At the 2024 Keeneland September yearling sale, Sidewalks Bloodstock and Donal Keane picked up Hip 451, a yearling colt by Knicks Go out of Indian Wish, for just US$40,000. That decision looks to be a lot more of a bargain now. A Grade 1-placed listed stakes winner at the time of her half brother’s sale, Sacred Wish held off favored Gina Romantica by a neck in Sunday’s Matriarch Stakes (USA-G1) at Del Mar, completing the mile race on firm turf in 1:34.76. By doing so, the 12-1 long shot improved her lifetime record to 17-4-6-3 with earnings of US$985,138 and picked up the Grade 1 win that Wet Paint denied her by a neck in the 2023 Coaching Club American Oaks.
Sired by the hot Giant’s Causeway horse Not This Time (who had picked up a Grade 3 win earlier in the afternoon when his son Clock Tower went wire-to-wire in the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes), Sacred Wish descends from the family of 1979 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Kamar, the 1990 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year. A winner of the Canadian Oaks during her own racing days, the daughter of Key to the Mint and 1973 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Square Angel (herself a winner of the Canadian Oaks) continued her family’s skein of Oaks wins by sending out 1990 Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner Seaside Attraction, a first-rate broodmare whose four graded/Group stakes winners include 1995 American champion 2-year-old filly Golden Attraction (by Mr. Prospector) and 1998 Florida Derby (USA-G1) winner Cape Town (by Seeking the Gold).
Kamar also produced 1981 Canadian champion 3-year-old male Key to the Moon (by Wajima), multiple Grade 1 winner Gorgeous (by Slew o’ Gold), and 1986 Princess Margaret Stakes (ENG-G3) winner Hiaam (by Alydar). In addition, she produced Jood (by Nijinsky II), dam of 2001 European Horse of the Year Fantastic Light, and Wilayif (by Danzig), dam of 1999 Prix du Bois (FR-G3) winner Morning Pride (by Machiavellian) and, through her, second dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Flashing (by A.P. Indy).
Amid this galaxy of stars, one could be forgiven for overlooking Kamar’s 1982 daughter by Forli, Forlis Key. This filly never raced and had a moderate broodmare career that featured minor stakes winner Clever Return (by Clever Trick) as the best of her three winners from eight named foals. She left only two producing daughters, and the better of the two, the unraced Danzig mare Scipio, was only a modest improvement on her dam. She produced six winners from 10 named foals, including listed stakes winner Secret Sip (by Secret Hello). Her winners also included the Conquistador Cielo mare Sister Girl, who got the family back up to the graded stakes level by producing 2008 Dwyer Stakes (USA-G2) winner Mint Lane (by Maria’s Mon) and 2003 Vanity Handicap (USA-G1) runner-up Sister Girl Blues (by Hold for Gold), dam of 2015 Sunland Derby (USA-G3) winner and Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) runner-up Firing Line (by Line of David).
Indian Wish, Sister Girl’s daughter by Indian Charlie, was foaled the same year that Mint Lane won the Dwyer, and the cachet of being an Indian Charlie half sister to a recent Grade 2 winner and a Grade 1-placed runner helped boost her to a sale price of US$150,000 as a weanling at the 2008 Keeneland November mixed sale. After that, it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that she spent more time in sales rings than at the track. A US$70,000 RNA at the 2009 Keeneland September sale, she was sent to England and went twice through Tattersalls sales as a 2-year-old. By the time she returned to an American venue, her perceived value had sunk to US$35,000, which was her price at the 2012 Keeneland November sale, covered by three-time Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle after a racing career in which she had failed to win in 17 tries. She sold again as an open mare for US$14,500 at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton February sale, and in 2019 changed hands for the last time thus far; with Sacred Wish in utero, she sold for US$22,000 to Chromedome Partners—this after her half sister So Sharp (by Saint Liam) had been represented by 2017 Cigar Mile Handicap (USA-G1) winner Sharp Azteca (by Freud) and another half sister, Remembered (by Sky Mesa) had come up with multiple Grade 1 winner Bowies Hero (by Artie Schiller).
At the time that Indian Wish went through the ring with her Grade 1-winning daughter in her womb, Not This Time was a “bubble year” stallion awaiting the debut of his first runners in 2020 and the mare’s first three runners, while winners, had been of the cheapest sort; She had also failed to produce a live foal in 2014, 2015, and 2019. Still, it isn’t every day that one can buy a half sister to a Grade 2 winner and two dams of Grade 1 winners for very nearly a song, and it seems safe to say that Indian Wish’s valuation would be considerably higher these days. She was bred to Epicenter for 2025. As for Sacred Wish, she too has come up in the world, having sold for US$80,000 as a yearling and US$50,000 as a 2-year-old in training. If not precisely the heroine of a rags-to-riches story, she has at least come the distance from Target to Neiman-Marcus, and the final chapter to her racing tale has not been written yet.
