LAS VEGAS - As September comes to an end, the 2-year-old picture is starting to gel, and there are a handful of juvenile colts who could make this year's renewal of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile memorable. Hopeful Stakes winner First Samurai (by Giant's Causeway) leads the division so far, but some recent stakes winners and even a few impressive maiden winners could show up for the Juvenile.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's September yearling sale, which sold a sale-record $9.7 million Storm Cat-Tranquility Lake colt to Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum, broke its own previous world record for total auction receipts on Monday morning, at the two-week sale's halfway point.
The auction surpassed last year's world-record total of $324,904,300 on Monday when Hip No. 2,216, an Officer colt out of Prim Flower, brought $45,000, bringing the 2005 auction's total receipts at that point to $324,927,500. Peter O'Callaghan's Woods Edge agency sold the colt to Excel Bloodstock.
The Keeneland September yearling sale in Lexington, Ky., threw off another seven-figure horse on Saturday as the 14-day auction resumed after a day's break.
Buzz Chace, agent, went to $1.1 million to purchase a son of Distorted Humor and the stakes-producing A. P. Indy mare Weekend in Indy. The colt is a half-brother to Grade 3 winner Bohemian Lady. The Taylor Made agency sold the colt, who was the day's highest-priced lot as of 5 p.m.
Closing Argument, a Grade 3 winner who was second to Giacomo in this year's Kentucky Derby, has retired from racing and will stand in 2006 at Sequel Stallions in Ocala, Fla. He will have a $10,000 fee.
A 3-year-old son of Successful Appeal, Closing Argument will stand for the partnership of Sequel Stallions owner Becky Thomas and Lewis Lakin, Dennis Narlinger's JMJ Racing, and Phillip and Marcia Cohen.
A Florida-bred trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Closing Argument won the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes and ran third in the Blue Grass Stakes.
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.
