Late sires represented at fall yearling sales

The respective last crops of yearlings by classic sire Pioneerof the Nile and his own influential sire, Empire Maker, both major losses from the North American stallion ranks in the last two years, will be represented at the upcoming fall yearling sales, including Keeneland September.

Pioneerof the Nile, best known for siring 2015 Triple Crown winner and leading young sire American Pharaoh, died in March 2019 of a cardiac event. The WinStar Farm stallion had covered 48 mares at the start of that breeding season prior to his death, according to The Jockey Club’s Report of Mares Bred. He has 27 resulting yearlings from his final crop in the catalog for Keeneland September.

Empire Maker had been repatriated to Gainesway for the 2016 breeding season following several years standing in Japan, based on the upswing for his sireline that included American Pharoah. He stood four years at that farm and covered 126 mares in what proved his final season in 2019. He died in January 2020 after a battle with a rare disease that compromised his immune system. There are 64 yearlings from his final crop at Keeneland.

Empire Maker, winner of the 2003 Belmont Stakes, was a son of 1990 Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled, one of the most prominent classic lines in the United States. In addition to American Pharoah, the Unbridled line also has been represented by classic winners Always Dreaming, Birdstone, Grindstone, Mine That Bird, Red Bullet, and Summer Bird.

Another influential line in the American Triple Crown has been that of the late leading sire A.P. Indy, as he, his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons are responsible for classic race winners Bernardini, California Chrome, Creator, Essential Quality, Orb, Rags to Riches, Tapwrit, Tiz the Law, and Tonalist. The A.P. Indy line also lost two major representatives this year, as champion Bernardini died in July at Darley and Malibu Moon, sire of Orb, died in May at Spendthrift Farm. Those two stallions are represented by 36 and 51 yearlings, respectively, at Keeneland September. Both stallions were active this breeding season, meaning their final yearlings will come to the sale ring in 2023.

Highland Reel has one to sell

The late, great Galileo, the world record-holder by Grade 1/Group 1 winners, has one yearling in this year’s Keeneland September catalog. Among his sons represented alongside him in the catalog, there is one with a unique distinction who also has a single yearling in the book. Highland Reel, the highest-earning son of Galileo, has one yearling in the sale. The filly, out of the stakes-placed Distorted Humor mare Kortoba, is consigned by Mill Ridge Sales, as agent.

Highland Reel put together a career record of 27-10-6-3 while earning $10,530,964. He did it the hard way, as his past performances are scattered with the names of champions including Enable, Winx, Found, Golden Horn, Flintshire, and others.

In his globe-trotting career, Highland Reel made several trips to the United States, first when winning the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes in 2015 at Arlington Park. He won the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Turf at Santa Anita and finished third, beaten less than a length, in his repeat bid the following year at Del Mar. Highland Reel’s three Group 1 wins in England included the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at the renowned Royal Ascot meeting. He won the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase twice. His multiple Group 1 placings in France included a second in the 2016 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and he was third in the Group 1 Cox Plate in Australia in 2015.

The filly at Keeneland is from the second crop by Highland Reel, who stands, as his late sire did, for the international Coolmore group. He had three winners from 18 first-crop starters through Aug. 28.