Foundation Builders Presented By Keeneland: Drumette Was A Turn-Key Broodmare Of The Year
In the "Foundation Builders" series, we'll examine broodmares that became cornerstone producers for the breed, or just for their programs, after selling at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
Success in the bloodstock arena requires doing a lot of homework, from inspecting stallions to memorizing bloodlines and their tendencies to plan matings.
Sometimes though, it's all about having the right horse at the right time.
Michael Hernon and Brendan Gallagher couldn't have known they were buying both a future Broodmare of the Year and a future Eclipse Award winner when they signed the $75,000 ticket on Drumette at the 2014 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, but the Tapizar foal she was carrying became two-time Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl, and the duo built on the success from there.
Drumette, a winning daughter of Henny Hughes, had become a veteran of the Keeneland auction ring by the time she was offered as Hip 3043 of the 2014 November sale.
She'd been cataloged every year but one since she was a weanling in 2008 to 2014, and she'd gone through the ring every year but one since the 2009 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. In that span of time, Drumette brought $80,000 as a yearling, sold for $90,000 as a 2-year-old, and changed hands for $14,000 as a 3-year-old broodmare prospect.
After finishing under her reserve in the ring at the 2012 Keeneland November sale, pregnant to Drosselmeyer, Drumette sold privately to Dr. Kendall Hansen. Hansen held on to her for a year, getting foals by Drosselmeyer and his namesake stallion Hansen, then he bred her to Tapizar before entering her in the 2014 sale with consignor Crestwood Farm.
Drumette's oldest foal was a yearling when she went through the ring in 2014, and the sires she'd met so far weren't of the highest commercial acclaim. It was a tough spot for a seller, stuck in the doldrums between selling the blue sky of possibility and having an active produce doing the heavy lifting.
However, this worked to the advantage of Hernon, who buys and breeds under the Highfield Ranch banner, and Gallagher, who does business as Frankfort Park Farm.
Much like buying yearlings, buying a broodmare on a budget requires sacrificing some things that the select sale buyers would demand. However, astute buyers have historically found the right knobs to adjust to get the most out of a modest purchase.
"You're unlikely to buy an appealing young mare with her own black type when you're operating with a conservative budget," Hernon said. "But, the hope would be she will produce black type and a creditable runner early in her career.
"I think a lot of it is practicality," he continued. "Physical is very important, especially if we're going to be selling commercially out of the mare, operating from the belief that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I like the mare to have size and scope and be correct - good bone and substance, good head and eye, good demeanor. And, I think you want to have speed and the pedigree. I don't think it's reasonable to believe that a slow, ordinary mare is going to get a top runner with natural speed."
The ensuing foal, Monomoy Girl, sold for $100,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September sale, and she embarked on a career that saw her finish as one of the top racemares of the past decade.
Winning 14 of 17 starts and earning more than $4.7 million, Monomoy Girl stormed through racing's elite ranks, notching marquee wins in the Kentucky Oaks, and two editions of the Breeders' Cup Distaff, among her seven Grade 1 victories. She earned the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly in 2018, and she was voted champion older dirt female in 2020.
"She was a powerful individual," Hernon said of Monomoy Girl. "She was imposing, she was strong and it wasn't a surprise that she had racing ability. No one could predict she'd become a champion and a dual Breeders' Cup Distaff winner."
Of course, a successful breeder can only claim but so much kudos from buying a pregnant mare carrying a superstar. Eventually they have to show they can plan the right matings and create stars themselves.
Drumette went back to Tapizar for her first mating under Hernon and Gallagher's watch, producing the three-time winner Cowboy Diplomacy.
Recommended for You
She then visited Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice in a meeting that gave the world Grade 2 winner Mr. Monomoy. The breeders sold him as a weanling for $60,000 at the 2017 Keeneland November sale, and he enjoyed a brief jaunt on the 2020 Kentucky Derby trail after winning the G2 Risen Star Stakes.
"He would have suited her physically," Gallagher said about the mating. "She was a big enough mare, and she needed a horse with a good hip.
"In hindsight, he was one of the better horses that Palace Malice ever got," he continued.
With the top older female in the land and a colt who made noise on the Derby trail, Drumette earned Kentucky Broodmare of the Year honors in 2020.
By that time, Drumette had long left Hernon and Gallagher's broodmare band, after the duo sold her to Bridlewood Farm for $1.85 million in 2018, on the heels of Monomoy Girl's championship 3-year-old campaign.
"We frankly couldn't afford to own any longer, you know?" Hernon said. "We weren't operating with a huge budget or a big comfort level and it seemed to make sense to cash out while things were going so well."
Drumette was never bred to elite commercial stallions before or during her time as a member of Hernon and Gallagher's broodmare band, out of necessity due to the breeders' budget.
Though she spends most of the year at Bridlewood Farm's Ocala, Fla., base, she still boards at Frankfort Park Farm in Lexington, Ky. Now that she's with a higher-dollar operation, Drumette has been sent to top stallions including Tapit, Gun Runner, and Flightline.
Still, there's a bit of magic when it comes to going against the grain, breeding mares based on economic limitations, and still coming out on top.
Drumette got the best runner by Tapizar and arguably the best runner by Palace Malice - two stallions that no longer stand in Kentucky. Every road to the Broodmare of the Year title is different, but Drumette's ability to improve upon a stallion's median performance got her to the top, and the investment and guidance of Hernon and Gallagher propelled her on that path.
"You just have to take your chances, and you're trying to project what these mares are going to throw by a given stallion," Gallagher said. "That's such a difficult thing to do, but we've been lucky doing it."
