Verrazano Colt on Top As Book 3 Concludes

LEXINGTON, Ky – Brisk trade continued as the Keeneland September Yearling Sale finished its first week of action with the second and final session of the Book 3 portion of the 12-day auction Sunday. Steve Young bought the top-priced offering of both Book 3 sessions, going to $625,000 to purchase a colt by Verrazano, a day after paying $525,000 for a son of Pioneerof the Nile.

During Sunday's session, 245 yearlings grossed $26,875,500 for an average of $109,696 and a median of $80,000. The buy-back rate was 31.18%. Over the two Book 3 sessions, 498 yearlings sold for $58,268,000. The average was $117,004 and the median was $90,000. Sunday's $625,000 topper was one of 15 to bring $400,000 or more.

The new format of the 2017 September sale makes year-to-year comparisons inexact, but the 2016 Book 3 section saw 555 horses sell for $44,178,500. The average was $79,601 and the median was $65,000. The top Book 3 price in 2016 was $700,000–one of five lots to sell for $400,000 or more.

“I think Book 3 went very well,” Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell said. “It was nice to have a big-priced horse today. I think overall, the comments from consignors and buyers was that the good horses sold very well and the buyers complained they were hard to buy. That's a positive note. I think all the expectations that we set up going into the new format have been met or exceeded. So far, so good.”

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, who continued his frenetic buying spree Sunday, agreed competition remained high.

“For the quality horses, it is very competitive,” Ryan said. “If you think a horse is worth $250,000 to $300,000, you better mark it up another 25-30%. It's hellaciously strong.”

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale continues through Saturday, with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

Verrazano Colt Catapults to the Lead

For the second straight day, Steve Young signed the ticket on the top-priced offering of the session at Keeneland September. The bloodstock agent, bidding on behalf of an undisclosed client, purchased a colt from the first crop of multiple Grade I winner Verrazano (More Than Ready) for $625,000 Sunday. Out of Allegory (Unbridled's Song), the dark bay yearling (hip 1921) is a half-brother to recent GII Saratoga Special S. winner Copper Bullet (More Than Ready). He was consigned to the sale by James Herbener, Jr., as agent for breeder Dell Ridge Farm.

“I saw quite a few Verrazanos that were good-looking horses,” Young said. “Verrazano himself could train on a daily basis with basically any horse around. He was an unbelievable horse in many ways. And I think he'll be a very good sire. This horse is not only a three-quarter brother to a 2-year-old graded stakes winner at Saratoga, but he is out of an Unbridled's Song mare. And he is very, very correct. I think when you deal with Unbridled's Song, whether as a sire or a broodmare sire, they need to look like this horse looked. He's got no ceiling on what he might do pedigree-wise.”

The yearling's second dam is Louve Royale (Ire) (Peintre Celebre) and he is from the family of Loup Sauvage and Loup Solitaire.

“There wasn't anything not to like about him,” Herbener said. “He was just a really nice colt. The amazing thing was the number of times we showed him. He was out 87 times yesterday and he still had a great walk about him.”

Dell Ridge purchased Allegory, in foal to Smart Strike, for $200,000 at the 2013 Keeneland November sale. That Smart Strike colt brought $160,000 at the 2015 September sale and Copper Bullet sold for $200,000 last year.

“I am only as good as the horses that people send me and here is a man who can raise a good horse,” Herbener said while standing next to Dell Ridge manager Des Ryan.

“We knew he was a nice horse coming in, but you never expect this much for them,” Ryan admitted. “He was a very nice horse all summer long, so we had high expectations for him, but this is beyond what we had for him. Jim did a great job presenting him here at the sales and showing him. The horse never turned a hair the last couple of days he's been here. He is an extremely nice horse and he was well-received by the market. And the brother winning a Grade II didn't hurt either. It's very exciting to breed a nice horse like that. We wish the best of luck to the buyers. Hopefully he goes on and does well for them.”

Ryan said overall he has been pleased with Dell Ridge's results in the sales ring this week.

