Numbers Strong as Book 2 Ends

by Jessica Martini and Brian DiDonato

Book 2 of the Keeneland November sale wrapped up in Lexington Tuesday with continued year-over-year strength based on average and median. A total of 224 horses changed hands during the sale’s fourth session for a combined $25,013,000. The average of $111,665 was up 7.91% from last year’s corresponding figure of $103,476, while the median rose 5.88% from $85,000 to $90,000. Thursday’s RNA rate was 27.74%, up slightly from 25.98% 12 months ago.

“Overall, I thought today’s session was very good,” offered Keeneland’s Director of Sales Geoffrey Russell. “We had nine horses over $300,000, compared to five last year. So that shows the consistent strength at the top of the market. Foals sold exceptionally well today.”

For the two sessions comprising Book 2, 453 horses brought $55,801,000 at an average price of $123,181. Last year’s Book 2 saw 516 head sell for an average of $106,691, for a difference of 15.5%.

Cumulatively, 732 purchases have yielded gross receipts of $164,679,000. The average is $224,971–up 9.13% from $191,260; while the median is at $137,500–a 30.95% rise from 2014. This year’s buy-back rate so far is 27.74% vs. 25.98%.

The day’s top price was the $675,000 paid by Claiborne Farm Bloodstock for the 3-year-old racing or broodmare prospect Don’tforgetaboutme (Malibu Moon). The half-sister to MGISP Beautician (Dehere) was consigned by Four Star Sales on behalf of JSM Equine LLC and Greathouse Horse Properties LLC as hip 978.

The weanling topper was a $350,000 Scat Daddy filly (hip 1145) offered by Reilly McDonald’s Eaton Sales and purchased by Jimmy Crupi’s New Castle. Foals have sold particularly well all week.

“The foal market has started to change a little bit,” Russell said. “It used to be just for resale value and now we are starting to see some end-users come in and participate in the foal market. We had that before, they went away and now they seem to be coming back again. It’s not just pinhookers buying foals, there are some end-users there. And that’s good. It’s good for the market and it’s good for the industry.”

Selling continues from Friday through to next Friday.

“We’re starting to see a different buyer profile coming up, but the major buyers are still here buying horses–Stonestreet is still here, Don Alberto is still here, so you’re still seeing them, but you’re starting to see new people come onto the sheets, so that bodes well for the continuation of the sale since we’ll be here for another week,” Russell said looking forward. “We would like to see more foreign participation. We saw good Korean and Chilean participation [Thursday], but that will now be the next level where we will get to see what effect the strength of the U.S. dollar will have starting probably with Book 3 onwards.”

For complete results, visit keeneland.com.

War Front Date for Don’tforgetaboutme

Don’tforgetaboutme (Malibu Moon) will join the Claiborne Farm broodmare band with an expected visit to War Front next spring after selling for $675,000 during Thursday’s session of the Keeneland November sale.

The 3-year-old filly (hip 978) was a maiden winner at Churchill Downs in April and added a Monmouth allowance before concluding her racing career in the GI Cotillion S. Out of Caroni (Rubiano), Don’tforgetaboume is a half-sister to multiple Grade I placed Beautician (Dehere) and to stakes winner Bella Castani (Big Brown). Her juvenile half-brother Mo Tom (Uncle Mo) captured last week’s Street Sense S. at Churchill Downs.

“It’s a great family–there is a lot going on,” said Claiborne’s Walker Hancock. “You never know what that 2-year-old Uncle Mo is going to do and Beautician, she could produce anything. There is a lot going on in the family and we’re excited to have her.”

Of the filly’s final price tag, Hancock said, “I think she is worth it. She’s a beautiful filly and we really love the page. [The market] is strong–it’s tough to buy top quality, as you just saw. We thought maybe we could get her a little cheaper, but that wasn’t a surprise at all that we had to pay a little bit more for her.”

Don’tforgetaboutme was consigned by Four Star Sales on behalf of JSM Equine and Greathouse Horse Properties, which purchased the filly for $725,000 at the 2013 Keeneland September sale. @JessMartiniTDN

Don Alberto Buys and Flies

The Heller-Solari family’s Don Alberto Corp. scooped up the regally bred Patsy Boyne (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) for $480,000 Thursday, and right after signing the ticket, owner Carlos Heller, along with advisor Fernando Diaz-Valdes, rushed out of the sales pavilion to catch a plane. The 4-year-old filly, offered as hip 1159 in foal to none other than the red-hot Scat Daddy, was consigned by John Stuart’s Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services on behalf of John Moores and Charles Noell’s Merriebelle Stable (click here for more on Merriebelle).

Bred in Ireland by Tower Bloodstock, Patsy Boyne is a half-sister to the late international superstar and top sire High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), as well as Group 2 winner and GISP Black Bear Island (Ire). She was acquired by Merriebelle after she RNA’d for 260,000gns as a Tattersalls October weanling in 2012. The bay closed from far back to complete the exacta in her racetrack debut for Graham Motion over the Meadowlands turf in 2013.

