CHAMPION Abel Tasman sold for a record-equaling $5 million to Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier and easily led the 2019 renewal of the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. The amount matched that spent nearly two decades earlier for Mackie, a daughter of Summer Squall in foal to Mr. Prospector.
This made a significant contribution to the overall figures which were all well up on last year.
Keeneland’s director of sales operations Geoffrey Russell said: “We were proud to offer Abel Tasman and to get the highest price for a broodmare prospect ever sold in January. We thank the Cleary brothers and China Horse Club for the opportunity to market her.
“It was great to see a large crowd here to watch her sell. She deserved the adoration she got and deserved the price, too.
“It was a very solid sale across the board, even taking Abel Tasman’s sale price out of the numbers.
“Short yearlings are very much in demand; there is a great appetite for them. Well-covered broodmares sold very, very well.
“This was a good continuation of the November Breeding Stock Sale. We are in a good market at the moment and horses are being promoted and priced well, which was reflected in the RNA rate.
“Consignors are doing a good job of evaluating the market and knowing where a horse should be.”
Abel Tasman proved herself one of the best of her generation, recording six Grade 1 wins and earning nearly $2.8 million during her racing career. She was the 2017 champion three-year-old filly following wins in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, Acorn Stakes and CCA Oaks, and is a finalist for the upcoming 2018 Eclipse as champion older mare after notching two Grade 1 wins last year.
THE QUEEN
“She’s a queen, isn’t she?” Dermot Ryan, manager of Ashford Stud said afterwards.
“She had everything; she’d be anybody’s dream filly to own. She’ll go to one of the Coolmore sires. M.V. will talk to his dad and partners and make a decision. We’re absolutely thrilled to have her.”
Summer Wind Equine paid $750,000 for the Irish-bred A Star Is Born, a daughter of Galileo in foal to War Front with a full sibling to stakes winner and Group 1-placed Fleet Review. The mare is a full-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Rip Van Winkle.
“War Front and Galileo are the best things on the planet,” consignor John Sikura said.
“She could have made a million dollars.”
The multiple Grade 3-winning Distorted Humor mare House Rules, in foal to Quality Road, headed trade on Tuesday when selling to WinStar Farm for $750,000. She is a daughter of Teamgeist, a multiple group winner in Argentina and was part of the first phase of the dispersal of the late JV Shields who died in October.
“She has a ton of quality, a really beautiful mare that was obviously a top runner and we love the cover,” WinStar general manager David Hanley said.
“It’s tough to buy the mares you want, but she’s the one we wanted to get today so we’re really happy.”
The sale’s fourth highest price was obtained for the 2018 Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks winner Fatale Bere, a broodmare prospect who sold to Shadai Farm in Japan for $700,000. The four-year-old daughter of Pedro The Great was supplemented to the sale.
Yet another supplementary lot was Best Performance and Three Chimneys Farm purchased the 2017 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up for $560,000.
The four-year-old daughter of Broken Vow is from the family of Grade 3 winner Broadway Empire.
TOP-PRICED YEARLING
Albert Racing spent $390,000 to acquire the sale’s top-priced yearling on Tuesday, a colt by Union Rags. He is the first foal out of the Bernardini mare Zondaq, a half-sister to Grade 2 winners Discreet Dancer and Travelin Man and stakes winner Sweet N Discreet.
“That sale price was very good; he was a really nice colt that was well received,” Shack Parrish said.
“It was above what we expected, but we loved it.”
Ardfield Bloodstock paid $375,000 on Monday for a yearling colt by Into Mischief whose third dam is Personal Ensign. The colt is out of the stakes-placed Distorted Humor mare Mary Rita.
A colt by the Triple Crown winner American Pharoah who is a half-brother to Certify and Grade 1 winner Cry And Catch Me, sold to Brady Bloodstock for $330,000. Peter O’Callaghan, who signed the ticket, said the colt likely would be resold at Keeneland’s 2019 September Yearling Sale.