Mandy Pope gives her $8.2m American Pharoah filly an auspicious name

The daughter of American Pharoah purchased by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $8.2 million - a Keeneland September Yearling Sale record for a filly - has been named America's Joy.

But don't expect to see her on the racetrack too soon, as she will likely not make her first start until late summer or early fall 2020, according to Whisper Hill general manager Todd Quast.

"She was all class at the sale, and she's only gotten classier," Quast said. "We don't have a very accelerated two-year-old programme. We just let the horse tell us, but it will probably be summer or fall."

Produced from Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Leslie's Lady, the filly is a half-sister to leading sire Into Mischief, 11-time Grade 1 winner and four-time champion Beholder and Grade 1 winner and promising stallion Mendelssohn. She was bred and consigned by Fred and Nancy Mitchell's Clarkland Farm and is fourth-highest price yearling of either sex ever sold at the Keeneland yearling sale.

Pope, who has not been hesitant to step up and pay large amounts for broodmares and broodmare prospects in the past - $10 million for Horse of the Year Havre De Grace, for example - showed keen determination in getting the filly from the second crop of the Triple Crown winner who stands at Ashford Stud.

In winning the bidding duel that lasted more than six minutes, Pope outlasted Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation as well as other prominent buyers including Coolmore interests.

Quast said there were several considerations that led to the filly's name, including the fact Pope outbid an international cast of buyers to acquire the filly on September 11 of this year and keep her in the US, along with the obvious play on the sire's name.

But one of the most important elements to the name was that Pope's mother was named Joy and the prominent owner had been looking for the ideal horse to use Joy in its name.

"Joy was Mandy's mother, who meant a lot to her, and she had been waiting for a special horse and this is a special horse," Quast said. "The name Joy also kept coming up because the Mitchells had her in a paddock near their house and Fred kept talking about how much joy the filly brought him and Nancy. So the name Joy came up four or five times in the conversation.

"It was ironic that it happened on 9/11 and we were fighting to keep the horse in America, plus being by American Pharoah that's where the America came from."

"She was the only thing in the sale I really wanted," an ecstatic Pope said immediately after buying the filly. "She's perfectly balanced; she's gorgeous. She's not too big, not too small.

"We're hoping Beholder hits as a broodmare, and this filly certainly has tremendous value should she not make it to the races. Like anything else, it's a big gamble."

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