After a lull in action during the morning and early afternoon of the Sept. 15 session of the Keeneland September yearling sale, a Dynaformer colt (Hip. No. 655) and a filly by hot sire Malibu Moon (Hip No. 658) fetched $500,000 and $700,000, respectively.
The Dynaformer colt was consigned by Mill Ridge Sales, agent, while the Malibu Moon filly was sold by Elm Tree Farm for Mr. and Mrs. Jody Huckabay.
Leonard Lavin’s Glen Hill Farm bought the Malibu Moon filly. The farm’s president and chief operating officer, Craig Bernick, who is Lavin's grandson, signed the ticket.
“She’s the best filly we saw,” said Bernick after the hammer dropped. “We have a half sister to Malibu Moon by Dynaformer that we like a lot (an unraced 2-year-old named Mutually Benefit). So we really liked the horse; we heard there were a lot of other people on her.
“(The $700,000 price tag) was more than we wanted to spend when we first looked at her, but we realized that was what it was going to take as the sale went on and everyone else was on her,” Bernick continued. “I thought we had her for $650,000, and then I bid one last time, and that was our last bid, so I’m glad we got her.”
Out of the winning, graded stakes-placed Tactical Cat mare Erhu, the filly is from the family of other stakes winners Glaring, Val d’Enchere, and Great Escape; plus Peruvian champion Al Kadier. She was bred in Kentucky by Elm Tree Farm and Popatop.
“She’s an awesome (physical)…she’s got good knees, a good shoulder and head on her,” said Bernick.
The Dynaformer colt, who was bred in Kentucky by Colts Neck Stable, was acquired by Sheikh Hamdan of Shadwell Farm. The dark bay was produced by the winning, stakes-placed Seeking the Gold mare Ensenada, who is a full sister to grade II victor Sahara Gold. Desert Stormer, the second dam of the Dynaformer colt, won the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I).