A Hinkle Farms-bred filly (Hip 144) by leading sire Not This Time became the session's top-priced filly deep into the Sept. 8 opening day of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale when owner Cindy Heider went to $2 million for her.
Agents David Lanigan and Ted Durcan signed the ticket on behalf of Heider, who races as Heider Family Stables with her husband, Scott.
"I knew two fillies on her page—Surf N Sand and Coco as in Chanel—that we raced and were both stakes winners for us," Scott Heider said. "So we knew the family. I really like the Hinkle family. They're very good people, and they raise very good horses. We looked at a lot of good fillies in Book 1 and I told Brendan (Walsh) and David Lanigan that this is the one we want. I didn't know we were going to have to wrestle that hard to get it done."
Brendan Walsh, the conditioner of several of Heider's runners, will train the filly.
"We loved the filly from the start," Walsh said of Hip 144. "We loved everything about her. Her pedigree, everything, she was a queen. She acted great in the ring like a nice, quality filly."
Anne Archer Hinkle of Hinkle Farms said Hip 144 displayed star quality in the months leading up to the sale.
"She has been a favorite on the farm for a while," Hinkle said. "We knew coming up here that she would be our top filly in this sale. She checked all the boxes. Really beautiful, great physical. She comes from a great family and Not This Time couldn't be hotter. So, we felt good coming into the sale, especially once we got the final set of clean x-rays. Coming here, she was incredibly professional."
Not This Time, who stood the 2025 breeding season for his highest fee yet of $175,000, finished the opening session as the third-leading stallion behind Gun Runner and Flightline with an average of $764,583. He had 12 yearlings sell for a gross of $9,175,000.
Hip 144 is the third foal out of multiple stakes-placed winner Stave, a daughter of Ghostzapper who has already produced multiple winner Spirit's Mischief. Stave's 2023 foal, an unraced colt by Constitution named Matenro Hour, sold to Japan's Yuichi Fukunaga for $1.1 million at last year's Keeneland September sale.
Stave is out of grade 2 winner Buy the Barrel, who has produced four winners from as many to race that include stakes horses Stave and Mise En Rose. Stave's half sister Indian Bay is the dam of three stakes performers that include grade 1-placed, grade 3 winner Shivaji and grade 1-placed stakes winner Tarabi (both by First Samurai ).
