Bounding’s daughter purchased by Ciaron Maher Racing
Training empire Ciaron Maher Racing’s ever increasing reach has stretched to America, with the powerful operation purchasing a filly by US Horse of the Year Curlin (Smart Strike) with a deep Australasian pedigree on day one of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Maher and co-trainer David Eustace’s bloodstock manager Will Bourne is in Kentucky for the major Keeneland auction, which attracts buyers from around the world, and he bought the daughter of champion New Zealand sprinter Bounding (Lonhro), a half-sister to Epsom Derby (Gr 1, 1m 4f) winner Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo), who herself is out of Blue Diamond Prelude (F) (Gr 3, 1000m) winner Believe’n’succeed (Exceed And Excel).
Purchased from the draft of Denali Stud, which was offering the filly on behalf of Stonestreet Farm as Lot 158, Bourne went to US$250,000 (approx. A$362,740) to buy the yearling.
“She’s out of a good mare, she has a proper page and when you invest in these fillies with quality pages, they are low risk plays,” Bourne told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“Ciaron thinks outside the square and I was over here looking at yearlings, so I put her up to him. At that money, we were thrilled to secure the filly.”
Also a sister to the US winner Aussie Pride, who made US$4.1 million at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Bourne revealed the yearling would remain in the US short-term to be broken-in before making her way to Maher and Eustace’s dual-stable training enterprise.
Hill ‘N’ Dale’s Curlin, who stands for a fee of US$175,000 (approx. AU$253,140), is the sire of 90 individual stakes winners but he has had limited exposure in Australia, siring two winners from three runners.
Bourne said upon inspection he could see the influence of her Australian pedigree through dam sire Lonhro (Octagonal) and her granddam sire Exceed And Excel (Danehill).
“Side on, she is very Australian, I’d say. She’s got a great hip, deep girth and is very strong, but walking away from you I’d say she’s got those American traits through the hocks but I am a little bit forgiving of that, being by Curlin,” he said.
“We were really happy to punt her, get her down to Australia and see what she can do. Those fillies with deep pages, we are happy to go to buy them without a specific client order.”
Bourne, who has been in Europe purchasing tried horses on behalf of the stable, believes the northern hemisphere-bred yearlings by Darley shuttler Street Boss (Street Cry) – the sire of Godolphin’s star entire Anamoe and Rosemont Stud’s second season sire Hanseatic – also present as a potential opportunity.
“I wouldn’t mind having a look at the Street Bosses later in the book,” he said.
“He’s obviously an achieving stallion in Australia and they’re very buyable, the yearlings by Street Boss over here.”
Expatriate New Zealand agent Michael Wallace, who is now permanently based in the US, bought three yearlings during the opening session, going to US$725,000 (approx. A$1,050,370) for a Constitution (Tapit) colt (lot 121) from Denali Stud as agent for WinStar Farm on behalf of his client St Elias Stables.
Wallace also paid US$300,000 (approx. A$464,635) for a War Front (Danzig) filly (lot 76), who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Big World (Custom Of Carlos), for St Elias Stables while he signed for a US$450,000 (approx. A$651,955) Speightstown (Gone West) colt (lot157) on behalf of Gandharvi and St Elias Stables from the Taylor Made Sales draft.
Australians Craig Rounsefell of Boomer Bloodstock and Newgate Farm’s Henry Field are also in attendance at the Keeneland sale this week.
Field’s Newgate partner SF Bloodstock was active on day one, purchasing three colts in partnership, one by Candy Ride (Ride The Rails) and two by Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) for a combined US$1.885 million (approx. A$2.73 million).
The Keeneland September Yearling Sale kicked off with a running start and continued its bullish ways through to the end of the first session, as nine horses broke the seven-figure barrier.
A Quality Road (Elusive Quality) colt consigned by breeder Stonehaven Steadings as lot 97 led the day, bringing US$2.5 million (approx. AU$3.66 million) from the partnership of Talla Racing, Woodford Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds, with David Ingordo signing the ticket.
The partnership ended day one as the leading buyer after spending US$3,275,000 (approx. AU$4.8 million) for two yearlings.
“It was a great day from beginning to end, and to see as many people in the sales pavilion as we did, the packed house, all the people in the seats, it was exhilarating,” said Shannon Arvin, Keeneland’s president and CEO. “It is a testament to the excitement about racing and in Kentucky in particular.”
Session one produced impressive results, with 118 of the 144 horses through the ring selling for gross receipts of US$57,995,000 (approx. AU$85 million), a 44.3 per cent increase over the 2021 opening session. An average price of US$491,144 (approx. AU$720,355) was a 28.3 per cent increase, and a median of US$442,500 (approx. AU$649,000) represented a 42.7 per cent increase year-on-year.
There were 26 horses who failed to meet their reserve to give an RNA rate of 18.1 per cent.
“Just looking at the raw numbers, these are figures we haven’t seen in recent years, with nine million-dollar horses in the first session, which is the first time since 2007,” said Keeneland vice-president of sales Tony Lacy.
“The first hip through the ring brought $850,000, and hip 8 brought $1.2 million. We can’t find a horse that brought more than $850,000 as the first horse through the ring in the history of the sale.”
During the 2021 opening session, 105 of the 156 horses on offer sold for gross figures of $40,177,000 at an average price of $382,638 and a median of $310,000. The 51 yearlings who failed to meet their reserve represented an RNA rate of 32.69 per cent.
Arvin said: “We had a lot of principals here. To have them back, enjoying this tremendous sport, and acquiring their next champions was wonderful.
“The atmosphere was fun, and the energy was high; it has been that way for the past three days. To see the culmination in the results and prices we had today is exciting.”
At the close of the first selling session, Taylor Made Sales Agency finished as leading consignor after selling 15 horses for a gross of US$8,115,000 (approx. AU$11.9 million) at an average of US$541,000 (approx. AU$793,475).
John Gunther of Glennwood echoed a similar feeling after selling four horses on Monday, two of which brought over $1 million.
“If you have the right individual, there is money here for it,” he said. “I think it’s a strong sale. There seems to be a lot of money around. We never had a break [at the barn].”
Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency said: “Overall, there was a lot of bidding beyond the reserves on 80 per cent of our horses. I have to give it to our breeders and sellers because we were preaching to them going into the sale, ‘It has been a great market so far, but don’t check your brain at the door.’
“You have to be realistic and put in realistic reserves, which paid off today. We’ve had a great clearance rate, and it gets me excited for the rest of the sale.”
Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales, said: “We feel like the stats – 48 of the 118 sold brought $500,000 or more – are pretty tremendous. There are a lot of happy people here on the grounds today.
“There is always a lot of anxiety about being on the first day, the early hips, and I think that was set aside after things got going. We want to learn what we did here today and try to improve it for the next time.
“The enthusiasm for racing at the moment, I think we are in a little bit of a golden era and I think we have to learn how to not take anything for granted and find how we develop and work forward on this.”
Arvin added: “We want to thank the consignors and breeders who worked with us on the format, and we are delighted that the numbers proved what we hoped they would be.”
The sale will continue this morning with lots 191-371 beginning at 3am AEST.