An exceptional renewal of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale concluded last month with gross sales of $352 million for 2,672 yearlings. The sale average of $132,045 is a nearly 30% increase from last year’s sale and surpasses the $129,331 record set in 2018, while the sale median was also a record-setting $65,000, up over 75% from last year’s sale and well clear of the $57,000 record set in 2017.
Despite the record prices, there were still plenty of horses well beneath the sale average that caught my attention, and I’ll be sharing thoughts on a few such horses from sessions 3-8 here.
Hip #511 c. Bolt d’Oro x Rich Love (Not For Love) – $85,000 to Tom McCrocklin for Solana Beach Stables
I love the breeding on the dam of this colt. As a daughter of Not For Love out of a Polish Numbers mare, Rich Love is inbred 3×3 to a blue hen mare from family 1-x, Numbered Account. This is the same pattern displayed by the dam of champion California Chrome. Additionally, G1 winner Starship Truffles and stakes winners Bless Candy and Culebron are out of mares inbred to Numbered Account. This female family is also quite productive, particularly a bit deeper back. Hip 511’s 5th dam, La Basque, is a half-sister to champion Heavenly Cause, herself a very successful producer.
This colt has two winning siblings from three to race, including one by Medaglila d’Oro’s son Atreides, indicating that this mare has been successful with this sireline. The El Prado sireline has done well with mares by Not For Love: of 32 starters on the cross, 28 (88%) are winners and 4 (13%) are stakes winners. Medaglia d’Oro himself accounts for only one of these winners, but his son Violence has produced stakes winner Heart Full of Soul out of a Not For Love mare. El Prado’s son Kitten’s Joy has produced three stakes winners, including a graded stakes winner, from three different daughters of Not For Love.
I like Bolt d’Oro’s prospects as a stallion: he was a gutsy and consistent racehorse and he comes from the brilliant sire family 13-c. Mr. Prospector, Seattle Slew, Candy Ride, Forestry, Elusive Quality, and Quality Road are just a handful of the stallions to come from this female line, all tracing back to the great early 20th century mare Frizette. Bolt d’Oro is heavily linebred to this family. In addition to his tail-female line, he has a member of family 13-c in the third generation on both sides of his pedigree – Medaglia d’Oro’s damsire Bailjumper and A.P. Indy’s sire Seattle Slew (who was himself inbred to family 1-x via his dam’s sire, Poker, and damsire, Jet Action). Quality Road, Candy Ride, Seattle Slew, and successful regional stallion Uptowncharlybrown all have multiple sources of their tail-female line, so I consider this a good sign for Bolt d’Oro.
Hip #1772 f. Bolt d’Oro x Back Flip (Super Saver) – $70,000 to Elusive Thoroughbreds
There’s a lot of interesting linebreeding on both sides and in the whole of the pedigree here.
Back Flip is inbred to family 1-x’s Dance Number (a daughter of Numbered Account) via her sire Super Saver and her damsire Not For Love. Back Flip’s second damsire, Irish Open, is also from family 1-x, tracing back to Dance Number’s fourth dam, Striking. See my notes on Hip #511 for more on inbreeding to La Troienne and the linebreeding in Bolt d’Oro’s pedigree.
I love that this mare is from the same female family as Bolt d’Oro’s sire, Medaglia d’Oro – both Medaglia d’Oro and Back Flip’s 8th dam is the St. Germans mare Lazy Susan, of family 9-b. Additionally, Medaglia d’Oro’s second damsire Silent Screen’s fourth dam is Lazy Susan. This filly is also linebred to Bruce Lowe family 1-l, as El Prado’s dam, Lady Capulet, is a 3/4 sister to Drone, the fourth damsire of Backflip.
Hip #1944 c. Munnings x Kelton’s Way (Medaglia d’Oro) – $65,000 to Sicada Stables
I love the cross of Speightstown with Medaglia d’Oro. Both come from family 9-b: Speighstown’s 9th dam Idle Fancy is Medaglia d’Oro’s 11th dam (and the 7th dam of Medaglia d’Oro’s second damsire Silent Screen). Munnings alone has produced 2 stakes winners (11%) and 17 winners (89%) from 19 starters out of mares by Medaglia d’Oro. Including Speightstown and his other sons, this stays fairly steady with 7 stakes winners (12%) and 49 winners (87%) from 56 starters.
