A $185,000 weanling colt from the first crop of Mo Town led trade Saturday as the Keeneland November breeding stock sale moved into its Book 4 portion with a continued decline in prices, but an improved buyback rate.
Graded stakes-placed Combatant was a $220,000 purchase by Hronis Racing out of the 2019 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, ranking as one of the more noteworthy purchases in a market segment that has grown in recent years, as Keeneland offers a selection of racing and stallion prospects in the second week of the auction. Now he's back at Keeneland November as one of four Grade/Group 1-winning stallion prospects on offer as the focus of the market in the second week of the annual sale turns to these racehorses.
The Thoroughbred auction calendar runs in an annual cycle with each segment of the marketplace's season influenced by the one before. That has certainly been the case as first-crop weanling sires, including Triple Crown winner Justify, debut at this month's November mixed sales in Kentucky.
Essential Quality established himself as an early favorite for the Kentucky Derby with his victory in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The Tapit colt, a homebred for Godolphin, is from a family that has recent classic success – albeit, a world away. He is from the immediate family of 2020 Japanese Triple Crown winner Contrail.
Order of Australia was the longest-priced winner of the weekend at Keeneland, as he sprang a $148.40 upset in the Breeders' Cup Mile. However, in terms of his pedigree, he sported perhaps more Breeders' Cup purple than any runner.
Indian Charlie never ran in a Breeders' Cup race. But the late stallion, who died in 2011 after standing at Airdrie Stud, sired a pair of Breeders' Cup winners, as his daughter Indian Blessing won the 2007 Juvenile Fillies and his son Uncle Mo took the 2010 Juvenile. Indian Charlie continues to have an influence through the next generations, including with Uncle Mo, as seen on the Breeders' Cup's Future Stars Friday program at Keeneland.
Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic arrived Monday morning at majority owner B. Wayne Hughes’s Spendthrift Farm, where he will begin his stud career in 2021 alongside his sire, Into Mischief, the nation’s leading stallion.
Various unsung heroes in the Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry were honored as the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards were presented in a virtual ceremony broadcast Thursday from Lexington, Ky.
There will be a sister act on Saturday in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, as Sistercharlie and My Sister Nat face off in a rare, but not unprecedented, case of half-siblings meeting up.
Scientific evidence supports the idea that horses can remember one another. You'll forgive Global Campaign, Improbable, and Tom's d'Etat then if they experience a bit of déjà vu when they board a van to WinStar Farm this coming Sunday. The three will first line up together in the Breeders' Cup Classic on Saturday evening at nearby Keeneland, giving the farm a strong hand of stallion prospects in the $6 million race.
