(Austin, Texas – January 15, 2024) – Texas champion Sunlit Song’s 2023 campaign earned him Horse of the Year honors and Champion Older Horse among Texas-breds. Owned by Carolyn Barnett and Becky Harding, Sunlit Song continued his high-level performance on track in 2023 with five wins and a second in 6 starts in 2023, including four stakes victories.

Sunlit Song opened his 2023 campaign with three straight wins, including wins in the Houston Turf Stakes and the Richard King Turf Stakes for Texas-breds, at Sam Houston Race Park. He moved to Lone Star Park and earned his fourth consecutive victory in 2023 with a going-away score in the Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame Stakes.

The now nine-year-old My Golden Song gelding closed his eight-year-old season with a driving finish in the Remington Green Stakes against open company at Remington Park. His 2023 concluded with five wins and $227,192 in earnings marking his best year to date as an eight-year-old. In his six racing seasons, Sunlit Song has amassed more than $730,000 in earnings with 18 wins in 43 lifetime starts.

Sunlit Song’s dam, Fly So True, has been named the 2023 Texas Broodmare of the Year. 

The leading Accredited Texas-Bred money earner for 2023 was Douglas Scharbauer/Valor Horse Farm LLC.

The winner of the 2023 Allen Bogan Memorial Award for TTA Member of the Year is Danny Pish. Mary Ruyle will receive the T. I. “Pops” Harkins Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Following is the complete list of the 2023 champion horses:

2-Year-Old Filly: CLOSING ACT (by Munnings) • Owner: Douglas Scharbauer • Breeder: Douglas Scharbauer

2-Year-Old Colt/Gelding: MARFA SKY (by Bradester) • Owner: Macassar Corporation • Breeder: Macassar Corporation

3-Year-Old Filly: IZATIZ (by My Golden Song) • Owner: Billy Clevenger • Breeder: Billy Clevenger

3-Year-Old Colt/Gelding: WILD ON ICE (by Tapizar) • Owner: Frank Sumpter • Breeder: Frank Sumpter

Older Filly/Mare: IMALUCKYCHARM (by My Golden Song) • Owner: Carl R. Moore Management LLC • Breeder: Ronald & Margaret Ellerbee

Champion Older Horse: SUNLIT SONG (by My Golden Song) • Owner: Carolyn Barnett & Becky Harding • Breeder: Carolyn Barnett

Champion Broodmare: FLY SO TRUE (by Early Flyer)

Horse of the Year: SUNLIT SONG (by My Golden Song)

IMPORTANT TTA DEADLINES APPROACHING 

TTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DEADLINE

December 15, 2023 is the deadline for RECEIPT of ballots in the election of directors to serve 3-year terms (2024 – 2026). Ballots received after that date cannot be counted. Mail your ballot in today!

ACCREDITATION DEADLINES

1) December 31, 2023 is the deadline for accrediting yearlings (foals of 2022) at the TTA member rate of $200 ($250 for non-members). The fee to accredit foals of 2022 AFTER December 31, 2023 but by December 31, 2024 is $750 for TTA members ($800 for non-members).

2) Be sure that mares that will foal in Texas in 2024 are Texas accredited and that ATB race fillies have been converted to breeding stock before they foal to automatically be eligible for ATB breeder awards. You may email the mare’s name to me and I will verify the status. The fee to accredit a mare before she foals is only $75 (TTA member rate). NOTE: If a mare is not accredited before she foals, the only way to be eligible for ATB breeder awards on that foal is to pay a supplemental mare accreditation fee in the amount of $150 (TTA member rate) during the same year of foaling.

RACING DEADLINES

December 31, 2023 is the deadline to:

1) Nominate eligible foals of 2023 to the Texas Stallion Stakes Series for $100.

2) Nominate eligible foals of 2022 (not previously nominated) to the Texas Stallion Stakes Series for $500.

3) The Texas Thoroughbred Association is pleased to continue the Texas Thoroughbred Association Futurity with purses of $150,000 for each division and introduce the new Texas Thoroughbred Association Derby and Oaks, with purses of $100,000 each.

All foals of 2022 that passed through the ring in the 2023 Texas Summer Yearling Sale or are consigned to and subsequently pass through the ring at the 2024 Texas 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale are eligible for these races.

There are no nomination or sustaining payments to be made. All eligible Sales Graduates may simply pay the entry and start fee in the track racing office at the appropriate time.

ATB Berth Entries: For every horse that passed through the ring at the 2023 Texas Summer Yearling Sale, each consignor and each buyer will receive a non-transferable berth into either division of the race. Any Thoroughbred foal of 2022 is eligible to be sold in the sales and nominated to the Futurity, Derby or Oaks. Additional berths must be filled with an Accredited Texas-bred Thoroughbred foal of 2022 that did not pass through the ring at the 2023 Texas Summer Yearling Sale. Berth horses must be declared to the Texas Thoroughbred Association by December 31, 2023 with a one-time payment of $150. Once a berth horse is designated, ownership of that horse may be transferred with the horse still remaining eligible for the appropriate division of 2024 Texas Thoroughbred Sales Futurity and the 2025 Texas Thoroughbred Derby or Oaks.

