The Argentine-bred Blue Prize held sway at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington on Tuesday when she sold for $5,000,000 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale. This came just three days after her victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Larry Best’s OXO Equine secure the Breeders’ Cup champion who was offered by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services as agent for Merriebelle Stable. A six-year-old daughter of Pure Prize, she was a Group 1 winner in her native Argentina before transferring to the United States. In 2018 she won the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes and repeated the feat this year, joining fellow Argentine-bred Bayakoa as one of just four fillies to win the race back-to-back.

Her Breeders’ Cup success means she has now won 10 of 23 career starts, and placed an additional 11 times, earning $2,692,253.

At the conclusion of the one-session sale, Fasig-Tipton president Boyd Browning said: “We’re very pleased with the overall results tonight. There was tremendous competition across the board from buyers around the world. And when you have the confidence of men and women with quality horses, you can have exceptional sales.

“It was neat to see international participation and strong domestic participation. The market was not dominated by any individual or a small number of groups. It was a tremendous sale.”

However, the key statistics all showed significant declines compared to last year, while the clearance rate improved by 3% from 2018. Eighteen fillies and mares sold for seven figure-sums.

Previously traded as a racing prospect for $3,000,000, the Irish-bred Photo Call led the broodmare section, selling in foal to Quality Road for $2,700,000. Katsuma Yoshida purchased the daughter of Galileo and she was one of a pair of stars in the consignment of Denali Stud. Photo Call is closely related to a couple of her sire’s other exceptional Group 1 winning mares, the full-sisters Rhododendron and Magical.

The top broodmare prospect in the sale came in the form of 2018 Eclipse Champion Female Sprinter Shamrock Rose, purchased by Mike Shannon for $2,500,000. The four-year-old daughter of First Dude was offered by Bluewater Sales. Shamrock Rose was a stakes winner at two and three in Canada and the USA, culminating with victory in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

The 2019 Grade 1 Distaff Stakes winner Mia Mischief was bought by Stonestreet Stables and this earner of more than a million dollars cost $2,400,000 in the ring. She was part of a draft from Elite and the agents also sold another Grade 1 winning four-year-old, Separationofpowers who won last year’s Test Stakes, to Hunter Valley Farm for $2,100,000.

Meanwhile Canadian champion Wonder Gadot, a four-year-old daughter of Medaglia D’Oro, cost K I Farm $2,000,000. She was Horse of the Year at three in Canada and a full-sister to a stakes winner. In foal to Medaglia D’Oro, Baffled was group-placed in England as a two-year-old 12 years ago. At stud she is dam of three stakes winners, including the dual Grade 1 winner Constitution. She cost Don Alberto Corporation a cool $1,800,000.

What a fairytale story that of Equiano’s daughter Belvoir Bay is. A winner at two in England for Italia Keogh and Anna Doyle, she gave Richard Hughes his final winner in the saddle before being sold to continue her racing career in the USA. There she became a multiple stakes winner, while also surviving a fire at her stables. Then at the weekend she captured the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint before travelling to the sales where she changed hands for $1,500,000, being bought by agent Mike Shannon.

A filly from the first crop of Horse of the Year Gun Runner was the top-priced weanling when Mike Ryan purchased the daughter of Grade 1 winner Love And Pride for $750,000 from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales. The filly was bred by Three Chimneys Farm.