Sired by the hot Giant’s Causeway horse Not This Time (who had picked up a Grade 3 win earlier in the afternoon when his son Clock Tower went wire-to-wire in the Cecil B. DeMille Stakes), Sacred Wish descends from the family of 1979 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Kamar, the 1990 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year. A winner of the Canadian Oaks during her own racing days, the daughter of Key to the Mint and 1973 Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Square Angel (herself a winner of the Canadian Oaks) continued her family’s skein of Oaks wins by sending out 1990 Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner Seaside Attraction, a first-rate broodmare whose four graded/Group stakes winners include 1995 American champion 2-year-old filly Golden Attraction (by Mr. Prospector) and 1998 Florida Derby (USA-G1) winner Cape Town (by Seeking the Gold).
Kamar also produced 1981 Canadian champion 3-year-old male Key to the Moon (by Wajima), multiple Grade 1 winner Gorgeous (by Slew o’ Gold), and 1986 Princess Margaret Stakes (ENG-G3) winner Hiaam (by Alydar). In addition, she produced Jood (by Nijinsky II), dam of 2001 European Horse of the Year Fantastic Light, and Wilayif (by Danzig), dam of 1999 Prix du Bois (FR-G3) winner Morning Pride (by Machiavellian) and, through her, second dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Flashing (by A.P. Indy).
Amid this galaxy of stars, one could be forgiven for overlooking Kamar’s 1982 daughter by Forli, Forlis Key. This filly never raced and had a moderate broodmare career that featured minor stakes winner Clever Return (by Clever Trick) as the best of her three winners from eight named foals. She left only two producing daughters, and the better of the two, the unraced Danzig mare Scipio, was only a modest improvement on her dam. She produced six winners from 10 named foals, including listed stakes winner Secret Sip (by Secret Hello). Her winners also included the Conquistador Cielo mare Sister Girl, who got the family back up to the graded stakes level by producing 2008 Dwyer Stakes (USA-G2) winner Mint Lane (by Maria’s Mon) and 2003 Vanity Handicap (USA-G1) runner-up Sister Girl Blues (by Hold for Gold), dam of 2015 Sunland Derby (USA-G3) winner and Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) runner-up Firing Line (by Line of David).
Indian Wish, Sister Girl’s daughter by Indian Charlie, was foaled the same year that Mint Lane won the Dwyer, and the cachet of being an Indian Charlie half sister to a recent Grade 2 winner and a Grade 1-placed runner helped boost her to a sale price of US$150,000 as a weanling at the 2008 Keeneland November mixed sale. After that, it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that she spent more time in sales rings than at the track. A US$70,000 RNA at the 2009 Keeneland September sale, she was sent to England and went twice through Tattersalls sales as a 2-year-old. By the time she returned to an American venue, her perceived value had sunk to US$35,000, which was her price at the 2012 Keeneland November sale, covered by three-time Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle after a racing career in which she had failed to win in 17 tries. She sold again as an open mare for US$14,500 at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton February sale, and in 2019 changed hands for the last time thus far; with Sacred Wish in utero, she sold for US$22,000 to Chromedome Partners—this after her half sister So Sharp (by Saint Liam) had been represented by 2017 Cigar Mile Handicap (USA-G1) winner Sharp Azteca (by Freud) and another half sister, Remembered (by Sky Mesa) had come up with multiple Grade 1 winner Bowies Hero (by Artie Schiller).
At the time that Indian Wish went through the ring with her Grade 1-winning daughter in her womb, Not This Time was a “bubble year” stallion awaiting the debut of his first runners in 2020 and the mare’s first three runners, while winners, had been of the cheapest sort; She had also failed to produce a live foal in 2014, 2015, and 2019. Still, it isn’t every day that one can buy a half sister to a Grade 2 winner and two dams of Grade 1 winners for very nearly a song, and it seems safe to say that Indian Wish’s valuation would be considerably higher these days. She was bred to Epicenter for 2025. As for Sacred Wish, she too has come up in the world, having sold for US$80,000 as a yearling and US$50,000 as a 2-year-old in training. If not precisely the heroine of a rags-to-riches story, she has at least come the distance from Target to Neiman-Marcus, and the final chapter to her racing tale has not been written yet.
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