The Raging Torrent Syndicate struck early during the Nov. 5 second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, going to $1.3 million for multiple graded stakes-placed Anywho (Hip 290). She was the sole seven-figure price of the day, and the first seven-figure horse sold during the session since 2022.
Paul Curran, bloodstock and racing manager for Yulong Investment's United Kingdom-based Ace Stud, signed the ticket.
Grovendale Sales offered the 5-year-old Bolt d'Oro daughter in foal to leading sire Not This Time . Brookfield Stud bred the mare in Kentucky out of the stakes-placed Zensational winner Fancy and Flashy. She is carrying her first foal.
Anywho did most of her racing from 2 to 4 and made one start at 5 in January for Hronis Racing, who campaigned her for all but one of her 12 career starts. She retired with more than $249,000 in earnings.
"She's obviously a well-raced filly, the cover and stallion was very popular with us, and we bought a couple this week by Not This Time," Curran said.
"He's a phenomenal, phenomenal stallion. He seems to be the real deal, in the sense he's come up from a very small fee to where he's at now at $250,000, stands a testament to him really."
Curran said the mare was purchased to support Yulong's new stallion, Raging Torrent , who will enter stud next year at Lane's End.
"We're trying to pick up a couple nice mares with some nice covers, and she fit that bill really well. We gave exactly where we were thinking she'd make, so we're really happy with that. She's a nice high-profile mare to send to (Raging Torrent). We really like the Medaglia d'Oro broodmare line as well. That'll suit really well for him."
Curran said they are in search of younger mares to support their new stallions Raging Torrent and Carl Spackler . Thirty hips earlier, they went to $625,000 to purchase Very Scary, a graded stakes-placed mare by Connect , also from the Grovendale Sales consignment. The 6-year-old mare is in foal to Into Mischief .
"Well, it's just really cool," said James Keogh of Grovendale Sales. "It's always lovely to sell a horse for a million dollars. And, you know, she was a lovely, lovely mare, and she came from a tremendous female family, and she was just impossible to fault.
"You have hopes and dreams, but they'd be hopes and dreams. Really, it was a tremendous price, and we're just very, very grateful to everyone who made it happen. To the crew back at the barn and girls at home that prepped them for me. Julie Cauthen, at Four Star (Sales), she also comes and works for me in the evenings and I have a bunch of high school girls that come and help me every afternoon. They get in there and they just rub the hair off of these horses and we're just very, very proud of the job they do."
Grovendale Sales sold 20 horses Wednesday for a total of $6,180,000, including the top price of the day, and the co-top weanling of the day—Hip 505, a colt by Elite Power for $550,000 to Glen Hill Farm.
"It was great to see James Keogh get the day he had," said Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy. "Watching that, watching his emotions, and his skills getting rewarded in the ring."
During Book 1 of Keeneland's November sale, Raging Torrent Syndicate purchased three mares for $3.3 million, including graded stakes winner Chatalas, who brought $2 million. The young Gun Runner mare was offered in foal to Into Mischief.
Raging Torrent Syndicate was the leading buyer of the second session with their two purchases totaling $1,925,000. Taylor Made Sales Agency sold 32 from their draft for a total of $8,315,000 to be the leading consignor.
Day 2 saw a 52% increase in the gross from last year's corresponding session, with 243 horses changing hands for $48,117,000, including post-ring sales. The average price was $198,012, a 38% increase from last year's $143,682, and the median also saw a significant increase—up 32% to $155,000 compared to $117,500. Fifty-nine horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 20%.
"There was a real vibrance about the the marketplace, it was one that was relentless and consistent," Lacy said. "Anybody looking for a quality mare really had to step up and pay today."
The weanling market continue the strength it had shown on Day 1, with two weanlings by first-crop sires Cody's Wish and Elite Power bringing $550,000 apiece.
READ: Cody's Wish, Elite Power $550,000 Weanlings Top Day 2
"The weanling market was extremely strong too," Keeneland senior director of sales operations Cormac Breathnach said. "We nearly doubled the number of six-figure foals from the corresponding session last year. If you look at the $300,000 foals and up, there were 17 today, there were seven in the session last year; and those 17 today were by 13 different sires. They're first-crop sires as well as established ones. That bodes well, there's depth to the market, both in the inventory of what's available but also the buyer base."
Breathnach said the take-home point of the day for him was the 180 different buyers who purchased the 235 horses to sell through the ring Wednesday.
"That's the depth of buyer base that's here, really competing against one another is the reason that so many of these horses are just sailing past reserves. There's real live activity," Breathnach said.
Breathnach attributed part of the growth from last November's sale to reinvestment.
"People have had, in many cases, successful years through the market and through the yearling season," he said. "There's a need to reinvest and there's equity with which to do some of that. I think some of the growth is on the back of how strong September was.
"Bullish is a good word for it (the market), because this is a big jump. It's fueled by international and domestic, and by a huge range of buyers, and that's what gives us confidence that there's a belly to it."
The final session of Book 2 begins at 10:00 a.m. ET Nov. 6 with hips 620-1020 set to go through the ring. As of Wednesday evening, Keeneland had reported 72 outs.
