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Cromwell Bloodstock swoops for Maclean's Music colt top lot at Keeneland

Speedy prospect heading for Wesley Ward stable

Hip 3147 defied expectations for a horse in Book 5
Hip 3147 defied expectations for a horse in Book 5Credit: Keeneland photo

Gatewood Bell was instructed by Wesley Ward to find a fast yearling at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for one of the trainer's clients.

After showing Ward a handful of yearlings, the trainer selected a precocious-looking son of Maclean's Music. Bell's Cromwell Bloodstock signed for the colt at $300,000, a price that topped the Thursday session of the auction in Lexington.

The bay colt, foaled on March 16, 2018, was consigned as hip 3147 by Reiley McDonald's Eaton Sales and was bred in Kentucky by McDonald's Athens Woods.

Athens Woods purchased the colt's dam, the unraced Indian Charlie mare Woodford County, for $12,500 at the 2016 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale in foal to Morning Line. The subsequent foal, a two-year-old filly named Morning Gold, broke her maiden at Saratoga in August and then finished fifth in stakes company.

The price was an outlier at this late stage of the auction that runs through to Sunday, with Bell noting the colt would have been well received in Books 1 through 4 before landing in Book 5.

Gatewood Bell (left) selected the day's top lot for trainer Wesley Ward (right)
Gatewood Bell (left) selected the day's top lot for trainer Wesley Ward (right)Credit: Caroline Norris
"He was a beautiful Book 1, 2, 3, or 4 (horse), and he obviously stood out here," Bell said. "Wesley has wanted me to show him a fast colt the last four days and I've shown him a handful, and this is the one he honed in on. He said try to buy him."

Bell said the price did not surprise him because there was a critical mass of motivated buyers, including most of the agents who helped push prices in earlier sessions, still active during the 10th session of the sale.

"He stuck out like a sore thumb, and the mare has produced a runner with her first foal," Bell said.

McDonald was effusive in his description of the colt.

"He is probably one of the best physical horses in the entire sale," the breeder and consignor said. "He's good-sized and with the best head, neck, shoulder set you'll see on a thoroughbred.

"He handled the (presale) showing unbelievably well. He has a good mind and great way about him. His sister can really run, and it all came together at the right time. His mother was really talented, but she blew a suspensory in a two-year-old sale workout."

McDonald said the colt's price is indicative of demand for a physically attractive yearling regardless of its placement in the catalogue.

"It shows you can sell a top physical anywhere in the sale," he said, noting horses cataloged early in the sale have more pedigree to go along with the physical traits.

"You can't hide a really top physical. A lot of big guys are still here, and they're dying to buy a horse that looks that much like a racehorse."

The Maclean's Music colt highlighted another solid day of trading, as there was competitive bidding from start to finish from a diverse group of buyers, including some fresh faces.

Keeneland sold 305 horses for $8,827,600, for an average of $28,943 and a median of $20,000. Nine individuals sold for six figures or more, and the RNA rate was 14.8 per cent as 53 horses went unsold.

Because the sale was reformatted, the 10th session this year would have been comparable to the 11th a year ago, when 287 head grossed $5,313,000, for an average price of $18,512 and an $11,000 median.

Cumulatively, from 3,404 cataloged to date, 2,177 yearlings have grossed $352,001,300, for an average of $161,691 and a median of $80,000.

The day's second-highest price of $200,000 was paid by Solis/Litt for a colt by Constitution out of stakes winner Cougarstown, by Speightstown.

Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, as hip 3232, he is a half brother to stakes winner Elevenses and from the family of Grade 2 winner and sire Diablo.

"There's still a lot of money here for the better physicals," said agent Mike Ryan, who purchased the third-highest-priced offering of the day, a $145,000 Palace Malice colt. "I think a lot of people haven't bought horses yet.

"There are so many new people here, I don't know who they are. It's quite incredible. There is a lot of interest in racing. With the purses as good as they are, especially in Kentucky and New York, if you have a decent horse, it can pay its way and you can get some enjoyment out of it."


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Published on 20 September 2019inNews

Last updated 10:22, 20 September 2019

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