Sly Butterfly Brings $410,000 To Top

Sly Butterfly, whose first foal, Wind in My Wings, won Keeneland’s JPMorganChase Jessamine Stakes in October, sold for $410,000 to top Saturday’s session of the November Breeding Stock Sale.

Stonerside Stable purchased the eight-year-old Pulpit mare, sold in foal to Macho Uno, from the consignment of Hidden Brook, agent for Adena Springs.

Keeneland sold 251 horses on Saturday for gross receipts of $17,038,200, down 16.9 percent from the comparable session in 2006 when 271 horses brought $20,496,000. Average price was down 10.2 percent to $67,881 versus $75,631 last year. The median of $53,000 was down 11.7 percent from $60,000 in 2006.

“We’ve started to see a change-over of buyers as we get into the first weekend of the sale,” said Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s director of sales. “It was a little weaker than I thought it would be today. But anything that ‘checks all the boxes’ as they say, like Sly Butterfly, gets attention. Since we’re in Central Kentucky, anybody in the world has someone within 30 miles who can buy a horse. So updates like you saw with her don’t go unnoticed. You still can’t hide a good horse.”

Through day six of the 15-day sale, Keeneland has sold a total of 1,372 horses for $288,484,700, up 7.2 percent from last year’s $269,049,500. Average rose 10 percent from $191,222 last year to $210,266. The median of $100,000 was down 9.1 percent from $110,000 in 2006.

Highest price of the day for a weanling was $270,000, paid by Walnut Hill Stables for a colt by Street Cry (Ire). The first foal of the Best of Luck mare Cannons Crown, the colt was consigned by John Stuart’s Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services Inc., agent for Larry W. Baker Jr.

Keeneland’s November Sale continues through Monday, November 19. Sessions begin at 10 a.m. daily.

Source: www.horseraceinsider.com