City of Light colt brings $650,000 at Keeneland

By Tom Law

A New York-bred colt from the first crop of Pegasus World Cup and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner City of Light commanded a bid of $650,000 from one of the world’s leading buyers during Wednesday’s third session of the Keeneland September yearling sale.

Coolmore’s M V Magnier landed the winning bid for Hip 723[2], a colt out of the Mr. Greeley mare Gracilia who is a half brother to New York-bred stakes winner More Mischief and stakes-placed Myawaya from the family of champion New York-bred and Grade 2 winner Sharp Humor. Gracilia is also the dam of three other winners.

Bred by Anlyn Farms and consigned by Peter O’Callaghan’s Woods Edge Farm, agent, the colt is the eighth foal out of Gracilia. Foaled at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater, the colt originally sold for $235,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale.

The sale of the City of Light colt led a big day for New York-breds as Book 2 of the September sale got underway.

Keeneland reported sales on six of the eight New York-bred yearlings for a total of $1,570,000, an average price of $261,667 and median of $210,000.

Five of the six landed six-figure bids, including another colt from the first crop of champion West Coast and half-brother to multiple New York-bred champion Pauseforthecause who sold for $300,000.

Jacob West’s West Bloodstock, acting on behalf of Repole Stable and St. Elias, signed the ticket for Hip 551[4]. Bred by Chester and Mary Broman and foaled at their Chestertown Farm in Chestertown, the colt is out of the stakes-winning Touch Gold mare Spritely. Becky Thomas’ Sequel New York consigned the colt for the Bromans.

Foaled Feb. 6, 2020, the West Coast colt is the eighth out of the $463,378-earner Spritely, a $480,000 yearling who later sold in foal to Bernardini to Chester Broman for $850,000 at the 2011 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. The resulting foal, a filly, never made it to the races but four of Spritely’s foals are winners from five to race.

Pauseforthecause leads that group. A daughter of Giant’s Causeway bred and raced by the Bromans, Pauseforthecause earned New York-bred champion honors in the dirt female and female sprinter categories in 2019. She went 3-2-2 in nine starts that season, including victories in the Iroquois Stakes at Belmont Park and Garland Of Roses Stakes at Aqueduct. She placed in six other stakes during her career and retired with seven wins in 25 starts and $546,093 in earnings.

Spritely is also the dam of the stakes-placed $42,288-earner Tossup and winners Power Generation, Superego and Surface Strike. She delivered a colt by City of Light in March and is back in foal to Not This Time.

Solis/Litt, agent, went to $270,000 to purchase the session’s second highest-priced New York-bred, Hip 620[6], a colt from the first crop of multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d’Oro.

Bred by Sequel Stallions NY and Lakland Farms, foaled at Sequel New York in Hudson and consigned by Sequel New York, the colt is the third foal out of the winning Majesticperfection mare Avendesora. A half sister to stakes winner and $542,031-earner Your Bluffing and Echo Bluff, the dam of Grade 1 Hopeful winner Currency Swap, Avendesora is the dam of the 3-year-old Hard Spun gelding Major Spin and 2-year-old Union Jackson gelding Last Minute Mario.

The September sale continues Thursday with the second of two Book 2 sessions starting at 11 a.m.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2021/09/15/city-of-light-colt-brings-650000-at-keeneland/

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