Keeneland photo
By Sarah Mace
The top-selling weanling of Tuesday’s Session 7 of the 2019 Keeneland November sale, and the top-New York-bred of Book 4, was Hip 2598, a filly by Kantharos bred by Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin. Consigned by Galvin’s Hunter Valley Farm, the chestnut, who was foaled on February 5, 2019, was purchased by Pink N Blue Stable for $160,000. The filly’s dam Cassidy’s Reward was purchased with the filly in utero for $50,000 at the same sale last year and brought to New York to foal. This was her first foal.
Galvin elaborated. “We were really drawn to the cover sire more than anything. She was a resident New York mare when we bought her, so I sent her back up to my father-in-law, Joe McMahon [at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds] and foaled her out in New York. She’s now back in Kentucky and back in foal to Kantharos.”
Galvin also commented on the filly’s ‘New York-bred appeal.’ “[The weanling’s New York-bred status] adds value to pretty much any horse. You’re running for a great program. You have the nice New York yearling sale up there in the summer. It’s definitely an appeal for pinhookers to resell and for end-users. The buyer has options for both, I think.”
Galvin’s said of the Kantharos weanling “She’s beautiful, with a great shape and a smooth mover. She really stood out among the weanlings in our barn.”
First dam Cassidy’s Reward (by Warrior’s Reward) is a Louisiana-bred winner by Warrior’s Reward out of stakes performer Look Upon. She is a half-sister multiple stakes winning New York-bred Shine Upon, by Congaree, who was bred by Berkshire Stud. Shine Upon went on to produce Tiz Time to Shine, winner of the Aspirant Stakes at Finger Lakes in 2014. Cassidy’s Reward is also a half-sister to multiple graded stakes performer Keep the Peace. The filly’s third dam is stakes winner Notice Me. This is also the extended family of stakes winners Kona Way, Give Notice Brigand and Sky Music.
Through the first four books of this year’s Keeneland November sale (seven sessions of 12), the cumulative indicators for the New York-bred cohort are solid.
The New York-bred average price is $78,248 and, as expected for a sale weighted early toward superstar seven-figure horses, the overall cumulative sale price is higher: $111,392. More significant, the New York-bred median price of $45,000 median is close to the overall median of $50,000. With 67 head sold of 88 offered the New York-bred buyback percentage is 23.9%, a tick below the cumulative RNA rate of 24.0%
Books 5-6 of the Keeneland November sale, will be held Wednesday through Sunday. Sessions begin at 10 a.m. Click here for New York-bred hips and registration status.
