Offered as Hip 3004, a Woods Edge Farm-consigned son of Arrogate brought $230,000 from trainer Mark Glatt, as agent, fetching the second-highest price of the ninth session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Sept. 22. Glatt declined to name for whom he purchased the colt.
The top-priced colt of the first day of Book 5 was bred in Kentucky by Barry and Judith Becker. This was their first foal out of grade 2-placed Wicked Lick (Maclean's Music )—a leadoff hit.
"He's a beautiful horse out of a good racemare," said Peter O'Callaghan, who owns and manages Woods Edge Farm. "He vetted clean. Listen, he was probably well-placed but deserved to make a good price. He had a lot of interest at the barn. It was a great result, and we're delighted. Not many mares breed a first foal like that colt. He was a very robust Arrogate. He looks like he'll go on to be a big 2-year-old. He's very robust behind him, and it won't take him much time. Even though he's a big horse, he's a very developed horse."
Ample attention back at the barn instilled confidence in O'Callaghan, yet he left it up to buyers to duke it out, setting a low reserve to ensure the colt changed hands.
"The horse was vetted quite a bit," said O'Callaghan. "We put a small reserve on him, maybe only 44 (thousand), but we knew he would sell well. I just feel like in this book that's the trick—put them in low and let people get involved, and they kind of work it out themselves."
Glatt, who spoke on the telephone Wednesday to a representative who bid for him, hopes the Arrogate colt's pedigree and physical prowess lead to success.
"I just thought it was a good combination and I liked his physical appearance," said Glatt. "One thing that attracted me to this colt is even though he looks like a big, two-turn horse, I thought with Maclean's Music on the bottom side that he should have some speed. Perhaps with a horse like Arrogate, you want to see him bred to some speed on the bottom side. So that's where we are with it. Now we've just got to see if he is any good or not."
Glatt was willing to go to a high price of the newest addition to his California-based outfit, which includes the past two Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) winners Dr. Schivel and Collusion Illusion . Both are being pointed to the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
Glatt said Wednesday afternoon that he had purchased eight horses at the sale. As agent, Keeneland reported four purchases under his name.
"Hopefully we found some nice horses," he said. "Most of them weren't terribly expensive given the market, although they were fairly expensive. We'll just have to see how they turn out. It's tough. It's tough to buy a horse anymore."
Glatt also secured Wednesday a Runhappy filly consigned as Hip 3015 by Hunter Valley Farm. The filly was bred in Kentucky by Hunter Valley and Adrian Regan. She is out of the stakes-placed Quiet American mare W W American, also the dam of grade 3-placed Grumps Little Tots, and from the family of multiple graded stakes winner Pretty N Cool.
