Up until now, the Pinhook Power Rankings had to be consumed with the caveat that the auctions we'd been through represented a fraction of the overall marketplace. Now that we've got the bellwether Keeneland September Yearling Sale on the books, we know better what we have on our hands.
Where the previous sales on the calendar dealt primarily with select-level offerings and first-crop sires, the September sale revealed the market in full, from high-end pinhooks to routine trade to horses sold for a loss. If a stallion can run that gamut, you know they're a commercially sound investment. If they don't, you'll find out just as quickly.
Stallions in the pinhook power rankings will be measured by two factors:
1) Net revenue from every pinhooked yearling by a sire during the 2023 major sale season over the combined purchase price of those horses during the weanling/short yearling season of fall 2022/winter 2023. Because pinhooks comprise a smaller percentage of the yearling market's total offerings, compared with yearling-to-juvenile pinhooks, there is no minimum number of horses sold to qualify for the list.
2) Percent change of net yearling sales over combined weanling/short yearling purchase price. If a horse sells for $10,000 as a weanling and brings $200,000 as a yearling, that's a 1,900 percent improvement. If a $200,000 yearling goes on to sell for $390,000, that's a 95 percent improvement. Both net you $190,000, but the entry point and expectations are very different.
Stallions are ranked in each category, and their combined ranks are totaled into a combined score. The lower the score, the better the horse is performing.
Let's get a look at those rankings…
#1 – Tapit, Gainesway
A seven figure horse can do a lot for a stallion in these rankings, and Tapit proved that with authority at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale when a colt purchased as a weanling for $275,000 sold to Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm for $1.2 million.
You can read more about that transaction, and the weanling-to-yearling pinhook operation of Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds here.
The transaction marked a net revenue of $925,000, which by itself put Tapit on top among sires with pinhooks in that category. It also marked a 336.36 percent increase, which put him third.
The colt, offered as Hip 129 from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, is out of the winning Tiznow mare Plenty O'Toole, whose three winners from five foals to race include multiple Grade 3 winner Mr. Money and stakes-placed Tiz Plenty. He hails from the family of Grade 1 winners Well Armed, American Patriot, and Cyberknife.
Tapit has been a pantheon-level commercial sire for a decade, and the Saratoga sale has been his playground for just as long. This colt was one of his two seven-figure yearlings at this year's renewal, and his notable Saratoga sale alumni include Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit, who sold for $1.2 million in 2015.
#2 – Constitution, WinStar Farm
It's only fitting that a list with Tapit at the top is followed by a son of Tapit.
Constitution jumped up to second place on the chart after finishing in 35th following the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. That rise came thanks to a massive pinhook score at the Keeneland September sale, where Hip 1777 sold to Pin Oak Stud for $900,000 after bringing $100,000 as a newly-turned yearling earlier this year at the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale.
Jim Fitzgerald purchased the colt as a short yearling, and he was consigned at the September sale by Knockgriffin Farm, agent. The bay colt is the first foal out of the unplaced Curlin mare Low Pressure Zone, from the family of prominent sires Liam's Map and Not This Time.
Constitution's two yearling pinhooks at this point in the calendar have netted a combined $925,000 over their initial purchase price, which tied him with Tapit for 13th place in that category. He saw his greatest performance in the percentages, where his 284.62 percent improvement over investment placed him fifth, one spot behind Tapit.
In terms of commercial viability in the weanling-to-yearling pinhook market, Constitution is closely following in his sire's footsteps, and that's a good one to draft off.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.#3 – Practical Joke, Ashford Stud
In terms of money in and money out, few sires have done it better on the pinhook market this season than Practical Joke.
His 15 pinhooked yearlings tied for the third-most through the Keeneland September Sale, and his revenue over investment of $1,898,000 was second only to his own sire, Into Mischief, in that category. It marked a 184.81 percent return on investment, which was a top-20 result.
The marquee return among this season's pinhooked yearlings has come at the Keeneland September sale, where Hip 17 sold to Greg Tramontin for $575,000 after selling as a weanling for $115,000. The September price tied for the highest final bid for a Practical Joke yearling at this year's sale.
Consigned in September by Four Star Sales, agent, the bay filly was purchased at last year's Keeneland November sale by Rascal Bloodstock. The filly is out of the unraced Empire Maker mare Advance Party, which puts her in a deep family that includes champion sprinter Covfefe, Grade 1 winners Acoma and Arch, U.A.E. Horse of the Year Festival of Light, and Japanese champion Yamanin Paradise.
The market for sons of Into Mischief at stud has become more crowded by the year, but Practical Joke has carved out a lofty place in that hierarchy with consistent foals and reliable returns in the commercial space, both with the capability to go well above the mean. Those words are music to a yearling pinhooker's ears.
#4 (Tie) – American Pharoah, Ashford Stud
American Pharoah's story on the 2023 yearling pinhook market sounds a lot like Practical Joke's.
He ranked fourth by net return on investment, at $1,678,000 from eight yearlings sold, which placed him fourth in that category and marked a gain of 150.90 percent.
Where it differs is the entry point. Practical Joke's most expensive pinhook investment was $140,000, and all but two of American Pharoah's completed pinhooks to this point were initially purchased for more than that.
Clearly, buyers were willing to pay for them upon resale, led by Hip 321 of the Keeneland September Sale, who sold to John McCormack, agent for $650,000 after hammering for $225,000 as a short yearling at the Keeneland January sale. The dark bay or brown colt is American Pharoah's most expensive North American yearling of the season so far.
Odd Fellow's Bloodstock landed the colt during the January sale, and he was consigned in September by Paramount Sales, agent. He is out of the European Group 1-placed stakes-winning Elusive Quality mare Snowy Winter.
After the initial hysteria that inevitably surrounds a Triple Crown winner retiring to stud, American Pharoah remains a top-shelf commercial stallion. If you can land a good weanling for a reasonable price (which is the tricky part, admittedly), there is money to be made with him on the yearling market.
#4 (Tie) – Omaha Beach, Spendthrift Farm
After finishing as the highest-ranking freshman sire on this year's 2-Year-Old Sale Sire Power Rankings, Omaha Beach's follow-up crop is revealing that the momentum was more than just first-year buzz.
With nine pinhooked yearlings through the September Sale, Omaha Beach ranked 10th by income over investment with $1,170,000, and his percent gain of 178.63 percent was a top-20 return.
The most dramatic turnaround came from Hip 720 of the Keeneland September sale, a colt who sold to Lael Stable for $535,000 after hammering to Jack Gallway for $120,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
Consigned by Bedouin Bloodstock, agent, the colt is out of the winning Tapit mare So Fancy, with a family that includes Grade 1 winner Mayo on the Side.
Omaha Beach has proven a versatile sire with his first crop of runners, getting graded or group stakes-placed runners on both dirt and turf. His runners figure to get better as time rolls on, and it appears he has managed to maintain the attention of the marketplace while those early runners do the work to prove out their sire.
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