4) Nominate accredited stallions that will be standing in Texas in 2024 to the Texas Stallion Stakes for the 2024 breeding season.

Remember: Foals by stallions nominated to the Texas Stallion Stakes need not be foaled in Texas nor be Accredited Texas-breds to be eligible for the Texas Stallion Stakes Series.

All deadline dates are email, fax or postmark dates.

Forms are available at http://texasthoroughbred.com/texas-bred/forms/.

Please contact me with any questions.

Thank you,
Ed Berg
Racing/Accreditation Manager
Texas Thoroughbred Association
192 Cimarron Park Loop, Suite A
Buda, TX 78610
(phone) 512-458-6133
(fax) 512-453-5919
e-mail: edberg@texasthoroughbred.com

Texas Thoroughbred breeders and horsemen are preparing to stage one of the largest Texas yearling sales ever. The annual Texas Thoroughbred Association Summer Yearling Sale is set for August 28 at the Lone Star Park Sales Pavilion. The live auction sale begins at 10 a.m.

The sale features a blockbuster catalog of 264 yearlings. Based entirely on the youngsters lining up to prance into the sales ring, this should be the strongest yearling sale ever held in Texas. Classic winners Exaggerator, Union Rags, Accelerate, Tapwrit, Mucho Macho Man, Cloud Computing, Country Houseand Tonalist are all represented, as are popular Texas stallions Competitive Edge, Bradester, Mr Speaker and Too Much Bling. In fact, Competitive Edge, a graded stakes winner of $520,000 who stands at Valor Farm in Pilot Point, has 10 yearlings in the sale, more than any other stallion.

The sensational Mitole, who in 2019 won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) as well as the Met Mile (G1) on his way to championship honors, is represented by four yearlings in the sale. Six of the yearlings being offered are by Spun to Run, who won the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and earned $1,160,520; four are by Vino Rosso, the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner who was the 2019 champion older male. From Vino Rosso’s first crop, The Wine Steward won the recent Bashford Manor Stakes.

“The hurdles Texas racing is going through at the moment are discouraging, but I am confident there will be a solution soon to rectify the issues,” said Melanie Martinelli of Solitude Thoroughbreds in Alvord, Texas, which has jumped into the state’s Thoroughbred industry with its 14 yearlings representing its first consignment. “We are continuing on the path we’ve chosen for ourselves in Texas. The Yearling Sale is going to be a strong indicator of the Texas-bred market. We really like this group of yearlings we are bringing to the auction.”

Six of the yearlings in the Solitude consignment are from the first crop of King Zachary, a multiple stakes winner of $366,120 and the only son of the great Curlin standing in Texas. When King Zachary won the 2019 Birdstone Stakes at Saratoga, he set a track record (2:52.97) for 1 3/4 miles that still stands. Hip No. 170 by King Zachary is out of the stakes-winning mare Notacloudinthesky and so is a half-brother to three winners.

Like Martinelli, Jeff Hooper, the chairman and CEO of Highlander Training Center, said he’s disappointed with the current political issues surrounding Texas racing, and he’s also optimistic.

“Horsemen are optimistic by nature,” Hooper said, “ and I’m optimistic about this upcoming yearling sale. There’s always a market for a good racehorse, and I think our consignment overflows with potential. We’ve focused on the regional horses, and I’m very pleased with the group. We have some very nice Kentucky-sired Texas-breds, and the quality of the Louisiana-bred yearlings is especially strong.”

The Highlander consignment is comprised of 18 fillies and 18 colts — all of them “client horses,” Hooper pointed out.

Hip No. 112 could be one of the more popular yearlings in the sale. A handsome bay colt by the champion Improbable, he’s out of the stakes-placed Harlan’s Holiday mare Holiday Girl and a half-brother to the stakes-placed Twirl Girl, as well as three more winners. And Hip No. 191, also from the Highlander consignment, could be appropriately named. A chestnut son of the great sprinter Imperial Hint out of the graded stakes-winning mare Ready’s Gal, He’s Ready to Win is a half-brother to the graded stakes winner Machen and the stakes-placed Mawthooq, as well as three other winners.

Hip No. 87, a Spun to Run colt from the Oakridge Farm consignment, is a half-brother to eight winners, including the undefeated 2-year-old Divining Humor, winner of the recent TTA Futurity. And Hip No. 143, a Flatter colt, is a half-brother to Texas Chrome, a multiple stakes winner of $1,033,362, as well as stakes-winning Patrona Margarita.

The sale is open to the public and admission is free. Download a 2023 Texas Summer Yearling Sale catalogue here with more information at http://www.TTAsales.com.