A FILLY and a colt by Into Mischief led the way at the opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Sale on Monday.
An early highlight was the sale of the second foal from the Australian-bred Golden Cropper, a More Than Ready half-sister to the Group 2 winner and Coolmore Australia sire Rubrick.
Consigned by Lane’s End on behalf of Greg Goodman’s Mt Brilliant Farm, the colt was sold for $260,000 to Garrett O’Rourke of Juddmonte Farm and he admitted afterwards that they had noticed the colt when he was offered at Keeneland in September. There he did not attain his reserve and was unsold at $375,000.
A half-brother to this year’s winning juvenile Tete A Tete, the colt’s Group 3 winning grandam Sliding Cube is a half-sister to the outstanding racehorse and sire Redoute’s Choice.
Spendthrift’s Into Mischief, sire of three Grade 1 winners in 2020 and whose fee for next year rises by $50,000 to $225,000, later supplied the top lot of the opening day when Wynnstay Sales sold a full-sister to the Canadian champion Miss Mischief to Willis Horton Racing for $300,000.
Case Clay signed the purchase docket and the filly will sport the colours carried to success by the champion Will Take Charge.
Another sibling of the yearling filly is the unraced Rosemonde, dam of Into Mischief’s son Rowayton who was runner-up in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity.
Quality rules
Lane’s End stallion Quality Road supplied two of the top three lots at the second session of the sale on Tuesday, though one stood head and shoulders above the rest.
The Grade 1 Summer Stakes winner Gretzky The Great, a first crop son of Nyquist, heads to the Breeders’ Cup for owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and they paid $560,000 to acquire his half-brother from Dave Anderson’s Canadian farm.
Born on June 4th last year, the colt was always destined for a late season sale and, together with the performances of his year-older sibling, the decision was fully justified.
Jacob West signed for the colt whose price may yet look value if Gretzky The Great wins the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
Their dam Pearl Turn is a stakes-placed daughter of Bernardini and, having missed out on producing a foal in 2020, is due in early 2021 to Nyquist’s sire Uncle Mo.
Uncle Mo leads
The third and penultimate day of the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Sale was strong.
Leading the way was an Uncle Mo half-brother to the English stakes winner and group-placed Wind Fire, sold from Lane’s End to bloodstock agent Donato Lanni for $600,000 on behalf of Karl and Cathi Glassman, the top price of the entire sale. The colt was unsold at $325,000 last month in Keeneland.
Stock by Into Mischief continue to be in strong demand and his Paramount Sales-consigned half-brother to Grade 2 winner Yara sold to Spendthrift Farm, who stand the sire, for $475,000.
The pedigree received a timely update when Yara’s juvenile daughter Moon Swag, unbeaten in two starts, landed her first stakes win.
Nice return
A colt from the first crop of Grade 2 winner Mohayman, a Tapit half-brother to Grade 1 winner New Year’s Day, sold to Trade Winds Farm for $315,000, a nice return for the $145,000 invested in him as a foal last November.
He is a half-brother to the dual Grade 1 winner Get Stormy.
Meanwhile, Richard Rigney bid on the telephone and secured a Macleans’s Music half-sister to four winners on behalf of JCM Racing for $280,000.
Indian Creek sold a pair of yearlings for $270,000 each. First to the mark was a Distorted Humor son of the stakes winner You Bought Her who sold to St Elias Stables, and shortly afterwards the price was matched by the sale of a More Than Ready filly out of a half-sister to Grade 2 winners Discreet Dancer and Travelin Man.
Irishmen dominate
Irishman Archie St George acted as agent for the sale of Thursday’s session topper, a colt from the first crop of Classic Empire, and another Irishman, Mike Ryan, signed the buyer’s slip at $310,000.
This was a big win for the breeder, yet another Irishman in Dan Hayden, as the colt was unsold at $110,000 at Keeneland in September. Hayden purchased the dam three years ago for $90,000.
The dam is the winning Bernardini mare Delay Of Game and the Street Sense filly she was carrying sold last year for $260,000.
Named Spa Ready, she played her part in the latest success story as she made successful debut at Belmont shortly after last month’s September Sale.
Delay Of Game is out of a half-sister to the champion Johannesburg.
While the sale turnover fell at the close of business, and the number of lots selling for $200,000 or more dropped from 40 to 26, the median figure rose 15% to $15,000, while the average fell by 10% to $34,073.