Justify clears first commercial hurdle at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland

Triple Crown winner Justify faced one of his first commercial bars to clear at the November breeding stock sales in Kentucky, with mares carrying foals from his first crop on offer. So far, he is sailing over that bar with room to spare.

Between the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale and the elite Book 1 portion of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, Justify had 19 mares in foal sell for an average of $803,684. That was more than five times the son of Scat Daddy’s advertised stud fee of $150,000 that he debuted for earlier this year at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud. He covered 252 mares, tied for the most in North America, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred.

Justify’s mares in foal at Fasig November, where he averaged $772,857 from seven sold, were led by $1.2 million Diva Delite, who sold to bloodstock agent David Redvers. The mare is the dam of multiple Grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou.

:: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales

At Keeneland, Justify sired the top lot of Book 1, as Eclipse Award champion Take Charge Brandi went for $3.2 million to Hill ‘n’ Dale’s John Sikura, who was buying out his partners in Elevage Bloodstock on the mare.

“Justify is a great mating for the mare,” Sikura said. “He has some leg, some stretch, and she’s a bit compact, so hopefully [the foal will] take the best of physiques between sire and dam. He was a great racehorse, so we’ll see what happens.”

Led by Take Charge Brandi, Justify had 12 mares in foal sell in Book 1 for a total of $9.86 million, making him the book’s leading covering sire by gross. He checked in fourth among the book’s covering sires with three or more mares in foal sold, averaging $821,667.

Justify continued his momentum into Book 2 of Keeneland November, as multiple Grade 1-placed Conquest Eclipse sold for $650,000 to Clarkland Farm while in foal to him.

“I really wanted a Justify,” Clarkland patriarch Fred Mitchell said. “He’s gorgeous. Maybe some luck will stay with us.”