“We've had our ups and downs like everyone else, but overall we're very happy,” Ryan said. “If you bring the right product up here, if it looks good, vets good, you get your money. If there is a flaw in it at all, they are very picky. They want everything perfect. So we've been happy with the sale overall, like everybody you sell some good ones and some other ones you're expectations aren't met. That's the game.”

Aboughazale Takes Charge

Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holding continued its buy spree at Keeneland Sunday, securing a colt from the first crop of champion Will Take Charge for $500,000. The yearling (hip 1846) was consigned and bred by Anderson Farms.

“We're still on the hunt for very good physical horses,” said Frances Relihan, who signed the ticket while sitting in the pavilion with Aboughazale and farm manager Jody Alexander. “Mr. Aboughazale wants to buy, not just a pedigree, but a horse that is an athletic horse, a horse that moves well and is well made. This horse just ticked all the boxes for us in that respect. We're very excited to have another horse for Sumaya U.S. Stables and a horse that looks like.”

Out of Smart Believer (Smart Strike), the yearling's second dam is Grade I winner I Believe In You (Pleasant Tap).

“There were quite a few [Will Take Charges] that we liked this week, but we liked this one in particular,” Relihan said. “He is an Ontario-bred and he comes from a very good outfit, it's a farm that raises very nice horses, which we think is very important when buying yearlings–where they come from, how they've been raised. So we're very pleased.”

Of the offspring of Will Take Charge that she has seen at Keeneland over the last week, Relihan said, “There are a lot of rangey horses with good leg under them. They are very good movers, like their father. He's putting good range and scope under them. They seem to have good minds. This horse in particular was very professional. I think he was out, they said, 90 times yesterday and he still comes marching out of the stall and stands up. He's a classy acting horse. And that's very important to us.”

Through six sessions of the September sale, Aboughazale purchased eight yearlings, all colts, for $3,235,000 and an average of $404,375. He also purchased a son of Violence (hip 319) for $725,000 during Tuesday's second session.

“We are in the business to produce stallions, hopefully,” Aboughazale explained. “We bought eight colts–they are all very nice boys–all very good quality, I hope.”

Aboughazale has another quality colt waiting in the wings to return to racing and the owner provided an update on the progress of this year's GII Rebel S. winner Malagacy (Shackleford), who has been off since suffering his first loss when fifth in the Apr. 15 GI Arkansas Derby.

“He started training and he will go to Todd Pletcher after a month and then with Todd Pletcher, it will be another two months,” Aboughazale said. “So almost probably he will race in December, God willing. He is more beautiful now. He is sound. He has grown up and he is very happy. We gave him lots of rest and Frances and Jody took very good care of him.”

The sale of the Will Take Charge yearling marked another strong result in an auction of strong results from Anderson Farms, which purchased Smart Believer for $25,000 at the 2013 Keeneland January sale.

“I'm having a wonderful sale–it's been absolutely tremendous,” Dave Anderson said. “How cool to have the likes of WinStar underbidding and Oussama, who is my good friend, buying the horse.”

Anderson celebrated his first million-dollar sale when Coolmore's M.V. Magnier bid $1.1 million to acquire a colt by Scat Daddy (hip 578) earlier in the sale.

“I felt like I had some good depth, but I didn't know what to expect and what the competition would be like,” Anderson said of his expectations coming into the sale. “I've built my broodmare band from one mare seven years ago up to 25 mares now. It's a lot of work by a lot of people and I'm fortunate to surround myself with some great horse people. At this stage, you need to get lucky on a couple to make up for some of the other ones. But so far we are having a terrific sale.”

Ryan Back in Action Sunday

Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, a major buyer during Saturday's session of the September sale, was quickly back in the fray Sunday when going to $450,000 to secure a colt by Curlin (hip 1630). The yearling was consigned and bred by KatieRich Farms.

“The good ones are getting a little scarcer, but there are still a lot of nice horses here today,” Ryan said.

