Fitzhenrys, Kursner/Carroll make big purchases at Keeneland

Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry, Ontario breeders of graded stakes winner Mr Havercamp among others, bought two mares for a total of $425,000 on Day 2 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Their first purchase was the black-type placed nine-year-old mare MAGIC OF REALITY (Fr) a Galileo daughter of a half sister to champion and Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Six Perfections (dam of a Group 2 winner by Galileo) in foal to Kantharos (by Lion Heart. The mare was purchased for $200,000 from Lanes’ End, agent.

Later, the couple bought PAVINI (FR), a five-year-old by Dubawai (Ire) for $225,000, sold by Four Star Sales, agent for the Estate of the late Bill Graham for $225,000. Pavini, a daughter of a Group 2 winning Sadler’s Wells mare, is carrying her second foal by American Pharoah.

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Toronto businessman and horse owner Mitchell Kursner and Ontario breeder Mike Carroll bought CAFE MATCHA, an unraced daughter of Medaglia D’Oro for $250,000 in foal to the potent More Than Ready. The grey 3-year-old filly is a half sister to Eclipse Award winning sprinter Points Offthebench plus graded stakes winner Bench Points. The filly was an $800,000 yearling purchase in 2018.

Conrad Farms paid $85,000 for an Ontario-bred weanling filly by Tiznow, bred by Bill Graham.

Brisk trade continued Thursday during the second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which was led by the sale of Conquest Eclipse, a Grade 1 stakes-placed daughter of Malibu Moon in foal to Triple Crown winner Justify, for $650,000 to Clarkland Farm. A total of 235 horses sold during today’s session, for a total of $36,205,000. The average was $154,064, and the median was $125,000.

“Book 2 opened very well; it was very comparable to last year’s sale,” Keeneland Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell said. “Young mares who were well-covered sold exceptionally well. The foals have strong criteria they have to meet, and those that made the criteria sold extremely well. We’ve seen a trend over the past few years of some end users coming into the weanling market. The last three years the weanling market has been exceptionally good, which gives pinhookers confidence to participate at the top end of the market.

“The best statistic today,” Russell added, “is the not-sold rate (of 21.67 percent). Trade was very, very good today and that bodes well for the rest of the week.”

Through the first two days of the November Sale, Keeneland has sold 401 horses for $107,704,500, for an average of $268,590 and a median of $185,000.