LEXINGTON, Ky. - Two days after a live auction of a share in Flightline rocked the Keeneland sales pavilion, the now-retired superhorse continued to steal the headlines on Wednesday, the third day of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Many of the top-selling mares to change hands on Wednesday were bought specifically to send to Flightline when he goes to stud at Lane’s End next year, including the $1 million sales topper, Proud Emma. Jane Lyon, who bred Flightline and retained a stake in him as a racehorse and now as a stallion, purchased Proud Emma “as a little present” for Flightline, she said. “I hope he realizes what a job he’s got ahead of him,” Lyon said. A graded stakes winner on the track, Proud Emma was sold in foal to Charlatan. She is by Include out of the Proud Citizen mare Debutante Dreamer. “We are trying to find mares that we think both physically and pedigree-wise fit [Flightline],” Lyon said. The hunt for Flightline mares meant good business for Keeneland on Wednesday. In total, Keeneland sold 214 horses for gross proceeds of $40,754,000, compared to 242 horses and gross of $38,134,000 for the Wednesday sessions last year. Average climbed 20.9 percent compared to last year’s third session, to $190,439, while median jumped 14.2 percent, to $160,000. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Cumulatively for the three sessions, gross is up 12.77 percent, average is up 20.8 percent, and median is up 9.4 percent. The percentage of RNAs, however, is up from 22.2 percent through the first three sessions last year to 26.5 percent this year. “You see some of the owners of Flightline and even Life Is Good [who is retiring to stud], they are investing in fillies and broodmares to send to their stallions,” said Tony Lacy, the vice president of sales at Keeneland. “It’s a really deep bench that is retiring this year, so a lot of breeders are trying to improve their broodmare bands, both domestically and internationally.” Fittingly, Flightline’s stud fee was announced on Wednesday around mid-day, at $200,000. That’s the highest debut price for a stallion since 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharaoh entered stud in 2016. Flightline was officially retired on Sunday, one day after dominating in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, held just up the hill from Keeneland sales pavilion. Flightline’s racing partnership has been converted into a breeding syndicate, divided into 40 shares. Typically, members of a stallion syndicate receive a breeding right for each share. And other members of that syndicate were active as well on Wednesday. Terry Finley, buying on behalf of a partnership that is buying mares to send to Flightline next year, signed the ticket for Finding Fame for $575,000. The 5-year-old mare is by Empire Maker and out of Seeking the Gold mare Lochinar’s Gold, who is the dam of stakes winner Mei Ling, a full sister to Finding Fame. She is in foal to Constitution. The partnership, which consists of West Point syndicate members, Lane’s End Farm, and several other parties, according to Finley, has bought four mares so far at the November sale, including a $2 million purchase, Salty As Can Be, on day one of the sale. West Point has six shares in Flightline. The partnership has been buying under the name Determined Stud & Gage Hill. “We’re obviously getting to the end of the ones we’re thinking about buying to send to Flightline, so all good,” Finley said. About ninety minutes later, Hunter Rankin, representing an undisclosed client, signed the ticket for Lake Garda, a 4-year-old American Pharoah mare out of the Unaccounted For mare Refugee, for $600,000, in foal to Uncle Mo. Rankin said that the mare would be sent next year to Flightline. Refugee is the dam of two Grade 1 winners, Hoppertunity and Executiveprivilege, along with two other stakes winners and 10 winners overall. “Just a beautiful mare and obviously regally bred,” Rankin said. “I’m really excited for the owner, and he’s really excited about her. She had all the pieces and parts and she’s in foal to a great stallion, from a great family.” Rankin was asked if his client was a shareholder in Flightline. “I can’t really discuss that,” he said. Rankin said he was at Keeneland to buy a single mare. “That’ll be it,” he said. The share of Flightline that was sold at the start of the sale went for $4.6 million, but the buyer remains undisclosed. The buyer was described by the agent who made the winning bid, Fred Seitz, as someone who lives “out west” who had a small number of broodmares and wanted to get more involved in the sport. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales On the sales ticket, Rankin signed as an agent for an illegible name and Travis Boersma. Travis Boersma is the co-founder of Dutch Bros. Coffee, and he bought the operating license for Grants Pass Downs in his hometown in Oregon in 2019. However, he shut the track down this year after the state’s attorney general’s office issued a ruling saying that the operation of historical horseracing machines at the track was illegal. Boersma took Dutch Bros. public in 2021, and Forbes has estimated his current worth at $2.2 billion. A representative for Boersma did not respond to an email sent on Tuesday. The second-highest priced mare to sell on Wednesday was Whimsical Dance, a 3-year-old filly bred by Sam-Son Farm in Canada. Dave Anderson, who runs Anderson Farms in Ontario, paid $725,000 for the Distorted Humor filly, and he said it is possible that he will race her next year. She is out of the Giant’s Causeway mare Danceforthecause. “It would be nice to get some black type on her,” Anderson said. But more importantly, Anderson said, was the filly’s connection to Sam-Son. “I’ve admired the Sam-Son operation my whole life, growing up in Canada, and I’ve strived to be even remotely close to being as good a breeder as they’ve been,” Anderson said. “This is a filly from their absolute best family. I took one look at her . . . and it’s just something I wanted to have in my program. This is the last stop for the Sam-Son train, and I’m really thrilled to have her.” The third-highest priced mare to sell on Wednesday was Zoikes, a French-bred daughter of Dubawi out of the stakes-winning Singspiel mare Glorious Sight, in foal to Medaglia d’Oro. Jim Ryan signed the ticket for $700,000, and the mare’s consignor, Indian Creek, believed she may be headed back to her ancestral shores. Zoikes was originally bought out of a sale in Europe, but she was campaigned in the U.S. “She was very well received,” said Sarah Sutherland, the director of sales at Indian Creek. “It’s a great cover for her, the Medaglia cross with Dubawi. Not surprised she might be returning to Europe.” Message, a 6-year-old Warrior’s Reward mare in foal to Charlatan, was purchased for $675,000 by Woodford Thoroughbreds, with Lincoln Collins signing the ticket. Message, who is out of the Carson City mare Song’n Dance, was retired after making one start in early January in 2021, but she did not produce a foal in 2022. “We’re all the time looking to upgrade, and that was a lot of money for her,” Collins said. “She is an absolutely beautiful mare. Pedigree-wise, we can breed her to pretty much anything we like.” The session-topping weanling was a Gun Runner colt out of the 7-year-old Union Rage mare Twiga, bought for $550,000. The colt was Twiga’s third foal. The buyer was Dean DeRenzo, who pinhooks weanlings and yearlings with his partner Randy Hartley. The Keeneland sale continues for seven more sessions, conducted daily. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.