THE strength of the American bloodstock market can often seem unattainable to us Europeans, so it was encouraging to note that the buyer of the $5,200,000 top lot at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale has horses in training in Ireland, though at a much, much lower level.

Erdenheim Farm Thoroughbreds was the name that appeared alongside the twice Grade 1-placed Malibu Moon mare Quietside, but Irish readers are likely to be more familiar with Peter and Bonnie McCausland under the banner of Leamington Racing LLC - their blue silks finished fourth in this year’s Galway Plate, courtesy of the Gordon Elliott-trained Nowwhatdoyouthink.

Elliott also trained Famous Figure to win for the couple at Percy Warner Park in May, with the Famous Name gelding staying on in the US with Richard Hendriks since. The McCauslands have also bred to Irish sires, sending Tilly’s Chilli to Gleneagles in 2019, months after purchasing the former Jessica Harrington inmate for 400,000gns at Tattersalls.

Peter McCausland founded Airgas and, since building his fortune, has become known for several philanthropic ventures with his wife, including a $75 million donation to the University of South Carolina, and are best known in racing circles for purchasing and restoring the historic Erdenheim Farm in Pennsylvania.

The McCauslands purchased Quietside through advisor Chris Baker, with the former Three Chimneys COO earlier securing the Grade 1-winning Twirling Candy mare Kilwin for the same clients for $2,600,000.

Quietside, the highest-priced mare to sell at auction in North America this year, was offered by Stone Farm in foal to Nyquist. The dual graded winner was raced by Arkansas businessman John Ed Anthony, who bred the bay out of his Grade 1-placed, Grade 2-winning Speightstown mare Benner Island.

“My father deserves all the credit,” Ed Anthony later reflected. “He has been in the game for 50 years and has had a lot of good horses. This filly is pretty special because we bred her; her dam is entered in the (2027 Keeneland) January Sale. My father is 87, and he is starting to downsize a little bit.”

Giant’s influence

The top four lots were all in-foal mares, two of which were covered by Gun Runner at a fee of $250,000. Three Chimneys Farm have made the top-class son of Candy Ride’s fee private for 2027, following a season in which he added another three Grade 1 winners to his record.

One of his earlier top-flight winners, Vahva, fetched $3,100,000 12 months ago and on Tuesday, her half-sister, Ahavah, brought $4,800,000 from Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa. The Grade 2-placed daughter of City Of Light was offered by Lane’s End carrying a maiden cover.

After John Sikura delivered the final bid, his son Jess said: “I think there are a lot of updates to come with this family. Everything about her is appealing.”

Gun Runner himself is out of a Giant’s Causeway mare and Whisper Hill Farm’s Mandy Pope presumably has no qualms about inbreeding to ‘The Iron Horse’, as she gave $2,900,000 for one of his daughters in foal to Gun Runner. It helps that the mare in question, Flag Day, carried a full-sibling to Grade 3 scorer Hall Of Fame.

On the legendary chesnut, Pope commented: “I know he’s kind of ancient at this point, but I think he’s still just one of the top broodmare sires that we’ve had, and we also like that [Flag Day is] out of a Street Sense mare. I think she’s a good broodmare, and she’s back in foal to Gun Runner.”

Pope has high hopes for the foal Flag Day is currently carrying, saying: “The plan would be to come back with that one as a yearling and get three, three and a half million for (him).”

Giant’s Causeway’s success as a broodmare sire bodes well for daughters of Not This Time, already a sire sensation himself, and upped to $300,000 next season. Albaugh Family Stables had the foresight to use the Taylor Made stallion at $45,000 and on Tuesday, the resulting filly, dual graded winner On Time Girl, brought $2,600,000 from David Lanigan, acting on behalf of the Heider family.

“She was a very good dirt filly, winner at two and continued on at three,” Lanigan reflected. “She’s a very, very attractive filly by the right stallion, and the boss is keen to bring in some more dirt mares. He’ll make a plan with her and what he’s going to breed her to. She was his pick and pedigree in the whole book.”

M.V. MAGNIER and White Birch Farm bought the third highest-priced lot, Admit, for $3,100,000 at the opening session, but it was the partnership’s other purchase which holds greater interest for Irish readers.

Aidan O’Brien will eventually train the full-brother to 2000 Guineas victor Ruling Court, which earned the title of the highest-priced foal of the week at $1,300,000. While Godolphin raced the Justify colt’s classic-winning brother, Coolmore have also previously enjoyed success with the family, as their dam Inchargeofme is a full-sister to Group 1 performer Johann Strauss.

The High Chaparral mare was picked up by Nursery Place at this venue in January 2015 and they have now sold five of her progeny for a total of $4,750,000.

Following her latest sale, Griffin Mayer of Nursery Place explained: “We raised Ruling Court; I walked Ruling Court as a weanling and got to walk this one. This horse might be better; he has a bigger stride on him. We’ve loved this horse. That (price) does not surprise me at all.”

Godolphin made just one purchase this week, giving $2,100,000 for Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes heroine Expensive Queen from Taylor Made Sales. The daughter of Lope De Vega ran to a rating of 83 for Jaber Abdullah in the UK and progressed since joining Brendan Walsh last spring.

Trade slows

Tuesday’s opening session saw 161 lots sell for $96 million, which represented a whopping 32% increase on last year’s corresponding session. This was thanks, in part, to 23 seven-figure lots, compared to 17 last year. The median price was the only negative, dropping by 5% to $422,500, but average price improved by 6% to $596,205.

Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin was understandably delighted by the results, saying: “It was an incredible day. The catalogue was deep and the buying bench was diverse and deep, and it just had a great energy to it all day long. I think it really was a very successful Book 1.”

However, trade did take a dip at the second session on Wednesday, when turnover fell by 17% to $39,535,000, despite another seven-figure sale. The average price dropped by 7% to $188,262 and the median fell by 6% to $150,000.

“The market was a little more reserved than yesterday,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales, Tony Lacy admitted. “Yesterday was a fantastic sale and today was a little more normal in how it measured out. But in saying that, quality horses sold well.”

Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations, Cormac Breathnach added: “The mare market was steady. The pinhookers are here; they’re active, and there’s a lot to come. They’re maybe not pitting themselves against each other so much to this point in the sale. A lot of end users are still buying the weanlings, so there’s still a lot of buyers with volume orders that haven’t really struck at their regular rate yet. There are good horses tomorrow, and there’s a long way to go in the sale.”