Puca, carrying full sibling to Mage, will sell at Keeneland November
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Puca, the dam of Kentucky Derby winner Mage, will be offered at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale by Case Clay Thoroughbred Management, a new operation for a lifelong Thoroughbred professional.
Clay grew up at Three Chimneys Farm, which was founded by his father, Robert Clay, in 1972. He worked at a variety of roles there in his youth and as an adult. After Robert Clay sold the farm to Goncalo Torrealba in 2013, Case Clay stayed on there as chief commercial officer, but also began helping outside clients with bloodstock management, purchases, and equine insurance.
At the end of 2022, he shifted his full-time focus to his Case Clay Thoroughbred Management. The outfit’s first consignment will consist of two mares at Keeneland – Puca, carrying a Good Magic foal which is a full sibling to Mage; and Grade 1 winner Dalika, carrying a foal from the first crop of Horse of the Year Flightline.
“It’s an honor to bring Puca and Dalika to the market and to be associated with such quality mares and quality pregnancies,” Clay said in a press release. “I am associated with these two particular mares already, so it’s a natural extension of my business in an area in which I have been lucky enough to have experience in selling top mares. I’m looking forward to showing them to potential buyers in November.”
Grade 2-placed stakes winner Puca, by Big Brown, is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Finnegans Wake. She is owned by Robert Clay’s Grandview Equine.
In addition to Mage, her second foal, she is the dam of multiple stakes-placed Gunning. Her 2-year-old, Dornoch, was second on debut at Saratoga and was entered in the Sapling Stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday, the same day Mage was to run in the Travers Stakes.
German-born Dalika, by Pastorius, won seven stakes races for Paul Varga’s Bal Mar Equine, highlighted by the Grade 1 Beverly D. in 2022 at Churchill Downs. She retired with $1.4 million in earnings.
“Keeneland is excited that Case has chosen us to offer these two exceptional broodmares in Book 1 of the November breeding stock sale – and mark the debut of Case Clay Thoroughbred Management,” Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said. “While at Three Chimneys Farm when it was owned by his family, Case oversaw the sale of a large number of million-dollar-plus broodmares over many years, including the great Take Charge Lady here at Keeneland in 2004. Along with this experience at the top end, he has an extraordinary amount of connections and relationships with domestic and international buyers.”
Minnesota, Iowa host sales
The yearling sales season moves to the Midwest this week, with the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association and the Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association hosting sales. Both states have recently welcomed promising stallions.
The Minnesota Thoroughbred Association will put on its annual yearling sale Sunday evening, Aug. 27, at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, following the day’s races. The sale has garnered a diverse catalog of 35 yearlings with 27 different sires represented.
The stallion with the most offerings is Westover Wildcat, a perennial top-five sire in the state, with four yearlings. Westover Wildcat stands at Boehlke Farm in Waverly, Minn., an operation poised to continue to rise in the ranks.
This year, the farm welcomed Liaison, whose statistics from his time standing in Kentucky and Oklahoma immediately made him a state-leading sire, regardless of progeny conception area. Liaison does not yet have state-sired yearlings to offer, but will surely be a force in coming years.
Last year’s Minnesota yearling sale posted mixed results, with 28 sold for a gross of $385,600. The average price, $15,424, was up from $13,696 in 2021. However, the median, $6,000, was down from $9,000 the prior year. The sale topper was a $70,000 Competitive Edge filly purchased by trainer Kerri Raven. The Minnesota-bred filly, now named A Primera Vista, won her debut Aug. 17 at Delaware Park.
The Iowa Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association fall mixed sale is set for Wednesday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines. This sale boasts Tyler’s Tribe as a recent graduate. After selling for $34,000 in 2021, the Iowa-bred captured national attention last year while winning four consecutive stakes at Prairie Meadows to make his way to the Breeders’ Cup.
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The Iowa sale is coming off a solid edition in 2022, when 51 yearlings sold – mixed selections were calculated separately – for an $810,700 gross, $15,719 average, $10,000 median, and very good buyback rate of 4 percent. The average and median both improved from the prior year.
The sale topper was Evander, by Iowa State University sire Anchor Down, and offered by the student-run consignment from that school on behalf of breeder Allen Poindexter, who bought back in after Albaugh Family Stables bought Evander for $60,000. He has not yet raced, but is breezing at Prairie Meadows.
Iowa State students will again be prominent this year, having consigned 27 horses, from a catalog of 76 hips. Iowa State stands five Thoroughbred stallions, including the state’s perennial leader, Stroll. The school recently added another stallion in Grade 1 winner Free Drop Billy, who had previously been at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky.
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