by Jessica Martini, Christie DeBernardis & Christina Bossinakis
LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which began shortly after 1 p.m. Monday afternoon, jumped immediately into high gear and, by the time the dust had settled at the conclusion of a frenetic session of bidding, nine yearlings, led by a $2.5-million son of Quality Road, topped the seven-figure mark. During last year's first session, three horses sold for seven figures and the entire sale produced 15 horses to pass that mark.
“It was a great day, from beginning to end,” said Keeneland President Shannon Arvin. “And to see as many people in the sales pavilion as we did, the packed house, all of those people in the seats, was really exciting. I think it's a testament to the excitement about racing and our sport, in the state of Kentucky, in particular, and we had a lot of principals here. Which was what we want. We want the principals to be back and enjoying this tremendous sport and looking to find their next champions. The atmosphere was fun, the energy was high. It's been that way for the last three days, so to see it culminate with the prices and results we saw today, is really exciting.”
A total of 114 horses sold Monday for a gross of $57,095,000. The average of $500,833 was up 25.46% from last year's opening session and the median rose 38.46% to $450,000.
“Just looking at the raw numbers, these are figures we haven't seen in recent years,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “With nine million-dollar horses in the first session, I think that's the first time since 2007. The first hip through the ring brought $850,000. Hip 8 brought $1.2 million. The energy that was building–that was something we were leaning into–but it was the focus that we worked on with the breeders and the consignors that we needed the best physicals. We were recruiting buyers to come to the sale and now, with the elimination of travel restrictions, people were more encouraged to come back. The enthusiasm for racing at the moment has us in a little bit of a golden era and I think we've got to learn how to not take anything for granted and find how we can develop and work forward on this. Because I think we've got a group of young stallions and a lot of breeders who are producing a really high-quality product.”
The session-topping son of Quality Road was bred and consigned by Chiquita and Jeff Reddoch's Stonehaven Steadings and purchased by Talla Racing, Woodford Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds, the same trio which teamed up to purchase last year's $1.7-million sale topper by City of Light.
Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm partnered on the day's second and third highest-priced offerings, leading another strong domestic buying bench.
The partnership of Mike Repole's Repole Stable's and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stables, last year's leading buyers, were active through the session, ultimately purchasing five yearlings for a total of $2.9 million. Repole, who spent much of the session sitting in the pavilion among a group that included trainer Todd Pletcher and bloodstock agent Jacob West, purchased an additional seven yearlings under his own name. The SF/Starlight/Madaket partnership purchased three yearlings for $1.885 million.
Shadwell Farm, perennially one of the leading buyers at the sale under Sheikh Hamdan, who died in March of 2021, returned to the results sheets after a year's absence. Now under the leadership of the late sheikh's daughter Sheikha Hissa, Shadwell purchased a filly by Constitution for $750,000 and a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro for $700,000.
The Keeneland September sale continues with a second Book 1 session beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday commence at 11 a.m. Following a dark day Friday, the auction continues through Sept. 24 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.
Quality Road Colt Brings $2.5M at KEESEP
In the moments leading up to the arrival of Hip 97 in Keeneland's ring, a wave of anticipation rippled through the crowd. When the dust had settled, the May 5 son of Quality Road realized the highest price of the afternoon when landing a $2.5-million final bid from the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds, Talla Racing and Woodford Racing. The bay was consigned by his breeder Stonehaven Steadings, who also stayed in for a piece of the colt.
“He was just a great physical,” said West Point's Terry Finley. “When you see a physical like that you have to stretch a little bit. A lot of good buyers are well prepared and they have a lot of capital behind them. They are the type of people that usually get what they want. And when you get a number of people who usually get what they want lining up, you have to pay the price.”
Out of GSP True Feelings (Latent Heat), the colt is a half-brother to stakes winner Feeling Mischief (Into Mischief) and GSP Royal Act (American Pharoah), a $500,000 KEESEP purchase.
Already familiar with the family, West Point and Talla Racing partnered to secure this colt's half-brother by Justify for $1.55 million at this venue last year. According to Finley, yesterday's purchase will go to California-based John Sadler.
