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Hidden Scroll Sells For $525,000 To Lead Tuesday’s Trade At Keeneland November Sale

Horses of racing age headlined Tuesday's penultimate session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which was led by the $525,000 purchase of Hidden Scroll, a 4-year-old graded stakes performer by Hard Spun, by Fergus Galvin, agent for Marc Detampel.

Consigned by WinStar Racing, agent for Juddmonte Farms, Hidden Scroll has competed in graded stakes company at Belmont, Oaklawn and Gulfstream. He is out of the Empire Maker mare Sheba Queen and from the family of Group 1 winner Etoile Montante, Grade 2 winner Starformer and 2020 stakes winner Flavius.

WinStar Racing was the session's leading consignor with sales of $1,644,000 for 27 horses. For Juddmonte, WinStar also sold Delaware, a 4-year-old son of Frankel who was third in Saturday's Artie Schiller at Aqueduct. Steven W. Young, agent, bought Delaware, who is a half-brother to French stakes winner Environs and from the family of Group/Grade 1 winner Proviso.

As agent for Detampel, Galvin was the session's leading buyer, spending $555,000 for two horses. Another purchase was the winning 5-year-old First Defence gelding Vanbrugh, also consigned by WinStar for Juddmonte, for $30,000.

On Tuesday, Keeneland sold 216 horses for $5,697,700, for an average of $26,378 and a median of $10,000.

Cumulative sales through nine sessions are $149,709,700 for 1,984 horses, for an average of $75,459 and a median of $28,500.

ELiTE, agent, consigned five of Tuesday's 10 highest-priced horses. Leading the group was Maryland-bred stakes winner Miss J McKay, a 3-year-old daughter of Hangover Kid, who sold to Jackson Farms for $300,000. A stakes winner of $210,053, the filly is out of Ballykiss, by Street Boss, and from the family of Grade 2 winners Crowned and Best of Luck and Grade 3 winners Betty Lobelia and Lady Horseowner.

Eddie Kenneally, agent for William K. Werner, paid $275,000 for the supplemental entry Edgemont Road, a 4-year-old Speightstown gelding who was third in Keeneland's Lafayette on the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup undercard. Team V LLC consigned Edgemont Road, who is out of Swaythisaway, by Scat Daddy. His family includes champion Rhythm, Grade 1 winner Frost Giant and sire Not For Love.

Shepherd Equine Advisers, agent for Larry Hirsch, spent $180,000 for Catch a Bid, a 4-year-old stakes-winning daughter of Real Solution consigned by ELiTE, agent. She is out of the winning Elusive Quality mare Elusive Champagne and from the family of Grade 1 winner Nereid and Grade 3 winner Belong to Sea.

T&C Horse Farms purchased Moral Reasoning, a 3-year-old stakes-placed daughter of More Than Ready, for $175,000. Consigned by ELiTE, agent. she is out of Alhucema, by Aldebaran, and from the family of Group 1 winner and sire Karakontie, European highweight East of the Moon and Group 1 winner and sire Kingmambo.

David Ingordo, agent, paid $150,000 for the supplement Growth Engine, a 4-year-old Tapit gelding consigned by ELiTE, agent. An allowance winner at Monmouth in his most recent start, on Sept. 19, Growth Engine is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Pyro and a full brother to Grade 3 winner War Echo. He is out of the Wild Again mare Wild Vision.

ELiTE, agent, also consigned Abuse of Power, sold to Preferred Equine, agent for Lindy Farms, for $120,000. A 3-year-old filly by Karakontie out of Oblivious, by Cozzene, Abuse of Power is a half-sister to stakes winner Street Storm.

The session's top-priced weanling was a colt from the first crop of Mo Town sold to P & B Stable for 65,000. Consigned by Mulholland Springs, agent, he is out of Supplement, by Sky Mesa and from the family of Grade 3 winners Thatlookonyourface, Dark Nile and Lou Brissie.

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ER Nurse Cashes in on Keeneland November Book 3 Topper

Over the past eight months, there have been very few jobs more demanding, more exhausting, more defeating, than that of an ER nurse.

Malia Hopkins can attest to that. She’s the ER nurse manager for not one, but two ERs in Stuttgart, Arkansas.

It’s been an unimaginable year for the well-practiced RN, but she said one event last week made the ongoing battle against the pandemic more than worth it.

In the fourth session of the Keeneland November Sale, her first-ever horse to go through a sales ring hammered down as the top-selling weanling of Book 3.

Selling as Hip 1269 with the Four Star Sales consignment, her Mendelssohn colt out of Abuntia (Olmodavor) sold for $300,000, the highest-priced weanling of the sale for the first-crop Coolmore sire.

