Keeneland Powers Into Book 2

LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which took a one-day hiatus after a four-session Book 1, continued just where it left off with a power-packed opening Book 2 session Saturday in Lexington. A colt by Uncle Mo topped the session and became the auction's 27th seven-figure sale when bringing a final bid of $1 million from the partnership of China Horse Club and WinStar. The yearling (hip 1206) was consigned by Lane's End as agent for Wygod Equine.

“Today was an excellent session,” said Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell. “It started off very strong and it finished very strong, too. It was all-go, all day. The barns for the last two days were very busy, so we anticipated today would be strong, but I would have to say it was much stronger than I anticipated.”

In all, 284 yearlings sold Saturday for $51,059,700. The average was $179,788 and the median was $140,000. With only 82 of 366 horses through the ring failing to meet their reserves, the buy-back rate was a sparkling 22.4%.

Due to the altered format, direct year-to-year comparisons are inexact, but during last year's opening Book 2 session, 253 head grossed $31,392,500 for an average of $124,081 and a median of $100,000. The buy-back rate was 30.3%.

“It was very strong in all numbers,” Russell said. “When you increase the average and median by as much as we did, and to still have a very low not-sold rate, it just shows the strength of today's session.”

The success of Saturday's session was set in motion by the strength of the four Book 1 sessions, according to bloodstock agent David Ingordo.

“The market is strong,” Ingordo said. “There is this backwards pressure. In Book 1, we were bidding strong and were underbidders on million-dollar horses, $800,000, $900,000, $925,000 horses. We are in there firing away. So now, we get pushed back. And now we are here and the next people who think they have $400,000 or $500,000 for a nice horse, they get pushed back. It's a trickle down effect, so that in Book 6, or whatever book we go up to, you're going to have a good sale all the way through if the right horse walks up.”

Randy Bradshaw admitted a strong overall economy was helping propel the Thoroughbred market, but he has been impressed by the individuals he has seen at the yearlings sales this summer.

“The economy is really good right now,” Bradshaw said. “We kind of roll with the stock market. And when it's flush and everybody is doing good, the horse market is really good. But, at both Saratoga and here, there have been a really good group of horses. I think this should be a really good crop of horses coming out of here.”

The Keeneland September sale continues with the second and final Book 2 session Sunday morning and the sale runs through Sept. 23 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

China Horse Club, WinStar Team on Uncle Mo Colt

Bidding remained strong as the Keeneland September sale marched into Book 2, with a colt by Uncle Mo padding the number of seven-figure transactions at the auction when selling for $1 million to the China Horse Club and WinStar Farm.

“He's just gorgeous,” said the China Horse Club's Mick Flanagan after signing the ticket on hip 1206. “He's an athletic colt by a fabulous stallion in Uncle Mo. There is a lot of good blood on the page, there is Giant's Causeway, there is Street Cry (Ire), Machiavellian, there is even a bit of Arch on there. So he's got a mix of all of those good stallions. He's got the physique. His dam was very good and she could run a bit, too. We're very happy to get the colt.”

Of the yearling's seven-figure price tag, Flanagan said, “It's probably a little more than we wanted to give for him, but we're very, very high on him. I suppose that's what the good horses are making, so that's where we had to be.”

The yearling was consigned by Lane's End on behalf of his breeder, Pam and Martin Wygod's Wygod Equine. He is out of graded stakes placed Sweet Bliss (Street Cry {Ire}) and his third dam is Sweet Life (Kris S.), who produced the Wygods' champion Sweet Catomine and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Life is Sweet.

“[The Wygods] are great supporters of the farm and of our stallions,” said Lane's End's Allaire Ryan. “It's nice to have a homebred go into the sales ring and do well for them. They have a lot of the family and thought this might be a good opportunity to sell and it worked out.”

Ryan said the colt's placement in Book 2 reflected Lane's End's strategy for this year's September sale.

“We really streamlined what we put in Book 1,” Ryan said. “We catalogued about 30 fewer head in Book 1 this year to strengthen Books 2 and 3, so it had a bit of a trickle down effect within our own consignment. It's obviously really paying off. So we're really pleased and glad to see the strategy that we committed to is working out.”

