Australian feel to Keeneland as southern hemisphere fillies come under notice
Daughters of Bounding, Taste Of Heaven and Thyme For Roses to go under the hammer
The Keeneland September Yearling Sale will get under way next week and the Australian representative of the US thoroughbred auction house believes a batch of fillies with potent southern hemisphere pedigrees could present buyers Down Under with a rare opportunity to access quality “pages” with a dual racing and breeding purpose.
The investment in Australasian broodmares by US breeders over the past decade is evident throughout the 11-session auction in Lexington, Kentucky, and Magic Millions managing director Barry Bowditch, who also acts for Keeneland, expects Australian buyers to potentially feature on the results page over the next fortnight.
“There’s some nice fillies with pedigrees they know a lot about,” Bowditch said yesterday.
“You’ve got a daughter of Bounding, a daughter of Thyme For Roses and the like, a daughter of Taste Of Heaven all in a catalogue like this and they’ve got great value to the Australian buyers.
“In a sale of its kind, one of the great yearling sales of the world, (Australian buyers should be) sitting back, doing the due diligence and paying attention to the sale.”
One filly of particular interest given the profile of her pedigree in both hemispheres is a daughter of Grade 1 winner Violence (Medaglia d’Oro) out of Taste Of Heaven (Encosta De Lago), a sister to Manhattan Rain and Echoes Of Heaven, which is also the same family as the almighty Redoute’s Choice (Danehill). Glen Hill Farm will offer the filly, who is a half-sister to Canadian Grade 3 winner Heavenly Curlin (Curlin), as Lot 190.
What could make the filly particularly appealing to Australian buyers is the fact that Taste Of Heaven was brought back to her home country last year and put in foal to Yarraman Park Stud’s I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit). She was reoffered at this year’s Magic Millions National Sale, making $1.6 million to the bid of father-and-son agents Bill and James Mitchell.
Incidentally, Taste Of Heaven’s first foal, the unraced northern hemisphere-bred Olympic Medal (Medaglia d’Oro), was also traded at the Gold Coast in May when Western Australia’s Two Fillies Stud bought her for $90,000 in foal to Aquis Farm’s first season sire Pierata (Pierro).
The Keeneland sale catalogue also features a Curlin (Smart Strike) filly out of Australian Group 3 winner Thyme For Roses (Redoute’s Choice), one of two yearlings out of Australian-bred mares purchased from the Magic Millions National Sale by Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables.
Thyme For Roses was bought by Banke’s agent John Moynihan at the Magic Millions National Sale in 2017 for $800,000, two years after the late US billionaire Jon Kelly paid $450,000 in conjunction with trainer Gai Waterhouse for her as a yearling on the Gold Coast.
The Curlin filly, who is being consigned by Warrendale Sales as agent as Lot 918, is the second foal for Thyme For Roses.
Another of Stonestreet Stables’ elite southern hemisphere-bred and raced broodmares to be represented at Keeneland will be New Zealand Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Bounding (Lonhro), who has already been a big winner for Banke after her first foal, a colt by Curlin now named Aussie Pride, was bought by Godolphin for US$4.1 million at the 2019 Keeneland September Sale.
Bounding’s third foal, a filly by Darley’s former Australian shuttler Medaglia d’Oro (El Prado), will go through as Lot 284 in Book 2 of the Keeneland Sale through the Denali Stud draft.
Adding to the potential appeal of the Medaglia d’Oro filly is the fact her second dam is the Blue Diamond Prelude (F) (Gr 3, 1100m) winner Believe’n’succeed (Exceed And Excel) who incidentally also ended up in the northern hemisphere after Coolmore’s Tom Magnier went to $1.1 million for her at the Patinack Farm Complete Dispersal in 2014.
She is the dam of Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo).
Bounding, who was raced by New Zealand owner Gary Harding, was bought by Stonestreet Stables for $1.9 million from the Gold Coast in 2016 from vendor Willow Park Stud.
Bowditch forecasts some buyers taking their chances on yearling fillies with Australasian appeal rather than waiting for the broodmare sales.
“I’ve had some good feedback on the catalogue and (Australia-based Boomer Bloodstock’s) Craig Rounsefell has made the trip to be there to act on behalf of his clients, but he would be willing to do some business with Australians, which is fantastic, and I am here to get all the information any buyer requires,” Bowditch said.
“Given the age (differential between southern and northern hemisphere yearlings), it would be common sense to give them a go racing up there, whether it be in America or Europe, and see where they land.
“To be able to buy these sorts of bloodlines and have the chance to enjoy their racing career as well as having them in your paddock to breed with later on makes a lot of sense to me.”