by Matthew Lomon

For Elizabeth Caldwell, heading into the upcoming Lexington Selected Yearling Sale with a larger group is just one of many reasons to be optimistic about this year’s crop.

Caldwell, who manages historic Cane Run Farm in Georgetown, KY with her brother Danny, is hoping to continue the tradition of excellence her farm has spent so long curating. The Kentucky harness racing institution is selling 22 horses, nine of their own and 13 agent horses, up from 13 altogether last year.

“I’m definitely optimistic,” Elizabeth said. “We have a larger group to sell this year. Hopefully that will go well, and all their owners will be pleased. There seems to be a larger number of horses in the sale this year, too. Hopefully that’ll be a good thing and the sale will be up and consistent throughout.”

Having a larger group than in years past, Elizabeth had to think harder about which members of her consignment stand out most.

“I have several,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve been sending photos of our Day 2 horses, which is a nice, stylish group for us to represent. I think those are all really good individuals.”

Given some time to think about her consignment, she narrowed down her list to a handful of expected graduates.

“We have a Tactical Landing filly [Best Friends Girl, Hip #578] and a Cantab Hall filly [Highway Nine, Hip #394] that are both nice,” Elizabeth said. “There’s another Cantab Hall filly [Omega, Hip #619] that Dunroven owns with a nice pedigree. We’re selling three Bar Hopping colt’s, which is really exciting. There’s also a very nice Muscle Hill colt out of Impinktoo [Governor As It, Hip #160].”

This year’s Cane Run lineup boasts impressive depth and versatility, which Elizabeth hopes will translate to intrigue amongst buyers.

“We have three Tactical Landing’s, which is obviously a good thing, but overall, it seems like a really good group with something for everybody,” Elizabeth said.

Speaking of that depth, the third-generation horsewoman offered up a few names flying under the radar.

“The Muscle Hill filly out of Eowyn [Everybody’s Talkin, Hip #360], she’s a very nice individual and very sharp on her video,” Elizabeth said. “The Father Patrick out of Deschanel [Dirty Jeans, Hip #347] has a really nice coat as well. It’s hard to say because people have been interested in the Bar Hoppings, the Muscle Hills, the Cantabs, but it’s a good group top to bottom.”

Elizabeth, whose mother Fredericka “Rikki” Caldwell established Cane Run Farm in 1982, jokingly lamented not having a particular hot ticket item in her catalog.

“I wish I had some Walner’s to sell, but we don’t,” she said with a laugh, reiterating how Cane Run can always rely on Muscle Hills and Cantabs to get the job done.

Staying in that same vein, Elizabeth mentioned Lancelot, Hip #268, a Bar Hopping colt going on Day 2, as another name for buyers to monitor.

She ended her list of under the radar yearlings with a colt whose sire has done wonders for Cane Run.

“I’m partial to our Propulsion colt [Take Home Pay, Hip #755], who sells on the fourth day, but that’s because we bred Propulsion,” Elizabeth said with a laugh. “It’s fun to be able to do that and people seem to be interested in him too, so we’ll see what happens.”

Originally, Cane Run’s consignment totalled 23 yearlings, however they had to scratch their filly (Hip No. 106) before the sale.

On a brighter note, Elizabeth also spoke about witnessing Kentucky’s harness racing boom first-hand.

“It’s an exciting program,” she said. “There’s a lot of options, but there’s also a lot of competition. The program has grown so much so quickly.”

With such growth, horsepeople must now balance increased opportunity with elevated competition.

“The money is there and it’s interesting to see all the different horses coming in that we probably wouldn’t have had before the program started 10 years ago,” Elizabeth said. “Things are a lot different and it’s nice to have a revival, I just don’t know how hard it’s going to be to be competitive for everybody if you’ve got the fastest horses in the country coming to be in the races. It’s interesting and exciting, and there are a lot of horses here.

The days leading up to the sale are equal parts exhilarating and taxing.

“It’s always such a stressful time,” Elizabeth said. “We’re down to the wire and you’re thinking ‘please just get the horse to the wire healthy’ and ‘please stop getting scratches on yourself,’ that kind of thing. We’re almost there and you just don’t know what’s going to happen each day.

“We’re busy with lookers, meaning trying to get our work done can be a bit of a challenge, but we like the activity and the traffic, having people coming through. It’s definitely a lot that goes into it to get things to culminate… it’s certainly a process.”

A process, indeed, but one Elizabeth acknowledges is well worth the extra effort.