Gun Runner and Arrogate take rivalry to November sales

Gun Runner and Arrogate’s stars were tied together on the racetrack as rivals, each taking his turn to rise. Both champions entered stud in the same year in Kentucky, and the pair are now commercial rivals as both will be represented by their first weanlings offered at the Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland November breeding stock sales.

Arrogate ripped onto the scene with a 13 1/2-length victory in the 2016 Travers Stakes – with Gun Runner third – establishing a track record of 1:59.36 for the 1 1/4-mile race. The race began his march to the 3-year-old Eclipse Award title. He went on to edge Horse of the Year California Chrome by a half-length in the Breeders’ Cup Classic and to win the inaugural Pegasus World Cup. He then made an improbable last-to-first move to run down Gun Runner in the 2017 Dubai World Cup.

That race marked the last victory for Arrogate, but it was the final loss for Gun Runner, who proceeded to win five consecutive Grade 1 races to conclude his career. That streak included the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic over Arrogate to lock up Horse of the Year honors and the Pegasus World Cup in January 2018.

The Classic was the final start for Arrogate, who retired to Juddmonte Farm in Kentucky, while Gun Runner shipped home to co-owner Three Chimneys Farm – about a half-hour from Juddmonte – the day following the Pegasus.

Gun Runner, a Candy Ride horse who stood his first season for an advertised fee of $70,000, covered 171 mares in 2018, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. Ten of those mares sold at public auction later in the season in foal, averaging $367,500. Meanwhile, Arrogate, by Unbridled’s Song, stood for $75,000, making him the year’s most expensive new stallion, and he covered 143 mares. He averaged $417,500 from eight mares in foal sold in fall 2018.

Both Gun Runner and Arrogate have first-crop weanlings among the select group of youngsters on offer in the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale on Nov. 5 and have several weanlings on offer to a broader marketplace at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, with multiple foals selected for the Book 1 offerings on Nov. 6.

Gun Runner’s three weanlings at Fasig-Tipton include a half-sister to graded/group stakes winners Gray Magician and Lombo. Half of his 18 weanlings at Keeneland November are in Book 1, including a half-brother to Grade 2 winners Arklow and Maraud and a filly out of Canadian champion Youcan’tcatchme. His other weanlings on offer include half-siblings to graded stakes winners Gunmetal Gray, Holiday Disguise, and Pretty N Cool.

Arrogate’s pair on offer at Fasig-Tipton is led by a half-brother to Grade 1 winner at Denman’s Call. Three of his seven weanlings at Keeneland are slotted in Book 1, including a colt who is a half-brother to Eclipse Award champion Hansen as well as to Grade 1-placed Anonymity.

Other standouts among this year’s first-crop weanling sires include a diverse trio of champions in Classic Empire (Coolmore’s Ashford Stud), Bal a Bali (Calumet Farm), and Shaman Ghost (Adena Springs). Classic Empire was an Eclipse Award champion juvenile who went on to be a classic-placed Grade 1 winner the following season. He has one weanling at Fasig-Tipton and 38 at Keeneland. That includes a trio in Book 1, including a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Lady Ivanka. Classic Empire is by the late classic sire Pioneerof the Nile, who has another Grade 1 winner with first weanlings this year in the versatile Midnight Storm (Taylor Made).

Brazilian Horse of the Year Bal a Bali was a Grade 1 winner in California and has five weanlings from his first crop in Keeneland November. Canadian champion and multiple Grade 1 winner Shaman Ghost stood his first season in California before moving to Adena’s flagship farm in Kentucky. He has two weanlings from his California-sired crop in Keeneland November, and his offerings are likely to grow in size and quality in coming seasons.

Battle of Midway (WinStar Farm) won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile after finishing third in that year’s Kentucky Derby. However, when retired to stud for the 2018 season, he proved sub-fertile and was returned to training. The star-crossed son of classic sire Smart Strike won 3 of 6 starts upon his return to the races, including a pair of graded stakes, before suffering a fatal injury while training earlier this year. Meanwhile, his lone crop was arriving. According to statistics provided by The Jockey Club, Battle of Midway was represented by 11 reported foals. One of those is cataloged at Fasig-Tipton November, with another slotted to sell at Keeneland.

Smart Strike’s son Curlin has become a consistent classic sire, and two of his Grade 1-winning sons have first weanlings on offer this fall in Keen Ice (Calumet) and Connect (Lane’s End). Keen Ice finished third to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the 2015 Belmont Stakes before later defeating the champion in the Travers Stakes.

Lord Nelson (Spendthrift Farm) overcame a battle with laminitis to become an active stallion, albeit beginning his career one season later than planned. A multiple Grade 1 winner by Pulpit – whose sons at stud include leading sire Tapit – Lord Nelson had a filly out of Grade 2 winner Hour Class selected for Fasig-Tipton November and has two of his 19 offerings at Keeneland slotted in Book 1, including a half-brother to graded stakes winner Maximus Mischief.

Grade 1 winners Cupid (Ashford), Klimt (Darby Dan), and Practical Joke (Ashford) were among the most popular stallions in North America as they entered stud. According to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred, leading sire Into Mischief covered the most mares of 2018, with 245. He was followed by Cupid, a son of Tapit, with 223 mares; Klimt, by Quality Road, with 222; and Into Mischief’s son Practical Joke with 220.

Other Grade 1 winners with their first weanlings on offer this November include Gormley (Spendthrift), Greenpointcrusader (Ocala Stud), and Mastery (Claiborne Farm). Australian Group 1 winner Astern (Darley) has his first Northern Hemisphere crop of weanlings after beginning his career in the Southern Hemisphere.