints by offering variety at Harrisburg

by Debbie Little

If variety is the spice of life, then Anvil And Lace Farm is bringing the heat to Harrisburg.

“Well, we always have a little bit of everything, trotters and pacers, and different regions,” said Beth Yontz who owns and operates Anvil And Lace with her husband Doug.

The wife-and-husband team will bring a consignment of 30 to the Standardbred Horse Sales Company’s (SHSC) yearling auction in Harrisburg, PA as they did to Lexington earlier this year.

The Paris, KY farm has a diverse lineup of babies entering the Pennsylvania State Farm Show Complex with 16 trotters — nine fillies, seven colts — and 14 pacers — nine fillies, five colts — representing five commonwealths — Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Ontario, and Pennsylvania — and 22 different stallions.

Anvil And Lace’s first foal in the ring is on Day 1, the Ontario and Kentucky eligible Hip #11 Sakura Girl, a first foal out of State Treasurer mare Shiatzu Seelster.

“That’s a Bulldog filly,” Beth said. “Might be a little small for some people, but very athletic. It’s the same family of Chantilly who made over $780,000. She’s early in the sale, so I’m a little concerned everyone’s not ready, but again, she’s a nice filly, a little petite, like I said, for some, but she’s very athletic too.”

Beth also spoke about their second yearling in the ring, another Bulldog Hanover filly, Hip #16 Bully Tina, a first foal out of the Captaintreacherous daughter Smuggle Tina.

“Completely different body type,” Beth said. “This one’s a big, beautiful filly, a little bit, I guess, more mature would be the best way to put it right now.”

Beth said she saw a post on Facebook from someone looking for Bulldog fillies.

“Well, I have two of them, come on,” she said, adding with a laugh. “I’ve got small and I’ve got big, whatever you need, I’ve got you.”

Also selling on Day 1, Beth mentioned the second foal out of Captaintreacherous mare Treacherous Secret.

Hip #37 [The Inside Know], which is a Betters Delight colt, that’s the first colt from the mare,” she said. “The first foal was The Word Is Out that Burke bought, a Well Said filly… She’s made over $340,000. But you know, Betters Delight, he’s gone [Down Under], so last full crop. There are smaller crops coming for two years, but then after that, Better’s Delight’s Down Under.”

Selling later on Day 1, Anvil And Lace has Hip #142 Knotts, a Walner colt out of the Encore Encore mare Lass A Rope.

“He’s a three-quarter brother to Volume Eight,” Beth said. “Big, beautiful, colt, just kind of has a presence. He’s a very attractive colt so, I’m kind of excited about him.”

Beth said she finds Hip #273 Queen Of B’s, a filly by King Of The North, selling on Day 2, a bit interesting.

“It’s out of Win Missy B, who obviously was a phenomenal race mare, made over $1.5 million,” she said. “I mean, everyone knows Win Missy B, that’s a given. If you look at her production, seven foals, six winners. None of them have been a home run… but I feel like she’s going to produce a home run hitter. Now, is this the one first crop King Of The North? Um, I don’t know, but she’s something to think about in the back of your mind.”

Beth said she could have a value play because of late placement on Day 2.

“I have a beautiful Muscle Hill colt out of Munster, his name is Munster Truck [Hip #500],” she said. “He has a presence. When this colt comes out of stall, if you pull him out of the stall, you’re going to be like, ‘Damn, he’s nice.’

“But you know, when they when they put a Muscle Hill later, oh, there’s something wrong. Not necessarily. The pedigree isn’t early, early, early, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a phenomenal colt. And being a Muscle Hill, again that’s one they’ve limited his books, basically cut it in half or less. There are going to be fewer, I would assume fewer, as we go down the road. He would be one that I’d look at and say, ‘Oh, here’s a Muscle Hill.’”

As agent for all 30 in their consignment, Anvil And Lace have been prepping half of them and the other 15 they’ll meet in Harrisburg.

“We will play the cards we’re dealt,” Beth said. “I mean, that’s the thing in this business, nothing’s predictable. You just have to roll with the punches. I believe this sales season overall, I went to Lexington, obviously, And then Indiana, it’s kind of all over the place. And, you know, some people were very disappointed. I said, we’ve had so many high, high years.

“I know thoroughbred people in Kentucky saying, ‘Oh, I want a standardbred, I want a standardbred, look at the money, look at the money.’ And I’m not saying we’re flooding the market, but everyone jumped in thinking, ‘Oh, this is easy,’ and at the end of the day, it’s still the horse business. You still have to have a good horse with good pedigree, and you have to have updates, and we’re breeding three years down the road. It’s hard to do. So, some of us get lucky, some of us don’t, because you’ve got to have a little luck in this game. I don’t care how good you are.”

In an effort to increase the possibility of finding that luck, Beth said she’s willing to roll the dice.

“Every year I gamble with something,” she said. “I do something out of the ordinary. I had a yearling this year that was a trotter pacer. Next year, I bred a Tall Dark Stranger thinking, you know, give him a couple years. No, he didn’t hit, but give him a couple years, maybe he can come back. I’ll find out next year.

“Every year, when you have multiple mares, you can gamble with one, but you can’t gamble with multiple, you’ve got to go to your Sweet Lou, Tactical Landing, Muscle Hill. You’ve got to do some sure things, but when you get, you know, eight, 10, or more mares, you can have a little fun every now and then, and that’s kind of what I’ve done.”

Beth said she knows she’s not the only one thinking outside the box when it comes to trotter pacers.

“Well, I mean, everyone forgets that the Hambletonian winner [Nordic Catcher S] this year was one,” she said. “So, you know, it works. Anette Lorentzon trains for me. I foal a lot of her mares, and she’s been doing it for years. She has a Cambest mare that she breeds to Walner, and one of them raced in the Breeders Crown one year. So that cross has worked.

“We’ve got to do something. We’ve backed ourselves into the corner because we bred Muscle Hill mares to Chapter Seven and vice versa, so now, where do we breed, right? You can’t go to Walner because he’s a Chapter Seven. You can’t go to a Muscle Hill son. So, thank goodness Captain Corey has done well, and hopefully he continues on, but we’ve got to think outside the box.

“Some people brought frozen semen in from Europe, and that’s great, we need it, but the problem is, on the flip side, the trainers and buyers didn’t buy it. So, for us, it costs more. Stud fees are high. It costs more to breed frozen just because of the vet work involved, and then we don’t get it in return. So, if you’re a commercial breeder, it just isn’t lucrative for us. If you’re keeping them to race, it’s a fantastic opportunity, because Europe has fantastic trotters. But it’s things we all need to look into moving to the future. It’s like everyone wants something different, but yet no one wants to pay for them in the sales ring, so how can we keep doing, as a breeder, something different?”