Acting Out Tops Keeneland April HORA Sale

Acting Out (Blame), who most recently caused a 6-1 upset of the Carousel S. at Oaklawn Park Apr. 2 (video), was hammered down to Bill Farish, acting as agent for his parents Will and Sarah, to lead the way at Friday's Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age Sale held following the conclusion of the closing-day program at the racetrack a handful of steps up the hill.

Previously trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer for the ownership group of Sherman Racing Inc., Zivka Akin and Robert Hawkins, Acting Out won three of 10 starts in California and was placed in the Camila Urso S. sprinting on the turf at Golden Gate last year, but switched to the Arkansas oval this term and was a wire-to-wire allowance winner Mar. 11 before besting heavily favored 'TDN Rising Star' Frank's Rockette (Into Mischief) in the Carousel. She was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency as hip 23.

“She is a six-furlong specialist, so she will [continue] sprinting and hopefully be back here to [race in] the [GII] Thoroughbred Club of America S. in the fall,” said Farish. “We hope we can make some of the purchase price back [by racing her] before retiring her at the end of the year.

“When the catalog came out, she was one that just stood out in the catalog,” Farish added. “When we saw her–she looked fabulous, a beautiful mare, really correct. She looks like one who would have nice babies. [Her pedigree] goes back to a Stuart Janney III family, and we hope to breed her one day.”

Acting Out is out of a half-sister to Janney III's Grade III-winning turf mare Onus, also a daughter of Blame, and to the dam of the promising 3-year-old multiple graded-placed turf colt Limited Liability (Kitten's Joy), who flew home to win a grass allowance at Keeneland Apr. 16. The stakes-placed third dam Meghan's Joy (A.P. Indy) has left behind the likes of graded winners Ironicus (Distorted Humor), On Leave (War Front), Norumbega (Tiznow), Hunting (Coronado's Quest) and Quiet Harbor (Silver Deputy).

 

WATCH: Acting Out sells for $600,000 at Friday's Keeneland April Sale

 

The ELiTE-consigned Blue Devil (Uncle Mo) was the most coveted of the male racing prospects, selling to Rocket Ship Racing LLC, agent/William Denzik for $260,000. The 3-year-old was offered as hip 32 on behalf of his previous owners SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Siena Farm and Golconda Stable and trainer Rodolphe Brisset and made a favorable impression in his lone racetrack appearance to date, missing by a neck in a six-furlong maiden over the Turfway synthetic Apr. 2. The same connections were also represented by Blackadder (Quality Road) (hip 89), who was purchased by Claiborne Farm, agent, for $250,000. Hailing from a Stone Farm family, the colt holds an entry for the GI Preakness S. by virtue of his victory in the El Camino Real Derby Feb. 12.

Another Brisset trainee made his way down to the sales pavilion only hours after winning his maiden at the track a few hours earlier. Summer Anthem (Temple City) was offered by Gainesway, agent, as hip 104, and was snapped up by Kirk Wycoff's Three Diamonds Farm for $150,000 to continue his career. The 3-year-old gelding proved a tenacious winner of Friday's fourth race in a meet-fastest clocking for the 8 1/2-furlongs on turf.

Other offerings to have won during the meet and sold Friday were the I.C. Racing-consigned Shannon (Nyquist) (hip 100), who broke her maiden at 24-1 in an Apr. 22 turf sprint and was purchased for $240,000 by Hidden Brook, agent; and Atras (Astern {Aus}) (hip 102), a 3-year-old gelding who graduated by 2 1/2 lengths in an Apr. 23 turf sprint and fetched $150,000 from Clay Scherer.

As reported earlier, a share in Airdrie Stud's Upstart sold for $450,000 as the final hip up for bidding.

For the single-session auction, a total of 58 horses were reported as sold for $5,349,000, good for an average of $92,224 and a median price of $50,000. The 2021 event saw 37 horses sell for $2,440,000 for an average of $65,946 and a $45,000 median.