The colt was foaled and raised at Woodstock Farm in Lexington, and while Hopkins was not able to visit him as much as she had hoped in his first few months due to the pandemic, she’s been eagerly receiving photos of the youngster since day one.

“Dealing with the pandemic and managing the ERs has made for a very stressful year,” she said. “To have something like this occur 100% made my year worth it. Being with Woodstock Farm, they got that colt in shape and made him look like he was a million-dollar colt. They all went above and beyond to make this an amazing end of the year for me.”

Hopkins shares her love of horses with her mother, who is also a nurse. The mother-daughter duo were involved in the Quarter Horse breeding industry when Hopkins was a child. But at the age of 21, a car crash left her unable to ride and they were forced to dissolve their business.

Just a few years ago, they decided to venture into the Thoroughbred industry. Hopkins said it took some time to find a few broodmares that piqued her interest, but one in particular caught her eye.

Abuntia came from the family of several notable winners. She was a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner St. Joe Bay (Saint Anddan), and her third dam was three-time Eclipse winner and Grade I producer Susan’s Girl (Quadrangle).

The only catch was her spotty produce record.

Her first foal in 2015, a filly by Regal Ransom, sold for $1,000 at the OBS Winter Mixed Sale and never saw the racetrack. Then over the next two years, the mare couldn’t get in foal.

“[The sellers] told us that she was having some difficulties getting in foal, so that’s when we got in touch with Jeff Little,” Hopkins said. “Jeff got her in shape and got her in foal to Not This Time on the first cover.”

The resulting filly, now a two-year-old, was retained for racing. Hopkins said she’s now in training in Kentucky and will race next year at Oaklawn Park.

The mare didn’t carry the same luck the next two breeding season, failing to catch both years. But Hopkins had high hopes for 2019, as there was one potential stallion that she thought would be a perfect match.

“We saw Mendelssohn on the racetrack and started bugging Coolmore in August,” she said with a laugh. “They said they could get us a contract. We went from Arkansas to Kentucky to watch him run in the Breeders’ Cup, and I was praying he didn’t win so I could continue to afford him.”

Abuntia checked in foal, and her Mendelssohn colt was born at the end of February, just before Hopkins stepped onto the Coronavirus front line.

“We were blessed with a beautiful colt that looked phenomenal,” she recalled. “With COVID, I couldn’t come up to see him as much, but from the very first photos they were sending, I could tell it was a nice individual. He was probably about two months old when he started showing he was a real standout and a class act.”

Hopkins was able to make the trip to Lexington to watch her first foal go through the sales ring to the tune of $300,000, selling to Larry Best’s OXO Equine.

“I was so nervous I couldn’t actually videotape it,” she said. “I tried. But thankfully he did amazing and brought what he did. I’m ecstatic that Larry Best has the horse and I’m extremely grateful for Coolmore, Four Star Sales and Tony [Lacy, consignor and advisor] for everything they’ve done for us. It was an amazing first experience.”

Two days later, Hopkins had another weanling go through the sales ring, this one a filly by Not This Time that was born and raised at Hopkins’s farm in Arkansas and brought $37,000.

“With her being an Arkansas-bred, I was tickled to death with that,” she said.

Hopkins puts no stock in beginner’s luck and has even higher aspirations for the future.

Her goal for next year?

“I would love to be able to have a topper in Book 2 next time.”

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Grade 2-Placed Bob And Jackie Tops Monday’s Trade At Keeneland November Sale

Bob and Jackie, a stakes-winning, 4-year-old son of Twirling Candy who was third in the Oct. 3 Grade 2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita, was the top-priced horse of Monday's eighth session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale when he sold to Price/Recio Bloodstock, agent for Calvin Nguyen, for $190,000.

Bob and Jackie, who was supplemented to the November Sale, was consigned by St George Sales, agent. Out of the Eskendereya mare Fateer, he has won four of eight starts, including the Wickerr, Let It Ride and Eddie Logan, and earned $209,551.

With the lone purchase, Price/Recio Bloodstock was the session's leading buyer.

On Monday, Keeneland sold 256 horses for $3,797,300, for an average of $14,833 and a median of $8,000.

Cumulatively through eight sessions, 1,768 horses have sold for $144,012,000, for an average of $81,455 and a median of $32,000.

Also supplemented to the sale and consigned by St George Sales, agent, was Alex Joon, a 3-year-old Flatter colt who sold to Donald K. Strickland for $120,000. Second in a Churchill Downs allowance race on Oct. 29, Alex Joon scored his first win at Churchill in December 2019.

