Karl Keegan | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Solid Sale Getting Better Every Year:’ Fasig-Tipton October Sale Concludes

LEXINGTON, KY – The Fasig-Tipton October Yearlings Sale concluded Thursday with a solid renewal which very nearly kept pace with its record-setting 2022 version even in the midst of a softening yearling market and a backdrop of uncertainty in the global economy and geo-political landscape.

“It was a very successful 2023 Fasig-Tipton October sale,” Fasig-Tipton President Boyd Browning, Jr. said after the last horse went through the ring Thursday evening. “The results were very similar to last year and very similar to the 2021 results, which is pretty remarkable when you consider everything that is happening in the world that we live in, from the economy to some of the challenges our industry has faced. To have 1,600 horses on offer the last four days and to be standing in the back walking ring with five horses to go and it is full of people and there is enthusiasm and activity, it shows the resiliency of our industry.”

Through four sessions, 1,064 yearlings grossed $51,120,000. The average of $48,045 dipped 4.6% from last year's record figure and the median of $24,000 was down 4.0% from another 2022 record.

The buy-back rate was 21.5%. It was 18.7% a year ago.

“The good news for all consignors is that, if you have a late-maturing horse, or a horse that has a little bit of an issue, you can bring that horse here. Can this sale support a very good horse? The answer is absolutely, positively, yes. I think this sale has established itself on the calendar as a very legit sale, one that you have to attend and participate in, whether you are a buyer or a seller. We look forward to continued growth and continued great graduates coming from this sale.”

Ocala horseman Karl Keegan made the highest bid of Thursday's final session of the auction, going to $330,000 to acquire a colt by Bolt d'Oro from the Knockgriffin Farm consignment.

Denali Stud consigned the second and third highest prices of the session, with Mike Ryan going to $310,000 for a son of Into Mischief and Jacob West going to $275,000 on behalf of Mike Repole for a daughter of Curlin.

Hip 1441, the Curlin filly bought for Mike Repole | Fasig-Tipton

The auction was a case of feast or famine, according to Denali's Conrad Bandoroff.

“When you lead a horse up here, you are in one of two positions,” Bandoroff said. “You are either coming up for a horse sale or you are coming up for a funeral. I think this market is highlighting the polarization. If you have one that is a quality individual who vets, there is a good market for it. If you have a horse that doesn't vet or doesn't have the commercial physical, it's going to be a difficult market and you've got to be realistic about it. But that could also be the definition of a fair market as well. We are having a good sale. We've been fortunate that we've had some good horses here and the good horses are selling well.”

Ryan, who purchased 10 yearlings for $2,195,000 during the auction, found plenty of competition for the yearlings he followed up to the ring.

“We were runner-up quite a bit, too,” Ryan said. “We were getting hammered. But we do feel like we got some quality at good value. It is the last stop and there are a lot of horses here. You have to look at a lot of horses to find the ones you want. But there are some nice pedigrees here. And obviously there is money here for the good ones. It's a solid sale and it's getting better every year.”

Keegan Stretches for Bolt d'Oro Colt

Looking to play at the upper echelon of the pinhooking game, Karl Keegan of Lucan Bloodstock stretched to $310,000 to acquire a colt by Bolt d'Oro (hip 1575) late in Thursday's final session of the Fasig-Tipton October sale.

Karl Keegan | Fasig-Tipton

“We are going to pinhook the horse,” Keegan said after signing the ticket on the bay colt. “It seems like all of these sales–especially the 2-year-old sales–are going to the upper end of the market, so we are trying to buy really, really good physicals by good stallions and hopefully it works out back in the springtime.”

The colt is out of Whirl (Curlin), a full-sister to graded winner Pacific Wind and a half to multiple graded winner Strike a Deal (Smart Strike). Consigned by Jim FitzGerald's Knockgriffin Farm, he was purchased for $145,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale and RNA'd for $240,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale in August.

“He was an outstanding physical,” Keegan said of the yearling. “He was at Saratoga and it looked like he went through a bad patch there. They took him back and gave him some time. And he really blossomed and showed himself well here. He's an exciting prospect for Lucan Bloodstock.”

Keegan admitted he had gone past his initial budget for the youngster.

“We were at $150,000 to $175,000, but my guy stretched,” Keegan said. “This was the only horse I wanted to walk away from the sale with. And my guy stood in and supported me.”

Lucan Bloodstock also purchased a colt by Tom's d'Etat (hip 1332) for $80,000 and a colt by Outwork (hip 1573) for $15,000.

Keegan said there was plenty of competition for the pinhooking prospects he was shopping for.

“It was very strong for the horses I was on,” Keegan said. “I came up here trying to buy these physicals to be in the upper echelon of the market at the 2-year-old sales. Those horses were really hard to buy.”

