Magnier and Brant team up to snare sale-topping Gun Runner colt for $2.3 million

A richly bred son of leading sire Gun Runner soared to the top of the results sheet at the Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, where Coolmore's MV Magnier went to $2.3 million to secure the colt in partnership with Peter Brant of White Birch Farm.

Gainesway consigned the colt (hip 202) bred in Kentucky by Debby Oxley out of Grade 1 winner Heavenly Love. The mare, who won the 2017 Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland, was bred and raced by Oxley and is out of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Darling My Darling and is a half sister to Grade 2 winner Forever Darling.

"He's a very nice horse," said Magnier. "We've had horses with Peter in the past and hopefully we'll have a lot more in the future. Peter and [wife] Stephanie, they're very special and we're lucky to have horses with them."

It was a meaningful sale for Gainesway's general manager Brian Graves due to a long relationship with the Oxleys.

"I've been selling horses for the Oxleys for 20 years," he said. "Jack [John] and Debby gave me one of my first horses to sell when I first started consigning horses and wanting to consign horses for other people. It feels like family and it's just a real special night."

Graves held the colt in high regard going into the sale, and his eye for a good horse was affirmed yet again.

He said: "When I saw him in the spring I really thought it was one of the best horses I had seen this year. On top of that, he's by a horse that's emerging and becoming a top stallion.

"Second foal of a young Grade 1 winner at two. It just all added up into the perfect horse. If he runs and wins a Grade 1, he's just invaluable with that kind of pedigree and emerging sire."

Gun Runner wrapped the Saratoga Sale as the third-ranked sire by both gross ($5,635,000) and average ($704,375) from eight horses sold of nine offered.

The North American leading sire of two-year-olds in 2021 and currently leading the standings again with his three-year-old crop, the son of Candy Ride's progeny have topped the board numerous times in 2022, with Cyberknife taking the Haskell Stakes and Arkansas Derby, Early Voting's Preakness Stakes score, and Taiba's Santa Anita Derby score.

Cyberknife is expected to help make the Three Chimneys stallion a sire of sires with the recent announcement that the three-year-old colt will stand at Spendthrift Farm upon the conclusion of his racing career.

Magnier said: "What can anybody say about Gun Runner? He's a very good sire, and what he's doing is very impressive."

Conrad Bandoroff and MV Magnier at the Saratoga Yearling SaleCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photosphotos by Z

Magnier also went to $1.4m to land a chestnut Gun Runner colt (hip 186) out of Giant's Causeway's daughter Flag Day bred by Earle Mack and consigned by Denali Stud as agent. The mare, though unraced, hails from the family of multiple Grade 1 winner Diversify.

"Everybody seems to like him and I've seen how much of a nice horse he was over the last few days," Magnier said of hip 186. "Well done to Earle Mack; he's a very good breeder."

"He was born and raised at the farm," Denali's Conrad Bandoroff said of the colt. "We're over the moon. Elated doesn't even begin to describe it. We've had him since the day he was born and he was bred by Earle Mack. We've always wanted to bring a nice horse to Saratoga for Earle and we thought this horse really fit the bill.

"I'm proud of him and I'm proud of our team. You breed a lot of horses to get a horse like this. For him to have been this well-received and to go to some of the best judges in the world, it's very gratifying.

"We're thrilled for Mr Mack, a guy who has done so much in the industry. He deserved to breed a horse like this. We look forward to watching him go on and do big things."

Cumulatively this year, 143 of the 179 yearlings on offer sold for final figures of $66,955,000, an increase of 21.3 per cent year-on-year and bettering the record of $62,794,000 set in 2018.

An average price of $468,217 was posted, a 14.6 per cent increase over 2021, exceeding the $411,459 record set in 2019.

The $375,000 median marked a 7.1 per cent increase, surpassing the $350,000 median established in 2019 and matched in 2021.

Thirty-six horses failed to meet their reserve, representing an RNA rate of 20.1 per cent.

Last year, the two days of selling saw 135 of the 180 go under the hammer to sell for final receipts of $55,155,000, at an average price of $408,556 and a median of $350,000. Forty-five horses failed to meet their reserve to represent an RNA rate of 25 per cent.

"I'm blown away by the results," said Fasig-Tipton president and CEO Boyd Browning jnr. "It's gratifying to see the work that our people put in, that the breeders put in, the consignors put in, and honestly, that the buyers put in to see it all come together in a four-five day period of time. The energy and excitement feels so good from an industry perspective."

The second day of selling accounted for 74 of the 93 yearlings under the hammer selling for gross receipts of $38,025,000, an increase of 27 per cent over 2021's session. The average price jumped 11.8 per cent to $513,851, and the median grew to $375,000, an increase of 6.6 per cent. An RNA rate of 20.4 per cent represents the 19 horses who failed to meet their reserve.

Hip 186, a colt by Gun Runner out of Giant's Causeway's daughter Flag Day, sells to MV Magnier for $1.4 millionCredit: Fasig-Tipton Photosphotos by Z

During the second selling session in 2021, 65 yearlings sold of the 84 through the ring. An average price of $459,615 and a median of $400,000 was established. An RNA rate of 22.6 per cent represented the 19 horses who failed to meet their reserve.

"The statistics are phenomenal; [an] average over $500,000 tonight, ten horses over seven figures," said Browning. "It's a really, really good feeling but not just for us. It's a good vibrancy for the industry, and it gives people confidence."

West Point president and CEO Terry Finley added: "I think people realise, when they see the big events all across the country, and see how much fun it is.

"Right down the line of Triple Crown events, Del Mar, Saratoga and the Breeders' Cup, I think people want to play at a high level and crave the ability to get to those big days. To get to those big days, you improve your chances when you buy horses like this."

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