Explaining the additional allure in the colt, Finley added, “Quality Road generally produces big, pretty horses and those are the ones that usually perform well on the track. I think this horse is the same type of horse and we hope to get to Saturday afternoon with him.”
True Feelings, a $150,000 KEESEP yearling purchase, returned to Keeneland in November of 2012 to sell for $210,000 to Stonehaven Steadings. This represents the family of turf champion mare Wait a While (Maria's Mon).
“We knew he was a special type physically, but when he started to develop as an early yearling, he really developed that walk that he has and that really sold him out there,” added Stonehaven Steadings' Aidan O'Meara. “He really held his own as a Book 1 yearling as a May baby which is very unusual. He had a very forward physique.”
He continued, “Everyone loved him when he came out and stood up there. I have never seen a better moving horse. Certainly nothing that we have ever had. He was coming along all through the summer. When the Keeneland crew came out to see him, they were very enamored with him. He was still raw and immature at that stage, but the ingredients were there for him to be something special.”
“We had nearly 250 shows with him. And he still came up here and bombed around like a boss. The most exciting thing about him he's still such an unfinished specimen. Who knows what the potential might be with him going forward.”–@CBossTDN
More 'Quality' for Stonehaven Steadings
With Monday's session topping Quality Road colt, Stonehaven Steadings returned to the spring that served them so well in the past. Along with all the other sellers, the operation faced challenges selling their stock during the COVID-impacted season in 2020. Offering up another son of Lane's End stallion out of Wasted Tears (Najran), a colt who would subsequently be named Corniche, RNA'd for $385,000 at Keeneland that September.
“He was our top yearling that year,” recalled O'Meara of Corniche. “[Hip 97 and Corniche] were very similar as yearlings, both beautiful physiques. But [Corniche] had the misfortune of being drawn as Hip 10 during COVID and that really hurt him.”
Returning to fight another day, the O'Mearas bought out their partner in the colt, Bart Evans, and the de Meric family entered the fray, securing a 30% interest. Consigned under the de Meric banner at the following season's OBS April sale, Corniche brought $1.5 million from Speedway Stable.
Sent to Bob Baffert, Corniche won his Del Mar debut with ease, becoming a 'TDN Rising Star' in the process, before adding the GI American Pharoah S. and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile en route to 2-year-old Eclipse Award honors. Unplaced in one start this season, Corniche was retired to stand at Ashford Stud in 2023.
Stonehaven Steadings also sold a colt by Gun Runner–Hip 82— for $775,000 to the same partnership that purchased Monday's session topper.--@CBossTDN
Three Chimneys Buys Out Partnership on Curlin Colt
Three Chimneys Farm wasn't ready to part with their Curlin colt (Hip 169) bred in partnership with Hill 'n' Dale, so they went to $1.7 million to buy out John Sikura's operation Monday in partnership with Ron Winchell.
“He is a really lovely colt out of a great mare, who was sold to Japan,” Three Chimneys' Doug Cauthen said. “Having seen him grow up, he really continued to improve. Everybody liked him and Mr. [Goncalo] Torrealba and his family wanted to have something out of that mare. Hopefully he will go on and do good things.”
He continued, “He is a really athletic, medium-sized horse, who moved wonderfully. He was only on the improve. Everybody that looked at the horse was very positive about him, which makes you feel good. He vetted well. Hats off to the partnership. This was one of the last two horses in the group.”
Three Chimneys purchased Hip 169's dam Carina Mia (Malibu Moon) for $410,000 at the 2014 KEESEP sale. She won a trio of graded events, topped by the GI Acorn S., and earned over $1.4 million. Hill 'n' Dale later bought into the mare and they sold her for $2.6 million in foal to Uncle Mo at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale. Three Chimneys also bought out Hill 'n' Dale on Carina Mia's 2-year-old filly Princesse Lele (Quality Road), going to $750,000 at this year's KEEJAN sale. —@CDeBernardisTDN
Winchell & Three Chimneys Support Gun Runner
Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys joined forces to purchase a daughter of their Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Hip 87) for $1.5 million. The bay was bred by the Gun Runner syndicate in partnership with the Phillips family, who consigned her under their Darby Dan Farm banner.
