3rd-GP, $60k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, post time: 2:14 p.m. ET
In the name of her Whisper Hill Farm, Mandy Pope went to $1.3 million for a son of Tapitout of MSW & GSP Danzatrice (Dunkirk) at the 2021 Keeneland September, and that looked like money well spent when Tapit Trice went on to a victory in the 2023 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. while placing in the GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. Pope was so enamored of her purchase that she went back to the well at the 2022 September sale, giving $1.1 million for the colt's full-sister, DANZIT, who makes her first trip to the races Sunday. Also trained by Todd Pletcher, the March foal is out of a close relative to champion and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies victress Jaywalk (Cross Traffic) and the deeper female family includes the sires Mission Impazible and Forest Camp. Among the competition is Silver Moonlight (Liam's Map), a half-brother to the Grade III-placed juvenile Man Child (Creative Cause), who was a $150,000 KEESEP yearling before doubling that hammer price at last year's OBS March Sale. TJCIS PPs
In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Fukushima, Nakayama and Hanshin Racecourses. The colts' Classics kick off Sunday at Nakayama in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas), with champion Jantar Mantar (Jpn) (Palace Malice) squaring off against Sottsass's sales-topping full-brother Shin Emperor (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) from the barn of Yoshito Yahagi:
Saturday, April 13, 2024 1st-FKS, ¥10,480,000 ($68k), Maiden, 3yo, 1150m ECORO KAISER (c, 3, American Pharoah–High Heeled Girl, by Malibu Moon), a $180,000 purchase at the 2022 Keeneland September Sale, was hammered down to Emmanuel de Seroux's Narvick International for $300,000 after breezing an eighth of a mile in :10 flat ahead of last year's OBS April Sale. The colt's dam, a $75,000 acquisition by Stonehaven Steadings at Keeneland November in 2016, is a daughter of two-time stakes winner and multiple Grade I-placed High Heeled Hope (Salt Lake), also the dam of Grade III winner Lady T N T (Justin Phillip). The mare's current 2-year-old, a filly by Nyquist, made $750,000 at this year's OBS March sale after hammering for $250,000 at KEESEP last fall. B-Stonehaven Steadings (KY)
2nd-NKY, ¥10,480,000 ($68k), Maiden, 3yo, 1800m TOKUSHI GENERAL (JPN) (c, 3, Omaha Beach–Lucky Number, by Smart Strike), knocked down for $110,000 with this colt in utero at the 2020 Keeneland November Sale, is out of an unraced half-sister to GISW Got Lucky (A.P. Indy), the dam of SW & GSP Slip Mahoney (Arrogate) and GSP Overtook (Curlin). The Grade III-winning third dam, a full-sister to champion Rhythm, produced MGSW/GISP Daydreaming (A.P. Indy), GISW Girolamo (A.P. Indy), MGSW/GISP Acclerator (A.P. Indy) and the dam of GI Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver (Maria's Mon) and GSWs Cyrus Alexander (Medaglia d'Oro) and Brethren (Distorted Humor). B-Yuki Dendo
3rd-HSN, ¥10,480,000 ($68k), Maiden, 3yo, 2000m XEBEC (JPN) (c, 3, Gun Runner–Stellar Agent, by More Than Ready) is the first foal from his dam, a longshot third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf in 2018 and sold carrying this colt for $400,000 at KEENOV in 2020. A daughter of the stakes-placed Lawn Party (Medaglia d'Oro), Stellar Agent is a half-sister to SW Anaconda (Pioneerof the Nile) and the deeper female family includes champions Flanders (Seeking the Gold) and her daughter Surfside (Seattle Slew). Ryusei Sakai rides for Yahagi. B-Mishima Bokujo
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — The final day of the Keeneland September Sale is one where you blink and you miss it. It's a leaner session to begin with numbers-wise and the action is fast….as in, lightning fast. It's a real meat-and-potatoes sort of way to wrap up two exhausting weeks of trade.
But, on rare occasions, there are diamonds in the rough to be found. Just ask Nadir Khassanov and while you're at it, talk to the people at Mulholland Springs. On Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, Khassanov, a bloodstock agent from Kazakhstan, paid $12,000 for hip 3831, a chestnut colt with three white socks and a big baldy face who very much resembled his sire California Chrome, who had since departed these shores for Japan.
For a horse on day 11 of the sale, the February foal had a fair amount of black-type on his page. His dam Little Emily (Castledale {Ire}) was a stakes winner of better than $132,000 and was kin to a pair of stakes horses, including a solid black-type producer.
“I think I would have given up to $20,000 for it, it's just that the prices for California Chrome foals fell that year, and I managed to buy Kabirkhan,” Khassanov explained. “There were some minor flaws, but I liked his conformation and I was a fan of California Chrome.”
Mulholland Springs's John Henry Mulholland thought Khassanov was getting a bargain.