Ryan Strikes for Into Mischief Colt

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, busy all week at the Fasig-Tipton October sale, made his highest-priced purchase of the four-day auction Thursday, going to $320,000 to acquire a colt by Into Mischief (hip 1482).

Mike Ryan | Fasig-Tipton

“He's a beautifully bred horse,” Ryan said of the yearling. “He's going to be a two-turn horse. He has plenty of size and stretch and scope for an Into Mischief. He's got a serious pedigree. If he can perform on the racetrack, he's got a lot of appeal as a stallion.”

The bay colt, bred by My Meadowview and consigned by Denali Stud, is out of multiple graded stakes winner Tin Type Gal (Tapit), who is a daughter of Grade I winner Miss Shop (Deputy Minister).

“They are averaging $750,000 for the yearlings,” Ryan said of Into Mischief's knockout season at the sales this fall. “The median is $525,000. So this [final price of $320,000] is less than half the average. Of course it's the end of the year, but this horse has a lot of upside if he can perform.”

Curlin Filly to Repole

Mike Repole, who along with his partners will send champion Nest (Curlin) through the sales ring at Fasig-Tipton in a week and a half, restocked with another filly by Curlin Thursday at Newtown Paddocks when bloodstock agent Jacob West made a final bid of $275,000 to acquire hip 1441. The gray filly was consigned by Denali Stud on behalf of Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings.

Jacob West | Fasig-Tipton

“Mike has had a little bit of success with Curlin through the years,” West said after signing the ticket on the yearling. “It's the old saying, if it's not broke, don't fix it. She was just a beautiful filly and has the pedigree, through and through.”

The yearling is out of Tapping Pearl (Tapit), a daughter of Cat Dancer (Storm Cat) and a half-sister to Grade I winner Drill (Lawyer Ron).

West, on behalf of Repole, as well as other clients, has purchased six yearlings this week in Lexington.

“The market is incredibly harsh right now,” West said. “If you don't have the pedigree and the physical and the vetting, you get crucified. I feel bad for the breeders because I know how much work it takes to get them up to this ring. That's the unfortunate side of our business right now. It's incredibly polarizing. I don't see it changing for the foreseeable future.”

The polarized market has allowed him to find some bargains this week, West agreed.

“The first day of the sale, we bought a Quality Road filly for $3,000 and we bought a Gun Runner colt for $42,000,” he said. “They were just horses that the market didn't perceive to be what they wanted and they fell through the cracks. We had done our homework and due diligence and picked them up.

“The Quality Road filly had some significant vet issues, but $3,000 for a Quality Road filly, you're going to take a chance. The Gun Runner colt was just a backward horse. He didn't have the physical that everyone was looking for here. But for all of Mike's purposes, he will be patient on a horse like that, let him grow up and fill out. If he goes on and wins a big race, everybody will say, 'How the hell did they buy him for $42,000?' If you are willing to sacrifice on one of those things, you can find some bargains here.”

West concluded, “I'd say there are going to be some really good runners that come out of this sale. There are every year. It doesn't always have to be the sale topper that you land on.”

The post ‘Solid Sale Getting Better Every Year:’ Fasig-Tipton October Sale Concludes appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

More to Come for Derby Sire Protonico

For all the round-the-clock pedigree scrutiny and conformation analysis that goes into finding a stallion that will produce a winner on the first Saturday in May, it took a horse standing for $5,000 and lacking that coveted Grade I win on their race record to get the job done.

Of the 26 fifth-year stallions standing in Kentucky today, Protonico was one of five to breed less than 20 mares last year. And yet, here he is now sitting atop the Leading Second-Crop Sires list after his son Medina Spirit charged home to win the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby at 12-1 odds.

When Protonico began his career at Taylor Made Farm in 2017, he bred just 34 mares. After moving over to Darby Dan Farm the next year, he couldn't do much better there with a 51-strong book. Eventually, he found a home at the Ryan family's Castleton Lyons Farm outside of Lexington and not long after, produced a Kentucky Derby winner from his first crop of 3-year-olds.

“It's kind of a fairytale story,” Castleton Lyons equine manager Pat Hayes said. “It just goes to prove that a good racehorse can come from anywhere- at any level and any price point in the stallion ranks. It gives a lot of assurance to breeders that good stallions might not be priced expensively, but they are out there. So you just have to dig a little deeper, I guess, and hope you land on one.”

While most of the commercial market may have initially turned its nose at the near million-dollar earner, Protonico's owner and breeder Oussama Aboughazale never wavered in his belief in the horse.

