Curlin Half Sister to Mind Control Sails to $1.95M

The big, leggy bay filly (Hip 220) by Curlin and a half sister to multiple grade 1 winner Mind Control lit up the Keeneland bid board after Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm bought her for $1.95 million—the highest-priced filly of the sale thus far—early during the Sept. 15 second session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Pope is known for buying blue-blooded fillies to add to her prestigious broodmare band. Beyond the residual value as a future broodmare, Whisper Hill's general manager and racing manager Todd Quast believes the filly has a bright future on the racetrack as well. "Obviously, Mandy loved the pedigree, the Mind Control in the family; there's a lot of residual value as a broodmare there," Quast explained. "But we thought, especially as a physical, she was a very, very good physical. "Light on her feet, a good walk, everything was there. I think she could be a racehorse. So, that's what we're very excited about." Quast said the price was more than they wanted to pay, but understood why the bidding was so competitive. "Good fillies are hard to buy with any kind of pedigree that look good, that pass the vet, that do everything," he said. "There's not going to be very many Curlins left, and we love Curlin. I mean, as a broodmare sire, with that female side, with Mind Control coming, we just think it's an exciting family." Quast said the filly's physical suggested she may be an early type, but that they will let the filly tell them when she is ready. She will head back to the farm and will be started under saddle next month. A trainer has not yet been determined. "I don't know who's going to get her. We use everybody, so we try to suit the horse to the trainer," he said. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, Hip 220 was bred by Red Oak Stable out of the Lightnin N Thunder stakes winner and Red Oak homebred Feel That Fire. Besides Mind Control, Feel That Fire is the dam of multiple graded-placed winner Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft) and stakes-placed winner Blue Flame Six (Uncle Mo). Rick Sacco, racing manager for Red Oak Stable, bought Hip 220's granddam Ubetwereven in 2003 privately for the late John Brunetti Sr., founder of Red Oak. He particularly loved that the mare was by French Deputy, a son of Deputy Minister. "She was an instant return on what we were doing at the time with multiple stakes winners, including Feel That Fire," he said. The mare also produced stakes winners King for a Day and Ima Jersey Girl, who is the dam of stakes-placed winner Gorgeous Girl. Regarding Hip 220, Sacco said the filly has been a physical standout from Day 1. "Book 1 is the Super Bowl of the sales. When we found out she was a Book 1 filly, I was overjoyed and so proud of our team. She is a homebred and they got the filly ready. Hill 'n' Dale put on finishing touches," Sacco said. "We knew going into today who the potential buyers were, they are among the best in the game. We were feeling very good about what would happen today." Hill 'n' Dale's director of bloodstock Jes Sikura was pleased with the sale of the filly from its prominent sire Curlin. "She showed great all week. She was beautiful," Sikura said. "We'd had her at the farm the last few months and the expectations coming into this sale were pretty high." Curlin is the sire of this year's Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Golden Tempo. The 22-year-old son of Smart Strike stopped covering mares partway through the 2026 breeding season because of a low fertility issue. "When you get something beautiful that looks like she's probably a two-turn, classic kind of filly with a big page, she's kind of a collector's item," Sikura said. "She's something that obviously Mandy Pope would want to be a part of her incredible collection and, hopefully, she can succeed on the racetrack as well. "The sale's been great for us so far. Just getting started. A lot more to sell, but happy at the moment."