Clapping the Latest Winner for Hot Sire Not This Time

This column highlights the performances of maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are graded/group winners, or have dams that are graded/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Presque Isle Downs

Buoyed by the racetrack success of 2024 stars Cogburn  and Next , progeny by Not This Time   raised fireworks in the auction ring at last month’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The son of Giant’s Causeway ended the marathon 14 days of selling as the sale’s second leading sire of horses by gross, with 83 yearlings selling for $28,169,000. With November sales season right around the corner, it’s fair to assume the demand for the Taylor Made stallion is likely to continue at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland with his weanlings and fillies.

The Maiden Watch Express made one of its rare excursions to Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa., this past week to highlight the debut performance of Not This Time 2-year-old Clapping . Racing for the colors of Lael Stables, Clapping put on a show worthy of an ovation after his gallant victory. Plenty fit for the one mile and 70-yard distance after a series of five-furlong works for trainer Michael Stidham, the colt wrested a narrow advantage from battling rivals at the top of the lane and fended off a new challenger in deep stretch to score by a neck.

Ridden by Pablo Morales, the 7-5 favorite stopped the clock in 1:42.85 over the synthetic track. The dark bay had been plenty accustomed to the synthetic, having made his last four works over the surface at Turfway Park in Kentucky.

Bred by Hunter Valley Farm, Clapping passed through the ring three times before dropping the hammer for $550,000 this year at the Ocala Breeders’ Sale Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, who had picked up the colt for $220,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, Clapping bounced over the synthetic at OBS, zipping a quarter-mile in :20 4/5 during the undertack show.

Clapping is the fifth winner produced by his dam, the Congrats mare Applauding. Lightly raced, Applauding recorded three 96+ Equibase Speed Figures in winning her first three starts before finishing unplaced in the 2013 Hurricane Bertie Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park. Her son Laughing Boy , a son of Distorted Humor, captured Aqueduct Racetrack‘s Excelsior Stakes in March for trainer David Jacobson.