Larry Best

by Jessica Martini, Christie DeBernardis and Brian DiDonato LEXINGTON, KY- Bidding remained steady as Book 2 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale concluded Wednesday in Lexington. Andrew Cary made the session's most expensive purchase, going to $500,000 to acquire the mare Contributing (Medaglia d'Oro) from the Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency consignment on behalf of Coteau Grove Farms. Weanlings held the next six top prices of the session and, for the third straight day of the sale, Justify was responsible for the top-priced foal when Chris Baccari went to...

by Jessica Martini, Brian DiDonato & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale's two-session Book 2 opened Tuesday in Lexington with solid trade and a varied bench of domestic and international buyers. Bloodstock agent Arthur Hoyeau made the day's highest bid, going to $975,000 to acquire the group-winning mare Pollara (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) from the Claiborne Farm consignment. The 5-year-old mare was one of five to sell for $500,000 or more during Tuesday's session. Six reached that level at last year's first Book 2 session. In...

by Brian DiDonato, Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--OXO Equine's Larry Best took home the top two lots Monday during the lone Book 1 session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. Early in the day he went to $1.9 million for Indian Miss (Indian Charlie) (hip 32), the dam of champion sprinter Mitole (Eskendereya) and last Friday's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile runner-up Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), in foal to Into Mischief and from the Hill 'n' Dale consignment; and towards the end of the session he paid $1.95...

Larry Best continued his spending spree during the early stages of breeding stock sales season, going to a session-leading $1.95 million to secure 2019 GI Belmont Oaks Invitational S. winner Concrete Rose (Twirling Candy) at Keeneland November Monday. The 4-year-old filly, a daughter of GI Humana Distaff S. runner-up Temple Street (Street Cry {Ire}), was consigned to the sale by Lane's End as agent for Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing as hip 216 and took Best's purchases Monday to four horses for gross receipts of $4.54 million. Best also signed...

by Brian DiDonato, Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY--With four of the day's nine million-dollar-plus horses selling in the final dozen or so hips to be offered, the second and final session of Book 1 of the Keeneland September yearling sale finished strong. The session topper and likely sale topper was hip 435, a son of Tapit out of the GISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Tara's Tango (Unbridled's Song) offered by Eaton Sales on behalf of Stonestreet Bred & Raised and acquired by a partnership between Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners,...

Instagrand (Into Mischief--Assets of War, by Lawyer Ron), a 'TDN Rising Star' and blowout winner of the GII Best Pal S. in 2018, has been retired to Taylor Made Stallions for the 2021 breeding season. He will stand for a fee of $7,500. Instagrand earned his 'Rising Star' after graduating by 10 lengths at first asking at Los Alamitos, covering five furlongs in a swift :56 flat, before validating that performance with a 10 1/4-length romp in the Best Pal. At three, he finished third off a seven-month absence in...

OXO Equine's Travel Column (Frosted) sailed to an impressive 4 1/4-length debut win at Churchill Downs Friday and was quickly awarded the 'TDN Rising Star' label. Sent off at 9-2, the gray filly was third in the early strides as Off We Go (Air Force Blue) jumped out to the early lead. Off We Go briefly had a clear advantage, but Travel Column, racing keenly, rushed up to press the pacesetter through fractions of :21.27 and :44.42. She surged to the lead at the top of the stretch and was...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, an auction most people seemed happy could even be held following all of the uncertainties of the global pandemic, concluded its four-day run in Central Florida with a pair of seven-figure transactions book-ending the session. Early in the day, Kaleem Shah purchased a son of Quality Road for $1.25 million from the Wavertree Stables consignment and, with only a handful of lots left to offer, Larry Best secured a colt by Speighster for...

A New York-bred colt from the first crop of Speightster lit up the board late Friday at OBS as he garnered a $1.1-million final bid from Christina Jelm, who was acting on behalf of Larry Best's OXO Equine LLC. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin as hip 1312, the :20 4/5 breezer turned in a strong gallop out that caught plenty of eyes. A supplemental entry to the OBS Spring sale, the son of MSP Auspicious (Indian Charlie)--already named Fortunate Son--was a $110,000 Saratoga York-bred yearling purchase by McCrocklin.

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency HALF TO BRILL DEBUTS IN ARCADIA 9th-SA, $55K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m 1mT, 7:39p.m. Larry Best's OXO Equine went to $420,000 at KEENOV to acquire MADISON PARC (Curlin) and she makes her debut in this spot. Out of SW Hung the Moon (Malibu Moon), she is a half-sister to Best's SW & GISP 'TDN Rising Star' Brill (Medaglia d'Oro), who topped FTKJUL at $1 million. TJCIS PPs

The early race card at Santa Anita had a decidedly Midwest flair Saturday as the winners of the first three races of the day were bred by Missouri-resident Allen Poindexter and two of the three winners were Iowa-breds. The streak began with 15-1 shot Posit (Cairo Prince)'s half-length win in an optional claimer; continued with the debut victory of OBS June topper Clivetty (Into Mischief) (video) and concluded with 'TDN Rising Star' Auberge (Palace)'s 2 1/4-length allowance win (video). "I wasn't sure about Posit in the first, but I thought...

2nd-Santa Anita, $55,000, Msw, 2-1, 3yo, f, 7f, 1:25.48, ft. CLIVETTY (f, 3, Into Mischief--Rosemonde, by Indian Charlie) brought $375,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and RNA'd for $400,000 at OBS the following March, but returned to the Ocala auction ring in June, topping the sale at $900,000 after breezing in a snappy :20 4/5. Sent off at 5-1 in this career bow, the hulking bay filly was off a half-step slow and trailed the quintet as Eyes Open (Street Sense) clocked early splits of :22.37 and...