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28.
Jim Fleming Buys $2million Mare At Keeneland
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06/11/2002 |
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Tyreel
Stud’s Jim Fleming opened the purse strings on the second day of the of the
Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale purchasing the day’s second highest
priced lot, the 5-year-old Quiet American mare Warrior Queen for $2million. New
Zealand-bred mare Happyanunoit, a Group 1 winner as a two-year old in N.Z and
second to Dracula in the 1998 AJC Champagne Stakes before becoming a triple
Group 1 winner in the United States, sold $1.4 million. Closely related to
Melbourne Cup runner-up Mr. Prudent, the daughter of Yachtie was sold in foal to
Giant’s Causeway. However the day’s top priced lot was for a full sister to
Coolmore Stud’s Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus
David Plummer engaged in a spirited duel to acquire Bless, a full sister to
classic winner Fusaichi Pegasus and in foal to Storm Cat, for $4 million.
It is the sale’s highest price and equaled the highest price last November
paid for Twenty Eight Carat, who was then in foal to Fusaichi Pegasus.
Bless, unraced due to an injury sustained during a thunderstorm while she was a
yearling, is out of stakes-placed Angel Fever, who is a full sister to Preakness
Stakes winner Pine Bluff. She was consigned by Stone Farm as agent for Arthur B.
Hancock III and Robert and Janice McNair’s Stonerside Stable LLC.
Plummer and his partners in ClassicStar--Thom Robinson, Tony Ferguson and one
who prefers to remain anonymous--bought 18 broodmares on Monday.
“We waited all day for her,” Plummer said about Bless. “We knew we would
have to pay what she’s worth. We thought that would be between $3.5 and $4.5
million.
“We wanted her,” he continued. “She was our No. 1 pick of the sale.”
ClassicStar plans to sell the offspring of their mares.
“I’m well pleased with the price,” said Arthur Hancock. “I didn’t know
what price she would bring. The sale has been going well. Losing this mare is
like losing one of my best friends. She’s the real deal. I expect her to be as
good a producer as Angel Fever. I think she was the best buy in the sale.
She’s young and in foal to Storm Cat.”
Hancock added that Bless was in the same stall at Keeneland as Fusaichi Pegasus
had been, and they both brought $4 million. “I think it was an omen,” he
said.
Plummer, a Nevada resident, is a tax accountant who started out in the Quarter
Horse business before switching to Thoroughbreds in 1990. Two of his partners
live in Michigan and the other lives in Florida.
ClassicStar’s other Tuesday purchases included Nannerl, for $1.25 million,
from the consignment of Eaton Sales. Nannerl, a graded stakes winner of
$553,465, has produced Grade 2 winner Magicalmysterycat (by Storm Cat), and she
is in foal to Storm Cat.
Plummer and partners also announced Tuesday that they had purchased champion
Xtra Heat privately for $1.5 million. Xtra Heat went through the ring at Fasig-Tipton
Kentucky on Sunday night and had failed to reach her reserve.
Jim Fleming, a commercial breeder from Australia, bought Warrior Queen for $2
million. Fleming, who owns Tyreel Stud Farm outside Sydney, Australia, had
bought one mare at Keeneland previously.
“I decided to come here for this sale because I thought the market was going
to be down,” he said. “It was clear early on that that wasn’t the case.
The market is very strong, in my opinion. Some of the bloodlines you have here,
we don’t have at home.”
The 5-year-old daughter of Quiet American was a stakes winner in Ireland and
highweighted at 3 in both England and Ireland. “She has a wonderful race
record,” Fleming said. “I don’t like to breed to slow horses.” In foal
to A.P. Indy, the mare is from the family of Storm Bird. She was consigned by
Eaton Sales as agent.
“I think she is an American mare, and as such, I think she should stay
here.” He indicated that she might be boarded at Ashford Stud.
Fleming owns a total of 40 mares, some of whom are kept in England.
Klaus Jacobs continued buying Tuesday in the name of his Newsells Park Stud.
After acquiring 14 broodmares for $8,230,000 on Monday, his Tuesday purchases
were topped by Ela Athena (GB) for $2 million, Happyanunoit (NZ) for $1.4
million and recent Breeders’ Cup Fillies & Mare Turf winner Starine (FR)
for $1 million.