Lows Go High for Tapit Colt

Robert and Lawana Low, who purchased a pair of fillies during Book 1, added a colt by Tapit to their stable Saturday when bloodstock agent Jacob West made a final bid of $850,000 to acquire hip 1372.

“We had gotten outrun on some big colts in Book 1, so we saved our powder for this colt in Book 2 and we're pretty happy to get him,” West said. “I loved him from the day I saw him.”

The colt, bred and consigned by Gainesway, is out of Flores Island (Giant's Causeway), a homebred who placed in a pair of stakes for the Lexington nursery in 2014 and 2015. The mare is a half-sister to graded winner Annual Report (Harlan's Holiday) and a full to stakes winner Giant Payday (Giant's Causeway).

“If we get lucky enough, he has a stallion's pedigree,” West said. “That's what we're shooting for. The Lows love Oaklawn Park, so hopefully we just bought the next GI Arkansas Derby winner.”

During the first week of the September sale, the Lows purchased a daughter of American Pharoah (hip 476) for $600,000 and a filly by Curlin (hip 814) for $1.05 million.

The couple won this year's GI Arkansas Derby with 'TDN Rising Star' Magnum Moon (Malibu Moon).

Street Sense Filly a Long-Term Investment

Bloodstock agent David Ingordo, bidding on behalf of an undisclosed client, acquired a filly by Street Sense for $800,000 Saturday at Keeneland. The yearling (hip 1221) was consigned by Lane's End on behalf of her breeder, Jane Lyon's Summer Wind Equine. She is out of the unraced Test of Time (Unbridled's Song), who is a daughter of Misty Hour (Miswaki) and a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner India (Hennessy) and to Pilfer (Deputy Minister), dam of Grade I winners To Honor and Serve (Bernardini) and Angela Renee (Bernardini).

“In Book 1 and at Saratoga, we've been trying to buy horses and that was as lovely a filly as has walked up here,” Ingordo said of the youngster. “For the program that we're trying to build, she is a long-term investment. Not only does she look like she's going to win a bunch of races, she's such an athlete, but she'll have a great pedigree to be a foundation mare for the client who bought this horse.”

Of the unnamed client, Ingordo said, “He's done very well over the years in California.”

Ingordo serves as bloodstock advisor at Lane's End and admitted his position at the farm gave him an advantage with this yearling.

“I'm lucky,” he said. “I get to go around with Lane's End and look at a lot of the horses, so I've seen this filly grow up. Jane Lyon at Summer Wind is becoming one of the elite breeders in the country and her broodmare band is great. [Summer Wind manager] Bobby Spalding has done a good job out there getting these horses ready.”

Of the $800,000 price tag, Ingordo added, “It's a lot of money for anything, but that filly was worth it. When it's all said and done, I think she'll look good value when we get black-type on her one day.”

Summer Wind has enjoyed a strong September sale. The farm sold a Tapit filly (hip 140) for $800,000; an Uncle Mo colt (hip 309) for $925,000; a Pioneerof the Nile colt (hip 489) for $475,000; an Honor Code colt (hip 549) for $500,000; a colt by Curlin (hip 577) for $900,000; a filly by Medaglia d'Oro (hip 667) for $700,000; and a filly by Curlin (hip 942) for $300,000.

Into Mischief Colt a Star for Alastar

Larry Best's OXO Equine added another colt by Into Mischief to its stable when advisor John Dowd made a final bid of $750,000 to acquire hip 1185 Saturday at Keeneland. The yearling was bred by Lynn and Rovena Alexander's Alastar Thoroughbred Company and was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

“We were expecting probably in the $400,000-500,000 range, so we're really happy with that result,” Lynn Alexander said after watching the colt out of Spanish Empiress (Empire Maker) sell.

Alexander grew up going to the races with his parents and he and his wife eventually found their way into racehorse ownership in Texas.

“My dad used to take me to the races when I was a kid, my mom and dad were horse race fans,” he explained. “Rovena and I lived in west Texas for 20 years and we were in the car business there and we had horses and we would go to Ruidoso. We just love it.”

