Keeneland November: Book 2 finishes strong

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The young broodmare Miss Exclusive, who represented a rare opportunity to buy into a successful family, sold for $750,000 on Wednesday at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, as the auction reached the end of its Book 2 portion with positive figures.

Through the first three sessions of Keeneland November, comprising the auction's single-session Book 1 plus two days designated as Book 2, a total of 574 horses have sold for gross receipts of $125,227,000. The similar section of the market last year grossed $144,097,000 for 660 horses over two Book 1 sessions and two Book 2 sessions.

The cumulative average price through Books 1 and 2, $218,166, is virtually unchanged from $218,329 through the same two books last year. The median price sits at $150,000, up 15 percent from the comparable $130,000. The buyback rate sits at 27 percent, compared with 26 percent.

"I think we're at a very good spot," Keeneland's director of sales Geoffrey Russell said. "One good thing is seeing these local farms buying and replenishing their stock – Mt. Brilliant, Stone Farm, Fred Hertrich, WinStar, Dixiana. It's good to see that, with success in the September [yearling] sale, that people are re-investing with the broodmares."

A total of nine horses sold for half a million or more during Keeneland's two Book 2 sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, fueling an average price of $151,537 for the book. That figure is up 16 percent from a Book 2 average of $130,939 last year.

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Miss Exclusive sold for $750,000 to Mt. Brilliant Farm during Wednesday's session to tie for the top price of Book 2. Five-time stakes winner Marquee Miss sold for the same price on Tuesday.

Miss Exclusive won once from two starts while racing as a homebred for Juddmonte Farm, which rarely offers fillies from its top families at public auction. The daughter of Unbridled's Song and 2005 Eclipse Award champion turf mare Intercontinental was consigned by Mill Ridge Farm as agent for Juddmonte.

"We tried to buy something from this family from Juddmonte at Tattersalls year before last, and we got outbid," Mt. Brilliant owner Greg Goodman said. "We've wanted to be in the family for a long time, to get a mare like this for a long time, so we're excited."

Intercontinental, by Danehill, was a Group 1-placed stakes winner in France and also Group 1 placed in England before winning eight graded stakes in the U.S., highlighted by the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. She is the dam of four winners from seven starters, led by stakes-placed Abseil.

Intercontinental is out of Juddmonte's great mare Hasili, making her a full sister to Eclipse Award and Cartier Award European champion Banks Hill, who won the 2001 Filly and Mare Turf after scoring Group 1 victories in England and France. Intercontinental is also a full sister to Canadian Horse of the Year Champs Elysees, multiple Grade 1 winner Cacique, and Group 2 winner Dansili, and a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Heat Haze and Grade 3 winner Deluxe.

"Hasili was extraordinary," Mill Ridge's Headley Bell said. "Any time you see her on a page, you know it's just something extraordinary. That's the beauty of Juddmonte, it's so rich in quality, and it's rare that it's offered up publicly . . . We're very thankful [to consign]. We've had a long relationship with Juddmonte, and it's truly a privilege to work with them."

Miss Exclusive delivered her first foal, a colt by Lane's End stallion Noble Mission, in 2017, and is back in foal to that stallion for 2019. European champion Noble Mission, sire of Grade 1-placed Code of Honor from his first crop, is from another deep Juddmonte family, as he is a full brother to unbeaten European Horse of the Year Frankel.

The session's top weanling was a colt by perennial leading sire Tapit, purchased for $380,000 by bloodstock agents Alex Solis and Jason Litt. He was consigned by Hidden Brook, as agent.

The colt is the third foal out of the stakes-placed Candy Ride mare Sweet Dreams, a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner Strike Charmer. Their dam, stakes winner Cat Charmer, is a half-sister to multiple classic-placed Impeachment. This is the extended family of champions Dayjur, Gold Beauty, and Sky Beauty, Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Pleasant Home, and multiple Grade 1 winners Maplejinsky and Tale of Ekati.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.