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Three Horses Lead Keeneland November’s Fourth Session At $300,000

Three horses – Quality Heat, Sex Symbol and a weanling colt from the first crop of Mendelssohn – each sold for $300,000 to top results of Thursday's fourth session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Keeneland sold 227 horses for $13,153,000 on Thursday, for an average of $57,943 and a median of $42,000.

Cumulatively through four sessions of the 10-day auction, 748 horses grossed $115,681,000, for an average of $154,654 and a median of $90,000.

Bluewater Sales, agent, consigned Quality Heat and Sex Symbol.

Springbord Farm purchased Quality Heat, a stakes-placed 3-year-old filly by Quality Road. Cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect, she is a full sister to Grade 2 winner Frank Conversation and from the family of Grade 1 winners Unusual Suspect and Golden Doc A. Her dam is the stakes-placed Unusual Heat mare Rushen Heat.

Springbord, which also paid $55,000 for a weanling filly by Mastery consigned by Bluewater, was the session's leading buyer, spending $355,000 for two horses.

Green Lantern Stables/Patrick Masson, agent, acquired Sex Symbol, a 3-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo carrying her first foal by City of Light. Out of Grade 1 winner Icon Project, Sex Symbol is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Fashion Business and from the family of Grade 1 winner La Gueriere and Grade 2 winners and sires Lasting Approval and Munnings.

The $300,000 Mendelssohn weanling sold to Larry Best's OXO Equine. Four Star Sales, agent, consigned the colt, who is out of Abuntia, by Olmodavor. He is from the family of champion Susan's Girl, multiple Grade 1 winner Copelan and multiple Grade 2 winner St. Joe Bay.

Spanish Star, a 6-year-old daughter of Blame who is a half-sister to Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston and is in foal to Arrogate, brought the day's second-highest price of $275,000 from Crestwood Farm, agent. Consigned by Woods Edge Farm, agent, she is out of Grade 3 winner La Gran Bailadora and from the family of Canadian champion Woolloomooloo.

West Bloodstock, agent for Repole Stables, paid $270,000 for Bambalina, a 4-year-old daughter of Bernardini and champion Perfect Sting. She is carrying her first foal by Street Sense. Consigned by Hidden Brook, agent, Bambalina is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Smart Sting.

The session's leading consignor was Lane's End, agent, which sold 35 horses for $2,113,000.

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Angel Oak, Half-Sister To Tiz The Law, Inching Toward Career Debut

Randy Gullatt of Twin Creeks Farm, breeder of New York-bred four-time Grade 1-winner Tiz the Law, said he is looking forward to campaigning the popular colt's 2-year-old half-sister Angel Oak with trainer Todd Pletcher for their Twin Creeks Racing division.

While Sackatoga Stable's Tiz the Law dazzled with dominant efforts in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Grade 1 Runhappy Travers at Saratoga over the summer for conditioner Barclay Tagg, Angel Oak has trained alongside Pletcher's Belmont Park-based contingent since the beginning of October after arriving from the WinStar Farm Training Center.

Angel Oak, a gray or roan daughter of Mission Impazible out of the graded stakes-winning Tiznow mare Tizfiz, logged a bullet half-mile breeze from the gate over the Belmont training track in 48.05 seconds on Monday, the fastest of 42 recorded works at the distance.

“She's got a little bit of a ways to go, but she had a nice gate work just the other day, so she's been making some progress,” Pletcher said. “She's always been a nice training filly, pretty forward and very professional. She looks like she's got some talent.”

Pletcher said Angel Oak will likely not be ready to race for another month.

“She will probably be ready at the end of the next condition book, I would expect,” Pletcher said.

The current Aqueduct condition book runs through November 29.

Gullatt spoke high volumes of Angel Oak and said she shares some of the same positive characteristics as her accomplished half-brother.

“We always have liked her,” said Gullatt who manages Twin Creeks Racing with director Steve Davison. “She has a very similar personality to her mother. She's just very classy and very easy to train, which are some of the same things the brother has. So far, we like what we see so we're expecting good things out of her.”

Foaled in New York, Tiz the Law spent his first 90 days in the Empire State before shipping to Gullatt's care at Twin Creeks Farm in Versailles, Kentucky where he was raised through his yearling year. Tiz the Law was purchased for $110,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga New York-bred Yearling Sale.

Gullatt said both Tiz the Law and Angel Oak were classy and manageable as young horses.