This female family has shown success with Speightstown, with G3 winner Bobby’s Wicked One under the second dam. Also, this colt’s dam is inbred 5×4 to Special, the dam of Nureyev and second dam of Sadlers Wells. Mares with this specific pedigree pattern (by stallions from the Sadlers Wells sireline with Nureyev on the dam’s side) have produced 5% stakes winners from 1669 runners since January of 2011, including multiple G1 winners such as The Grey Gatsby, Suavito, and Marinaresco.
Hip #2379 f. Munnings x Last Dance (Revolutionary) – $50,000 to Ready Made Racing
This filly is by family 1-x’s Munnings out of a mare by another stallion from family 1-x, Revolutionary. She’s from a very deep female family that includes G3 winner Speightster (by Munnings’ sire Speightstown) under her second dam. I think this filly will have a lot of residual value as a broodmare even after her racing days are over.
Hip #2171 f. Violence x Wide Range (Mineshaft) – $45,000 to George Sharp
There’s a lot to like about this filly’s pedigree. Most apparent from a quick glance at the catalog is that she is out of a half-sister to champion Songbird, a daughter of Violence’s sire Medaglia d’Oro. She’s also a half-sister to graded stakes winning sprinter Mico Margarita.
This filly’s dam is also bred very similarly to the talented racehorse and sire Pulpit, a half-brother to Hip 2171’s second damsire West Acre by Mineshaft’s sire A.P. Indy. From 51 starters out of mares from the A.P. Indy sire line, Violence has produced 35 (69%) winners and 4 (8%) stakes winners, including stakes winners Silver Strike and Cicatrix by Pulpit. Violence has produced G1 winner No Parole and stakes winners Louder Than Bombs and Heart Full of Soul out of mares by stallions from family 1-x, like Mineshaft.
Hip #2652 c. Goldencents x City in the Sky (Sky Classic) – $40,000 to Colonial Bloodstock
This colt’s pedigree is all about family 23-b, with Into Mischief, Sky Classic, and City in the Sky all coming from the same tail-female line. Into Mischief and City in the Sky share their fifth dam, Patelin. Sky Classic’s tenth dam, Kildeer, is the 7th dam of Patelin.
Another interesting linebreeding note on this colt is to family 1-l via Stage Door Johnny (the third damsire of City in the Sky) and Banker’s Gold (the damsire of Goldencents), who share the 10th dam Paraffin. Both Goldencents and his grandsire Harlan’s Holiday are from family 4-m, an additional strain of which is introduced by the presence of Bull Page as the damsire of City in the Sky’s grandsire Nijinsky.
Hip #1564 c. Lookin at Lucky x Magical Ride (Storm Cat) – $35,000 RNA
Both Lookin at Lucky and Magical Ride are from family 9-f and trace tail-female to the 19th century mare The Apple. I like that Magical Ride has shown success with Smart Strike and his son Curlin, as well as with other stallions from the Mr. Prospector sire line. This mare has produced eight winners from ten foals to race, including stakes winner Space Mountain and G1 placed Ride on Curlin.
Lookin at Lucky has produced Kentucky Derby winner Country House and millionaire graded stakes winner Breaking Lucky from his own female family. Additionally, Lookin at Lucky nicks A++ with mares by Storm Cat, with 25% stakes winners and 75% winners from twelve starters. All three stakes winners are out of unique daughters of Storm Cat.
Hip #2102 c. War Front x Squeal (Tiznow) – Private Sale $20,000 to Shamington Farms
This colt is linebred very interestingly to family 3-o’s Foggy Note (the third dam of War Front’s damsire Rubiano and the dam of Tiznow’s paternal grandsire Relaunch). War Front has proven to work well with mares carrying Relaunch, producing 6.7% stakes winners from 104 runners out of mares with Relaunch. Both of War Front’s foals out of mares by Tiznow are graded stakes winners.
In addition to the linebreeding to Foggy Note, this colt comes from a productive branch of family 1-x, with multiple graded stakes winners under the second dam. War Front has produced multiple graded stakes winner On Leave, graded stakes placed winners Commend and Vici, stakes placed winners Crafty Dreamer, War Prospector, and Gaelico from family 1-x.
Better Talk Now, by Jessica Tugwell 