Cameo Hills Farm is looking for their success on the track to carry over to the sale in Lexington

by Debbie Little

Just like their well-bred performers on the track have been doing, Cameo Hills Farm looks to get off the gate strong in Lexington on Day 1.

The Montgomery, NY breeding operation has a total of 31 yearlings, including one as agent, that will strut their stuff in the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion.

The consignment is fairly evenly split across the first three days of the sale, with 11 on Opening Night (Oct. 5), 11 more on Tuesday, and nine on Wednesday.

Cameo is selling a total of six Walners, all on Day 1, with two among the first five in the ring: Hip #2 The Kansas Comet, a son out of You Ato Dream and Hip #5 Call Me Blonde a daughter out of Hey Blondie.

Some consignors don’t enjoy being placed so early on the first night, but Jones is taking it all in stride.

“I wish they were a little later, but that’s the way things shook out this year,” he said with a laugh. “The You Ato Dream colt… as an individual, I don’t think you’ll find a nicer looking trotting colt than Hip #2. He’s a full brother to Free Scottie and Free Scottie was second in the elimination of the Wellwood, and he’s a nice 2-year-old.

“So, I think that will overcome his early number, I think we’ll be okay there.”

It’s obvious that Jones hopes for great things from The Kansas Comet named for the incomparable NFL halfback Gale Sayers, the youngest inductee in the history of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“And like I said, the Hey Blondie filly, Hip #5, is nice, and her 2-year-old [Easy Down Blonde has] already made almost $100,000 this year.

“Sometimes when they get those early numbers the sellers want to make that an excuse, but, you know, as a buyer, I don’t know that it’s really making my decision as far as ‘Oh that one sells early, I guess I’ll bid less.’ That’s not the way I’m looking at it from the other side. So, there’s nothing I can do about it. Yeah, I have concerns, but it’s probably more my imagination than anything else.

“I bought Come See The Show at the Harrisburg Mixed Sale, I don’t know six or eight years ago. She was a late supplement, and I think the last horse in the entire sale, and she topped the sale. So yeah, there’s not really any foolproof method. Hopefully you come up with current pages and nice individuals and two people that want to buy your horse. It’s hard to get a lot if only one person likes it. If two people like it, well, that makes a tremendous difference.”

Cameo’s other Walners are Hip #25 Always Juggling a filly out of Check Her Out, Hip #26 Toy Cannona filly out of Agro Dolce, Hip #31 Boy Toy a colt out of Delilah Hanover, Hip #103 Check My Pedigree a filly out of Check Me Out.

“I’ve only got two Walner colts, but one is out of Delilah Hanover, and Delilah’s first foal is a Walner filly that’s already won a Jersey race in 1:54,” Jones said. “Her name is Day One Dandy, and this is a brother to Day One Dandy.”

Jones said he especially likes the filly from Check Her Out a daughter of the great producer Check Me Out.

“Check Her Out is selling a Walner filly, and it’s the first foal of that daughter of Check Me Out,” he said. “We own the dam of Instagram Model, who’s another daughter of Check Me Out that produced well.

“So, we’re excited to sell that first filly out of Check Her Out, a beautiful filly, and we partnered with Yankeeland Farm to breed her.”

Jones said his inspiration for naming his foals comes from a variety of places and that Hip #31 Boy Toy is named for a prominent Hall of Fame owner, and he’d be only too happy to talk about it if anyone would like to ask him.

Included in Cameo’s first day trotters is Hip #22 Captain Bligh a son of Captain Corey out of the Andover Hall mare Bonnie Lou.

“He’s a brother to Orinoco [2, 1:54.1f, $150,445],” Jones said. “Orinoco was second in the Pennsylvania [Sire Stakes] final.”

To go along with a half dozen by Walner, Cameo has the same number by Chapter Seven, as well as three by Tactical Approach, and Jones has a few favorites.