“Good-looking colt. Very athletic and carried himself with class,” he said. “Not a thing wrong with the colt. If it had been Book 3 or 4 and the market was hot on California Chrome, he brings $100,000. Just one of those things where the commercial market goes cold and it's the last day of the Keeneland September Sale.”
So, the colt was off to Kazakhstan to race in the colors of Tlek Mukanbetkaliyev. By now, you've probably seen the video–a three-horse race in which Kabirkhan beat Sky Indy (Sky Mesa)–purchased by Khassanov for $10,000 during Session 10 of the September Sale–by about three lengths at a very sloppy Almaty Racecourse in Kazakhstan's most-populous city. The victory was worth the equivalent of about $350.
This is INCREDIBLE!
Watch KABIRKHAN make his debut at Almaty Hippodrome in Kazakhstan in 2022…and then watch his runaway G1 win in the Al Maktoum Challenge at Meydan @RacingDubai last night! pic.twitter.com/Z6jKSZtLwp
Two more wins followed at Almaty, including a local Group 1 over 1600 meters, and by the time 2023 had rolled around, Kabirkhan was moved to Russia. There he ran his undefeated streak to eight in the Kabardino Balkaria Derby, good for a $12,000 payday, but he tasted defeat for the first time in $113,000 Russian Derby when beaten by Hero Mo (Mo Town) last September.
Russian-based horses have recently left their mark in Dubai, with Azure Coast (Street Sense) winning the 2022 G3 UAE 2000 Guineas as well as Tuz (Oxbow), who took out this year's G3 Al Shindagha Sprint and is not without his chances in this weekend's G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen. So it was not entirely shocking to see Kabirkhan transferred to the care of perennial leading trainer Doug Watson in the Emirates.
“We Kazakh equestrians have long dreamed of getting to Dubai, and then such a magnificent horse as Kabirkhan turned up, and we decided to try it,” Khassanov said. “At the moment, he is the most famous horse in Kazakhstan, we all love and support him.”
Beyond the agent's wildest dreams, Kabirkhan became arguably the story of this year's Dubai Racing Carnival, turning the tables on Hero Mo in a 2000-meter handicap before following up with another impressive victory in the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge on two weeks' rest.
“We really believed in him,” Khassanov insisted.
And now he has the opportunity to do something even more special in Saturday's G1 Dubai World Cup against a field that includes defending champion Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) and GI Santa Anita H. hero Newgate (Into Mischief).
“We are considered the third favorites in the race and I will cheer and support him, I think we have a chance to write our name in the history of the Cup,” Khassanov said. “I am very proud of him and wish him only victory.”
5th-FG, $75K, MSW, 3yo, 6f, 3:00 p.m. CORPORAL (Gun Runner) went the way of partners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg, John Oxley and Breeze Easy on a final bid of $1.15-million at the 2022 Keeneland September Sale. His dam MSW/MGSP Kathballu (Bluegrass Cat) is a full-sister MGSW/GISP Kathmanblu, and this is also the family of $1.15-million Stonestreet broodmare GISW Friendly Michelle (Artax). Corporal has flashed speed in the morning, firing bullets in three of his last four works and Flavien Prat takes the reins Saturday afternoon for trainer Brad Cox.TJCIS PPS
4th-FG, $75K, MSW, 3yo, f, 1mT, 2:30 p.m. Mischief My Way (Into Mischief), the homebred half-sister to GISW Adare Manor (Uncle Mo), makes the races for Town and Country Racing and trainer Chris Block. In addition to her million-dollar earning half-sister, she is a daughter of GSW Brooklynsway, who herself RNA'd for $1.2-million at last fall's FTKNOV sale. TJCIS PPS
6th-SA, $65K, MSW, 3-5yo, f, 6f, 6:33 p.m.
The second-highest price at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale, In Theory (Mendelssohn) was an $800,000 buy for Speedway Stables after breezing in :10.1. Trainer Bob Baffert has lined up Juan Hernandez for a filly that fired a best-of-27 work two back, going five furlongs from the gate in :59 2/5 (1/27) Mar. 13. TJCIS PPS
2nd-TP, $70K, MSW, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:13 p.m.
Kicking off Jeff Ruby Steaks Day at Turfway is LNJ Foxwoods and NK Racing's Sabatini (Uncle Mo), a $625,000 2-year-old purchase from the same Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale last year after also working in :10.1. The filly is out of a half-sister to champion 2-year-old and GI Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist (Uncle Mo). TJCIS PPS
4th-TP, $70K, MSW, 3yo, 6f, 2:13 p.m.
Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider homebred Term (Medaglia d'Oro) lines up inside for his debut. He is out of a full-sister to GISP Chide (Blame) and a half-sister to the dams of MGISW Elate (Medaglia d'Oro) and MGSW Tax (Arch). This is also the family of Claiborne stallion Flatter (A.P. Indy). TJCIS PPS
