A Storm Cat colt out of the Distorted Humor mare Awesome Humor brought $8.2 million late Monday afternoon to become the early leader of the Keeneland September yearling sale.
Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum purchased the colt, which brought the second-highest price of any yearling sold at the September sale. The underbidder on the colt was the international breeding operation Coolmore Farm, which had been the underbidder on the second-highest priced colt at the sale as well.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - John Greely IV and his brother Beau have done something unusual. With a relatively small roster of stallions, half of them homebreds, they have two young horses, Five Star Day and Ecton Park, who rank among the nation's top 15 second-crop sires.
And their commercial stallion operation, Wintergreen Stallion Station in Midway, Ky., has only existed since 2001.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Circular Quay became the second son of Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Thunder Gulch to win a Grade 1 stakes in North America with a thoroughly confident and impressive victory in the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga.
In a bit of fortunate timing, the other Grade 1-winning son of Thunder Gulch, Point Given, is the sire of last weekend's winner of the Del Mar Debutante, Point Ashley. Point Ashley is the first Grade 1 winner for Point Given, whose first crop of racers are now 3 and showed their best form this year, rather than as 2-year-olds.
The comfort of being a leading breeder of Thoroughbreds in a regional market is no longer adequate at Vessels Stallion Farm in Bonsall, Calif.
This month, Vessels is testing the bloodstock market by offering seven California-breds in the marathon Keeneland September yearling sale that begins on Monday.
The Vessels consignment, offered through Eaton Sales, includes four yearlings sired by In Excess, the stallion who has established the farm as a leading Thoroughbred venue in the state, and three yearlings sired by Kentucky-based stallions.
Sheikh Rashid al-Maktoum, 25, the son of Godolphin owner Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, added another good horse to his already strong Zabeel Racing International stable last month when he purchased top New York-bred older runner West Virginia.
A 5-year-old horse by New York sire Tomorrows Cat, West Virginia had been racing for his breeders, Donald and Mary Zuckerman.
The Labor Day weekend was a good one for Florida-breds, and particularly for those who breed them, sell them, and market them. Horses with close Florida connections did well in three Grade 1 races at Saratoga, as well as four more graded stakes and a host of overnight stakes elsewhere.
It's not every day that a horse wins for the first time in a stakes race. But Bertram Linder, now 91, has seen just about everything. So when the 2-year-old filly Naseem, whom Linder co-bred with Caesar Kimmel, Philip Solondz, and the Thoroughbred Corp., accomplished the feat at Calder on Sept. 2 in the Lindsay Frolic Stakes, it was not something new for the legendary breeder.
"This is the second time it has happened to me," recalled Linder. "I had a colt - can't remember his name right now - who won the San Felipe."
Hookedonthefeelin, a Grade 1 winner and producer, and Turko's Turn, the dam of 2001's Horse of the Year Point Given, are among the mares ClassicStar will disperse at this year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale. The auction is to take place Nov. 5 in Lexington, Ky.