NEWS
Half sister to Speightstown brings $1.7-million
Posted: Monday, September 08, 2008 1:11 PM
HIP 56: HALF SISTER TO CHAMPION SPRINTER SPEIGHTSTOWN
Photo by Z
by Jeff Lowe
A half sister to freshman sire and 2004 champion sprinter Speightstown became the first seven-figure purchase in the Keeneland September yearling sale late Monday morning, bringing $1.7-million from Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum.
John Ferguson, Sheikh Mohammed’s chief bloodstock adviser, signed the ticket for the Unbridled’s Song colt out of Canadian champion Silken Cat, by Storm Cat. Speightstown, a $2-million purchase in the 1999 Keeneland July selected yearling sale, ranks third on the North American freshman sire list with $467,695 in progeny earnings through Sunday.
Speightstown, by Gone West, stands at WinStar Farms in Versailles, Kentucky, for the WinStar/Taylor Made Stallions partnership.
Taylor Made consigned the Unbridled’s Song filly for breeders Aaron and Marie Jones. Ferguson was not immediately available for comment.
Just before noon, Donato Lanni secured a Storm Cat filly out of multiple Grade 1 winner Starrer for $1.2-million.
Lanni is the bloodstock services director for Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms in Lexington, the filly’s consignor. Lanni said he signed the ticket on behalf of a client in California whom he declined to identify.
“It’s a nice Storm Cat filly, [she’s] correct, she has a lot of presence, and a lot of class,” Lanni said.
The filly named Celebrity Cat is the second foal out of Starrer, a Dynaformer mare who won five graded stakes races for owner George Krikorian, including a pair of California Grade 1s. Krikorian bred the Storm Cat filly.
The first foal out of the record-setting mare Playful Act (Ire) sold for $850,000 earlier in the session.
Bloodstock agent John Warren signed the ticket for the Giant’s Causeway filly on behalf of an undisclosed client.
Playful Act, a six-year-old Sadler’s Wells mare, sold for $10.5-million to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum in the 2007 Keeneland November breeding stock sale, a world-record price for a broodmare at public auction.
Swettenham Stud bred the Giant’s Causeway filly and sold her through the consignment of Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, agent.
“She’s a very pretty filly and she’s going back to Europe,” Warren said. “I’m very pleased to have her. I always say that for Europeans if you’re converting American bloodlines to Europe, the catalog obviously is thinner than it used to be.
“From my point of view, I have limited options that I would take back with any confidence. … She’s obviously got a turf pedigree. It’s a beautiful family, and she’s a very pretty, well-made filly."
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
