Million-dollar horses always grab the headlines at the Keeneland sales, but there are a wealth of “Hidden Gems” mined every year by astute buyers for much lower prices. This new series from Daily Racing Form and Keeneland will focus on those future graded winners who sold for less than $100,000. On the day the New York Racing Association launched the inaugural triple turf trinity and tiara series, it was fitting that a trio of Keeneland September “Hidden Gems” earned graded stakes victories for their owners. The Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational kicked off the new turf tiara, and it crowned Concrete Rose as North America’s leading sophomore grass filly. The daughter of Lane’s End Farm’s Twirling Candy has now captured four graded races and earned $818,650. That’s not bad for a filly who sold during Session 9 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale for $20,000 to J.W. Bloodstock. Lane’s End consigned the filly as Hip No. 3065 for breeder Ron Anderson. “At that point in the sale, astute horsemen know where they can find value,” said Allaire Ryan, Lane’s End sales director. “I have to say that one of her best strengths would have been an intangible, invisible quality that buyers would only recognize by referencing where she was born and raised. She is a testament to Ron Patterson's program at Ann Marie Farm, where horses are treated organically from Day 1. Mind you, this is the same farm that brought us City of Light two years prior.” The Keeneland September Sellers Bonus was introduced in 2017, and with Concrete Rose’s Belmont Oaks win, she earned the full $10,000 bonus available to Patterson. About a half-hour after Concrete Rose coasted home in the Oaks, Promises Fulfilled re-established himself as one of the top sprinters in North America with a sparkling performance in the Grade 2 John A. Nerud. The Dale Romans-trained son of Shackleford zipped to a wire-to-wire victory over another Keeneland September “Hidden Gem,” graded winner Warrior’s Reward (a $25,000 September buy in 2015). Promises Fulfilled, 4, has won five graded stakes – including last year’s Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens – and earned in excess of $1.4 million. The sharp-eyed Romans plucked Promises Fulfilled (Hip No. 921) out of the Select Sales draft on Day 4 of the 2016 September sale, signing the $37,000 ticket for owner Robert J. Baron. “He was a very athletic colt, with beautiful angles and great walk,” remembers Select Sales partner Andrew Cary. “I thought he had outstanding potential, which is why we had him in Book 2, but at that stage Shackleford was still an unknown quantity and wasn’t on everyone’s radar. He ended up selling out of the back ring to Dale Romans, who obviously knew the sire very well.” Marley’s Freedom, repeat winner of the Grade 3 Great Lady M. Stakes across the continent at Los Alamitos Race Course, rounds out the trio of “Hidden Gem” winners on July 6. Cicero Farms, with an assist from trainer Richard Baltas, made the astute final $35,000 bid for Marley’s Freedom at the 2015 September auction. The filly was offered by Brookdale Sales as Hip No. 2241 during the seventh session. “She was a nice filly as a yearling but was not real big at the time,” said Fred Seitz Jr. of Brookdale Farms. “The mare had yet to produce anything that was graded stakes quality, so that made the idea of another select sale a bit of a stretch, so the breeder, Jack Swain, decided on Keeneland September.“ The 5-year-old daughter of Blame has now collected six graded victories and earned more than $1.2 million for Cicero Farms. Her signature win came in last summer’s Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga, and she’s expected to return there in August for a repeat bid. Concrete Rose, Promises Fulfilled, and Marley’s Freedom were purchased in three successive years at Keeneland September for a collective price of $92,000. The trio put on quite a show across North America on a big summer Saturday and proved yet again that gems are there for the taking at every point of every Keeneland auction.