“They were very classy and easy to work with,” Gullatt said. “That trait is strong with what we've seen out of that mare as well as Mission Impazible. It's just something that we try to find. Classiness, desire and being easy to manage are all good characteristics and she has them all.”

While Tiz the Law, by Constitution, has thrived at a route of ground, Gullatt said he believes Angel Oak may be better running at shorter distances due to her natural speed that she has displayed in morning training.

“If I had to guess, I would say she's probably more of a sprinter, middle distance horse but we haven't seen anything to say she couldn't go further,” Gullatt said. “She does have some quickness and she could use that to her advantage going shorter distances. It's hard to gauge a horse before it has started.”

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Constitution, Palace Malice See Biggest Year-To-Year Gains In Mares Bred In 2020

A sizable chunk of the stallion market is built on momentum. A stallion that gets hot at the right time can fill his books with mares for years to come, while one that gets cold could take just as many years to rebuild their base of breeders, if they ever do.

Building from that framework, it makes sense that the two stallions who saw the biggest year-to-year gains in mares bred from 2019 to 2020 were ones that went into last autumn with some of the nation's top 2-year-olds, and carried that momentum into this spring as the breeding sheds opened and commitments were made.

WinStar Farm's Constitution and Three Chimneys' Palace Malice, each coming off electric freshman seasons in 2019, were the two North American stallions who saw year-to-year increases of more than 100 mares bred, among those who covered at least one mare in each season.

Constitution's book saw a 146-mare shift in 2020, growing from 85 mares in 2019 to 231 last year, making the son of Tapit the fifth most active stallion in North America.

It's easy and correct to trace Constitution's rapid ascent with the trajectory of his best son, Tiz the Law.

The New York-bred quickly established himself as one of the best in his crop as a juvenile with a win in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and a third in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. He then became the presumptive favorite for the Kentucky Derby, prior to its rescheduling due to COVID-19, over the spring with convincing wins in the G3 Holy Bull Stakes and G1 Florida Derby.

However, Tiz the Law was hardly a fluke for Constitution. He finished 2019 as North America's leading freshman sire by winners and graded stakes winners, and he was second by earnings.

“He had a tremendous start to his career, not only in quality, but in the depth of his runners,” said Liam O'Rourke of WinStar Farm. “It seemed like every weekend, we'd see a new brilliant Constitution run through the latter half of 2019. You combine that early success with looking at him as an individual – the pedigree he has, the race record he has, and he's a spectacular physical – all the ingredients were there, and the final piece was these horses performing so well on the racetrack.

“The breeders who put up the stud fees and trust in us and our product; it's a very hard road, and when you have a stallion that works out the way he has, it's rewarding to everyone that's involved,” he continued. “We're just thrilled for everybody who believed in the horse, to share the success with them.”

A top-shelf freshman season carried into the early Triple Crown trail, where Constitution not only had Tiz the Law making noise, he had significant Kentucky Derby qualifying point-earners in Jerome Stakes winner Independence Hall and Gouverneur Morris, who finished second in the G1 Arkansas Derby. Staying in the headlines with that kind of depth can help keep a stallion's book full until the breeding shed closes.

“The spring was a continuation of what we saw early on,” O'Rourke said. “It validated what we had seen in late 2019, and it's pushed him even further into early requests for 2021.”

Palace Malice covered 116 more mares in 2020 than he did the previous year, benefitting from a formula similar to Constitution's.

The son of Curlin earned his high-level bona fides as a freshman sire with the undefeated Structor, who broke his maiden at Saratoga, then took the G3 Pilgrim Stakes before winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. The baton was then handed to Mr. Monomoy during the spring campaign, when the half-brother to champion Monomoy Girl won the G2 Risen Star Stakes.

Palace Malice was third among North America's freshman sires by earnings in 2019, and Structor's $709,500 made him the highest-earning runner by a freshman sire last year.

Tom Hamm of Three Chimneys said Palace Malice's high-level success as a sire of runners over both dirt and turf opened up the stallion's options in terms of what types of broodmares might match well with him. That kind of versatility can bring in numbers.

“We're very pleased with how well he's been received,” Hamm said. “We believe in the horse. He has a great book of mares out there that he bred this year, so it's only going to get better.”

Both Constitution and Palace Malice saw their jumps in their fifth books of mares, immediately in the aftermath of their first 2-year-olds completing their seasons. This was a common refrain amongst those seeing the biggest gains in mares bred, with half of the top 10 being in their fifth books of mares.

Joining them in the top 10 were Khozan (75 more mares in 2020), Tapiture (72 mares), and Tonalist (59 mares).