“The first time I met Mr. Aboughazale was in the spring of 2019,” Hayes recalled. “He put his arm around me and said, 'Pat, this horse will breed a champion.' So for all this to happen with his first crop is truly a testament of Mr. Aboughazale's belief in him. He told us he was going to support him with 10 to 20 mares every year and he has lived up to that and bred some really nice mares to him.”

Perhaps Aboughazale developed such a passionate faith in Protonico when he had a bird's-eye view of the son of Alpha Spirit (A.P. Indy) during his early days on the track. Aboughazale trained Protonico in his first two career starts, taking the colt to a 12 3/4-length debut victory before he was transferred to Todd Pletcher's barn for his 3-year-old campaign.

Medina Spirit's win in the 2021 Kentucky Derby gave his sire the first Grade I victory of any second-crop sire this year. | Horsephotos

As a sophomore, Protonico reeled off victories in the GIII Smarty Jones S. and GIII Discovery S. but came just short of a Grade I win in the Clark H., where he bested third-place finisher Constitution (Tapit), but came up just half a length short of Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday). He came back at four to take the GIII Ben Ali S. and GII Alysheba S. for Aboughazale's Sumaya U.S. Stable.

“The stallion game is so competitive here,” Hayes said. “He was just a tick off in the Clark H. to win a Grade I, and I think that really hurts a stallion coming to retire in Kentucky. But his pedigree was there. There were a couple of other Giant's Causeways retiring at the same time as him, but looking at his race record, we thought he was just as good as a lot of them.”

So the team at Castleton Lyons was rewarded last weekend, when their belief in the previously-disesteemed stallion was fulfilled by Medina Spirit's victory and the calls starting coming in with breeder's begging for a slot with Protonico in the last few weeks of breeding season.

“Going into the Derby, I think everybody at the farm was a little nervous,” Hayes admitted. “We thought it was possible, but watching the race and seeing him go wire-to-wire was awesome. Since then, the phones have been ringing quite a lot. It's been pretty hectic, but we've gotten a lot of contracts to Protonico since, which is what every stallion owner wants to hear.”

What was the first thing Hayes heard from Aboughazale after the big day at Churchill Downs?

“I spoke with him yesterday and his comments were, 'I told you so,'” Hayes relayed with a laugh.

Hayes added that it should come as no surprise that a grandson of the 'Iron Horse' would display such grit.

“Medina Spirit has that heart and courage that Protonico had as a racehorse. When they were all bearing down on him in the [Kentucky Derby] stretch, he just kept fighting and fighting. Bob Baffert has touched on this a lot this week, that the horse never gives up and doesn't know how to say stop. It's great for a stallion to pass that along and Medina Spirit really embodies a lot of what Protonico was as a racehorse. They have quite a similar way of running with a low head carriage and they're very economical movers.”

Karl Keegan, who founded Lucan Bloodstock last year, was the eye behind the famed recommendation Aboughazale gave to Amr Zedan that resulted in Medina Spirit's $35,000 purchase for Zedan Racing Stables at the 2020 OBS July Sale.

Keegan vividly recalls first seeing Medina Spirit on the OBS sales ground.

“I was stabled at barn 15 and this horse kept catching my eye at barn 16, so I went to take a closer look and I was blown away.”

At the time, Keegan was working with several Sumaya Stables-owned horses, so he called their team to pass on the tip.

“That night I went home and watched his breeze a bunch of times and was amazed he had stopped the clock in :33 flat,” Keegan said. “We had a conference call the next day with the Sumaya team and they were happy about my positive review of the son of their stallion, so that gave Mr. Aboughazale the confidence to pass on the information to his good friend Amr Zedan and as they say, the rest is history.”

Protonico has had only 10 starters from his first two crops of runners, but three are already winners. Keegan, who breaks 2-year-olds for Aboughzale in Ocala, believes there are many more to come.

This week Protonic Power begins training with Todd Pletcher, the same trainer who oversaw his sire's career. | Karl Keegan

“We had five Protonico 2-year-olds this winter at Lucan,” he said. “They were all good-sized horses with strong bone and exceptional depth of girth. From day one in the round pen to breezing on the racetrack, they went out every morning and did their job.”

Hayes added of the youngsters on the ground at Castleton Lyons, “One thing we're really seeing with them is the athleticism and the walk. They've all got great bodies and are generally correct. Physically, Protonico is a really nicely-balanced horse. He's a great mover and has a really strong body. He has a lot of Giant's Causeway's traits, but even more so of A.P. Indy from the damside.”

One young son of Protonico that stands out to both Keegan and Hayes is a 2-year-old named Protonic Power. The colt is a three-quarters sibling to Princess Noor (Not This Time), the speedy filly purchased for $1.35 million last year who went on to take the GI Del Mar Debutante S. and GII Chandelier S. for Zedan Racing Stables.

“He's owned by Samaya Stables and he looks great,” Hayes said. “We're looking forward to seeing him at the races this year.”

