Justify

By Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale continued with strong demand during a lively session of bidding Thursday in Lexington. The auction's first of two Book 2 sessions concluded with both average and median up and the buy-back rate down from the corresponding session in 2020. "Incredible," Keeneland's Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said of Thursday's action. "It was a really vibrant market again today. I think people were a little frustrated in buying, but we had a lot of happy...

The Eaton Sales-consigned Satin and Silk (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}--Wildwood Flower, by Langfuhr) got the opening session of the Keeneland November Sale off to a quick start, hammering to Claiborne Farm for $1.4 million in the first half-hour of bidding. Cataloged as hip 13, Satin and Silk was bred by John Gunther and was purchased by M. V. Magnier for 900,000gns ($1,237,289) at the 2018 Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale. A daughter of SW & GSP Wildwood Flower, Satin and Silk is a half-sister to 'TDN Rising Star' and GI Florida...

One day after Coolmore released its star-studded Ashford Stud stallion roster and fees for the 2022 breeding season, Coolmore's nomination sales head Adrian Wallace joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Wallace talked about his upbringing in the Irish racing and breeding world, the surging Munnings and Caravaggio and early returns on Triple Crown winner Justify. Asked about Munnings, whose stud fee has jumped all the way from $40,000 to $85,000 in recent years, Wallace...

Coolmore has released its 2022 stud fees for stallions standing at Ashford Farm in Kentucky. Uncle Mo remains at the top of the roster at $160,000--down slightly from an advertised fee of $175,000 for the 2021 breeding season. The champion juvenile has been represented this year by the likes of GI Forego S. winner Yaupon; streaking turf miler Mo Forza; and brilliant turf sprinter Golden Pal. Triple Crown winner Justify, whose first yearlings have been well received this year at an average of $393,713 and with multiple seven-figure sellers, will...

We've all seen those old thrillers where the sports car is twisting along a road cut into a coastal cliff, and suddenly one of the wheels is spinning over the sea far below. Well, that's pretty much how it feels when a commercial breeder decides to bring home a Book 1 yearling at $385,000. In both cases, you're putting an awful lot of trust in horsepower, admittedly in its sleekest form, getting you back on the road. Unlike Cary Grant in North By Northwest, however, you don't even have the...

There are folks who sound like broken records when it comes to first-crop sires, complaining that breeders who use them and buyers purchasing those yearlings at auction are about as foolish as dunk-tank clowns. However, when one of those sires succeeds with his first 2-year-olds, those same people are usually the first to wax eloquent with platitudes, forgetting what they'd said earlier. That's human nature, I suppose. What they forget is that all sires start out with first crops, and there are people on the other end that wildcat for...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - Bidding was fast and frenetic when the first of two Book 2 sessions of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale opened Wednesday in Lexington, producing the auction's highest-priced offering yet when a colt by City of Light (hip 612) sold for $1.7 million to the partnership of Woodford Racing, Talla Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds. "That was amazing," an ebullient Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said at the close of business Wednesday. "That was one of the best sale days...

A colt from the first crop of Triple Crown winner Justify (Hip 580) became his sire's first seven-figure offspring in North America when summoning $1.55 million from Talla Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds. Trainer John Sadler was standing alongside West Point's Terry Finley as he signed the ticket. Bred and consigned by Stonehaven Steadings, the bay colt is out of GSP True Feelings (Latent Heat), who is already the dam of SW Feeling Mischief (Into Mischief) and GSP Royal Act (American Pharoah).

by Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, led by a trio of million-dollar yearlings, opened with a day of steady trade in Lexington Monday. A total of 95 yearlings sold during the session for $38,172,000, at an average of $401,811 and a median of $325,000. "I think the trade was really strong," Keeneland's new vice president of sales Tony Lacy said at the close of business Monday. "The numbers may have stacked very comparably to last year, but I think there...

Since 2012, Ecurie des Monceaux has had a stranglehold of the top consignor spot at the Arqana August Yearling Sale. The only unusual thing about last year was the fact that the auction was not actually held in August, with Covid complications forcing it to be renamed the Select Sale and held in mid-September. Otherwise, it was business as usual for Henri Bozo and his team, who sold 32 yearlings for €10,682,000.  Almost a quarter of that sum was given for the Dubawi (Ire) filly out of one of Monceaux's...

The energy seems to be building by the hour now that the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Sale yearlings are in place as buyers sift through the barns surrounding the famed Humphrey S. Finney Pavilion. There's much to look forward to in this 100th edition of the auction, including a sample of the highly-anticipated first crop of yearlings from Triple Crown champion Justify (Scat Daddy - Stage Magic, by Ghostzapper). With 10 sons and daughters of Justify currently slated to go through the sales ring, these youngsters represent the first book of...

There have been several horses over the past 100 years of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale to summon big price tags, eclipsing the $500,000 mark, in the Humphrey S. Finney pavilion and then go on to be quite successful on the racetrack. The siblings of four such Thoroughbreds are part of the catalogue for the famed auction's centennial edition to be held at the Spa Aug. 9-10. The 2017 GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (Tapit) summoned $1.2-million at the Saratoga Sale back in 2015 from a partnership comprised of Bridlewood Farm,...