“We’re selling the first colt out of Bluebird Dove [Hip #21 Blue Blood], and she’s a world champion 3-year-old trotting filly on a half-mile track,” Jones said. “She won in Delaware [Ohio] in [1]:52, and we’re selling her second foal and first colt. That’s a beautiful colt as well.

“And we’ve got a Chapter colt out of Sianna Hanover [Hip #347 Lets Go Rangers] and she’s only had two Chapter colts and they were both colts that won several hundred thousand, Karinchak and Victor Laszlo, so those would be a couple of highlights.

“I’m selling three by Tactical Approach, and in my eyes, anyway, the nicest one is the first foal out of Blonde Bombshell [Hip #19 Earth Shaking]. Blonde Bombshell is a daughter of Hey Blondie, that we bought back from the people that got it from us as a yearling.

“That horse, I would guess he’ll be close to the top of the Tactical Approaches that sell. He’s a beautiful horse and the first foal of the mare.

“We’ve got a lot of power in those trotters.”

In addition to nine Day 1 trotters, Cameo also has two pacers.

“We’re selling two Huntsville fillies with one out of Big McDeal [Hip #33 Sign The Max], which is the only full sister to Max Contract that we’ve got so far,” Jones said. That’s a nice filly. And then there’s a Huntsville filly out of Sweet Rock Deo [Hip #45 Sugar Fix], a filly from the Rocklamation family. Those two sell opening night, and they’re both nice pages and beautiful fillies. So, I would think that they would be a couple of my highlights for my pacers.”

Jones also mentioned a few of his pacers to watch for on Day 2:

• Hip #132 Girlntheyellowtaxi a Confederate daughter out of Yellow Diamond. “We’re selling a Confederate out of Yellow Diamond,” Jones said. “That’s a very racy, beautiful first crop filly by Confederate. Her 2-year-old Diamondsbestfriend is having a big year.”

• Hip #351 Rainbow Ray a son of Bulldog Hanover out of Skies Are Blue. “I’ve got a Bulldog out of a daughter of Rainbow Blue. I think that’ll probably be the most expensive pacing colt that I sell. He sells second day, but he’s a beautiful horse, and I think everybody will like him. 

• Hip #555 Pay Billy a son of Cattlewash out of Merga Hanover. “I’m selling a Cattlewash. I bought a mare in foal to Cattlewash. A good mare. The mare was very good in New York, so I’ve got a little something for everyone.”

As someone who likes to breed to New Jersey sires, Jones said the news that the Hambletonian was going to Indiana could have been bad for the sale, but the news released by Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural of the million-dollar Meadowlands Trot and $500,000 Meadowlands Oaks Trot has righted the ship.

“There was concern about the 2028 races in New Jersey, but it sounds like Jeff [Gural] has stepped up, and other people as sponsors are in the process of stepping up; me being one of them,” Jones said. “I was very disappointed that the Hambletonian moved just like Jeff was, but I certainly don’t want New Jersey to dry up and blow away. There are so many of our important training stables that are based in New Jersey, and maybe more importantly, so many of the owners that buy these things, that live in New York and New Jersey and the metropolitan New York area in general, that I think it’s crucial that we keep the ball rolling in New Jersey. And I’m happy that Jeff apparently feels the same way.

“It’s fantastic on the part of Jeff and the SBOANJ and a lot of other people behind the scenes that are contributing to make that happen and yeah, very important for our business I think anyway to keep The Meadowlands where it’s at and with these new races hopefully they can work it out where there’s no conflicts with other big races.

“I’m not mad at myself for breeding to Walner. Walner’s a great stallion. He’s having the best year of his life, so it’s a great time to be selling a Walner. But you also want to have somewhere that they can race. So yeah, this looks like this is going to make it happen. And like I said, if he’s not the best sire out there, he’s certainly in the top three. So, I’m assuming most people commercially, if they’re looking for trotters right now, they’re looking at him and Captain Corey and Chapter, and we’re selling yearlings by all three sires, and we have shares of all three. So, yeah, I want New Jersey to live long and prosper.”