Abel Tasman to sell at Keeneland January

The champion Abel Tasman, winner of the 2017 Kentucky Oaks, will be offered as a broodmare prospect at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale, a major boost for the four-day mixed auction.

Abel Tasman, who was retired following an 11th-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Distaff on Nov. 4 at Churchill Downs, will go through the ring on Monday, Jan. 7, the opening day of the sale. She will be consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of co-owners Clearsky Farm and China Horse Club. Clearsky bred Abel Tasman, with China Horse Club buying into the filly early in her 3-year-old season. Sending a high-profile horse through public auction is a common way to fairly dissolve partnerships such as these - as was the case earlier this month, when Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Farm bought out partners in champion Lady Aurelia, who led the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale for $7.5 million.

"Abel Tasman was the hallmark of consistency with outstanding performances from coast to coast throughout her three seasons of racing," Bob Elliston, Keeneland's vice president of racing and sales, said in a release issues by the auction company.

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Abel Tasman concluded her career with a record of 16-8-4-0 and earnings of $2,793,385. Simon Callaghan trained her to win the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes as a juvenile. Transferred to Bob Baffert early in her 3-year-old season, she won the 2017 Kentucky Oaks, Acorn Stakes, and Coaching Club American Oaks, and also finished second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff to champion Forever Unbridled. She was honored with the 2017 Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly. This year, Abel Tasman added two additional Grade 1 triumphs in the Ogden Phipps Stakes and Personal Ensign Stakes. However, she tailed off in the final two races of her career, finishing fifth in the Zenyatta Stakes and 11th in the Distaff.

“She just quit," Baffert said after the race. "She just quit running. Sometimes they do that. ... She just doesn't want to run anymore, it looks like.”

Abel Tasman was retired soon after the Breeders' Cup.

“Obviously I was disappointed in her last race, but she doesn’t owe us anything,” Bernard Cleary of Clearsky said two days after the Distaff. “She’s been a champion for us, a Grade 1 winner at 2, 3 and 4, a Kentucky Oaks winner. She really doesn’t owe us anything.”

Abel Tasman, a daughter of Quality Road, is from a productive female family, boding well for her second career as a broodmare. She is out of the Deputy Minister mare Vargas Girl, also the dam of Grade 3 winner Sky Girl and stakes-placed Moonlight Sky. Vargas Girl is a half sister to Grade 1 winner Bevo, Grade 3 winner Moonlight Sonata, and stakes-placed Carson Hall. Moonlight Sonata, in turn, is the dam of Grade 2 winners Beethoven and Wilburn, as well as stakes winner La Appassionata.

Abel Tasman is a virtual certainty to be among the leaders at Keeneland January, which traditionally includes less high-profile broodmare prospects than Keeneland's November breeding stock sale. Over its past 10 renewals, Keeneland January has sold 10 seven-figure horses - compared to eight in a single day at Keeneland November earlier this month - led by $2.2 million Up in 2015.

The catalog for the January sale has yet to be released.