Stonestreet tops the charts

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Farm recorded a noteworthy hat trick in the first week of the Keeneland September yearling sale, breeding and selling the toppriced horses of Books 1, 2, and 3 as North America’s bellwether yearling auction reached its midway point.

The three colts, one by Tapit and a pair by Into Mischief, were handled by three different consignors under the banner of Stonestreet bred and raised.

“I hope it gives buyers more confidence,” Banke said. “We raise racehorses; we don’t ‘hot house’ them. We do all the right things and try to raise a racehorse that is sturdy and has great breeding.”

The sale-leading $2 million Tapit colt was sold late in Book 1, with Eaton Sales handling consigning duties for Stonestreet. The partnership of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Robert LaPenta, Gainesway, and Winchell Thoroughbreds joined forces to make the purchase. Following the sale, Banke, who said that she would not have put the colt up for sale if he had been a filly, joined the partnership to retain a piece of the action, a common practice.

“To think how the partnership model has evolved, and that now we, as a partnership company, are partnering with moguls in the industry, it speaks volumes,” Eclipse president Aron Wellman said. “Barbara Banke has been gracious about staying in as a partner. She adores this colt. Hopefully, between all of us, we have plenty of good mojo.”

The colt is the second foal out of the Unbridled’s Song mare Tara’s Tango, a Stonestreet homebred who won the Grade 1 Santa Margarita Stakes and two other graded stakes races in California. The mare is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Visionaire as well as Grade 3 winners Madison’s Luna and Scarlet Strike.

Only one horse cracked the seven-figure ceiling in Book 2, and it was Stonestreet’s $1 million Into Mischief colt purchased by Peter Leidel. The colt was consigned by Warrendale Sales.

“Stonestreet did a nice job prepping him, and he showed himself well at the barn,” Hunter Simms, a partner and director of bloodstock services for Warrendale, said. “He is a classy animal. Stonestreet has been very supportive of us over the years, and we greatly appreciate it. We have had good success for them.”

The Book 2 topper, an April foal, is out of the Tapit mare Teen Pauline, winner of the Grade 2 Top Flight and two other stakes in New York. She had established a track record sprinting five furlongs at Saratoga in her debut and was subsequently Grade 1-placed in that juvenile season. Both of the mare’s foals to race are winners, including stakeswinning juvenile Cambria.

Stonestreet sent out another Into Mischief colt to top Book 3, as Mike Ryan went to $625,000 for a colt from the consignment of Summerfield Farm. The colt is the first foal out of True Romance, a Grade 2-placed Yes It’s True mare.

Books 1-3, comprising six sessions, made up exactly half of Keeneland September; the 12-session sale was set to run daily through Sept. 25 with Books 4-6. To the halfway point, Keeneland had reported 1,098 yearlings sold for gross receipts of $208,919,700. The gross to that point compared to the first three books of the 2019 renewal is not comparable, as last year’s first three books comprised seven total sessions, owing to an additional session in the topmarket Book 1 portion.

The cumulative average price at Keeneland September sat at $190,273 at the midway point, a drop of 21 percent compared to the $240,511 Keeneland reported on the evening of the Book 3 finale in 2019. The median tracked at $125,000 compared to $170,000, a 26 percent change. The declining figures are largely attributable to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the market restraint that is a common reaction to uncertainty in the world, travel restrictions due to the pandemic have caused this marketplace to be dominated by domestic interests. A number of major international buyers have been absent from the front end of the market, such as Godolphin, which led all buyers at last year’s sale with 10 purchases for $16 million.

The cumulative buyback rate in a market that has become increasingly selective sat at 34 percent through the Book 3 finale last Saturday. The buyback rate was 40 percent after Book 1 early in the week and improved slightly through Books 2 and 3.

A star for Catch the Moon

The young broodmare Catch the Moon has already become a star, officially recording her third graded stakes winner as Pirate’s Punch won the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth on Sunday.

Pirate’s Punch, by Shanghai Bobby, also had crossed the line first in the Grade 3 Philip H. Islein last month, but was disqualified to second for interference. His Salvator Mile win punched his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Catch the Moon, an 11-yearold Malibu Moon mare, produced her first foal, the Colonel John colt Cocked and Loaded, in 2013. He won the Grade 3 Iroquois and the Tremont Stakes as a juvenile, and went on to be graded stakesplaced at 3. The mare followed up with millionaire Girvin, by Tale of Ekati. He won the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational in 2017 after having won the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and Grade 2 Risen Star earlier that year.

Stonestreet bought Catch the Moon for $240,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November breeding stock sale while she was carrying Pirate’s Punch. With the subsequent success of Girvin, her stock rose significantly. Last year, the mare’s Tiznow colt sold for $525,000 to Winchell Thoroughbreds at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Now named Midnight Bourbon, he was recently second in the Iroquois. Catch the Moon’s yearling Curlin colt sold for $500,000 to Shadwell last week at Keeneland September.

Caravaggio a hot commodity

Scat Daddy’s best sons went to stud after his sudden death in 2015, and the international appeal of the sire line is evident. His star Caravaggio made a fine showing with yearlings from his first crop in the first week of Keeneland September.

Caravaggio has been represented by five yearlings sold for an average price of $205,400. Through the midway point of Keeneland September, he ranks third by average among firstcrop sires, trailing only Eclipse Award champions Gun Runner, with 31 sold averaging $259,677, and Arrogate, with 27 sold averaging $258,407.

Caravaggio’s most expensive offering has been a $400,000 filly purchased by Stripes Stable. The Irish-born filly is out of the winning Unbridled’s Song mare Mundus Novus, dam of Group 1-placed stakes winner Consort; Grade 1 winner Aruna appears on the catalog page.

Caravaggio, who now stands at Coolmore Ireland, won 7 of 10 starts. As a juvenile, he won the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at the Royal Ascot meeting and later won the Group 1 Phoenix in Ireland. He was again a multiple group stakes winner at 3, highlighted by another Royal Ascot victory in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup.

Scat Daddy is represented by 22 sons at stud worldwide, 18 of those having entered stud in 2016 or later. Those, of course, include 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, who will have his first yearlings to the sales in 2021.