In a showdown of stars, Almond Eye ended her brilliant career with a victory in Sunday's Japan Cup. She will head on to broodmare duty next season looking to carry on the legacy of one of the best female families in the world, that of 1982 Broodmare of the Year Best in Show.
Global Campaign, who had been under consideration for a final start in the Pegasus World Cup in January, will not resume training and has been retired.
Into Mischief is well on his way to earning his second consecutive leading general sire title, and will do so in emphatic fashion. The Spendthrift Farm stallion has broken Tapit's single-season earnings record for a North American stallion.
The broodmare prospect Able to Smile sold for $135,000 as the Keeneland November breeding stock sale continued to improve its buyback rate as it closed its Book 4 section Sunday evening.
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.
