Godolphin's Carella leads selling at first session of Keeneland January Book 2

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The well-bred broodmare Carella sold for $260,000 to lead the penultimate session of the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale, highlighting a selection of mares from the Godolphin operation.

Keeneland reported 246 horses sold Wednesday, the first of two Book 2 sessions, for gross receipts of $5,605,700. In last year's corresponding session, 259 horses sold for $5,471,700.

Wednesday's average was $22,787, an eight percent gain from $21,126 last year. The median dropped 20 percent, to $8,000 from $10,000.

The winning mare Carella, who was purchased by Gary Broad's Walmac Farm, was part of a consignment of mares from Godolphin, which has made some strategic reductions to its stock at public auction in recent years. Five of the top six prices at Wednesday's session emerged from the Godolphin consignment.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets.

“We want to keep our broodmare band as tight as we can,” Godolphin's American director of bloodstock Michael Banahan said. “We need to make room for fillies coming off the racetrack that are young fillies we want to give a chance. So it’s a mixture that are going through the sale: young mares that were bred once and sold again and some mares that we felt we’d given a chance and maybe they’d be luckier for someone else down the road, but still with very nice pedigrees.

“People love jumping in and buying our families when they get the opportunity to get in there,” he added. “They know they will be well covered from siblings and sisters and mothers, so they know there’s an opportunity that something good will happen in the family.”

Carella, by Tapit, is out of Grade 1 winner Cara Rafaela, making her a half-sister to champion and leading sire Bernardini; to Grade 1-placed Ile de France, dam of Grade 1 winner Love and Pride; to Burgundy Ice, dam of stakes winner Sunset With; and to Lovely Regina, dam of graded stakes winner Thiskyhasnolimit. Bernardini, Love and Pride, Sunset Wish, and Thiskyhasnolimit are all bred on the A.P. Indy sireline, as is Carella, as Tapit is a grandson of that great sire.

Carella has produced three starters to date, with two winners. She sold in foal to Kantharos.

Click here for hip-by-hip results for the Keeneland January sale, which concludes with a final session on Thursday.

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