Hip 2741, a daughter of Mendelssohn co-bred by Sequel Thoroughbreds and Valerie Dailey, sold for $185,000 Tuesday at Keeneland. Photo courtesy of Sequel New York.
By Tom Law
Six-figure prices for New York-breds continued into Book 4 of the Keeneland September yearling sale Monday and Tuesday.
Four more yearlings bred in the Empire State – including a $185,000 filly late in Tuesday’s session – brought $130,000 or more over the two days to push the total at the sale to 11.
Ken McPeek, agent, signed for the top-priced New York-bred in Book 4, going to $185,000 for Hip 2741, a filly from the second crop of Mendelssohn. Co-bred Sequel Thoroughbreds LLC and Valerie Dailey and consigned by Sequel New York, agent, the filly is the third foal out of the winning Midnight Lute mare Midnight in Giada.
Valerie Dailey purchased Midnight in Giada, carrying the Mendelssohn filly in utero, for $65,000 at the 2020 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. A $200,000 purchase herself at the 2014 Keeneland September sale, Midnight in Giada is the dam of the winning Street Sense gelding and $310,000 yearling Roadside and the 3-year-old Midshipman filly Crystal Ship. A $120,000 buy at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Showcase, Crystal Ship is entered in an allowance-optional Thursday at Presque Isle Downs.
Hip 1961, a colt by Mendelssohn and half brother to stakes-placed $180,000-earner Mashnee Girl, sold for $170,000 Monday at Keeneland. Photo courtesy of Richwood South.
Keeneland has reported sales of 23 of the 34 New York-breds through the ring so far at the September sale, for a total of $2,804,000, an average price of $121,913 and median of $90,000.
The six-figure haul in Book 4 also included a colt by Mendelssohn, Hip 1961, purchased by Mike Ryan, agent, for $170,000.
Bred by Steve Schuster, foaled at Old Saratoga Equine Services in Schuylerville and consigned by E. J. Sipus Jr.’s Richwood South LLC, agent, the colt is out of the Street Cry mare Passionate Diva. Sipus purchased the colt as a weanling for $75,000 at last year’s Keeneland November sale.
Passionate Diva is the dam of three winners led by Mashnee Girl, a $180,220 earner who finished third in this year’s Critical Eye Handicap on Big Apple Showcase Day at Belmont Park and fourth in the recent Union Avenue Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.
The Keeneland September sale continues with the ninth session that opens Book 5 at 10 a.m. Wednesday and runs through Saturday.
