Breeders' Cup Connections Add Excitement to Kentucky Mixed Sales

If you enjoyed the Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, you'll get to relive some of the excitement during the upcoming mixed sales in Central Kentucky. Several runners who competed in the Breeders' Cup are scheduled to be offered during Fasig-Tipton's November select auction on Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m. (EST), and the Keeneland November breeding stock sale that kicks off Monday at 10 a.m. and runs through Nov. 18.

There are 190 lots in the Fasig-Tipton auction, including grade I winner Wild Fit, the runner-up to Folklore in the Alberto VO5 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I), and grade I winner Riskaverse, who was 13th in the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (gr. IT). They will be joined by Contrive, the dam of Folklore, and Cloud Break, the dam of TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) favorite and seventh finisher Lost in the Fog. Contrive is in foal to 2003 Breeders' Cup Classic – Powered by Dodge (gr. I) winner Pleasantly Perfect, and Cloud Break is in foal to 2004 Sprint winner Speightstown  .

"We're very optimistic," said Boyd Browning, Fasig-Tipton's executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We've got a tremendous catalogue. It's the best that we've had in the last 10 years, anyway. The market has been very strong for most of 2005, and we had some very significant catalogue updates from the results of the Breeders' Cup, so it should be a very strong sale."

There are 4,477 lots in the Keeneland catalogue, including last year's champion 3-year-old filly, Ashado (by Saint Ballado), who won the 2004 Breeders' Cup Distaff Presented by Nextel (gr, I) and finished third as the favorite in this year's Emirates Airline-sponsored edition. She goes through the sale ring on Keeneland's opening day.

"She is a very special filly; she's what we liked to call a jewel," said Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland's director of sales. "After she broke her maiden, all she did was run in graded stakes. She danced every dance. Ones like her don't come on the market very often."

Also scheduled to be offered is grade II winner Capeside Lady, who finished sixth in the Distaff. However, grade I winner Island Fashion, 10th in the Distaff, and grade I winner Megahertz, eighth in the Filly and Mare Turf (gr. IT), have been scratched.

Mares catalogued with offspring that ran in this year's Breeders' Cup include the following:
Heat Lightning (in foal to Birdstone  ), the dam of Bessemer Trust Juvenile (gr. I) winner Stevie Wonderboy.
Love and Happiness (in foal to Not for Love), the dam of grade I winner and the Distaff's 11th finisher, Happy Ticket.
Wife for Life (in foal to A.P. Indy), the dam of grade I winner Hollywood Story, the eighth finisher in the Distaff.
Miss Du Bois (in foal to A.P. Indy), the dam of grade I winner Film Maker, who was third in the Filly and Mare Turf.
Corridora Slew (in foal to Medaglia d'Oro  ), the dam of grade III winner Laura's Lucky Boy, who was 11th in the John Deere Turf (gr. IT).
Lady Shirl, who is carrying a full sibling to grade I winner Shakespeare (by Theatrical), the 12th finisher in the John Deere Turf.
Sweet as Honey, who is carrying a full brother to grade I winner Borrego (by El Prado), who was 10th in the Classic.
Princess Olivia (in foal to Monashee Mountain), the dam of grade I winner Flower Alley, the runner-up to Saint Liam in the Classic.

As of Thursday, Our Country Place, the dam of Distaff winner Pleasant Home, and Smooth as Silk, the dam of grade II winner and Juvenile 14th finisher Private Vow, had been scratched.

"We've always said the strength of November can be gauged on the strength of our September yearling sale, and September was very strong," Russell said. "The response to our catalogue has been very positive in terms of credit and seat requests."