Especially in the commercial marketplace, breeder activity has become increasingly polarized toward first-year stallions and proven commodities. This puts extreme pressure on young stallions to roll out winners and expensive auction horses as early as they can during their freshman seasons, and preferably sustain them into the following spring, or risk facing a slower climb as breeders gravitate toward shinier prospects.

“If you have good winners at two, they're loving you, and if you don't have something by September or October, they're looking for a reason to go elsewhere,” Hamm said. “At the end of the day, the sales are important for their first three years until they get runners. Then, once the runners get on the track, it's just a matter of them performing.”

However, there were some stallions that took a slightly longer path to a bigger book in 2020.

Clubhouse Ride, who stands at Legacy Ranch in California, saw his book explode from 16 mares in 2019 to 97 this year. Ranch manager Terry Knight said it was a matter of his foals getting hot at the right time after an extended cold streak.

The son of Candy Ride went winless from six runners during his freshman season. The tables turned last year, though, and he finished the season as California's leading second-crop sire and overall juvenile sire. He was led by Warren's Showtime, who was a stakes winner during her 2-year-old campaign, then started the 2020 season with a pair of high-profile stakes wins at Santa Anita Park. Club Aspen bested Golden State Series rivals to take the King Glorious Stakes during December of his juvenile season, as well.

Once California's breeders figured out that the Clubhouse Rides were late-maturing, but would often be standouts once they're dialed in, Knight said the phone started ringing.

“People piggyback on success, and he had a couple runners that kind of got him jump-started,” Knight said. “They won a couple stakes, and then other horses started running in the fall. That's when they started to get on to him. His 2-year-olds develop a little late, but by October, some of those horses started running as they progressed in distances and changed surfaces. I think the timing of everything just came along at once, and they followed the success of that group of horses that was running.”

The list of stallions that see significant bumps in mares bred often features a healthy number of horses that recently moved to new surroundings. A stallion that slipped through the cracks in Kentucky could be a much bigger fish in a regional market, and that was the case with the likes of Flat Out and Itsmyluckyday, who each saw bumps of 30 mares or more after moving from Kentucky to regional markets.

Clubhouse Ride was also standing at a new farm in 2020, having relocated within California to Legacy Ranch from Harris Farms. However, Knight said the change in mares had little to do with the new scenery and everything to do with the stallion's performance.

“It's certainly nothing we're going to be able to do that the other farm didn't do,” he said. “It's timing. The results on the racetrack are either going to sell the horse or be the failure of the horse.”

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Stakes Winner Contributing Tops Keeneland November’s Third Session

Momentum continued into Wednesday's third session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, generating the top prices of $500,000 paid by Coteau Grove Farms/Cary Bloodstock, agent, for the broodmare Contributing, in foal to Speightstown, and $435,000 from Baccari Bloodstock for a weanling colt from the first crop of undefeated 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify.

During a day of brisk trade, Keeneland sold 196 horses for $25,063,000, for an average of $127,872 and a median of $107,500.

Cumulative results for the November Sale's first three sessions reached $102,528,000 for 521 horses, for an average of $196,791 and a median of $125,000.

“Overall, the energy today was really good,” Keeneland President-Elect and Interim Head of Sales Shannon Arvin said. “We saw a lot of competition for foals. Some new buyers and many of the same buyers from the first two days continue to participate. We would love to see stability of the market throughout the sale, similar to what we experienced during the September Yearling Sale.”

Keeneland Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell agreed.

“It will be a different level of the market moving forward,” he said, “but if we can capture the vibrancy of today and extend it into tomorrow and the next day that would be great.”

Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, agent, consigned Contributing, a 6-year-old stakes-winning daughter of Medaglia d'Oro from the family of Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can.

“I bought one Medaglia d'Oro mare in foal to Speightstown earlier, so I figured why not hit a double?” buyer Andrew Cary said. “It's an awesome pedigree and Speightstown is showing again how awesome he is, with a horse like (undefeated track record-setting stakes winner) Nashville. (Contributing's) sister produced an Oaks winner. She's gorgeous and she could run. To me she's the whole package.”

Weanlings commanded six of the day's seven highest prices.

The $435,000 weanling, consigned by Elm Tree Farm, agent, is a half-brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Pretty N Cool and is from the family of Grade 1 winner Sean Avery. His dam is Stayclassysandiego, a stakes-placed daughter of Rockport Harbor.

