Grade 2 winner Central Banker will enter stud next year in New York at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, which purchased the 4-year-old son of Speightstown for $400,000 during Monday’s seventh session of Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale (Hip 2494). The amount was the highest price paid during the session.
Claiborne Farm, agent, consigned Central Banker, the third-to-last horse offered Monday. He is out of the stakes-winning Go for Gin mare Rhum and is a half-brother to Grade 2 winner Gantry and stakes-placed Song of Pirates.
Mike McMahon said the purchase price “was a little higher” than initially planned, “but it’s competitive to buy stallions. He’s a very nice Speightstown, just a beautifully balanced horse.”
Among Central Banker’s four wins in 13 starts was this year’s Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes. In 2013, he was second in the Grade 1 Malibu and third in the Grade 1 Foxwoods King’s Bishop. Central Banker earned $598,786.
With the purchase of Central Banker, McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds was the session’s leading buyer.