“Obviously we like to support Gun Runner,” said Ron Winchell. “We are partnering with Three Chimneys to support our stallion. We are always happy to buy a nice filly out of a Tapit mare.”
The filly's pedigree features Winchell runners from top to bottom being by their dual Eclipse winner Gun Runner out of a daughter of their Grade I winner and top stallion Tapit. Winchell has enjoyed success with the Gun Runner/Tapit cross already thanks to MGSW Wicked Halo, who captured the Sept. 2 GII Prioress S. at Saratoga. The cross has also produced GIII Charles Town Oaks winner Society.
“The price and the physical kind of match,” Winchell said. “When they look that good, they bring a lot of money. This cross has worked a couple of times. We are hoping to go back to that well.”
Hip 87 is the first foal out of Phillips's Tip At Tapit, who is a full-sister to GISW Time and Motion. Their dam is SW & MGSP Ellie's Moment (Kris S.) and she also produced SW & GSP Awesome Bet (Awesome Again).
“She's a lovely filly with beautiful stretch and scope,” said Darby Dan's Renee Logan. “She is from a marvelous, classic Darby Dan family.” —@CDeBernardisTDN
Fletcher Gets Into More Mischief
Frank Fletcher has enjoyed a good bit of success with a daughter of Into Mischief in his homebred MGSW Frank's Rockette. He returned to that well Monday with agent Donato Lanni going to $1.25 million to secure Hip 52 on his behalf.
“Frank is a longtime friend and client,” said Lanni, who did his bidding alongside the filly's future trainer Bob Baffert. “He is very unique. He is great for the business. He has had some luck with Into Mischief and he liked the filly a lot. He said buy me one filly, so I wanted to make sure she was the right filly.”
Breeder Stoneway Farm acquired Hip 52's dam Song of Spring (Spring At Last) for $80,000 as a yearling at the 2015 FTKOCT sale. She won four of her 16 races, including Keeneland's GIII Allaire du Pont Distaff S., and this is her first foal. Hip 52 hails from the female family of MGISW Dream Rush, dam of GISW Dreaming of Julia, who in turn produced MGISW Malathaat (Curlin).
“When she arrived on the grounds, we saw how good she was,” said consignor Pat Costello of Paramount Sales. “She is very athletic and the first foal out of a Grade II winner. She is just beautiful.” —@CDeBernardisTDN
Half to Triple Crown Hero Justify to Japan
Horse of the Year Justify (Scat Daddy) might have wowed American fans during his Triple Crown winning season, however, it was Japanese agent Hideyuki Mori that stepped in to secure his half-brother by Curlin for $1.2 million Monday afternoon at Keeneland. Just like his older brother, Hip 60 was bred John Gunther's Glennwood Farm, who also consigned the May 19 foal.
“I really liked the way he moved. Physically, he really looks like a standout,” said Mori. “I look at the horse first, and if the page fits, that's nice.”
The eighth recorded offspring of GSP Stage Magic, the chestnut is also a half-sibling to late GIII All American S. scorer The Lieutenant (Street Sense).
“I thought he was a fantastic colt,” enthused Gunther. “He was a late May colt, so he had a lot more developing to do [as compared to March foal Justify]. I think if he was a bigger colt, he would have brought a lot more money.”
“I think this colt will be about 16.2 [hands] by the time he finishes growing. He's very intelligent and easy to be around. When you see him running in the field, you can say to yourself, 'There is a runner.'”
When asked about the hammer price, Gunther admitted, “I was hoping he'd stay in America, of course, but the Japanese bought him. It breaks my heart not to see him race here. But you had to be satisfied with the amount you got.”
He continued, “I hated to sell him. I tried to stay in on him. I spoke to some others who had some interest in him so I could stay in for half, but I guess they thought the price was too high. I think that was mainly because he is a late foal. I think he is going to be awesome looking in three to four months from now.”
