Fasig-Tipton will offer Distorted d’Oro (Medaglia d’Oro) as hip 207 during Monday’s November Sale in Lexington, a decision owner Pete Williams describes as “bittersweet” but necessary for his commercial breeding operation.
The 4-year-old filly, consigned by Nicky Drion Thoroughbreds, was initially slated to continue racing after finishing fourth in the Tom Benson Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds on March 22. Williams reversed course just one week later when her half-brother Tappan Street (Into Mischief) captured the GI Florida Derby.
“This all has to do with the business and we are in a business,” Williams said. “This isn’t a hobby and you have to make some crappy decisions sometimes. It’s a business and you are trying to make money and you want to at least try to pay for your operation.”
Williams, a real estate developer, established his MKW Breeding commercial broodmare band just four years ago. The operation now includes 17 mares, featuring Midnight Snack (Distorted Humor), a half-sister to Grade I winner Speed Boat Beach, and Mo Town Mayhem (Uncle Mo), a full-sister to multiple graded winner Souper Hoity Toity.
“We bought probably seven or eight of those as broodmares or broodmare prospects and the others have been developed through our racing program,” Williams explained. “If we think we can buy fillies right that we like—I call it buying broolings. I have a list of broodmare sires and I am looking for those pedigrees.”
Williams acquired Distorted d’Oro for $325,000 at the 2023 OBS April sale. The mare is out of graded winner Virginia Key (Distorted Humor), a half-sister to graded winners Grace Adler (Curlin) and Pyrenees (Into Mischief). Her race record includes three wins from eight starts and a third-place finish in the Searching Stakes at Laurel last year.
“She was a hard-knocking filly, she didn’t have that incredible turn of foot, but man if you watch the races she won, she would go inside on the rail, she had what it took to race,” Williams said.
After her fourth-place finish at Fair Grounds, jockey Jose Ortiz encouraged Williams to continue racing her as a 4-year-old. The Florida Derby result changed everything.
“By the end of the week, I had kind of changed my mind,” Williams said. “Obviously, the family is already crazy good, but then he wins that and I said, ‘OK, let’s retire her.'”
The decision to send her to Fasig-Tipton came after disappointing yearling sales results this fall. Williams had anticipated strong returns for a Curlin filly and a Nyquist filly but neither met expectations.
“I won’t be happy,” Williams admitted about watching Distorted d’Oro sell. “I really feel like she is the kind of mare you can make $10 or $12 million out of over her life. I looked through the [Fasig-Tipton catalogue] Saturday night and obviously there are some really good pedigrees in there and there are some really talented racehorses, but when I look at her family, as a buyer myself, this is what I would be looking to buy.”
Despite the setback, Williams remains committed to his breeding operation.
“I am excited about what I do. Real estate development has been my business, so I am used to not getting good news all the time,” he said. “I’ve got the mentality to take the bad news in this business.”
