Grade I winners Point Ashley and Spoken Fur, which were scratched from the Jan. 12 second session of the Keeneland horses of all ages sale in Lexington, have been sold privately to Japanese interests.
Both mares are in foal to 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper . They were consigned to the auction by Four Star Sales, agent for Southern Equine Stables. Mike Moreno and trainer Eric Guillot operate Southern Equine.
Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm in Japan purchased Point Ashley for $1 million in a transaction that was facilitated by Nobu Araki of Polo Green Stable and Jamie Lamonica and Greg Harbut of The Stallion Company. Naohiro Hosoda signed for the purchase as a representative for Yoshida.
“We are delighted to have Point Ashley, and she will be bred to one of the best stallions at Shadai Stallions in Japan,” Hosoda said.
A 6-year-old daughter of Point Given out of the unraced Slew o’Gold mare Golden Thatch, Point Ashley captured the 2006 Del Mar Debutante Stakes (gr. I). She produced fillies by Distorted Humor in 2008 and 2009, both of which are still owned by Southern Equine.
Four Star sold Spoken Fur for $500,000 to Narvick International, which was representing Symboli Stud of Japan. A 10-year-old daughter of Notebook and the winning Siberian Express mare Siberian Fur, she won the 2003 Coaching Club American Oaks (gr. I) and Mother Goose Stakes (gr. I). Spoken Fur has produced the winner Unspoken Fur (by Empire Maker).
“It’s great we could get deals done for everybody because that’s what, obviously, people bring horses to sales for, and that’s what sales do, help you get people together,” said Four Stars’ Kerry Cauthen. “There were a lot of people interested in these mares before the sale. But a lot of people who were interested that we were aware of expressed a level of interest well below the $1 million we sold Point Ashley for and the $500,000 we sold Spoken Fur for. The pre-sale numbers we were hearing for Point Ashley were $600,000 or $700,000 maybe. That’s why they were withdrawn in the first place because there wasn’t going to be enough interest to the point where they (Southern Equine) valued these mares.”
Said Eric Guillot Jan. 12 of the scratches: “We thought we would swap these mares out and buy other foundation mares to replace them. But the reality was that what we were taking out (of the sale) was better than what they had on offer for the whole sale. We also figured we would take a beating on them, and they would lose value in a market that was horrible. It was no use letting the public decide where their value was when it would devalue what we thought they were worth.”
Southern Equine purchased Spoken Fur (in foal to Smart Strike) for $1,650,000 from Mill Ridge Sales, agent, at the 2007 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
Southern Equine was listed as the buyer of Point Ashley (in foal to Distorted Humor) for $1.4 million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November select mixed sale. Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency, agent, sold the mare. Hill ‘n’ Dale and Southern Equine dispersed the horses they owned in partnership during the auction.