Keeneland November: Some familiar names on deck as racing, stallion prospects

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Although the most well-known racing and broodmare prospects, fetching the seven-figure price tags, were offered in the first books of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, the second week of the sale includes a number of familiar names in a growing segment of the market.

Beginning with the session of Tuesday, Nov. 12, each of the remaining sessions of Keeneland November includes a selection of male racing prospects, racing or stallion prospects, and stallions. Offerings of this type have gained traction in this second week of Keeneland. Recent graduates of this portion of the sale include Diversify, who went on to become a multiple Grade 1 winner, and fellow Grade 1 winner Next Shares.

This year’s highlights cataloged as racing or stallion prospects include a pair of Grade 1 winners in Annals of Time and Sporting Chance, as well as Grade 1-seasoned Catapult. Annals of Time has never missed the board in eight career starts, including Grade 1 victories in last December’s Hollywood Derby and in this year’s Sword Dancer Stakes in his most recent outing. The Temple City horse has been trained by Chad Brown for the partnership of Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence. The longtime partners recently ran their final horse together as Klarman is expanding his stable while Lawrence is downsizing his Thoroughbred holdings.

Sporting Chance, by Tiznow, won the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes in 2017, and was Grade 3-placed the following season. Millionaire Catapult, a multiple Grade 2 winner last year, was second by a half-length in the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Mile and was second in this year’s Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita.

Other notable colts and geldings still cataloged during this portion of the sale, accounting for withdrawals through Monday, include graded/group stakes winners American Anthem, Archaggelos, Hot Springs, Monarchs Glen, New York Central, Projected, Rotation, and Timeline; stakes winners Giant Run, Mask, and Seismic Jolt; graded/group stakes-placed Call Provision, Combatant, Limonite, Nero, and Whiskey Echo; and stakes-placed Build to Suit, Life Mission, and Wicked Indeed.

A handful of active stallions also appear in this catalog yearly, with those shopping at this sale typically including foreign and regional markets looking to boost their holdings. However, in some cases, stallions are entered in the sale to keep their options open as owners look to move them, with an alternate stud deal reached between the time of cataloging and the time of sale. That was the case with this year's most high-profile stallion, Atreides, who previously stood for Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Kentucky, but will stand at River Oaks Farm in Oklahoma for 2020.

The lone active stallion remaining in the catalog is Prospective, who most recently stood at Ocala Stud. The multiple graded stakes-winning son of Malibu Moon is the sire of three crops of racing age, with his runners led by stakes winners Broadway Run, Ceci Valentina, Piven, and Prospective Lady.