Breeders' Cup winners among the stars on show at US breeding stock sale bonanza

After the high-drama of the Breeders' Cup, the US has two extremely good reasons for the great and the good of international racing and breeding to stick around: the Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland breeding stock sales.

The travelling masses will have good cause to journey the 2,150 miles from Santa Anita on the west coast to the Bluegrass of Kentucky, with some of the brightest breeding prospects to hit public auction anywhere in the world among the 4,760 or so lots entered across the two sales.

First comes the one-day Fasig-Tipton November Sale, which is billed as the 'night of the stars'. Even a cursory glance over the sale's list of recent graduates provides enough evidence to suggest this grandiose label is well deserved, with a roll call of racing icons having changed hands for some dazzling sums during the last decade.

View full Fasig-Tipton November Sale catalogue

Among the major talents to have sold at this event are Lady Aurelia, who topped the charts at $7.5 million when bought by Stonestreet Stables last year; Songbird, who fetched $9.5m from Mandy Pope 12 months earlier, just ten lots before Tepin sold to Coolmore for $8m; and it was Pope who also landed a staggering final bid of $10m for Horse of the Year Havre De Grace in 2012.

Whether any of this year's lots can hit those heights remains to be seen, but two of the 219 catalogued entrants have done their value no harm whatsoever by scoring at the Breeders' Cup.

First up comes Belvoir Bay (Lot 96), who will be consigned by Bluewater Sales having lowered the course record when winning the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint on Saturday.

Belvoir Bay streaks clear in the Breeders' Cup Turf SprintCredit: Edward Whitaker

That breakthrough Grade 1 success was the latest chapter in an already remarkable tale, with the daughter of Equiano having been bred in North Yorkshire before she supplied Richard Hughes with a farewell winner as a rider while under the care of Richard Hannon.

Having switched to the US, the filly took her form to new heights, but then came so close to tragedy when she went missing for two agonising days during the San Luis Rey fire.

Belvoir Bay also came under the hammer at last year's November Sale, where she was knocked down to Justin Casse, acting on behalf of owner Gary Barber, at $625,000. With her tenth stakes success by far the biggest win of her career, it's not hard to imagine her value having increased during the intervening 12 months.

She is joined in the November Sale catalogue by Blue Prize (98, consigned by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services), who notched her fourth Grade 1 triumph in the Breeders' Cup Distaff. The Argentinian-bred daughter of the Storm Cat stallion Pure Prize landed the prestigious contest by a length and a half from Midnight Bisou, a high-profile withdrawal from the sale along with Bellafina, with those two fillies now set to stay in training in 2020.

Despite those absentees, the catalogue still includes a whole host of other potential headline acts. Among the likely types are Photo Call, a Grade 1-winning daughter of Galileo carrying to Quality Road (166, offered by Denali Stud); Diva Delite, the Florida Oaks-winning dam of Midnight Bisou, in foal to Triple Crown hero Justify (173, Taylor Made Sales); and Canadian champion and Kentucky Oaks runner-up Wonder Gadot, a well-related daughter of Medaglia D'Oro (196, Bluewater Sales).

Fasig-Tipton November Sale fact file

Where Fasig-Tipton sales complex, Lexington, Kentucky
When One-day sale begins on Tuesday at 3pm local time (8pm GMT)
Last year's stats From 193 offered lots, 140 sold (73 per cent) for turnover of $89,473,000 (up 21 per cent year-on-year), at an average of $639,093 (down one per cent) and a median of $327,500 (up 31 per cent)

Buyers will barely have the chance to draw breath in Kentucky, as, just across Lexington, Keeneland's marathon November Breeding Stock Sale begins less than 24 hours after the final hammer fall at Fasig-Tipton.

Moreover, Wednesday's opening session features its own roster of high-achieving or well-related breeding prospects.

View full Keeneland November Sale catalogue

Among the standout racing and broodmare prospects in the weighty 4,548-lot catalogue are: Lil Indy, dam of Maximum Security - first-past-the-post in the Kentucky Derby and winner of the Haskell Invitational - carrying to Quality Road (13, Lane's End Farm); Spiced Perfection, a three-time Grade 1 winner by Smiling Tiger (93, Elite Sales); supplementary entry Purely Hot, dam of recent Grade 1 winner Eight Rings (274G, Taylor Made Sales); and champion Take Charge Brandi, who makes her second appearance at this sale having fetched $6m in 2015 (111, Hill 'N' Dale). The daughter of Giant's Causeway, whose first foal fetched $850,000, is offered carrying to Justify.

These names will be bidding to follow in the footsteps of headline acts such as Lady Eli, who sold to Hill 'n' Dale Farm's John Sikura for $4.2m last year; Stellar Wind, bought by Coolmore for $6m 12 months before that; and Secret Gesture, who joined the Godolphin fold through John Ferguson at $3.5m in 2016.

There are also many blue-blooded weanlings due to be offered at Keeneland, including: Maximum Security's Korean-bred sister (14, Lane's End Farm); a half-brother to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile scorer Hansen from the debut crop of Arrogate (101, Gainesway); Take Charge Brandi's Tapit colt (112, Hill 'N' Dale); a son of Into Mischief and the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes winner Diamondsandrubies (217, Blandford Stud); and a Quality Road sister to Del Mar Futurity winner Klimt (264, Hunter Valley Farm).

With 12 sessions of racing, breeding and pinhooking prospects ahead at Keeneland, it seems inevitable that buyers will find bargains to be had, particularly among the later books. Just last year T Lesley Thompson paid a mere $1,500 for Sweeter Still, a Rock Of Gibraltar half-sister to Racing Post Trophy winner Kingsbarns, carrying to the little-known Optimizer.

Less than 12 months have passed yet Sweeter Still has already proved that chicken feed price to be all wrong, with her fifth foal being none other than Kameko, who ran out an impressive winner of the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Stakes at Newcastle on Friday.

With so many gems on offer, hidden or otherwise, across the two Kentucky breeding stock sales, the results from Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland look set to reverberate around the world for many years to come.

Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale fact file

Where Keeneland sales pavilion, Lexington, Kentucky
When 12-session sale begins on Wednesday at noon (5pm GMT)
Last year's stats From 3,454 offered lots, 2,538 sold (73 per cent) for turnover of $188,508,300 (down seven per cent year-on-year), at an average of $74,275 (down 11 per cent) and a median of $25,000 (down 18 per cent)

Click here to read Racing Post Bloodstock's full US Breeding Stock Sales Supplement