Coolmore sights are locked on to Gun Runner at record-breaking Keeneland September Yearling Sale

Coolmore continue to put their heft behind Gun Runner at Keeneland, and MV Magnier, together with Peter Brant's White Birch Farm, signed for the most expensive colt in the fourth session of Keeneland's mammoth September Yearling Sale.

The $1.55m bay is the second foal of Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes winner Twenty Carat, a daughter of leading sire Into Mischief, and was bred by Three Chimneys Farm where the Horse of the Year stood last season for $250,000.

Four Star Sales consigned the colt whose year-older full-sister impressed in a workout at the Los Alamitos track in southern California last month.

Kerry Cauthen of Four Star Sales was effusive in his praise of Gun Runner, who sired his 11th individual Grade 1 winner last weekend with the success of Brant in the Del Mar Futurity.

Cauthen told Bloodhorse.com: "I mean, what can't you say about Gun Runner? You can't go wrong right now with Gun Runner. They're in love with him and they should be."

Of the colt, who was offered as Hip 969, Cauthen added:  "He just walked great. He was a big, tall, strapping horse that looks like he's got all the world and a future ahead of him."

He said that the colt whose second dam is a Bernardini half-sister to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Shared Account, dam of Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf winner and Group 1 Coronation Stakes second Sharing, had grown into his frame in the last five months.

"He probably wasn't furnished yet, and that's the magic of the Kentucky bluegrass. Thanks to Goncalo [Borges Torrealba] and thanks to all the guys at Three Chimneys. They have done a fabulous job with all of their horses. 

"Take Tony Cissell [general manager and chief operating officer of Three Chimneys Farm] running the farm, and he's got a great crew there. It's really all of them, it doesn't really have a whole lot to do with us. We just get to be the lucky people who bring him the last mile," Cauthen concluded.

Three Chimneys' colt was the 12th yearling by Gun Runner to sell for seven-figures during the sessions which comprise Books 1 and 2 of the Keeneland September Sale.

During Book 1 of the sale, Magnier and Brant team up with Winchell Thoroughbreds, co-owners of Gun Runner, to acquire the stallion's sale-topping son for $3.3m.

Coolmore and Brant race Sierra Leone, last year's Breeders Cup Classic hero, and the Kentucky Derby runner-up added last month's Grade 1 Whitney Stakes to his resume.

Gun Runner ended the first week of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale with the top lot in each of the four sessions and with 36 of his progeny sold for an average of $932,917.

His 36 yearlings grossed $33,585,000 which is the highest total of any sire represented.

"He's a revelation," Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said of Gun Runner. 

Cormac Breathnach and Tony Lacy of Keeneland Sales Credit: Keeneland Photo

It won't be just Three Chimneys who are ecstatic at the conclusion of Books 1 and 2; At the end of the fourth session, 53 horses had sold for seven figures, smashing the September sale record of 40 set 20 years' ago. 

The 53 horses were offered by 23 different consignors. 

"Over the course of week one, we sold more horses than last year, and grossed $55 million more," said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland's senior director of sales operations. "That's all just through-the-ring numbers (not including post-ring sales). 

"It's up 20 per cent by gross, 16 or 17 per cent by average and median, and the RNA [Reserve Not Achieved] rate has came down three points for the week. So, those are incredible numbers. We're grateful to our supporters, to the breeders who have sent us all these fantastic yearlings."

Lacy described the market as being "a little surreal." 

"The consistency over the first four sessions, we're at double-digit increases across the board," Lacy added. 

"I think the tax law [One Big Beautiful Bill Act] probably gave it a good boost for people who are of high net worth, it's advantageous for them. We all benefit from that as an industry."

A total of 717 horses changed hands through Books 1 and 2, grossing $318,461,500 which is an increase of  21 per cent from last year's $262,793,000 from 690 sold through the four sessions.

At the conclusion of the first two books the average of $444,158, is up from $380,859 last year, and the median is at $350,000, after standing at $300,000 following four sessions in 2024.

More from Keeneland

Coolmore join the hunt for Gun Runner with $3.3 million Keeneland session topper 

Half-sister to Guineas winner Ruling Court fetches $1,175,000 at Keeneland 

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