Hip 1630 is out of False Impression (A.P. Indy) and is a half-brother to stakes placed Dr Schultz (Quiet American). His second dam is graded stakes winner Classic Elegance (Carson City) and he is from the family of GI Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can.

“He was a Classic horse,” Ryan said. “When you get a Curlin that looks like him–he's one of the best sires in the country–so he has a chance to be a top dirt race horse going 1 1/8 miles, 1 1/4 miles. Those are the kind of horses you've got to go chase. It wasn't a surprise what he made, he's a really good colt and we're delighted to get him.”

False Impression produced a colt by Hard Spun this year and was bred back to Quality Road.

Also early in Sunday's session, Ryan also purchased a filly by Scat Daddy (hip 1653) for $400,000. Through six sessions of the September sale, Ryan had signed for 42 horses for a total of $10,895,000 and an average of $259,405.

Distorted Humor Colt Heading Overseas

A colt by Distorted Humor will be heading to Europe after English bloodstock agent Oliver St. Lawrence signed the ticket at $450,000 to secure hip 1640 on behalf of Fawzi A Nass. The yearling was bred and consigned by Greg Goodman's Mt. Brilliant Farm.

“He was just a lovely horse, bred by good breeders, and he looks like he could be a 2-year-old,” St. Lawrence said. “We'll take him back to England and we'll see how he gets on.”

A native of Bahrain, Nass trains and campaigns 2012 G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen S. winner Krypton Factor (Kyllachy {GB}). He has already had success with offspring of Distorted Humor–his Shumoos finished second in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint and G2 Queen Mary S.

“He races in Europe, but he races in Dubai, as well,” St. Lawrence said of Nass. “So if we can go race on the dirt–if he's good enough, that's where he'd like to go with the horse. He'd love to be winning one of the big races in Dubai. He had the Golden Shaheen winner down there a few years ago and he'd like to repeat it.”

St. Lawrence purchased 10 yearlings at the September sale for a total of $1,930,000 and an average of $193,000. In addition to the Distorted Humor colt, St. Lawrence also purchased a son of Bernardini (hip 558) for $400,000.

“We've been here since Book 1, we failed in Book 1, we were underbidder on three horses,” St. Lawrence said. “We bought a few out of Book 2 and a few out of Book 3. We're home tonight. I think that might be the end of our budget.”

After a four-years absence, Greg Goodman was clearly enjoying his return to the consignment business. Goodman's Mt. Brilliant Farm purchased hip 1640's second dam Private Gift (Unbridled) for $2.3 million at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale and campaigned that mare's graded stakes placed daughter Secret Somone (A.P. Indy), as well as this yearling's dam Forbidden Gift.

“We really liked him,” Goodman said of the yearling. “We knew we had a lot of people on him, so we just put a couple thousand dollar reserve on him and let them take it the rest of the way. We thought he'd bring $300,000 or $400,000, but to get $450,000 this time of year is really good. This is a really nice colt. We really liked him since the day he was born.”

Of the decision to return to consigning his homebreds under the Mt. Brilliant banner, Goodman explained, “When we stopped doing it, I felt there would be an advantage to selling with the bigger consignors. We really sell only at this sale and we sell only our own horses. I just thought the consignors who sell at every sale know the buyers, they know the vets and we have difficulty with that.”

He continued, “But I don't think anybody can talk about our horses like we can. Every horse we sell, we raise on our own farm–we don't sell anybody else's horses. They are ours. I have a partner on a couple of them, but 90% are my horses and every one of them was born on the farm. We just try to bring a good horse here and we put a reserve on it that we think is good and then we let them roll.”

Mt. Brilliant has sold seven horses to date at the September sale for a gross of $1,465,000 and an average of $209,286.

“I love it,” Goodman said of the return of the Mt. Brilliant consignment. “We're having fun. This is the first time my son Hutton has done it because we haven't sold our own horses for four years now. It's been really fun. I'm not used to being out here this long every day, I've been off for four years, but I've really enjoyed it. It's great.”