CHAMPION and five-time Grade 1 winner Lady Eli and Grade 2 winner My Miss Sophia, both in foal to War Front, were among eight horses to bring $1 million or more during the opening session of Keeneland’s 2018 November Breeding Stock Sale. They were among a group which featured in a selection that included graded stakes-winning fillies and mares and exceptional weanlings.

John Sikura’s Hill ‘N’ Dale sold and bought Lady Eli, considered by many as one of the leading racemares ever on turf in North America. “We’re thrilled to add her to our broodmare band,” Sikura said. “She is a mare that is really everything one could ask for. It’s a lot of money for a horse, but she was an extremely good value.”

Steven Young paid $4 million for Grade 2 winner My Miss Sophia from the consignment of Lane’s End. The now seven-year-old daughter of Unbridled’s Song is a half-sister to Grade 1 Florida Derby winner Materiality. “She is a great mare,” Young said. “We thought she was the best horse selling in November. She wasn’t cheap, but that’s about what I thought she’d bring.”

Katsumi Yoshida spent $2.2 million on Tiffany’s Honour, a half-sister to Belmont Stakes winners Rags to Riches and Jazil. She is in foal to Medaglia D’Oro. Allaire Ryan, sales director for Lane’s End, said: “This mare is particularly attractive because she is young and has a deep female family. She has a fantastic Tapit colt back at the farm, and her War Front colt sold for $1.1 million in September.”

The Irish-bred, Naas listed winner Key To My Heart, a four-year-old daughter of Galileo in foal to War Front, sold to Summer Wind Equine for $1.75 million. The former Aidan O’Brien trained filly is a daughter of the Grade 1 winner A Z Warrior. “I’m expanding a little bit into some European bloodlines,” Jane Lyon said. “I was excited about the family and being in foal to War Front for her first foal.”

Another mare in foal to War Front was Stays In Vegas, a Grade 3-winning daughter of City Zip from the family of champion Heavenly Prize. She sold to Claiborne Farm for $1.5 million and was consigned by James Keogh as agent.

Teruya Yoshida’s Shadai Farm gave $1.25 million for Grade 1 winner Zipessa, in foal to Medaglia d’Oro. “The market is strong across the board,” said consignor Archie St. George. Town and Country Horse Farms went to $1.125 million to secure another former Aidan O’Brien-trained mare in Group 3 winner Pretty Perfect, a daughter of Galileo in foal to War Front.

Galileo’s daughter Galileo’s Song, a graded stakes-placed winner in foal to Curlin, sold to Japan’s Shimokobe Farm/Polo Green Stable for $1 million. She is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Magnificent Song. “Galileo is very successful in Japan, so why not?” Yukio Shimokobe said. “We will bring her back to Japan and breed her to a good stallion like Deep Impact.”

The best-priced weanling of the week has been the Tapit first foal of champion La Verdad. She sold to Whisper Hill Farm and Three Chimneys Farm for $800,000 and was among six horses supplemented to Book 1. Mandy Pope of Whisper Hill said. “I’ve watched La Verdad run in New York, against me sometimes, and I’ve always admired her. We bought her to race.”

At $750,000, the second best-priced weanling is also a daughter of Tapit, a half-sister to champion Arrogate who earned a North American record $17,422,600. Clearsky Farms, who bred the filly with Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings, purchased her with Rac 04 Racing.