New York Central bound for Saudi Arabia after topping trade at Keeneland

The Wednesday session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale featured a segment devoted to racing prospects as the auction continued on a slightly upward tick when compared with the 2018 edition.

Topping Wednesday's session was Grade 3 winner New York Central (Hip 3089), a Tapitcolt purchased by Khalid Mishref for $240,000, followed by One Eyed Jack (Hip 3093), a three-year-old son of Uncle Mopurchased by Steven Young, agent for an unnamed client, for $200,000.

WinStar Racing, agent, consigned New York Central, an earner of $335,310 whose four wins include the 2019 Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. A half-brother to Grade 2 winner Corfu, the colt is out of Fashion Cat, by Forest Wildcat, and from the family of Grade 1 winner Peace Rules.

WinStar led Wednesday's consignors, selling 18 horses for $1,634,500.

Mishref said New York Central would be sent to Saudi Arabia, with the $1.5 million dirt sprint on the $20m Saudi Cup undercard on February 29 at King Abdulaziz racecourse the target.

"Hopefully, he will do well for us," Mishref said. "He looks good as an individual. I love his conformation, and he's filled out. Hopefully, the son of Tapit will do well. He could be a stallion prospect in Saudi Arabia down the road; step by step, we're going to try to promote the breeding in the long run."

Steve Asmussen, who trained New York Central for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and SF Racing, had high praise for the horse.

"He was a lovely horse, a pleasure to be around in the barn, and he gave us a couple of really nice victories," said the trainer who was on hand to watch the sale.

"The horse is very straightforward and hopefully he'll run well for him, and I would expect him to do so.

"He's a very nice individual and a good opportunity. I think probably his biggest win for us was in the Maryland Sprint on the Preakness undercard. That was a very nice win for us.

"He's a very generous horse. He's very clean, an easy keeper. He ought to do well."

Trade up

Keeneland reported 234 head exchanged hands during the day for gross receipts of $7,344,400, an average price of $31,386 and a $16,500 median.

Through eight sessions, the gross of $191,698,200 for 1,895 sold is slightly ahead of the 2018 total of $187,153,600 for 1,891 sold at the same juncture.

The $101,160 cumulative average is tracking 2.2 per cent ahead of 2018, and the median is unchanged at $45,000 with four days remaining. The cumulative RNA (reserve not attained) rate is a moderate 20.8 per cent.

The session featured a group from the dispersal of Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence's partnership consigned through ELiTE Sales. The eight individuals from Klaravich and Lawrence, who closed out their successful racing partnership with a scintillating victory by Bricks And Mortar in the Breeders' Cup Turf, grossed $776,000.

Topping the dispersal horses, offered without reserve, were Annals Of Time and Build To Suit, both purchased for $190,000 by agent Mike Ryan on behalf of Klarman.

A son of Temple City, Annals Of Time (Hip 3136) earned his second Grade 1 score in the Sword Dancer Stakes on August 24. Out of the Distant View mare Lemon Haze, the six-year-old has a 5-2-1 record from eight starts, with earnings of $860,300.

Build To Suit (Hip 3142), a five-year-old ridgling by Dominus, has never been off the board in ten starts and most recently won the October 19 Hudson Handicap at Belmont Park. Bred in New York out of the Chief Seattle mare Aspen Mountain, he is a half-brother to Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile Stakes winner Bolo.

Back to their roots

Both were trained by Chad Brown and will return to his barn, according to Ryan, who purchased many of the horses campaigned by Klaravich and Lawrence and will continue to advise Klarman.

"Mr Klarman bought a few of the horses, and they will go back to Chad," Ryan said. "It's a testament to Chad's ability to keep horses sound and going for a long time, and they still have a lot of miles on them and somebody else will have some fun with them.

"Winning the Breeders' Cup with Bricks And Mortar was one of the greatest thrills I've ever had in racing."

ELiTE's Bradley Weisbord said: "The partnership is getting top dollar for these horses on their way out. Annals Of Time is a good horse with low mileage who has won two Grade 1s. He still has a lot of upside. That's a lot of money to bid on both horses.

"Clearly, there were some game people who wanted a top-notch horse. It's cool to see that we will see them both back at the races next year. If you bring a horse in here with good form, you're going to get rewarded."

With racing prospects and broodmares stealing much of the thunder on Wednesday, the top price for a weanling was the $67,000 paid by Scoot Stables for Hip 2848, a Midshipman colt consigned by Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm, agent.

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