$205,000 mare in foal to Gun Runner tops Keeneland session

The More Than Ready mare De La Soul measured up as an excellent buy for Cecil Seaman on Tuesday, as the agent shopped for his long-time client Jon Marshall at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

In foal to Gun Runner and believed to be carrying a colt due in February, the unraced three-year-old brought $205,000 to top the Tuesday session.

"This mare will go to Pennsylvania to foal out," said Seaman. "Being in foal to Gun Runner was part of the attraction, along with her biomechanics; she measured well."

Shack Parrish of Indian Creek congratulated Cecil and Sally Seaman after they signed the ticket for the bay mare, commenting: "You got her for 20 per cent off!"

Consigned by Indian Creek, agent, as Hip 2454, De La Soul is carrying her first foal. She was bred in Kentucky by Blue Heaven Farm, which acquired her dam, The Crane, from the 2016 Keeneland November sale for $290,000 in foal to Uncle Mo from Paramount Sales' consignment.

Further down the page, Hennessy's Grade 1 winner Harmony Lodge is found as the second dam, an $851,120 earner for Eugene and Laura Melnyk. She has produced Grade 3 winner and sire Stratford Hill and Grade 2-placed stakes winner Armistice Day.

At the conclusion of Tuesday's seventh session, Keeneland reported 299 horses sold for gross receipts of $9,455,400, an average price of $31,623, and a median of $23,000. The RNA rate of 11.5 per cent represents 39 horses that failed to meet their reserve.

In 2020 at the same session, 274 horses sold for a total of $5,424,800, an average of $19,799, a median of $12,500, and an RNA rate of 10.2 per cent.

The cumulative gross is $189,865,000 for 1,735 horses sold at an average price of $109,432 and a median of $60,000, with 351 horses failing to meet their reserve at a 16.8 per cent RNA rate.

Comparatively, cumulative sales through the seventh session in 2020 grossed $146,849,200, with 1,592 horses sold for an average price of $92,242 and a median of $42,000, with an 18.1 per cent RNA rate.

A colt by Not The Time consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, was the session's highest-priced weanling, bringing $150,000 from a new partnership in Stony Pointe Farm. Jim Fitzgerald and Bill Baxter, DVM, sat inside the pavilion eager to acquire the colt, making a quartet of purchases for their partners throughout the sale.

"We anticipated he might go to $150,000; he's a very nice colt and very athletic," said Baxter. "This is a brand new pinhooking partnership with some new folks we are introducing to the sport. We are very excited to be able to get this nice horse for them."

Stony Point Farm/Bloodstock purchased a Vino Rosso colt, Hip 537, from the first day of selling of Book 2 from the Elm Tree Farm consignment for $75,000.

They came back the next day to add Hip 613, a Mitole colt consigned by Paramount Sales for $20,000. Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned a Constitution colt as Hip 1652 from Book 3, who fetched $120,000 from the new partnership.

"Horses have been hard to come by; it's a very competitive sale," said Baxter, a vet based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Taylor Made Sales Agency was the session's leading consignor, selling 25 horses for a gross of $1,257,000, at an average of $50,280.

"If I were to sum up the market today, it would be very fair," said Denali Stud vice-president Conrad Bandoroff. "The mare market continues to be strong. Coming into it, I don't think anyone expected the strength we are seeing in the mare market.

Conrad Bandoroff, pictured here with Patricia Miller: 'Market is very fair'Credit: Keeneland photo

"I know my expectation coming into the sales was we would see strong demand on the foals, given the strength of this year's yearling market. I think what we are seeing is not only the foal market being good and strong, but there is an appetite for mares, and people have a lot of confidence."

Pat Costello, managing officer of Paramount Sales, which sells 30 head in Book 5 and five horses of racing age said: "We are having mares come up to the ring with low reserves and they are tripling their reserve price. If you bring them up with reasonable reserves, they are selling."

Wark Bloodstock purchased two weanlings on Tuesday for total receipts of $215,000 to be the session's leading buyer. A daughter of Audible consigned as Hip 2399 by Taylor Made Sales Agency brought $130,000 from Wark to be the day's highest-priced weanling filly. Out of Bide A Wee Island, a winner in Canada, the filly is a half sister to Island Commish, winner on the grass in the Kitten's Joy Stakes at Gulfstream Park and second in the Franklin-Simpson Stakes at Kentucky Downs, both of 2020.

WinStar Farm stallion Audible, a son of Into Mischief whose first foals are weanlings of 2021, has seen success in the sales ring with his first crop bringing an average of $108,448 this year.

"Audible is a beautiful horse himself, a good racehorse, and he is passing on some of his looks to his foals," said Ben Berger, who signed the ticket for the filly.

"They walk well and seem to have good minds on them. The market seems to like them, so we will see what the market thinks next year."

Conversely, some buyers are seeing difficulty getting horses in their price range.

"The market is strong, I have followed many up and they have gone past $100,000," said Donald Wells. "We just went past $100,000 and still didn't get one."

Before the final day of selling for Book 4 began on Tuesday at Keeneland, WinStar Farm hosted a preview of the horses of racing age training on their track, sending sets out at 9.30am and 10am to showcase offerings from the WinStar Racing, Taylor Made Sales Agency and Grovendale consignments.

These horses, among 290 horses of racing age catalogued, will sell on November 19 in the final session of Book 5. Book 5 begins on Wednesday with Hips 2660-3057 set to sell beginning at 10am local time (3pm GMT).

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