Justify’s half-brother becomes a $1.75 million buyback

It’s rare to find a breeder and consignor smiling after the most high-profile horse from their consignment is a highticket buyback. But Tanya Gunther, who operates Glennwood Farm with her father, John Gunther, didn’t seem too perturbed as she stood outside the barn Tuesday evening at Keeneland.

“Well, he’s coming home,” Tanya Gunther said.

‘He’ is the half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify, who failed to meet his reserve with a high bid of $1.75 million at the Keeneland September yearling sale. The Will Take Charge colt was the first half-sibling to a Triple Crown winner offered at public auction as a yearling since Seattle Dancer, a halfbrother to Seattle Slew by British Triple Crown winner and leading sire Nijinsky II, sold for a record $13.1 million to the BBA of England at the 1985 Keeneland July selected yearling sale. Justify, by the late Scat Daddy, sold for $500,000 at the 2016 Keeneland September sale to WinStar Farm and China Horse Club.

Gunther said Justify’s halfbrother had a reserve of $1.799 million.

“Where the live money stopped, I don’t know,” Gunther said. “I always watch the horse in the ring and see how that’s going . ... He went up there like a champion, handled it all very well, and I think that’s a very good sign.”

Justify is out of the Grade 3-placed Ghostzapper mare Stage Magic, whom the Gunthers campaigned as a homebred. The mare is also the dam of The Lieutenant, a Grade 3 winner and Grade 2-placed this year.

While the female side of the family is on the rise, Gunther believes that the market took a cautious approach to young sire Will Take Charge, still unproven on the racetrack, resulting in the buyback. Will Take Charge – a late-blooming runner himself – has three winners from 15 first-crop starters. His yearling average sits at $167,207.

Gunther acknowledged that she hadn’t expected Will Take Charge’s 2-year-olds to be precocious.

“He was a very good racehorse, nice, big, scopey horse, great female family, good physical cross for the mare, and we liked the cross,” Gunther said of pairing Stage Magic with Will Take Charge. “We thought he was one of the most promising new stallions to retire that year and thought it would be a good match for the mare.

“I think mostly the stallion being unproven, it’s a little bit tricky.”

Justify’s half-brother will be broken at Glennwood this fall.

Meanwhile, Stage Magic delivered a Pioneerof the Nile colt this year, is in foal to Quality Road, and will be bred back to Curlin.

War Front off to strong start

As the Keeneland September yearling sale began with momentum thanks to strong buying from major international entities, internationally successful sire War Front is also off to a strong start.

At the halfway point of Keeneland September’s marquee Book 1 section, War Front, who stands at Claiborne Farm, led all stallions by average sale price, checking in at $879,091. Following that figure was commercial rival Tapit, at $675,000.

War Front was represented by three seven-figure yearlings in Tuesday’s second session to power his figures, keyed by a $2.4 million colt sold to Coolmore to become the most expensive yearling in North America this year. Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier said the colt will head to Ireland and will be trained by Aidan O’Brien at Ballydoyle.

The colt, consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, is the second foal out of the Grade 1-winning Smart Strike mare Streaming, a full sister to stakes winner Treasuring and a half-sister to stakes winner Cascading and stakes-placed Distracting and Gifting. Another sibling, Achieving, is the dam of Group 1-placed stakes winner Arabian Hope and stakes winner Counterforce.

Streaming’s granddam is blue hen Better Than Honour, the dam of Kentucky Oaks and Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches, fellow Belmont Stakes winner Jazil, Breeders’ Cup Marathon winner Man of Iron, and Grade 2 winner Casino Drive.

Through the first two sessions, Keeneland had reported a total of 306 horses sold for gross receipts of $114,455,000, resulting in an average price of $374,036 and median of $300,000.

Keeneland revised the format of the September sale this year, expanding the marquee Book 1 portion from a single session with 167 horses in the catalog to four sessions totaling 989 yearlings to open this sale. With the change, session-tosession figures, particularly for gross sales, are not applicable for market comparison. Last year’s narrow Book 1 – which finished with an average price of $570,263 and median of $500,000 – was followed by three Book 2 sessions. Thus, this year’s four-session expanded Book 1 effectively serves as a blended Book 1 and 2 in terms of quality. The Book 2 portion of the 2017 auction posted a cumulative average of $288,759 and median of $200,000.

Albaughs sell to buy

Albaugh Family Stables faced some difficult decisions this week at the Keeneland September yearling sale in its continued pursuit of classic success. After generating capital by selling a half-sister to one of its best runners during the first session, the stable was able to pick up a high-ticket offering by a classic sire during the second session.

The Albaughs sent a Tapit filly who is a half-sister to Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam’s Map, Grade 3 winner and Eclipse Award finalist Not This Time, and stakes winner Taylor S through the ring on Monday, via the Taylor Made Sales consignment. She sold for $1.4 million to Don Alberto Stable.

“We were going all day long, ‘Should we sell? Should we not sell?’ ” stable manager Jason Loutsch said. “But for that kind of money, sometimes you need to make an economic decision, and that’s what we did. Now we’re going to go reinvest in some colts.”

Less than 24 hours later, the Albaughs were accepting additional congratulations as they landed a Pioneerof the Nile colt out of multiple Grade 2 winner Pomeroys Pistol for $1 million, in partnership with Spendthrift Farm. The new purchase expands the partnership between the two entities, as Spendthrift stands the Albaughs’ Grade 1 winner Brody’s Cause and also has the stud rights to their Grade 1 winner Free Drop Billy. Dale Romans, who conditioned both, was in attendance with both parties at the sale on Tuesday.