A weanling filly by first-crop sire Cashel Castle (Silver Ghost) brought the top bid of
$53,000 to headline the final session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock
Sale on Sunday in Lexington, Kentucky. Selling as Hip No. 4918, the bay filly
was consigned by TimberView Sales and purchased by Thomas W. Meharry.
The Illinois-bred lass is out of the unraced Line Shot (Caller I. D.), who is
a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Word Pirate (Verbatim). Line Shot has also
produced a pair of winners from three to race.
Cashel Castle captured the 2002 Lafayette S. (G3) and finished second in that
year’s Derby Trial S. (G3). The gray began his career with wins in his initial
five starts, which also included a tally in the Hoosier Juvenile S., and
finished with a lifetime line of 11-5-3-1, $239,016. The now seven-year-old
stands at Cloverleaf Farms near Reddick, Florida, for a fee of $2,500 live foal.
The second-highest priced weanling was also by Cashel Castle and consigned by
TimberView. Cataloged as Hip 4953, the weanling colt is the first foal produced
from the winning End Sweep mare Persnickity Gal, who counts herself a
half-sister to the stakes-winning Striking Move (Valid Appeal). The Illinois-bred
colt, who was purchased by David Kinniard for $43,000, also hails from the same female
family as recent Grade 1 winner Siren Lure (Joyeux Danseur).
Adena Springs went to $47,000 to secure the top broodmare of the day,
purchasing the five-year-old mare GARDEN WHIMSY (Bertrando). Consigned by Mill
Ridge Sales as Hip 4883, the dark bay is carrying a foal by second-crop sire
Yankee Gentleman (Storm Cat) and is a full sister three black-type
performers — stakes heroine Kresgeville as well as stakes-placed Palmerton and
Market Cap.
Garden Whimsy’s dam, Seed Case (Never Tabled), counts herself a
half-sister to the stakes-winning sire Pirate’s Bounty (Hoist the Flag) and comes from the same
family as Grade 1 heroine Key Phrase (Flying Paster), who is the dam of Yankee
Gentleman and granddam of the stakes-winning Half Ours (Unbridled’s Song), who
registered a Keeneland record for a horse in training when selling to Aaron
Jones for $6.1 million
to top this sale on the opening day.
On Sunday, 125 horses sold for $1,053,600, bringing an average price of
$8,429 and a $5,200 median. There was no comparable session in 2005.
The 14-day auction rang up sales tickets totaling $313,843,800, marking an 8.4
percent increase from the $289,606,400 brought in during last year’s 12-session
sale. The average price of $99,728 was 3 percent less than the $102,842
average of 2005, while the $35,000 median was unchanged from the previous year.
The gross total of $313,843,800 was the second-highest grossing November Sale
ever, eclipsed only by the $317,666,000 in 1999.
A total of 27 offerings reached
the $1 million mark, including a North American record of $2.7 million for a weanling
colt sold at public auction. The colt, by Montjeu (Ire) out of Elbaaha (GB) (Arazi),
was purchased by Nobutaka Tada, agent for Globe Equine Management from the
consignment of Indian Creek (Dave C. Parrish Jr.), agent.
Half Ours, the sale topper, was offered by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent
for Jones and Barry Schwartz, as a racing or stallion prospect and went through
the ring as Hip No. 295. Jones said that he will now be the sole owner of the
colt.