Also a graduate of the Keeneland September sale, Justify realized a $500,000 final bid at that venue in 2016. Sent to Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, the WinStar, China Horse Club and SF Racing representative blew the doors off with a 'TDN Rising Star'-earning performance at Santa Anita in February of 2018 before repeating the performance at that venue the following month. Favored in the Run for the Roses, he went on to add the GI Preakness and GI Belmont S., in what would be his final race.
According to Gunther yesterday, he expects the colt late foal to develop into a similar physical of his illustrious brother.
“Justify was unbelievable,” he said. “I can't say enough about him. Justify and [GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero] Vino Rosso were probably the best two yearlings we ever sold, looks wise. He would match those two in about 3-4 months.”
He concluded, “This is a racehorse. He's got the attitude, such a great walker and an easy mover. He's going to be a racehorse.”–@CBossTDN
Mandy Pope Quick to Reinvest
Mandy Pope of Whisper Hill Farm, who sold a Quality Road filly for $1.2 million early in Monday's first session of the Keeneland September sale, was quick to reinvest that money when purchasing a filly by Into Mischief (hip 117) for $1.15 million. The filly was the second seven-figure sale of the day for John Gunther's Glennwood Farm consignment, which sold a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify for $1.2 million earlier in the day.
Bred by Gunther and Eurowest Bloodstock Services, hip 117 is out of the unraced Wildwood Rose (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The mare is a half-sister to Grade I winner Materiality (Afleet Alex) and to graded winner and multiple Grade I-placed My Miss Sophia (Unbridled's Song), dam of graded winner Annapolis (War Front).
“She's a lovely filly,” Pope said of the yearling. “She's well put together. And we like Galileo mares.”
Wildwood Rose's first foal, Bo Derek (Speightstown), sold to Maverick Racing and Siena Farm for $900,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
“The sister is training well, so hopefully we will be following her up and build the pedigree for them,” Pope said. @JessMartiniTDN
Well-Bred Quality Road Filly First to Seven Figures
It didn't take long for sparks to fly during Keeneland September's opening session Monday. Hip 8, a regally bred daughter of Quality Road, was the first to hit the seven-figure mark, summoning $1.2 million from Claiborne's Bernie Sams, who was acting on behalf of an undisclosed client.
“I bought her for a farm client,” Sams said. “We tried to buy a couple fillies up in Saratoga and didn't have any luck. She was on the top of his list today. It is a good pedigree and good family that is tough to get into. We have a couple branches of the family at Claiborne now. It is exciting. Hopefully she can run.”
As for the price, he said, “It is not surprising. She is a nice filly with that pedigree. When Mr. Leon had that dispersal with some of that family, it all was expensive. We had planned on it being pricey.”
Consigned by Gainesway, Hip 8 is out of Princesa Silvia (Medaglia d'Oro), who was purchased by breeder Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $1.4 million at the 2016 KEENOV sale. The 9-year-old mare is a half-sister to Horse of the Year Saint Liam (Saint Ballado), GISW Funtastic (More Than Ready), GSW Congressionalhonor (Forestry) and GSW Quiet Giant (Giant's Causeway), dam of Horse of the Year Gun Runner (Candy Ride {Arg}).
“We appraised her high coming into the sale,” said Gainesway's Brian Graves. “She was the full package, coming from Gun Runner's family. It is a good time to sell horses.”–@CDeBernardisTDN
Lukas Fires Late in KEESEP Opener
Just when it appeared that the opening day's activity was winding down at the Keeneland September Sale, Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas–flanked by BC Stables' John Bellinger and Brian Coelho–fired their best shot of the day, landing Hip 176 for $1.15 million.
Bred by WinStar Farm, the Apr. 27 foal is out of SP Checkupfromzneckup, the dam of Grade III winner Carribean Caper (Speighstown). This is the family of the prolific mare Weekend Surprise, dam of Horse of the Year A.P. Indy.
“He had a great physique, a real positive eye to him, he seemed like he was really alert,” explained co-owner Brian Coelho. “We liked the pedigree on him and he was one of our top picks of today.”
Lukas said, “I liked the balance and size. He had enough pedigree to make something of him.”
