Keeneland November

With the Breeders' Cup wrapping up an action-packed weekend at Santa Anita, all eyes turn to Lexington for the nation's preeminent breeding stock sales. Keeneland's November sale gets underway Wednesday, and as has become the custom, offers an enticing selection of mares and foals over the course of its five-book run. "For the long-term plan, we are trying to get the quality is there for the buyers we are recruiting, Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. "We spend many months throughout the year meeting our potential customers and...

Maria Sol Aller, who along with Murat Sancal, has been training, buying and selling racehorses for over a decade from their base at Elmendorf Farm, has taken the plunge and will be consigning under her own banner, Green Hills at Elmendorf, for the first time at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. The fledgling consignment could get off to a flyer when it offers a weanling filly by Justify (hip 96) during Book 1 of the auction Wednesday in Lexington. "We've been very busy. We have been buying around 60...

Keeneland has added three horses, including recent Fall Meet winner Halmstad (Nyquist), to its Horses of Racing Age Sale, which brings the single-session auction catalogue set for Friday, Nov. 17 at noon ET to 303, the organization said in a release Thursday morning. Halmstad (hip 4302) scored a 3 3/4-length maiden special weight victory at Keeneland Oct. 27 in his third lifetime start. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, the 3-year-old gelding is a half-brother to SW Spycraft (Discreet Cat) and is out of Sugarcraft, by Bernardini. The other...

It was almost a year ago that Case Clay stepped away from his position at Three Chimneys Farm to focus full-time on his company, Case Clay Thoroughbred Management. With services including bloodstock auction and private purchases, portfolio management and equine insurance, he has stayed busy since going solo. Clay was in Australia for the Inglis Easter Sale this spring to oversee a successful auction for his clients offering yearlings there. They celebrated several lucrative sales, including a Dundeel (NZ) colt out of Kevikki (Aus) (Smart Missile {Aus})--a mare that Clay...

5th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 3:01 p.m. ET. After clocking :10 flat during the OBS March under-tack show, TENNESSEE (Justify) brought $1.2 million as the second topper when the dark bay colt was purchased by Maverick Racing and Siena Farms. Unveiled here, the Brad Cox trainee races for Siena and WinStar Farm, and was purchased by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds for $250,000 at Keeneland September. Out of GSP Zinzay (Smart Strike), who went for $525,000 to Summer Wind Equine back in 2016 during Keeneland November when she carrying eventual SW &...

In some respects, it feels culpably parochial to sieve the forthcoming breeding stock sales in Kentucky for mares of blatant interest to European prospectors. After a generation of insularity, you would hope that a few more people in the Old World may now be renewing their respect for "dirt" blood now that an American Triple Crown winner has come up with a European champion juvenile in only his second crop. But even those who remain benighted in their mistrust of speed-carrying American lines have much to consider in the catalogues...

Keeneland has added a trio of horses--one racing/broodmare prospect and the dams of a pair of current black-type winners, one with Breeders' Cup aspirations--to its upcoming November Sale, beginning Wednesday, Nov. 8. Bellabel (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}), to be offered by Taylor Made, is cataloged as hip 251. A maiden winner in five Irish appearances at two, the dark bay relocated to the U.S. last year and was off to a quick start, with victories in the Blue Norther S. and--following a six-month absence--the GII San Clemente S. as the betting...

5th-Belmont The Big A, $83,700, Msw, 10-14, 2yo, f, 1m (off turf), 1:38.78, sy, 1 1/2 lengths. PURLOIN (f, 2, Arrogate--Smooth Path, by Scat Daddy), a $200,000 Keeneland September yearling turned $400,000 OBS April breezer, was bet down to 6-5 favoritism in a race scratched down to just four entrants when it was washed onto the sloppy main track. Content to trail, but always in touch beneath Kendrick Carmouche, the gray filly raced two wide around the turn, came out and around rivals into the lane and pulled clear in...

Keeneland has cataloged 3,569 horses for its 80th November Breeding Stock Sale, which will begin Wednesday, Nov. 8 and run nine sessions through Thursday, Nov. 16, with the stand-alone November Horses of Racing Age Sale the following day, according to a press release from Keeneland Tuesday morning. Click here for the catalogue for the Breeding Stock Sale, which features proven producers, broodmare prospects who were successful racehorses, and royally bred weanlings at all levels of the market. The auction will open with a single-day Book 1, which begins at 1...

Making his first start since a history-making success in the G1 Dubai World Cup just over six months ago, Kenji Ryotokuji Holdings' Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) prepped for a possible appearance in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Nov. 4 with a comfortable victory in Wednesday's Listed Nippon TV Hai at Funabashi Race Track near Tokyo. Yuga Kawada was at the controls when the 6-year-old rallied from last to become Japan's first World Cup winner on dirt, but settled the blinkered bay much closer to the pace...

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 Saturday running at Hanshin and Nakayama Racecourses. Sunday's horses of note will appear in Saturday's TDN: Saturday, September 23, 2023 3rd-NKY, ¥13,720,000 ($93k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m ACE AND KING (JPN) (c, 2, Yoshida {Jpn}--Curlins B F F, by Curlin) was acquired in utero...

8th-Churchill Downs, $132,590, Alw (NW2X), Opt. Clm ($125,000), 9-20, 3yo, 6f, 1:09.15, ft, 2 3/4 lengths. GIANT MISCHIEF (c, 3, Into Mischief--Vertical Oak {MGSW, $773,095}, by Giant Oak) made a triumphant return off a near seven-month absence, landing this stakes-quality sprint in sharp fashion. The 7-5 favorite was off fairly and was hustled along early, but did not quite have speed enough to head them off and settled on the heels of the leaders to the turn. Angled away from the inside and into the four path going ominously well...