Convinced, a 5-year-old daughter of Tiznow whose dam, Tap of the Day, by Pulpit, is a full sister to leading sire Tapit, sold to Four Star Sales for $85,000. Vinery Sales, agent, consigned the mare, who is in foal to Maclean's Music. Her family includes champion Rubiano as well as Grade 2 winners Madefromlucky and Dubleo.

McMahon and Hill Bloodstock, agent, paid $77,000 for Well Hello, a 5-year-old daughter of Quality Road carrying her first foal by Outwork. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, she is out of the winning Not For Love mare Just Say Goodbye and from the family of Grade 2 winner Wicapi and such as stakes winners as Water Cannon and Jet Run.

The next two top-priced horses were weanlings from the first crops of their respective sires: a filly by Free Drop Billy for $72,000 and a filly by City of Light for $70,000.

Spendthrift Farm purchased the daughter of Free Drop Billy, who was consigned by Vinery Sales, agent. Out of the winning Stormy Atlantic mare Help the Children, she is from the family of multiple Grade 3 winner Humble Clerk.

VIP Farm acquired the filly by City of Light, who is out of winner Union Prayer, by Dixie Union. Consigned by Vinery Sales, agent for Spendthrift Farm, she is from the family of Grade 1 winner Malibu Prayer and Grade 2 winners Tap Dance, Valid and Silverside.

The session's leading consignor was Lane's End, agent, which sold 31 horses for $425,200.

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View From The Eighth Pole: The Sky Is Not Falling Because Of Lasix Ban

Where are the pearl clutchers? You know, those people who promised that we'd be seeing jockeys with red-splattered pants getting off horses who gushed blood during a Thoroughbred race because trainers couldn't give the animals a diuretic four hours before competition.

They've gone silent.

Officials with the Breeders' Cup, Keeneland and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission managed to stage five world championship races for 2-year-olds on Nov. 6 (seven races for juveniles if you include a pair of undercard stakes) where the letter “L” for Lasix was missing next to each horse's name in the program, past performances and official chart.

Eighty-five 2-year-olds competed without race-day administration of Lasix. I'm sure some of the horses showed signs of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage when they were examined by endoscope following their races, but the bottom line is this: The sky did not fall because of a ban on Lasix.

On Nov. 7, the second day of the Breeders' Cup, things were back to “normal.” All 88 North American-based horses contesting nine championship races (plus all 28 runners in undercard stakes) were given an injection of Lasix approximately four hours before competition – whether or not they really needed it to treat internal bleeding. Trainers of 13 of 18 runners from overseas opted to have the drug given to their horses, too, even though they don't need it or use it in their home countries. All of the European winners – Glass Slippers in the Turf Sprint, Audarya in the Filly & Mare Turf, Order of Australia in the Mile (plus the second- and third-place runners from Aidan O'Brien's Irish stable) and Tanawa in the Turf – raced on Lasix.

I think it's fair to assume the use of this drug is a “when in Rome” decision by those overseas trainers who don't want to compete on a playing field that isn't level. And if they didn't believe Lasix enhances performance of the competition they were facing, why would they use it on their horses?

It's not just the Breeders' Cup Future Stars Friday program that has gone Lasix-free. In several major racing jurisdictions across the U.S., 2-year-old Thoroughbreds are competing without the use of the race-day drug. And the sky is still not falling.

I've talked to several trainers who were not eager for the change and they've said a small percentage of their 2-year-olds have bled this year – one of them adding that it's possible a horse that did bleed might have done so even if it had been administered Lasix. One of the trainers said horses seem to be coming out of their no-Lasix races with more energy than their 2-year-olds had in previous years when competing with the drug in their system..

Things get more complicated in 2021 when the ban on Lasix is extended to all stakes races in states where a coalition of tracks are partially eliminating the drug. That means horses likely will be racing on Lasix in non-2-year-old maiden and allowance races, then going without it in stakes races. Will “Lasix off” become the same kind of handicapping angle many horseplayers now use with “Lasix on”? It's not a good look for a sport when drugs are considered a factor in whether or not a horse will win.

The stakes race Lasix ban also means trainers with horses that have a history of bleeding will be trying other remedies. There will be lots of junk science and snake oil being sold.

The pearl clutchers who claim American racehorses cannot survive without Lasix are the same people who maintained that anabolic steroids were therapeutic and that horses (especially geldings) needed them to get through demanding training regimens. They're the same people who say horses need regular doses of clenbuterol because they're in dusty barn environments that create breathing problems.

Lasix is not the biggest problem facing this sport. It's nowhere near the focus of the FBI's investigation into illegal doping of racehorses that will be playing out for months, possibly years, to come. But the use of Lasix in nearly 100% of horses to address a problem that exists in a much smaller percentage of runners is an indication of how pervasive horse racing's drug culture has become.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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