“She unfortunately hurt herself first time out, but she ran a good second,” noted Stuart. “[Don Alberto] made a good buy. That’s a beautifully bred filly… That was the best-bred mare in the sale [Thursday].”

Stuart also sold hip 950, a Scat Daddy weanling filly, on behalf of Merriebelle (see ‘Siena Gets Handsome Mike Sis’ below for more). Siena Farms purchased her.

“We got lucky with the mating–there’s Scat Daddy fever here,” Stuart said.

Don Alberto, which purchased $3-million sale-topping Angela Renee (Bernardini) at Sunday evening’s Fasig-Tipton November sale, added three more mares at Keeneland for a total of $715,000. The Chilean-based operation, which was leading buyer here in both 2013 and 2014 after purchasing the former Vinery Farm, recently repatriated top stallion Empire Maker from Japan, and will stand him at Gainesway in 2016 in partnership with that farm. @BDiDonato

Crupi Double Dips

Jimmy Crupi, who made two seven-figure purchases on behalf of an unidentified client earlier in the sale, sprang into action to acquire back-to-back offerings for that same client Thursday. Crupi first paid $350,000 for hip 1145, a weanling daughter of Scat Daddy out of Obsequious (Fusaichi Pegasus), and followed up with a winning bid of $310,000 when the multiple graded stakes placed mare herself came into the ring as hip 1146.

“I thought the she was a lovely horse,” Crupi said of the weanling. “She had a big walk and I love Scat Daddy–she looked like a typical Scat Daddy. She’ll go to my farm in Ocala. She’ll be raced and then go into our breeding program.”

Crupi admitted the weanling was a major selling point for the mare, who sold in foal to Scat Daddy.

Crupi said Obsequious would be bred next year to recently retired GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song).

The weanling, bred by Andrew Farm, and her dam were consigned by Eaton Sales. @JessMartiniTDN

A Queen for Competitive Edge

Mississippi Queen (Artie Schiller) is in line to visit recently retired Competitive Edge at Ashford next season after selling for $360,000 during Thursday’s fourth session of the Keeneland November sale. Blandford Stud’s Padraig Campion made the winning bid on behalf of a “longtime client.”

“He called me this morning to buy her specifically to breed to Competitive Edge,” Campion explained.

Mississippi Queen (hip 1115), consigned by James Keogh’s Grovendale, is a half-sister to Grade I winner Asi Siempre (El Prado {Ire}), the dam of group winner and Group and Grade I placed Outstrip (GB) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}).

“She’s from a great family,” Campion said of the 4-year-old mare, who sold in foal to Uncle Mo. “All the fillies in the pedigree are really well-mated–there are three Dubawis to come.”

Mississippi Queen was purchased by Badgers Bloodstock for 70,000gns ($115,608) at last year’s Tattersalls December sale. Of her $360,000 price tag Thursday, Campion admitted, “We were just at the edge of where we were going to go, but we’re happy to get her. Quality is selling at this sale. Quality always sells.” @JessMartiniTDN

Free Money Brings a Lot of It

Kempton Bloodstock’s Steve Castagnola, acting on behalf of the Albaugh Family Stable, stretched to $325,000 yesterday for hip 1014, the stakes-placed Free Money (Street Sense). Consigned by James Keogh’s Grovendale, Agent IV, the 4-year-old sold on a highly coveted covering from record-breaking freshman sire Uncle Mo.

“The mare could run, being a stakes-placed winner in California,” Castagnola explained. “We thought she was a great physical, and we’ve been trying to find a mare in foal to Uncle Mo, but it’s been extremely competitive. There’s a lot going on in this pedigree. Shug McGaughey has a 2-year-old up in New York [in unraced full-brother Doctor Mounty, a $170,000 OBS June juvenile], her yearling half-brother by Curlin brought $430,000 in September [from Altamira]. The mare’s being bred well, and it’s just a very active, young family. Hopefully we can get a good Uncle Mo out of her.”

This is also the family of this year’s GII Indiana Derby winner Tiz Shea D (Tiznow) and MSW A. P. Indian (Indian Charlie).

“Young mares, good-looking mares that can run, and obviously the covering sires are very prevalent to what these horses are bringing,” Castagnola said when asked about a strong market for particularly young mares. “It’s extremely competitive–when somebody brings something up here that’s sexy, and commercial–has the flavor of the month, so-to-speak, like [Free Money], they’re tough to buy.”

Dennis Albaugh and Jason Loutsch’s Albaugh Family Stable is the breeder of GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner, new Lane’s End stallion and ‘TDN Rising Star’ Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song); and campaigns GI Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity winner and GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile third Brody’s Cause (Giant’s Causeway).

