John Burness had mixed emotions as he watched his prized mare SIMPLY IN FRONT (Summer Front) walk into the sales ring at the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, January 12. The master of Ontario’s Colebrook Farms has been on the ride of a lifetime with the bay mare with the star and long stripe down her pretty face. For three years, he watched his Kentucky-bred, bought by his friend and ace bloodstock agent Richard Hogan for $115,000 from the Keeneland September yearling sale of 2022, become one of the best turf fillies in the U.S. Her fantastic career culminated with a Grade 1 win in the first Lady Stakes at Keeneland in October in what would be her last career race.
This past week, Burness, through Hogan as agent, sold Simply In Front for a whopping $2 million to Greg Tramontin’s Greenwell Thoroughbreds in Kentucky, where she will begin her career as a broodmare.
“It’s a little bit sad to see her go,” said Burness. “I love the game and I would have loved to breed her. If I was a bit younger, she never would have been in the sale. But I know she is going to a very good home.”
The $2 million from this week’s sale, plus Simply in Front’s $2.8 million earned on the track, brings her total to $4.8 million earned for Burness, whose previous big horse was two-time Grade 1 winner Johnny Bear.
Bred by William Harrigan and Mike Petioangelo and sold by Indian Creek as a yearling, Simply in Front was hip no. 2579. Burness was on the phone and Hogan was doing the bidding. The filly’s price went up steadily from $25,000 to $100,000 and then seemed to stall at $110,000. One last bid of $5,000 secured her for Burness.
“We got lucky,” said Burness. “Richard picked her out and I liked her breeding, She has all that [Ogden] Phipps breeding and her half-brother, Churchtown, was a good horse that Roger Attfield was training.”
Trained by Patrick Dixon and his Woodbine team early in her career, Simply in Front finished a promising second in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes to eventual superstar She Feels Pretty in only her second career start. At three, Simply in Front was sent to Kentucky and trainer Eddie Kenneally, who guided her through a carefully planned turf career. Five starts into her time with Kenneally, Simply in Front won the $2 million Music City Stakes (G2) at Kentucky Downs. The filly added the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) and Ladies Turf Mile before completing her career in the First Lady.
And Simply in Front’s pedigree blossomed through those years. A half-sister, Honor D Lady, became a Grade 2 winner of $750,000 and another, And One More Time, won the Grade 1 Natalma at Woodbine in 2024.
“She was a once-in-a-lifetime horse. You can only dream of winning a Grade 1 in the US. How many horses come from Canada and go there and win a Grade 1?”
Burness has a lot going on these days, including getting his troops ready for the 2026 racing season at Woodbine.
“We were a bit quiet in the summer last year, but things got going at the end. We have our three-year-old filly, Ashlee B, who was only beaten a nose in the Princess Elizabeth in her second start. Hopefully she is a runner.”
And Burness is keen on getting his overseas purchase to Ontario. Unforgettable Face (Ire) by Bated Breath, made two starts last year in Ireland on soft turf, one of those in the tough Goffs Million.
A $162,366 Goffs yearling, Unforgettable Face is one to watch in turf races for Burness this year.
John Burness. (Dave Landry photo)
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