Daytona Stable’s 2026 yearling purchase available for partnership is Lunar Aurora. She is a beautiful bay filly by Blame out of the dam Southern Moon by Malibu Moon.
Partnership Information
September 2026:
At the 2026 Keeneland September yearling sale Daytona Stable is pleased to have purchased Hip 2433. A strikingly beautiful daughter of Blame this filly caught our eye at first showing. Of the auction days we were looking, our trainer Tom Drury, Bob and I all had her as one of our top selections. With her stand out physical and being by the predominate sire Blame, we thought she would sell for six figures which is above what we budget for yearling fillies. Daytona Stable’s model is to look for the ‘hidden gem’ fillies that sell for $65k or less. Although we always buy fillies with the hope of having a stakes quality filly, buying fillies at or below $65k allows them to start their careers running in the MSW Auction Condition. These races are limited to horses that sold or RNA’d (Reserve Not Attained) in their most recent auction and this creates a favorable situation as you are not competing against more expensive or homebred fillies.
Lunar Aurora is by the 2010 Breeder’s Cup Classic winner and outstanding sire Blame who stands at Claiborne Farm for a $25k stud fee. His offspring are an impressive 5.9% stakes winners and 2.8% graded stakes winners. Blame’s female offspring are frequently sought after as broodmares and this value also carries over to yearling prices. To date this year, Blame’s ten yearling fillies have sold for an average of $200K while his fourteen colts have sold for an average $68K.
Blame’s Bloodhorse stallion page:
https://www.bloodhorse.com/stallion-register/stallions/125939/blame
One thing we look for when buying yearlings fillies is do they look like their sires? Lunar Aurora is the spitting image of Blame. Below: Top photo is Blame and Lunar Aurora is the bottom photo. You can see she has her daddy’s good looks!
Here is her Pedigree Page from the sale:
Lunar Aurora is out of Southern Moon, a winning Malibu Moon mare. In an abbreviated nine race career, Southern Moon won a maiden special weight going 1 1/16th miles on the turf, finished 2nd in an allowance race, and then her connections tried her in the River Cities Stakes. Disattached is a winning full brother to Lunar Aurora who is still racing, most recently at Gulfstream Park. Another full sibling is 2 year old filly Mahina Nights ($190k RNA yearling in 2025). Mahina Nights is currently in training at Keeneland and based on her works, it appears she is close to making her first start.
Lunar Aurora’s pedigree page is loaded with an impressive female family and she was partially named based on her third dam, the great race and broodmare, Aurora. Aurora is a full sister to champion Yamanin Paradise ($1,457,353), and half sister to G3 winner Destiny Dance. Aurora produced G1 Spinster winner Acoma ($1,060,989) and G1 winning and outstanding sire Arch.
Malibu Moon is an outstanding broodmare in his own right, but produces even stronger with an “A” nick when crossed with Blame on the top. Similar crosses have generated 10% filly stakes winners and G1 winners: Explora ($1,594,415), Nadal ($1,053,00), and Senga ($781,854).
We are equally excited about Lunar Aurora’s physical. Checkout her walk in her sales video:
Currently Lunar Aurora is approximately 15 hands 1 inch tall. She is a February 28th foal and we expect her to be above average size when fully grown.
Like all fillies purchased by Daytona Stable, we feel Lunar Aurora is a ‘value purchase’. The initial partnership will partner Lunar Aurora at the actual purchase price ($65,000), plus vetting costs, and other acquisition expenses including shipping to Florida. In addition, the partnership agreement will require partners to pay their share of operating expenses (primarily training and vet) quarterly in advance. The initial partnership cost will contain these expenses estimated through the end of the year.
Lunar Aurora is already in Ocala, Florida with trainer Michael Cooke. He will have her for initial training and if things proceed as we hope, she will be transferred to our trainer Tom Drury in Kentucky next spring and racing next fall in Kentucky. Tom has trained several nice Blame fillies including Admit ($608,323) winner of the G2 Bank of America Valley View Stakes as well as Pigalle ($450,494) winner of the Groupie Doll Stakes (Listed).
Owning thoroughbred racehorses is highly speculative. The high standard deviation of performance results in many horses losing nearly all their value, while fewer number of horses are highly successful. However, Daytona Stable puts up our own money and is truly a partner. The only managing partner bonus would result if the partnership horse sells for a greater value than the initial purchase price.