"They told us everything was a go last week," Taylor said Dec. 9. "We're trying to get in touch with them today to find out what is going on."
Sunline, the mare who has earned multiple honors as Australia and New Zealand Horse of the Year, will not be offered at Keeneland's 2003 horses of all ages breeding stock sale even though she is consigned to the auction."She (Sunline) is still here and will definitely not be going through that sale," said her trainer and co-owner, Trevor McKee, told the New Zealand Thoroughbred Daily News on Saturday.The 7-year-old daughter of Desert Sun is listed in the sale's catalogue as being consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. She was scheduled to go through the ring on the auction's opening day, Jan. 6, as a prospective broodmare.According to the Daily News, Sunline "was entered by them (Taylor Made) about a month ago after an approach was made to us. [A] booking to Storm Cat was lodged by another American interested in negotiating a sale."The current situation is that she will not be going to the Keeneland auction, and at this stage she has not changed hands."In a recent interview with The Age, an Australian newspaper, McKee was quoted as saying that negotiations for a deal involving Sunline were taking place with unnamed interests. He also said he expected a contract to be finalized in the nest two weeks. The newspaper spectulated that McKee and his partners in Sunline, Thayne Green and Helen Lusty, would retian an interest in the mare, who would come to this country to be bred, possibly to Storm Cat, or be sent to Ireland, where she might be covered by Sadler's Wells.The news about the decision not to send Sunline to Keeneland was a surprise to Taylor Made's Mark Taylor..