Free Money, a $75,000 KEESEP yearling in 2012, finished third in a grassy Santa Rosa stakes event for Mark DeDomenico, Polivka Equine Holdings and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer last July. She was purchased out of a victorious effort at Santa Anita Jan. 19 by trainer Leonard Powell and the bay was off the board in one subsequent effort before being retired.

“She was already stakes-placed, and there were a lot of things happening in the family,” Southern California-based Powell said when reached by phone Thursday. “Plus, my brother-in-law [Arnaud Delacour] trains A. P. Indian, and I knew about him.”

Free Money is out of a full-sister to MSW and MGSP Ender’s Sister (A. P. Indy), who produced both Tiz Shea D and A. P. Indian.

At the time of Free Money’s acquisition, A. P. Indian had been off for just about a year and had last been conditioned by Rusty Arnold on behalf of breeder Green Lantern Stables. Transferred to Delacour, A. P. Indian proceeded to air in a Tampa optional claimer Feb. 27 before stretching out to miss by a nose in a local affair Apr. 8. Cut back to six panels for Monmouth’s Decathlon S. May 9, he bested eventual GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint third Favorite Tale (Tale of the Cat) by 2 3/4 lengths, good for a 105 Beyer Speed Figure. The 5-year-old added the Donald Levine Memorial H. at Parx in June, and was most recently off the board in Keeneland’s GIII Phoenix S. Oct. 2.  –@BDiDonato

Siena Gets Handsome Mike Sis

Siena Farms went to $270,000 early in Thursday’s Keeneland November session for a Scat Daddy weanling full-sister to GII Pennsylvania Derby winner and millionaire Awesome Mike. Catalogued as hip 950, the dark bay was consigned by John Stuart’s Bluegrass Thoroughbreds on behalf of John Moores and Charles Noell’s Merriebelle Stable.

“The Scat Daddys have been winning a lot of races, and she’s a full-sister to a Grade II winner, so we really liked the filly,” offered Siena general manager and co-owner Nacho Patino, who was accompanied by Siena chairman and principal Anthony Manganaro. “I think she’s a pretty filly.”

Coolmore resident Scat Daddy has been represented by no fewer than six juvenile graded/group stakes winners this year, including GI Frizette S. heroine Nickname and G2 Queen Mary S. romper and G1 Nunthorpe S. runner-up Acapulco.

“It’s been a little tough,” Patino said when asked about what seems to be a very strong weanling market. “Some of the good horses have been a little tough to buy. We tried to buy a couple yesterday and didn’t have any luck, but we ended up paying a little less than we thought we’d have to for this filly. I thought it was a good buy for us.”

Patino said hip 950 would most likely be kept to race.

Siena also added a $120,000 Bodemeister filly (hip 908) from the family of MGISW Artemis Agrotera (Roman Ruler); an $80,000 Into Mischief filly (hip 1226); and a $140,000 Kitten’s Joy miss (hip 1254) out of a half-sister to MGISW Switch (Quiet American) Thursday. They acquired a daughter of Tapit (hip 356) from the Hill ‘n’ Dale consignment Tuesday for $350,000.

After Sunday evening’s Fasig-Tipton November sale, Siena should have plenty of money to spend. Their well-related Grade I-winner Angela Renee (Bernardini) brought a sale-topping
$3 million from Don Alberto Corporation (click here for more). @BDiDonato

Orb Filly for Stonestreet

Stonestreet Stables went to $270,000 to secure a weanling filly from the first crop of GI Kentucky Derby winner Orb during Thursday’s session of the Keeneland November sale. The weanling, consigned by Warrendale Sales, is out of multiple stakes placed Pastel Gal (Lemon Drop Kid), who was purchased by Charlie Bolin’s Frederick and May Construction for $190,000 at last year’s Keeneland January sale. Frederick and May is breeder of the weanling (hip 1154).

“She’s a beautiful filly with a great hip and the Orbs have been well-received,” said Warrendale Sales’ Kitty Taylor. “The reserve was way, way below that and we just had a lot of great activity on her.”

Hip 1154 was the second highest-priced Orb at the November sale. The Claiborne stallion, who stands for $25,000, was also represented by a $300,000 colt (hip 333) Tuesday. Eleven weanlings by the Derby winner have sold at Keeneland so far, averaging $148,818 with a median of $150,000.

“The Orbs are beautiful,” Taylor, who also sold a colt by the sire (hip 267) for $180,000, said. “They have beautiful bodies–he just puts a strong hip and gaskin on them. My experience is that people love them.”

Taylor added competition was strong for the perceived top weanlings.

“The top weanlings are very competitive,” she said. “Some of the other weanlings, if they don’t jump through all the hoops and have all the bells and whistles, it can be a little bit not quite as strong.” @JessMartiniTDN