There is plenty happening in Australia over the spring but astute breeders are also thinking about Keeneland with the prolific and popular Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale being conducted over nine sessions kicking off on Melbourne Cup Day (November 5).
With all studies worldwide showing that the better class race mares tend to make the best broodmares, it is important to note which mares are competing at the highest level. Each of these mares did just that; on top of their already impressive records, also finishing fourth in Group 1 contests noting that those records appear in Australian catalogues.
It’s a big catalogue to work through but there are several whose race records and pedigrees suggest that they are going to be of great interest to Australian buyers. We take a look at a few of those…
Hip 225 - Lady Tapit (USA) (Tapit {USA} x Temperence Gift {USA})
A Group 3-placed mare who proved herself to be competitive in Group 1 company, Lady Tapit (USA) would be a nice addition to a broodmare band, noting that there are only around a dozen daughters of Tapit (USA) in the Australian Stud Book.
That outstanding stallion has continued on with his excellent work as a stallion (168 stakes winners including 32 Group 1 winners) as a broodmare sire, his daughters producing 115 stakes winners with 16 of those successful at the elite level.
Already a proven broodmare, Lady Tapit boasts a 100 per cent strike rate with her first three foals all runners including the very talented young stallion Kingsbarns (USA) (Uncle Mo {USA}) who won six of his nine starts; three of those in Group company including at final outing in late June the G1 Stephen Foster S.
Taking out that race by an impressive 2.5l, Kingsbarns (an $800,000 purchase for Spendthrift) impressed his jockey Luis Saez and trainer Todd Pletcher.
“Around the far turn, he really found his stride nicely and just took me from there,” Saez said, “and he fought hard down the entire stretch.”
“Obviously winning a Grade 1 is a tremendous accomplishment,” Pletcher added. “I think we've seen this year he's been able to settle better than when he was a 3-year-old and show that new dimension. He sat a perfect trip today and really kicked well when turning for home.” Kingsbarns is set to stand at Spendthrift in 2025 for US $20,000 (AU$30,300).
Lady Tapit's progeny have sold exceptionally well; her 2022 born colt Weaponized (USA) (Gun Runner (USA) fetching US$650,000 (AU$988,900) and her 2023 filly by Munnings (USA) US$700,000 (AU$1,064,90) at the recent Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Served by Hill 'N' Dale's US$125,000 (AU$190,000) stallion Good Magic (USA), Lady Tapit is a half-sister to the G1 American Oaks heroine Gozzip Girl (USA) (Dynaformer {USA}), dam of the Japanese Group 2 winner Chuck Nate (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and to the dam of the Group winners Gallileo's Town (Arg) (Speightstown {USA}) and Gianella (Arg) (Lizard Island {USA}).
Hip 249 - Class Clown (USA) (Practical Joke {USA} x Miss Lavinia {USA})
This is a rare opportunity to buy into the family of one Australia's most in-form and successful broodmares, that have produced the likes of G1 Golden Slippper S. heroine Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon).
Class Clown (USA) (Practical Joke {USA}) was a US$300,000 (AU$456,500) yearling who has increased her value by showing good talent on the track. Racing 10 times, she was in the winners circle twice over sprinting trips; performing consistently with another four placings on her record.
Class Clown is by the Group 1-winning Into Mischief (USA) stallion Practical Joke (USA) who has done such a great job, a real upgrader with 11 Group 1 winners amongst his 39 stakes winners.
Lady Of Camelot | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
She is one of the five winners produced by the exceptionally well-related Miss Lavinia (USA) (Speightstown {USA}) whos progeny really now how to find the line; her stakes placed son Arch Cat (USA) (Arch {USA}) winning 15 races.
Also grandam of the Group 1 placed Cassies Dreamer (USA) (Flatter {USA}), Miss Lavinia is a daughter of the five-time stakes winner Miss Seffens (USA) (Dehere {USA}) whose Australian-based G2 Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies S.-winning daughter More Than Real (USA) (More Than Ready {USA}) is dam of the Listed Denise's Joy S.-winning star broodmare Miss Debutante (Fastnet Rock).
Her first three foals are all stakes winners; the four-time Group 3 winner Queen Of The Ball (I Am Invincible), the G3 Gimcrack S. winner Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar) who Coolmore purchased for $3.5 million this year and the Group 1-winning Lady Of Camelot.
Hip 323 - On Leave (USA) (War Front {USA} x Meghans Joy {USA})
Tough, classy and consistent, On Leave (USA) faced the starter on 20 occasions; winning eight races and also figuring in the placings seven times.
She was straight into form at two, placed at her first couple and at three she was all the better with a winning streak of three including Listed success in the Riskaverse S. at Saratoga and a Group 2 win in the Sands Point S. at Belmont.