Keegan reported that Protonic Power has wrapped up his early training and is shipping to Todd Pletcher on Saturday.

“He's a very good-looking, powerful horse with good balance,” Keegan said of the juvenile. “He's training super. He reminds me a lot of Medina Spirit, just a tad smaller. I had seen him at Castleton Lyons when I was up in Kentucky for the [2020] Keeneland September Sale and I was very excited at the chance to break and train him. When he got to our farm I went back and looked at some photos and video I had taken of Medina Spirit at the OBS Sale and saw a lot of similarities.”

While the team behind Protonico eagerly anticipates more chapters to come in their stallion's Cinderella story, they aren't quite finished celebrating an unforgettable weekend as the stack of contracts on Hayes's desk continues to grow.

“This is a huge thing for Castleton Lyons,” Hayes said. “It's been a thoroughbred farm since the late 1700s and has had a lot of highs and lows over the years. Since the Ryan family took it over, they've typically had stallions in the barn since 2004 and we've had Malibu Moon, Bernstein, and Gio Ponti, who was a great homebred and is still standing here. To have a new stallion with some buzz around him right now is great for the farm and the staff and more importantly, great for the owners.”

The post More to Come for Derby Sire Protonico appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Lucan Bloodstock Springs into Action

Karl Keegan, who has spent the last 15 years building his resume in Ocala, decided it was time to strike out on his own last fall when he officially launched Lucan Bloodstock. Following a successful sales debut in March, the operation will offer its second consignment at the upcoming Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.

Keegan, the son of a jockey, first found his love of horses in his hometown of Lucan, just south of Dublin. After serving as a work rider for trainers like John Gosden, Stanley House and Henry Cecil, the Irishman relocated to the U.S. in the early 1990s to work with Buckram Oak.

He eventually settled in New York where he would ride for trainers like Neil Drysdale, Bobby Frankel and Scott Lake in the morning before working as a valet in the afternoons.

“I've worked in many different areas within the horse racing industry throughout my lifetime,” Keegan said. “A very important 15 years of that time was spent on New York's major racetracks like Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga. It was there that I gained a ton of experience working alongside some

great horsemen.”

Keegan eventually made his way down to Ocala where he spent nine years as assistant trainer and manager at GoldMark Farm, followed by a five-year stint as trainer and manager at All in Line Stables.

“In 2006, my family and I moved to Ocala and I began my journey into the farm and training of young horses,” Keegan recalled. “Within that time I was also involved in pinhooking with some friends and went on to manage a consignment under All In Line Stables. After a couple of years of doing that and gaining the respect and support of my peers in the industry, in

September of 2020, I decided to launch Lucan Bloodstock.”

The name of the operation is obviously an homage to Keegan's hometown.

“Lucan was where I first discovered my love for horses, so I thought the name was fitting,” he said.

While he was kept busy this past week with six sessions of the under-tack show at OBS, Keegan is intent on offering his clients a full range of services.

“Our primary focus is to provide the highest quality of care and horsemanship for all horses that pass through our gates,” Keegan said. “We are a full-service facility which prides itself on meeting the specific needs of each individual horse; be it training, rehab or sales. We are able to do all of these things

because of hard work and dedication with a reliable staff and a top-notch facility.”

Lucan Bloodstock is based at Oak Ridge Training Center in Morriston.

“Oak Ridge has a one-mile dirt track, a seven-eighths turf course and plenty of paddock turnout,” Keegan said. “We also have our own swimming pool and cold water spa and there are plans for a new seven-eighths of a mile Celebration Bermuda turf course as well.”

Lucan Bloodstock made its debut as a consignor at last month's OBS March sale. The operation sold four juveniles in March, led by a $290,000 son of Twirling Candy (hip 30).

“We were very happy with the outcome of the March sale and we are working extremely hard to have a successful April sale also,” Keegan said.

Lucan Bloodstock brings a 19-horse consignment to the April sale. Among the group, a filly by Nyquist (hip 566) shared the :10 flat bullet during Wednesday's under-tack session. A colt by Speightster (hip 1196) worked a furlong in :10 flat Saturday.

A trio of juveniles from the consignment worked in :21 flat: a colt by Classic Empire (hip 208, video); a filly by Dark Angel (Ire) (hip 215, video); and a filly by More Than Ready (hip 414, video). “We have a solid group of horses with a few standouts that

have breezed very well over the past few days of the breeze show,” Keegan said of his April consignment. “We feel that we will be able to meet many of the buyers needs. We would love to add to our existing client base and continue to offer the best service possible.”

The OBS Spring sale will be held Tuesday through Friday with sessions beginning daily at 10:30 a.m.

The post Lucan Bloodstock Springs into Action appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post