Big numbers at Keeneland November
While Keeneland’s November breeding stock sale often features a number of prime race mares, few recent sales can match the quality at the top of this year’s group.
Offerings included stars Monomoy Girl, Rushing Fall, Midnight Bisou, Uni and Got Stormy, who together have won 43 graded races (23 G1s) and earned nearly $16 million. The five sold for more than $26 million last week at Keeneland, led by Monomoy Girl’s $9.5 million.
To the surprise of many, the soon-to-be 6-year- olds Monomoy Girl and Got Stormy, both of whom were purchased by Spendthrift Farm, reportedly will race in 2021. Rushing Fall, Midnight Bisou and Uni are moving on to broodmare careers that will see them bred to some of the most sought-after stallions in the world.
Rushing Fall closed out her racing career with a close second behind Audarya in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. At Keeneland, the ticket for the More Than Ready mare was signed by Jamie McCalmont, agent for Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier.
“She’s a mare we loved the moment we saw her,” McCalmont said in Blood Horse.
“We have plans to send her to Ireland to go to Galileo. I think that is the plan for the moment. Breed the best to the best and
duce records of dirt champions (2-year- olds, 3-yearolds and older females) between 2000 and 2009 – not including those who ended up in Japan – were examined through 2017. The resulting 165 foals included 11 eventual stakes winners (6.7%). Five of these won at the graded level, including G1 winners West Coast ( by Flatter. out of Caressing, 2000 champion juvenile filly) and Rachel’s Valentina ( by Bernardini), one of only two foals produced by Rachel Alexandra. The 2009 Champion 3-year- old filly and Horse of the Year, since elected to the Hall of Fame, has not been bred since her difficulty foaling Rachel’s Valentina in 2013.
While the percentage of stakes winners for this elite group is considerably higher than the figure for the breed as a whole, it is perhaps less impressive than one might expect from matings between the most accomplished race mares and the most fashionable stallions. The sample was too small, however, to have much validity. A later column will be based on a larger sample and include other categories besides stakes winners.
NY races cancelled in 2020
Considering that New York racing was shut down for nearly 11 weeks this spring, it is not surprising that the stakes schedule was seriously impacted. Most graded races were rescheduled, but a dozen or so were not run this year, several for the first time.
The cancelled races included one current G1 (the Man o’ War) and four former G1s, the Brooklyn, Mother Goose, Gazelle and Wood Memorial. Prior to this year, theWood had been run every year since its inaugural edition in 1925. Other races cancelled for the first time were the Mother Goose and Man o’War, which were first run in 1957 and 1959, respectively. Finally, this is the first year since 1935 that there was no Gazelle Stakes and the first since 1912 that there was no Brooklyn Handicap.