About 15 years ago, the couple relocated to Kentucky and purchased the 105-acre Alastar Farm in Nicholasville.

“We're in the car business and the restaurant business,” Alexander said. “And we're in the horse business.”

The Alexanders are focused on building a small, but select, broodmare band.

“We have had as many as 10 broodmares, but now we're down to four,” Alexander said. “We are trying to keep our best mares and breed to the right stallions. We've gone with fewer in quantity and more quality. We are trying to stay small and do quality. We do race, so we will try to sell our colts and keep our best fillies and turn them into our broodmare band.”

Spanish Empiress has a weanling full-brother to the Into Mischief yearling.

“Everything he has runs,” Alexander said of Into Mischief. “It's unbelievable. He's got a full-brother on our farm and we are excited about him. You've got to have the sire power in these sales to bring the right buyers. And you've got to have the right broodmares that can get to the right sires. That's what we are trying to do.”

Also Saturday, Alastar Thoroughbred Company sold a colt by Liam's Map (hip 1126) for $270,000 to Randy Bradshaw.

“We sold a Liam's Map a while ago and we'll stay in on a piece of that one,” Alexander said. “We are racing quite a few right now, too–a lot of them in partnership.”

Best purchased three seven-figure yearlings in Book 1: going to $1.8 million for a son of Curlin (hip 211); $1.4 million for an American Pharoah colt (hip 729) and $1.2 million for son of Into Mischief (hip 948).

Best has already had success with sons of Into Mischief on the racetrack. He campaigns GII Best Pal S. winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Instagrand, as well as GI Del Mar Futurity runner-up Rowayton.

Stonestreet Reinvests

Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables, which sold three seven-figure yearlings in Book 1, reinvested some of those proceeds to take home a filly by Pioneerof the Nile for $700,000 early in Saturday's first session of Book 2. The yearling (hip 1055) is out of graded stakes-placed Live for Now (Tiznow), a half-sister to champion Point Given (Thunder Gulch).

“Barbara was looking for a really nice filly all week and we kept getting outbid on some of those ones,” said Stonestreet's John Moynihan. “She decided she'd take a swing on this one. The filly looks like she'll be early, fast. The Casners bred her and they raise a really good horse.”

The yearling was bred by Susan Casner, who purchased Live for Now for $260,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2012. The mare, who finished second in the 2014 GII Summertime Oaks in the Casners' colors, produced a filly by Frosted this year and was bred back to Uncle Mo.

The Pioneerof the Nile filly was consigned Saturday by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

“That filly was something special,” Duncan Taylor said. “When she walked in, you could just tell she was the class of the group we had down there. And I love the way she is bred with Unbridled and Tiznow, from the In Reality line, and that just always seems to mix and you get a horse that looks like that. You just wish every one you bred could look like her.”

While it was still early in Book 2, Taylor said there were plenty of people shopping at Keeneland.

“There are a lot of lookers and you're always hesitant if the money is going to continue to flow,” he said. “And there will be more of a mixture of horses and prices, but there are still plenty of people here. It's been really busy.”

First Samurai Colt Magic for Elm Tree

Jody Huckabay paid $25,000 to acquire the mare More Than Magic (More Than Ready), in foal to First Samurai, at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton February sale. That First Samurai yearling (hip 1095) went through the sales ring at Keeneland Saturday through Huckabay's Elm Tree Farm consignment and rewarded the investment when selling for $210,000 to SF Bloodstock & Starlight West.

“He was a really nice colt from the time he was born,” Huckabay said of the yearling. “We are really pleased with where he is going. It was a mare that we bought for not a lot of money and we were tickled with what we got.”

More Than Magic is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Street Magician (Street Cry {Ire}).

“We are big, big fans of More Than Ready for sires and for broodmare sires, as well,” Huckabay said of the mare's appeal last winter. “That's the reason we bought her.”

The 12-year-old mare is entered in the November sale, but may not make that date.

“She is in the November sale, but I'm not sure if we are going to sell her,” Huckbay said. “She is in foal to Trappe Shot and has a Not This Time foal beside her that is very, very good as well.”