Dams of Just F Y I, Speed Boat Beach on offer at Keeneland January sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Winter hibernation is not a thing that happens in Thoroughbred country, with the arrivals of baby racehorses keeping foaling staffs busy around the clock and preparations for the breeding season entering crunch time. Breeders and agents will be bundled up and traversing the Keeneland campus – itself plenty busy with construction – for this week’s January horses of all ages sale, one of the final opportunities to add broodmares to a roster before the season. Perhaps they’ll also take time to stop at one of several scheduled stallion open houses this week to consider pairings for their prospective acquisitions.

The Keeneland January sale runs Jan. 8-11, with the four sessions arranged into two equal books. The catalog, which has grown to 1,477 hips accounting for supplemental entries through Thursday, includes broodmares and prospects, yearlings, racehorses, and some stallions or prospects.

This is one of three major-market public sales remaining before North American breeding sheds open in early February. The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s winter mixed and horses of racing age sale takes place Jan. 23-24, while the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale takes place Feb. 5-6.

“With a selection of quality broodmares and broodmare prospects, the [Keeneland January] auction will appeal to breeders preparing for the upcoming breeding season,” Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said in a press release. “The short yearlings on offer will appeal to pinhookers and end-users alike, and horses of racing age will interest owners and trainers making plans for their racing stables.”

Proven producers in the catalog who will likely generate fireworks include Star Act, dam of Grade 1 winner Just F Y I, and Sophia Mia, dam of Grade 1 winner Speed Boat Beach.

Star Act, consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale, as agent, is by Street Cry and out of Grade 1 winner Starrer. This also is the family of Grade 1 winners Star Billing and Stellar Jayne. Star Act, herself stakes-placed, has continued to add to the family by producing three winners from her first three foals, led by Just F Y I. That daughter of Triple Crown winner and breakout young sire Justify won the Grade 1 Frizette and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and is the favorite to be honored with a divisional Eclipse Award on Jan. 25.

Star Act, now 13, is carrying a foal from the highly anticipated first crop of Grade 1 winner Life Is Good. Star Act’s newly turned yearling full sister to Just F Y I also was entered at Keeneland January as a supplement and is another anticipated offering, especially with a strong market for young horses seen at the November mixed sales.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

The first foal out of Sophia Mia, an unraced 9-year-old daughter of Pioneerof the Nile, is Speed Boat Beach. A graded stakes winner at 2, in an abbreviated 3-year-old campaign he was second by a head in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship, fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and won the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes. Sophia Mia, selling in foal to rising young sire Not This Time, is consigned by Taylor Made Sales, as agent.

Several runners with recent stakes form are on offer, including multiple graded stakes winner Dolce Zel as a broodmare prospect. She won the Grade 3 Florida Oaks and Grade 3 Lake George in 2022, and in her only start of 2023 won the Kathryn Crosby in November at Del Mar. Angel Nadeshiko, from the family of champion Proud Spell, was supplemented after winning the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel in December at Santa Anita. Other notable offerings include Canadian champion Curlin’s Voyage, carrying a foal from the first crop of Horse of the Year Flightline; broodmare Egyptian Storm, a half-sister to Justify; and broodmare prospect Prank, a half to Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal.

Keeneland, which conducts live sales in January, April, September, and November, as well as April and October race meets, has begun work on a $93 million renovation that will include the construction of a permanent seating and dining structure overlooking the paddock and walking ring; a reconfiguring of those spaces as a result; and the construction of a new administrative building in the current parking lot. The project is scheduled to be completed by the 2025 September yearling sale and fall meet.

Because of the construction footprint, there will be some modifications on the grounds during the January sale, including the temporary elimination of valet parking, alternative dropoff points for sales paperwork, and new traffic patterns for horse trailers.

“The new year kicks off these incredibly exciting new projects for Keeneland, and we look forward to sharing this new facility with our sales and racing customers in the future,” Keeneland president Shannon Arvin said in a press release. “We appreciate your patience and will do our best to minimize the impact on our clients as we navigate this historic project.”

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.