“I've been looking for a really good Justify, and he has a lot of female pedigree, plenty of size and plenty of strength,” buyer Chris Baccari said. “Anybody that looks at him when he goes to be resold will see he looks like he has plenty of bone and looks like he can take a lot of training.

“(The weanlings by Justify) are very good. The public is going to support him now and his yearlings. He was a very good racehorse and I'm a big fan. (This colt) reminds me of his sire. He has a lot of raw strength like he did. The mare is a good producer, and that is what I'm looking for. That is what determines the value to me. He had a good physical, but he has the pedigree to go with it.”

Jody Huckabay, who owns Elm Tree with his wife, Michelle, was pleased.

“This is (breeder) Nancy Shuford's horse, and I think we are pushing 25 years doing business together,” he said. “He was a nice colt and we had the right people on him, but we certainly did not expect that. In this market with everything going on, we are blessed to have the opportunity to sell a horse like that.”

Colts by Justify have been the most expensive weanlings of each of the first three sessions of the November Sale, starting Monday with a $600,000 purchase (a price equaled by a colt by 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah) and a $475,000 buy on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Justify also sired a colt sold for $375,000 to Michael Fowler. Consigned by Stuart Morris, agent, he is out of Emily B, by Smart Strike, and from the family of Grade 1 winners Awesome Maria, Pretty Discreet, Discreet Cat and Discreetly Mine.

Larry Best's OXO Equine was the day's leading buyer, spending $1.63 million for six broodmares and weanlings. He paid $400,000 for a weanling colt by Into Mischief, whose son Authentic won Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland, and $360,000 for a weanling colt from the first crop of champion Good Magic, winner of Keeneland's G2 Toyota Blue Grass.

“I tend to go earlier now for (weanlings) as opposed to waiting for them to be yearlings,” he said after buying the Good Magic colt. “You take more risk, but you are not spending the same amount of money. You might get two or three shots on goal for what you'd be paying at the yearling sales.”

Paramount Sales, agent, consigned the son of Into Mischief, who is a half-brother to multiple Grade 3 winner Awesome Slew and stakes winner He's Bankable. The colt is out of the stakes-winning Seeking the Gold mare Slewfoundmoney.

“That was a gorgeous Into Mischief,” said Best, who has been successful racing offspring of the stallion. “Beautiful horse – beautiful walk. You could've told me he was by any other sire and I would've bought him. He just looked so, so good.”

Paramount Sales led all consignors during the session, selling 24 horses for $3,285,000.

Another weanling sold for $400,000 when Stonestreet Stables purchased a filly by Mastery who is a half-sister to undefeated Nashville, winner of Saturday's 6-furlong Perryville at Keeneland in track-record time. Warrendale Sales, agent, consigned the filly, who is out of Veronique, by Mizzen Mast, and from the family of Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, Grade 1 winner Tiago and Grade 3 winner Stanwyck.

Stonestreet also paid $375,000 for a filly from the first crop of multiple Grade 1 winner City of Light consigned by Eaton Sales, agent. Out of the stakes-winning Flatter mare Cabana, she is from the family of Grade 2 winner Funny Proposition and stakes winners Mr. Importance, Home of Stars, Humorous Miss, Artistic Star and Jazz Quest.

The $360,000 colt by Good Magic sold to Larry Best is a half-brother to Grade 2 winner Lovely Bernadette and from the family of Breeders' Cup winners and millionaires Shared Account and Sharing. Consigned by Bedouin Bloodstock, agent, he is out of the winning Bernstein mare Inlovewithlove.

“I am trying to diversify with different sires,” Best said. “I bought a Mastery, an American Pharoah filly, etc. This one is by Good Magic and was good looking. Physically, this was about as good as you are going to get for a weanling. I expected to get him for $250,000 or $300,000. I had to go a little higher, but the right people were on it.”

Bedouin Bloodstock, agent, also consigned two mares sold for $350,000 apiece.

The first was Gold Souk, a 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Miss Temple City and is in foal to Speightstown. Coteau Groves Farms/Cary Bloodstock, agent, paid $350,000 for the mare, who also is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Pricedtoperfection.

“I'm thrilled to get her,” Andrew Cary said. “SF Bloodstock has the mother and family, so she is from a top-class operation. I know the family very well and always wanted to get into that family and am absolutely thrilled to get her.”

The second $350,000 seller was Stephanie's Sister, a 4-year-old full sister to two-time Breeders' Cup winner and $4 million earner Stephanie's Kitten who is in foal to Constitution. Through internet bidding, Koichiro Yamaguchi acquired Stephanie's Sister.

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