Six-year-old Ela Athena, a Group 3 winner, is in foal to Giant’s Causeway and
was consigned by Michael C. Byrne, agent.
Happyanunoit, consigned by Mill Ridge Sales, as agent, is a Grade 1 winner in
her native country and in the U.S. and was the highweighted filly at 2 in New
Zealand. She likewise is in foal to Giant’s Causeway.
Starine, a 5-year-old daughter of Mendocino, will be exported to England, where
Jacobs’ Newsells Park Stud is located. She also was consigned by Mill Ridge.
Robert Acton, who signed the tickets on behalf of Jacobs, said that the $1
million bid for Starine was as high as he intended to go.
“We expected racing people to buy her and keep racing her,” said Acton.
“The charming thing about her is that she is correct and she is available to
breed to almost anything.”
Relative newcomer Bill Kembil bought Rose of Tara (IRE) for $1.95 million in the
name of his and his son Mark’s Chiefswood Stables earlier in the session.
Kembil, who formerly owned Trimark Financial Corporation which was listed on the
Canadian Stock Exchange, is in the process of expanding his broodmare band to
between 20 and 24 mares. Rose of Tara increased the total to 16. Chiefswood has
50 horses over all, and the horses in training are based at Woodbine with
trainer Eric Coatrieux.
“The sale of Trimark allows us to be more actively involved in the horse
business,” he said. “We’d like to have a shot at the best, and we believe
that breeding our own horses is the way to accomplish that, rather than buying
yearlings, although we may buy some. Our focus will be to breed to race.”
The Kembils own a farm near Toronto of about 175 acres, where the mares are
kept, and a training center of 200 acres.
Rose of Tara, a winning 6-year-old daughter of Generous, is in foal to Storm
Cat. She is a half-sister to five stakes winners, including English highweighted
filly Salsabil (IRE) as well as Group 1 winner Marju. She was consigned by
Glennwood Farm Voute Sales LLC, as agent.
Jerre Paxton, owner of Northwest Farms in Washington state, successfully bid
$1.3 million for The Seven Seas. The 6-year-old daughter of El Gran Senor, a
half-sister to stakes winner Royal Gem, won the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes and
earned $481,393. In foal to Thunder Gulch, she was consigned by Mill Ridge
Sales, as agent.
“I liked everything about her,” said Paxton. “I have no breeding plans for
her yet. Basically, she was my primary objective.”
Paxton breeds to race and to sell and has been involved in the racing business
for 30 years.
Frank Stronach, owner of Adena Springs Farms and a multitude of racetracks
through Magna Entertainment Corporation, bought Nasty Storm, winner of the Grade
2 Churchill Downs Distaff Handicap last year, for $1,075,000 from the
consignment of Eaton Sales. Stronach indicated that the 4-year-old daughter of
Gulch might defend her title in the Distaff this weekend. “But, basically, I
bought her as a broodmare.”
Nasty Storm is a half-sister to stakes winner Born Winner.
“The market is fairly strong,” he added. “For good mares you have to pay a
fair amount of money.”
Jane and Frank Lyon bought With Flair for $950,000. The graded stakes-winning
daughter of Broad Brush is in foal to Gone West. She was consigned by Anderson
Farms, agent for Sam-Son Farm.
The Lyons, who own Summer Wind Farm near Lexington, have a commercial operation.
Prior to the sale, they owned 20 mares and hoped to increase that number to 25.
They also bought Ocean Queen, in foal to Pulpit, on Monday for $800,000, and
Willa Joe (IRE), in foal to Fusaichi Pegasus, for $625,000, on Tuesday.
Nine horses sold for $1 million or above Tuesday, the same number as last
year’s second day. For the session, 182 horses sold for $53,008,000, an
average of $291,253 and median of $162,500, compared to last year when 180 were
sold for $57,193,000, an average of $317,739 and median of $160,000.
The cumulative numbers for the first two days this year are 368 horses sold for
$111,859,500, an average of $303,966 and median of $167,500. Last year, the
cumulative figures for the first two days were 332 sold for $105,928,000, an
average of $319,060 and median of $165,000.
Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s director of sales, said the sale “is slightly
better than my expectations. Sellers have come to sell and buyers have come to
buy. It’s a professional sale. The era of fireworks are gone. Good quality
horses still bring a lot of money. When the markets decline, it goes back to
professional people rather than people who are riding the market up.”
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