Exciting Prospects Await in Keeneland HORA Sale

On the heels of a record-breaking November Breeding Stock Sale, Keeneland hopes to build off that success with its November Horses of Racing Age Sale. The single-session sale begins Nov. 12 at noon ET and features a catalog of 215 horses of racing age, with many who are in top form and by some of the most in-demand sires. "We're very encouraged by the depth of quality that's in the sale," said Keeneland director of sales operations Cormac Breathnach. "It's always a dynamic kind of catalog. We've got a great group of about 135 horses that are scheduled to sell tomorrow that are very attractive. "There are a lot of very lightly-raced horses, with just six or fewer starts as a barmoter there. There are 30-odd black-type performers in the group; there's some fillies with pedigree, it's a really nice group of horses." One of the expected standouts in the sale is multiple graded stakes winner Bishops Bay. Coming off a win in the Forty Niner Stakes (G3) Nov. 2 for trainer Brad Cox, the 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo earned a fees-paid berth into the $500,000 Cigar Mile (G2) Dec. 6. He has won five of his seven starts this year—three of them coming in graded stakes races. He has a record of 8-3-0 from 12 career starts and earnings of $702,800. He is offered as a racing or stallion prospect, and consigned as Hip 4014 by ELiTE, agent. "We've got some headliners like Bishops Bay, World Record, and a horse like Divine Justice (3-year-old colt by Justify) who came out of our race meet breaking his maiden, going seven (furlongs) on the dirt," Breathnach said. "Some really attractive prospects that people can go on with." ELiTE brings a draft of 48 horses to the sale, including many racing, broodmare, and stallion prospects by top stallions such as Constitution, Candy Ride (ARG), Curlin, Good Magic, Gun Runner, Into Mischief, Justify, and Tapit, amongst others. In addition to Bishops Bay, the consignment has many other top offerings, such as Crudo, a 3-year-old son of Justify who captured the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard and is a recent runner-up in the Nov. 8 Dwyer Stakes, graded stakes winner Fort Bragg (Tapit), graded stakes-placed Tuscan Gold (Medgalia d'Oro), and graded stakes winner World Record (Gun Runner). All are offered as racing or stallion prospects. "From the buying side of the demand, we're definitely seeing the catalogs fly off the shelves, and credit applications coming in," he said. "A lot of the end-users, the agents and the trainers that are active at the horses of racing age sales are here, and they're shopping all day, looking through the barns. "We're very optimistic about tomorrow's sale." As of Nov.11, Keeneland had reported 85 outs.