With a smile, he added, “He is the kind of horse that can give us a chance to go two turns the first Saturday in May. Those are the ones we are trying to buy.”
When asked if they expected to have to extend so far to secure the colt, Coelho said, “We didn't think we would have to. But the sale is really strong. We've been trying for a few horses today, so we were happy we could get him.”
Lukas, who enjoyed a successful Saratoga meet with seven wins and six seconds from 31 starts while finishing 12th overall in the trainer's standings, echoed the sentiment.
“The sale is hot,” he affirmed. “Maybe a little less at the very top, but in the middle is very, very strong. We went after four or five nice horses, and couldn't get them. It was very competitive.”
With Lukas doing the bidding, BC Stables also went to $800,000 to secure Hip 80, a filly by Quality Road, for $800,000 Monday.
The fledgling operation was recently buoyed by 'TDN Rising Star' Summer Promise (Uncle Mo), who subsequently finished runner-up in the GIII Schulerville S. at Saratoga in July.
Currently, the stable has five juveniles with Lukas, and they added a trio of horses from the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale last month.
“Wayne has been just a joy,” said Coelho. “We have learned a lot with him and just being able to be in his company.”
Duncan Taylor, who sold the colt on behalf of WinStar, was equally high on the yearling's chances to be a Classic colt.
“He was a big, stretchy horse with a great neck and a good shoulder,” he said. “And like a lot of Quality Roads, he has a really beautiful head. He looked like a really smart horse.”
“That's the kind of horse that is hard for [WinStar] to sell because he looks like a Derby winner. But they do put good horses in the sale and the results show it.”
In the moments following the sale of the colt, Taylor and Lukas were clearly drawing upon a relationship decades in the making.
“Wayne has been a dear friend,” he explained. “When Mike Shannon and I started Taylor Made, Wayne sent us some of our first mares and he's been a customer for a long, long time and bought a lot of good horses from us. We are very blessed to have customers, on both sides of the equation, that send us horses like that. It makes our jobs easy.”
As the interview was winding down, Taylor was quick to tip his cap to another Hall of Famer who has also been among those long list of Taylor made clients over the years and had strolled to within earshot.
“The only guy that didn't bid on him was Bob [Baffert],” he said, laughing. “And now he's going to have to outrun Wayne.”-@CbossTDN
Courtlandt Farm Strikes for City of Light Colt
Don Adam of Courtlandt Farm, sitting alongside Mike Cline and racing manager Ernie Retamoza, got into the fray at Keeneland Monday when purchasing a colt by City of Light for $1 million. The team was already familiar with the family when hip 73 strode into the ring Monday, having purchased the colt's half-sister Soul Play (Union Rags) for $200,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.
“We bought the half-sister last year and we really like her, but we've just had to be patient with her,” Retamoza said. “But this colt is just quality–that's why we had to pay what we did for him. But we liked the sister a lot and that kind of prompted us to maybe move on him a little bit. And then the individual he was made it easy for us to go for him.”
Bred by the partnership of Betz, B&K Canetti, J.Betz, CoCo Equine and D.J. Stables, the million-dollar yearling is out of multiple stakes winner Tea Time (Pulpit) and was consigned by Bill Betz's Betz Thoroughbreds, which purchased the mare for $250,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November sale.
“We liked everything about him,” Retamoza said of the yearling. “He's balanced, he's strong. He had a great walk and a great mind. We looked at him three or four times and each day, he held up mentally. Physically, he never backed up. He just seems like a real quality horse.”
Of the seven-figure price tag, Retamoza said, “We weren't really wanting to spend that, but you know, it's pretty tough in there. We had probably 11 on our list, and got beat up a little bit so far and one scratched. So we will see how we finish up today. There are another three or four left for us.”
Courtlandt Farm returned later in the session to obtain a filly by Into Mischief (hip 150) for $825,000.
Don Adam's operation had a pair of juvenile maiden winners on closing weekend at Saratoga, with General Jim (Into Mischief) and Powerful (Nyquist) both graduating on the final Saturday of the Spa meeting. The colts were both part of a 12-yearling buying spree by the operation at last year's Keeneland September sale.