She went on to another Group 3, the My Charmer S. at Gulfstream Park, also winning another three Listed races.
One of the 118 stakes winners sired by Claiborne Farm's high-achiever War Front (USA), On Leave looks a great chance to enhance his already good reputation as a broodmare sire; his daughters producing 43 stakes winners.
On Leave is one of the six stakes winners for her wonderful dam, the stakes-placed Meghan's Joy (USA) (AP Indy {US}); also dam of the triple Group winner Ironicus (USA) (Distorted Humor {USA}), the Group 2 galloper Norumbega (USA) (Tiznow {USA}), the Group 3 winners Quiet Harbor (USA) (Silver Deputy {USA}) and Hunting (USA) (Coronado's Quest {USA}) and the dual Listed winner Seal Cove (USA) (Strong Hope {USA}).
There are another three stakes winners under Meghan's Joy, making this one impressive page. And it is a family that has been producing topliners for generations, On Leave (who has been served by Street Sense {USA}) being a descendant of the famed matriarch La Troienne (Fr) (Teddy {Fr}).
Hip 369 Sarach (USA) (Arch {USA} x Eximius {GB})
Four times in the winners circle in 11 starts, Sarach (USA) showed talent at two and at three was in outstanding form. Fourth in the G1 America Oaks, she put on display her class taking out the G2 Honeymoon H. at Hollywood Park and the Listed Sandy Blue H. at Del Mar.
A mare with plenty of pace, jockey Martin Garcia reporting that "every time she runs, she likes to be right there," Sarach is one of the 71 stakes winners for her high-achieving sire who is doing an even better job as a broodmare sire with 86 stakes winners including 10 Group 1 winners.
Sarach is a half-sister to the Group 1-placed, G3 Appleton S. winner All Included (USA) (Include {USA}) out of the stakes-placed Eximius (GB) (Atticus {USA}) whose dam is the triple Group 1 winner Gorgeous (USA) (Slew O' Gold {USA}).
That grand mare has proven to be quite the matriarch with a total of 18 stakes-winning descendants including the Group 1 gallopers Swift Temper (USA) (Giant's Causeway {USA}), Music Show (Ire) (Noverre {USA}) and Turbulent Descent (USA) (Congrats {USA}).
This is a strong branch of an internationally prolific family, one which has as its ancestress the star mare Pretty Polly (GB) (Gallinule {GB}).
Served by the Group 1-winning Super Saver (USA) horse Happy Saver (USA), Sarach is already doing well at stud with four of her five foals to race being winners including the stakes-placed Saramouche (USA) (Anodin {Ire}).
Hip 679 - Mama Rina (USA) (Gormley {USA} x Honky Tonk Rose {USA})
Placed at debut, winning at her second go and finishing second in the G3 Pocahontas S. at just her third outing before a Group 1 fourth, the lightly raced Mama Rina (USA) showed plenty of natural talent.
Served by Street Sense (USA), she is by the Group 1-winning Malibu Moon (USA) stallion Gormley (USA) and she is a half-sister to the Group 3-placed Spirituality (USA) (Gemologist {USA}) out of a Forest Wildcat (USA) daughter of the stakes winner Rose Frances (USA) (Crafty Prospector {USA}) grandson Luckman (USA) (Empire Maker {USA}) won the Listed Toronto Cup.
Rose Frances is out of the dual stakes winner Far Flying (USA) (Far North {Can}) whose triple Group 1-winning half-sister Sacahuista (USA) (Raja Baba {USA}) made her mark in this part of the world as the dam of Hussonet (USA).
Far Flying's descendants have also done well in Australia - she being the third dam of the five-time Group 1-winning sprinter Santa Ana Lane (Lope de Vega {Ire}).
Hip 1009 - Guns N’ Graces (USA) (Gun Runner {USA} x Imposing Grace {USA})
A lightly raced mare who was quickly into winning form, also quickly earning valuable black-type with a Group 2 second and just her third start before a Group 1 fourth next time out, Guns N' Graces (USA) has been served by Into Mischief's four-time Group 1-winning son Life Is Good (USA).
A US$375,000 (AU$571,000) yearling, Guns N' Graces is one of the two stakes performers produced by the G3 Matron S. winner Imposing Grace (USA) (Empire Maker {USA}) whose half-brother Level Playingfield (USA) (Level Sands {USA}) won nine races including the G3 Kentucky Cup Sprint.
There are plenty of stakes winners in the family of Guns N' Graces who boasts an eye-catching pedigree with duplications of the excellent mares Crimson Saint (USA) (Crimson Satan {USA}), Alanesian (USA) (Polynesian {USA}), Aspidistra (USA) (Better Self {USA}) and Cequillo (USA) (Princequillo {Ire}); the sort of pedigree patterns to give a mare considerable genetic strength.
