LEXINGTON, Ky. - When it comes right down to it, one big engine drove Keeneland's September select yearling market to record heights: Storm Cat.
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LEXINGTON, Ky. - Already the world's favored commercial stallion, Storm Cat became more than that last week when his son out of Tranquility Lake sold for $9.7 million at the Keeneland September yearling sale.
Only his grandsire, Northern Dancer, has generated similar success in the sale ring, and now Storm Cat has transcended the term "commercial stallion" and become a benchmark in his own right.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The 14-day Keeneland September yearling sale paused for a breath on Friday after a heady week that featured a sale-record $9.7 million Storm Cat colt and strong increases from last year's first-week returns.
The $9.7 million Storm Cat colt, out of Tranquility Lake, epitomized the atmosphere during the opening week. Sold on Tuesday, the last of two select sessions, the colt went to Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum after a fierce bidding duel with Coolmore Stud's principal, John Magnier. Mill Ridge, agent, sold the colt on behalf of Marty and Pam Wygod.
North Light, the Irish-bred winner of the 2004 Epsom Derby, will stand at Frank Stronach's Adena Springs Kentucky near Versailles in 2006.
North Light, an English champion son of Danehill and the champion Rainbow Quest mare Sought Out, also won the 2004 Dante Stakes, a Group 2 event, and finished second that year in the Irish Derby. This year, he was second in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes, a Group 3 contest, in England.
It is no secret that pedigree plays the most important role when determining whether a racehorse will move up on the grass. Most of the entrants for Sunday's $1 million Atto Mile at Woodbine sport some of the most popular grass bloodlines in the world.
One of the contenders, the California-bred gelding A to the Z, only discovered turf racing nine races ago, and although you have to dig deep to find his strong grass pedigree, a close look makes you wonder why it took so long for him to land on the turf.
With Songandaprayer having migrated to Kentucky, where he will stand the 2006 breeding season, there is no shortage of competitors in the quest to take his place as the leading Florida first-year sire. Padua Stables' Exchange Rate ($7,500 fee) is the current leader in the category with 9 winners from 19 starters, and one stakes-placed runner, from a crop of 39. Trippi ($7,500), standing at Ocala Stud, has a crop of 45, of which 19 have started and 8 have won, including three black-type earners. CloverLeaf II's Snuck In ($3,500) has the biggest crop, numbering 47.
Wheelaway's first yearlings went through the auction ring this summer with good results.
Nine individuals by Wheelaway, an 8-year-old son of Unbridled, were sold in mid-August at the inaugural New York Breeders Sales Company premier yearling sale and the annual Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling sale.
Four were sold at the premier yearling sale, averaging $14,875 and topped by a colt at $32,000 from the family of the fine New York-bred runner Fast Holly.
The premier yearling sale average was $11,587.
Apprehension about the future of the state's tracks, added to the lure of richer pots in neighboring states, have many Maryland breeders considering options other than staying home. But if there is one silver lining for the future of Maryland's breeding industry, it is the strength of the state's stallion base.