“From start to finish of the sale, the energy was strong and the enthusiasm at every level was really encouraging,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “Joining the race meet and sale and having them on one day really, really worked. The atmosphere was incredible with a real buzz. That's something we want to replicate and build on not just for the April Sale, but all sales moving forward.”

Added Keeneland's Director of Sales Cormac Breathnach: “It's so important to us to have the brick-and-mortar event built around the race meet and have the support we got up front from so many consignors and owners with really good horses. That first group–the 73 horses that were initially entered–really turned heads. We are incredibly grateful to them. That feeds into the race meet, and people see a chance to cash in or a chance to buy. And to be able to accommodate those horses that had run well during the meet in the sale showed our flexibility. To see it all come together is very rewarding.”

Keeneland will welcome buyers and sellers back to Lexington for its benchmark September Yearling Sale Sept. 12-23.

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Keeneland’s April HORA Sale on Spring Meet’s Final Day

Keeneland will hold the April Horses of Racing Age Sale Friday, Apr. 29, following the last race on the closing day of the Spring Meet. The 10-race card will have an adjusted first post of 12:30 p.m. from the traditional 1 p.m., with the final race of the closing card scheduled for approximately 5:09 p.m. The sale will follow at 6:30 p.m.

“Keeneland is excited for this opportunity to bridge racing and sales and capitalize on the energy of the Spring Meet,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “By hosting the April Sale on a race day, we will introduce some race fans to the sales arena and hopefully develop new participants over time. We also can showcase the sale before industry focus moves to Louisville and Kentucky Derby Week.”

Like last year, the April Sale will be an integrated event, with live auctioneers at Keeneland and horses presented for sale both physically at Keeneland as well as at off-site locations, depending on the preference of the sellers and consignors. Internet and phone bidding will be available.

“Keeneland is unique in its role as both a racetrack and sales company, and we want to continue to strengthen the synergy between those two operations,” Keeneland Vice President of Racing Gatewood Bell said. “The timing of the April Sale enables trainers to make adjustments to their racing stables as they move to their summer bases.”

Entry deadline for the print version of the April Sale catalogue is Apr. 1, with supplemental entries accepted until the sale. Keeneland's Spring Meet will be held Apr. 8-29.

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Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age Sale Monday

The Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age–an amalgamation of live and digital auctions–will be conducted Monday, with bidding beginning at 1 p.m. The auction will be held with live auctioneers at the Keeneland sales pavilion and with horses presented for sale both physically at Keeneland and at off-site locations. Buyers have the option of attending the sale live or of bidding online.

Elite Sales will offer 10 horses at the auction and all but one will be on-site Monday afternoon. The racing/broodmare prospect Mary's France (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) (hip 4) is entered to run at Churchill Downs Tuesday and will remain at Mike Maker's barn in Louisville. She will be one of just two offerings in the auction not on the Keeneland grounds Monday.

“We are not expecting much from the digital sale,” Elite's Brad Weisbord said Sunday. “We have had no success with it to date. We are going to try Mary's France on there and the main reason to try her in the digital sale is because she is entered on Tuesday at Churchill Downs and we didn't want to take the chance of shipping her down, showing her for two or three days and potentially not having her run her race. And you never know what can happen in this environment, so it's not fair to a trainer to ship her back to his barn to run her. The owners decided against shipping her down here, so she is going to go in the digital portion of the sale.”

The remainder of the Elite consignment will be on hand at Keeneland for the sale.

“We have encouraged the owners to have the horses on site,” Weisbord said. “I think COVID put a delay into the takeoff of the digital sales. Outside of [subsequent stakes winner] Fiya (Friesan Fire) who sold at Wanamaker's [for $400,000 last July], there really hasn't been a racehorse that has broken out yet. If you have an exceptional horse, people will go to the racetrack and find it. But we have a lot of $60,000 to $175,000 horses and I think those sort of models do better in person.”