“We are trying to get horses to race at the highest level,” Retamoza said. “We had a couple of nice colts win closing weekend at Saratoga and it looks like they are both going to have some futures. And we have some 2-year-olds to watch that we just had to be patient with that will be coming around in the fall. We feel like we have a good stable right now and we're just trying to keep going in that direction.”
As for Soul Play, Retamoza said, “She is back in training and she will probably head back to the track when Churchill is over and everyone heads to Fair Grounds or Gulfstream. We will figure it out from there.” @JessMartiniTDN
Royal Ascot Dreams for Justify Filly
A filly by Triple Crown winner Justify (hip 28) was purchased for $925,000 by My Racehorse and trainer Wesley Ward with hopes of heading to the Royal Ascot meeting next summer. Consigned by Antony Beck's Gainesway, the yearling is out of San Saria (Ire) (Australia), a daughter of multiple group-placed San Sicharia (Daggers Drawn).
“She's a beautiful filly,” Ward said after signing the ticket on the yearling. “[Bloodstock agent] Ben McElroy brought me over to see his short list and she was certainly right there at the top of the list. We are really excited about her, especially to go over to Royal Ascot. She seems to have all the physical attributes, as well as the pedigree. MyRacehorse came in with the filly and we will get a group together shortly to see who is going to take what of the other part.”
Ward has become a fixture at the Royal Ascot meeting since scoring his first win at the meet in 2009.
“If you haven't been, then you should go. That will answer the question,” Ward said when asked about the meet's appeal. “It is a phenomenal place. It feels like you are back in the 1800s when you can only imagine how racing was where everybody is dressed to the nines and they have the best horses, jockeys and owners from all over the world. I would encourage everyone to go and everyone to go with one of their top racehorses so they can really experience it.”
Hip 28 was purchased by Brian Graves as part of his Fish Stables pinhooking partnership for $300,000 earlier this year at the Keeneland January sale, before Justify's hot start at stud.
“I got lucky on that part,” Graves said of the sire's early success. “The truth of the matter is, she walked out and she stood up so pretty. She had all the perfect angles, she had an ass that was this wide. She looked like a 2-year-old and I just thought she was stunning. The Justify part came later. I probably would have been in trouble if he hadn't jumped up because I gave a lot for her. We are thrilled with that result. The sale has started off crazy good and it figures to be strong.” @JessMartiniTDN
Ryan Digging For Gold at KEESEP
A regular on the Keeneland sale's scene, agent Mike Ryan swung into action early Monday, extending to $825,000 for a filly by Medaglia d'Oro. Offered as Hip 25 by Denali Stud, the bay is out of Sacristy (Pulpit), winner of the GIII Old Hat S.
“She was magnificent,” affirmed Ryan. “She wasn't inexpensive but she's by a superior sire and there was a lot of pedigree on the bottom. I knew she was going to be expensive, but I think it will be that way with anything of quality. But I thought she was an exceptional filly with a lot of quality. She had a nice size, great attitude and demeanor. Hopefully, she can go on and prove us right.”
Purchased by Don Alberto Corp. while in foal to Medaglia d'Oro for $700,000 at Keeneland November in 2013, Sacristy is already responsible for SW and GISP Flor De La Mar (Tiznow), a $500,000 buy at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale for Godolphin. A half to Japanese Group 1 winner Mozu Superflare (Speightstown), Sacristy also produced Grade III placed Catiche (Arrogate).
“She gave me a great feel,” Ryan said. “We stretched a bit more than we thought we'd have to go, but for the good ones that you really want, it's the same old story.”
Of the Darley stallion filly, he added, “She was pretty typical [of the sire]. Maybe a little bit neater. Some of them can be very tall, we bought New Money Honey here, who was a big, scopey filly. But this one is pretty typical. She has a lot of quality and is a very sweet filly.”
Offering an early assessment of the stock he's seen so far in the first two books, Ryan said, “There is definitely a higher concentration of good horses in Book 1. There are a lot of good horses in Book 2 as well, but they have a nice group to start off.”-@CBossTDN
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