Keeneland November: Win Willy sold to stand in Mexico

Grade 2 winner and millionaire Win Willy was purchased by Racho Natoches of Mexico on Friday for $45,000 at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, and he will debut at stud in that country in 2015.

The 8-year-old son of Monarchos’s hammer price topped the final session of the Keeneland November sale as he went through the ring among the final handful of offerings. He was consigned as agent by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

Win Willy sold strictly as a stallion prospect, retiring after a career in which he won 11 of 37 races over seven seasons of racing for earnings of $1,023,063. His most notable wins came in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap and Grade 2 Rebel Stakes, both at Oaklawn Park, where he was a local favorite. He won five additional stakes at Delaware Park and Oaklawn Park, turned in a runner-up finish in another edition of the Oaklawn Handicap, and finished third in the Grade 3 Razorback Stakes.

The horse was a $25,000 purchase at the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale by Jer-Mar Stables, which campaigned him through his entire career with trainer McLean Robertson.

Bred in Kentucky by Overbrook Farm, Win Willy is out of the stakes-winning Carson City mare City Fair, who is the dam of three winners from six foals to race. He is from the family of French classic winner Escaline, German classic winner Royal Abjar, Japanese Group 2 winner Tagano My Bach, and Group 3 winners Esdale and Tokio Excellent. Win Willy is the second-highest earning offspring of sire Monarchos, trailing only champion Informed Decision.

“He’s a good individual,” said Guillermo Elizondo, president of Rancho Natoches. “He’s very correct. We didn’t like the bloodlines too much, because Monarchos has not been a very good stakes producer, but he’s got a good dam, so maybe that will change.”

Rancho Natoches is located in La Mochis, Mexico, in the northwest state of Sinaloa near the Gulf of California. The farm raises both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.

Win Willy will join a Thoroughbred stallion roster that includes Bacara, a son of Storm Cat out of Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Spain; Bold Legacy, a half-brother to champion and leading sire Bernardini, by Seattle Slew; Try N Express, a stakes-winning son of Marquetry; and Point Determined, a Grade 3-winning son of Point Given.