Keeneland unveiled its digital sales last year, but the auctions have yet to find traction in the marketplace. Weisbord thinks the concept will eventually pay dividends.

“If you have a superstar, people will find a way to have somebody see it,” he said. “That's the sort of horse who would do well in the digital sales. Outside of that, I think it's going to take a little time to introduce it to the marketplace. It's been so well received in Australia and I think when people are allowed to travel again–COVID has prevented a lot of people from getting into racetracks, getting into training centers–it will take off. It's so hard to get to see these horses, watch them train, talk to the trainers. I do think there is hope, but we are probably a year or a year plus away from really having it take off.”

Two fillies in Elite's consignment are coming off recent wins at Keeneland, with Brooke Marie (Lemon Drop Kid) (hip 48) taking a turf NW2X allowance Apr. 17 and A Thing of Beauty (Bernardini) (hip 41) winning a turf maiden Apr. 7.

“It was really easy to keep them here at their barns with Todd Pletcher and Jonathan Thomas and ship over to us just this week,” Weisbord said. “We did have a couple others ship up from New York and Florida to us. I am excited that most of the owners trusted us to bring them onsite. That's important because I think that will help these horses sell tomorrow.”

Weisbord sees plenty of upside for buyers looking for horses ready to run.

“Every horse of ours is eligible for at least an allowance condition, some are maiden conditions and almost all of them are 2X eligible. That's going to be a big deal. The Del Mar Ship and Win rules have changed. You can now earn the Ship and Win bonus throughout the entire meet, not just the first race. We have heard a couple buyers say that that's a very interesting change that they've made, so people are going to be potentially buying for that meet. And now with the purses in New York being close to $100,000 for these allowance races, these horses are always going to fit that model.”

Of the activity at the barn Sunday, Weisbord said, “We have seen 15 to 20 shows on a horse. It's the same faces from Kentucky. A lot of people just got back from the OBS sale, especially if they stayed in Florida for an extra day or so, so they will be coming back today. We have seen the right traction from the local agents.”

When Keeneland first hosted its April Horses of Racing Age Sale in 2019, it was twined with its revived 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale and was held at the beginning of the month and early in the track's spring meet. Weisbord said he thinks this new date will be well-received.

“I think the date change is a positive compared to two years ago when it was earlier in the meet,” he said. “When owners were allowed to come and enjoy the race meet, bring their friends, potentially stay for Derby week, I do think this could be a permanent date for Keeneland.”

The Horses of Racing Age catalogue also includes a pair of juveniles coming off wins at Keeneland. American Bound (American Freedom) (hip 40) gave her freshman sire his first victory when she won impressively Apr. 2. She is consigned by Joe Sharp, agent. Baytown Frosty (Frosted) (hip 77) broke his maiden Apr. 18. He is consigned by McEntee Racing and is entered in the Kentucky Juvenile S. at Churchill Downs Wednesday.

Selling off-site is hip 56, an unnamed 2-year-old colt by Quality Road. He is consigned by Claiborne Farm and is out of Fashion's Flight (Dixie Union), a full-sister to Justwhistledixie, who is the dam of GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner New Year's Day (Street Cry {Ire}) and Grade II winner Mohaymen (Tapit). The colt is at Harris Training Center in Morristown, Florida.

A total of 78 horses were catalogued for the April sale, but 30 had already been withdrawn by Sunday afternoon.

“Keeneland, like Fasig-Tipton, has been very amenable to entering horses 30-45 days out and allowing the owners to get a good result prior to the sale and allowing us to scratch these horses,” Weisbord said. “When you have to recruit these horses two months out, you are going to have a lot of outs because the horses are either going to fail vets or not run well prior to the sale. There is no point bringing horses like that to auction. It's still a select marketplace. Keeneland is not looking for a bunch of $20,000 horses. They are looking for $75,000 and up and that's what they are trying to recruit.”

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