Stonestreet headliner in first three books of Keeneland September

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Farm recorded a noteworthy hat trick in the first week of the Keeneland September yearling sale, breeding and selling the top-priced horses of Books 1, 2, and 3 as North America’s bellwether yearling auction reached its midway point.

The three colts, one by Tapit and a pair by Into Mischief, were handled by three different consignors under the banner of Stonestreet bred and raised.

“I hope it gives buyers more confidence,” Banke said. “We raise racehorses; we don’t ‘hot house’ them. We do all the right things and try to raise a racehorse that is sturdy and has great breeding.”

The sale-leading $2 million Tapit colt was sold late in Book 1, with Eaton Sales handling consigning duties for Stonestreet. The partnership of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Robert LaPenta, Gainesway, and Winchell Thoroughbreds joined forces to make the purchase. Following the sale, Banke, who said that she would not have put the colt up for sale if he had been a filly, joined the partnership to retain a piece of the action, a common practice.

“To think how the partnership model has evolved, and that now we, as a partnership company, are partnering with moguls in the industry, it speaks volumes,” Eclipse president Aron Wellman said. “Barbara Banke has been gracious about staying in as a partner. She adores this colt. Hopefully, between all of us, we have plenty of good mojo.”

The colt is the second foal out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Tara’s Tango, a Stonestreet homebred who won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes and two other graded stakes races in California. The mare is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Visionaire as well as Grade 3 winners Madison’s Luna and Scarlet Strike.

Only one horse cracked the seven-figure ceiling in Book 2, and it was Stonestreet’s $1 million Into Mischief colt purchased by Peter Leidel. The colt was consigned by Warrendale Sales.

“Stonestreet did a nice job prepping him, and he showed himself well at the barn,” Hunter Simms, a partner and director of bloodstock services for Warrendale, said. “He is a classy animal. Stonestreet has been very supportive of us over the years, and we greatly appreciate it. We have had good success for them.”

The Book 2 topper, an April foal, is out of the Tapit mare Teen Pauline, winner of the Grade 2 Top Flight Handicap and two other stakes in New York. She had established a track record sprinting five furlongs at Saratoga in her debut and was subsequently Grade 1-placed in that juvenile season. Both of the mare’s foals to race are winners, including stakes-winning juvenile Cambria.

Stonestreet sent out another Into Mischief colt to top Book 3, as bloodstock agent Mike Ryan went to $625,000 for a colt from the consignment of Summerfield Farm. The colt is the first foal out of True Romance, a Grade 2-placed Yes It’s True mare.

Books 1-3, comprising six sessions, made up exactly half of Keeneland September; the 12-session sale was set to run daily through Sept. 25 with Books 4-6. To the halfway point, Keeneland had reported 1,098 yearlings sold for gross receipts of $208,919,700. The gross to that point compared to the first three books of the 2019 renewal is not comparable, as last year’s first three books comprised seven total sessions, owing to an additional session in the top-market Book 1 portion.

The cumulative average price at Keeneland September sat at $190,273 at the midway point, a drop of 21 percent compared to the $240,511 Keeneland reported on the evening of the Book 3 finale in 2019. The median tracked at $125,000 compared to $170,000, a 26 percent change. The declining figures are largely attributable to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the market restraint that is a common reaction to uncertainty in the world, travel restrictions due to the pandemic have caused this marketplace to be dominated by domestic interests. A number of major international buyers have been absent from the front end of the market, such as Godolphin, which led all buyers at last year’s sale with 10 purchases for $16 million.

The cumulative buyback rate in a market that has become increasingly selective sat at 34 percent through the Book 3 finale last Saturday. The buyback rate was 40 percent after Book 1 early in the week and improved slightly through Books 2 and 3.