Royal Slipper, a 5-year-old mare by Uncle Mo, topped the third session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale Nov. 5, selling for $900,000 to Repole Stable. The mare, who is a full sister to multiple grade 1 winner Bast, was offered in foal to Fierceness .
"We love Uncle Mo—obviously, he's very sentimental to the stable. He's a great broodmare sire, so that really helps," said Danielle Bricker, assistant racing manager of Repole Stable.
Mike Repole's Repole Stables purchased Uncle Mo in 2009 for $220,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He was crowned champion 2-year-old male in 2010 and has since made an impact on the Thoroughbred breed as a sire, a broodmare sire, and now a sire of sires with Nyquist , who is ranked No. 4 on the general sires list by progeny earnings; Yaupon , who is ranked No. 1 on the second-crop sire list; and Golden Pal , the leading freshman sire.
As a broodmare sire, his most recent phenom is last year's champion 3-year-old filly and recent Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner Nitrogen, who is out of the Uncle Mo mare Tiffany Case.
Royal Slipper carried another connection to Repole via her covering sire Fierceness, a homebred for the operation. Fierceness was also crowned champion 2-year-old male in 2023 after taking the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). He won additional grade 1 races at 3 and 4, amassing earnings of more than $5.7 million.
Fierceness stood his first year at stud in 2026 for an advertised fee of $50,000 at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky.
"We're just looking to expand our broodmare band, and she is in foal to Fierceness, our homebred," Bricker said. "We're trying to support him in his first years (at stud), and if you look at the page, there are graded stakes winners in the family."
Royal Slipper is out of the Arch mare Laffina. She hails from the family of grade 1 winners Fault and Juju's Map.
Royal Slipper was consigned by Denali Stud, agent.
Repole purchased another mare Thursday, Hedonism, a 9-year-old daughter of Curlin offered in foal to Girvin. Hedonism is out of the Touch Gold mare Forbidden Kiss and is a half sister to the grade 1-placed Indulgence (Macho Uno). She is the dam of four foals of racing age, including stakes winner Real Macho (Mucho Macho Man ) and graded stakes-placed One Nine Hundred (Dialed In ).
LISTEN: BH In Session: Keeneland November Book 2 Closes
Madame Secretary (Hip 932), a filly offered in foal to a first-year stallion in Sierra Leone , was the second-highest-priced horse of the session, bringing $710,000 from Ashview Farm, agent.
"My great buddy Gatewood Bell had Nina Fever (dam) a long time ago, and I've been watching the family for a long time, and this is a beautiful, beautiful daughter, and we like Constitution and we love Sierra Leone," said Gray Lyster of Ashview Farm, who signed the ticket on behalf of an undisclosed client.
Lyster said you have to be prepared to stretch for the high-quality horses.
"If they're big and pretty, they cost a lot of money," Lyster said. "It's no different if they're a foal, if they're a yearling in September, if they're on a digital sale, or if they're right here in the November sale at the beginning or the end. If they're big and pretty, they're going to bring a little bit more than the page suggests."
The 4-year-old daughter of Constitution is a half sister to grade 1 winner Nickname (Scat Daddy), who is the dam of group 3 winner Ides of March (Wootton Bassett). She was consigned by Eaton Sales, agent.
"She was a beautiful filly with great depth of pedigree in foal to a freshman sire, Sierra Leone," said Pam Deegan-Rider of Eaton Sales. "She had the full package and she was really popular.
"It exceeded our expectations, but we thought she'd bring plenty of money."
Sale Statistics
A total of 217 horses changed hands for $40,136,000, including post-ring sales. The gross showed a decrease of 15% compared to last year's total of $47,164,500, where 43 more horses found a buyer.
Although the results can seem lackluster after a front-loaded opening session, the three-day gross maintains a 6.4% lead over last year. Through the third session, 613 horses had sold for gross receipts of $182,037,000, including post-ring sales.
The average price for the third session was $184,959, up 2% from last year's corresponding session. The median declined 6.2% to $150,000.
"It was interesting talking to the buyers out there," said Tony Lacy, vice president of sales at Keeneland. "They said it was really difficult to buy the horses that they were following. They found very strong competition. On the flip side with the sellers, when you had something that hit the mark, it was great. If you didn't, selling was tougher. But the day felt more energized."
A total of 78 horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 26.4%.
Cormac Breathnach, senior director of sales operations at Keeneland, attributed the higher RNA rate and number of outs to selectivity in the market.
"When we compare it to last year, the mare market is very steady and very good and last year's sale was great," Breathnach said. "But the weanling market, some of them are making the mark and some of them aren't quite (making it).
"Between the scratches and the higher RNA rate, I think that's reflected in the weanling market as much as anything."
Lacy pointed out that many of the weanling buyers were sticking with sires such as Life Is Good and Good Magic .
Life Is Good, who is ranked third on the freshman sire list by progeny earnings, was responsible for the two top-priced weanlings of the session. Hip 942 was purchased by Hartley/DeRenzo, agent for Tom Durant. The colt is out of the Bodemeister mare Mezinka, who is a half sister to multiple grade 1 winner and sire Pioneerof the Nile.
READ: Hartley, DeRenzo Buy $700K Colt From Familiar Family
Hip 1063 brought $475,000 from Evergreen Racing. The colt is out of the stakes-winning and grade 1-placed Proud Citizen mare Someday Soon. He was consigned by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services, agent.
Life Is Good had four weanlings sell Thursday for an average of $453,750.
The highest-priced weanling filly of the session was Hip 867, a daughter of McKinzie , who sold for $310,000. The filly is out of the Bernardini mare Gherardini, who sold as Hip 868 for $600,000. Gherardini was offered in foal to second-leading third-crop sire Vekoma . James Schenck, agent, bought the pair.
The leading buyer of the day was Marc Gunderson's MWG, who purchased five head for a total of $1,735,000, headed by the Uncle Mo mare My Crystal Ball (Hip 958) for $525,000. My Crystal Ball is a half sister to multiple grade 1 winner and freshman sire Mind Control (Stay Thirsty ). She was offered in foal to Elite Power .
Taylor Made Sales Agency led the consignors for the third day in a row, selling 30 from its draft for $6,045,000.
Book 3 of the November sale begins Nov. 6 at 10 a.m. ET with hips 1143-1561 slated to go through the ring. As of Thursday evening, Keeneland had reported 78 outs.
