NEWS: SALES

NY-bred fillies & mares popular in Keeneland Book 2; Pioneerof the Nile weanling on top

Saturday, November 9th, 2019

March X Press (Coglianese Photos)

By Sarah Mace

Keeneland’s Book 2, which spanned Thursday and Friday, November 7 and 8 (sessions two and three), featured a group of very well-received New York-bred racing / broodmare prospects.

The topper was March X Press, a 4-year-old stakes winner by Shanghai Bobby out of Indian Rush who sold Friday for $330,000. Thursday’s priciest New York-bred female was Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes winner Sue’s Fortune who fetched $300,000. The top-selling New York-bred weanling of the sale to date changed hands in Session 2 when Rascal Bloodstock signed a $200,000 ticket for a Pioneerof the Nile filly bred by Highclere Inc. Other mares popular with bidders were On the Good List and Miss Horoscope, each commanding $230,000.

Consigned by ELiTE, agent, and offered as Hip 711 in foal to Tapit on a February 23 cover, March X Press went to Newgate Farm for $330,000. This was her second trip through the Keeneland November sales ring. In 2018, also consigned by ELiTE, she was purchased by Jackpot Farm for $275,000.

Bred by Pine Ridge Stables and foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham, March X Press brought $90,000 from Golconda Stables at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale. March X Press’s signature victory came in the 2017 Bolton Landing Stakes at Saratoga. With two additional stakes placings, she is one of two stakes winners out of Indian Rush. Harlan’s Honor by Harlan’s Holiday won Monmouth’s Colleen Stakes in 2014 and also placed in two more stakes races. Indian Rush is a Kentucky-bred stakes-placed turf runner who earned just shy of $100,000.

Sue’s Fortune, G2 Adirondack (Coglianese Photos)

On Thursday, Breeze Easy, LLC paid $300,000 for that session’s top New York-bred broodmare / racing prospect, Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes winner Sue’s Fortune, by Jump Start (Hip 432). Lane’s End consigned the 3-year-old, who is a homebred for Richard Nicolai’s Fortune Farm and has been trained by Jeremiah Englehart. A winner of three of six starts with one second, the filly has earned $221,700. Sue’s Fortune is out of Kentucky-bred winner Democrat Taxes, by Catienus, who is a full sister to multiple stakes winner Talking Treasure, a New York-bred homebred for Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

The top-selling New York-bred weanling of Book 2 came on Thursday when Rascal Bloodstock signed the ticket for $200,000 to take home Hip 330, a bay filly by Pioneerof the Nile. Bred by Highclere Inc. in partnership with Springtown Show Stables and Pioneerof the Nile Syndicate, she was foaled on May 26, 2019.

Out of Murky Waters (by Storm Creek), the filly is a half-sister to three winners, topped by to Red Vine, a stakes winner by Candy Ride who, inter alia, ran second to Tonalist in the 2015 Grade 1 Cigar Mile. The filly’s second dam is multiple stakes winner Fort Pond, who went on to produce multiple graded stakes winner, millionaire and sire Fort Prado and stakes winner Cammack. Murky Waters last changed hands at public auction, when purchased by Morris Bloodstock Services for $75,000 at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale. The sale filly was consigned by Stuart Morris, agent for Highclere and Partners.

Two more New York-bred racing /broodmare prospects from Book 2 deserve particular mention.

In Thursday’s trading On the Good List (Hip 343) was purchased by West Bloodstock on behalf of Repole Stables for $230,000. A 2-year-old daughter of Speightstown, who has not yet started, On the Good List was bred by Jeffery J. Drown. When originally offered as a yearling, she went to DJ Stables for $175,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale.

At Keeneland she was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. Out of Gift List by Bernardini, On the Good List is a half-sister to Dunbar Road, by Quality Road, winner of this year’s Grade 1 Alabama Stakes. Stakes-winning second dam Private Gift also produced a multiple stakes-winning A. P. Indy filly named Secret Someone. Quality runs deep in this family and there is abundant black type under the third dam, multiple Grade 1 stakes performer Private Stakes.

Matching that $230,000 price tag on Friday, courtesy of buyers Frederick & May, was Miss Horoscope, by Astrology, who was offered as Hip 721 by Warrendale Sales, agent, in foal to Hard Spun on an April 8, 2019 cover. Five-year-old Miss Horoscope foaled a filly by Runhappy this year.

Bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and JMJ Racing, Miss Horoscope was unplaced on the racetrack but issues from a very productive immediate female family. Her dam, Chimichurri (by Elusive Quality), who in 2005 went to Stonestreet Mares for $2.1 million, was purchased by New York Breeding Venture I in 2013 for $52,000 (and has since been resold). A graded stakes winner and Grade 1-placed runner, Chimichurri produced Loving Vindication, the dam of Canadian two- and three-year-old filly champion and Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot. Loving Vindication is also the dam of stakes winner Solemn Tribute. Another daughter of Chimichurri, Chimayo, is the dam of Grade 1 Beholder Mile winner Secret Spice. Yet another daughter Claire’s Song produced Elusive Mischief.

Book 3 of the Keeneland November sale, covering Hips 1101-1938 spans Saturday and Sunday, November 9 and 10. Click here for New York-bred hips and registration status.

Leave a Reply