Cairo Prince Leads July First-Crop Yearling Sires

Airdrie Stud's multiple grade 2 winner Cairo Prince  topped the first-crop yearling sire ranking by average price at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale July 11.

The 6-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile —Holy Bubbette, by Holy Bull, had eight sell out of eight offered, which generated a $141,875 average and a median of $130,000.

Cairo Prince was one of three in his sire class with six-figure averages and medians at the July sale. The others were Three Chimneys Farm's Will Take Charge  with an average and median of $137,500 from two sold; and Ashford Stud's Verrazano , with a $137,333 average and $125,000 median from three sold. Three Chimneys' Strong Mandate  had a $123,000 average from four sold, but his median was just below the six-figure threshold at $86,000.

Out of 172 yearlings sold at the July sale, 18 brought $200,000 or more, and Cairo Prince had two in this price range.

The top-priced Cairo Prince yearling was a bay colt bred and sold by Highclere that WCI Investments bought for $265,000. WCI Investments is a multi-faceted buying, pinhooking, and consulting agency owned by Justin Casse and Samuel Wright.

"He was a very nice horse from the very beginning and continued to grow and evolve into the nice colt he is," said Stuart Morris with Highclere. "My father knows this family very, very well, and he picked out Cairo Prince because of his physicality and his pedigree with the hopes we'd get a colt like this. Obviously that whole sire line is electric right now, and my father has a lot of success with it going back to Unbridled."

Morris said the colt also distinguished himself at Fasig-Tipton by easily handling the pressures of the sale.

"What I noticed about all the Cairos at the sale is that they appeared to have good minds. Very rarely did I see one that wasn't calm and professional," he said. "I think it was such a good group, it raised the bar for all of them. Obviously the pressures of the yearling sales are not comparable to the racetrack, but they seem to indicate they will handle that environment and those pressures well."

The top-selling Cairo Prince colt is a half brother to grade 1-placed winner Putthebabiesdown (Closing Argument) and to stakes producer Chelonia, the dam of stakes-placed winner Knockitdownhard (Sharp Humor).

The other Cairo Prince yearling to go for more than $200,000 was a colt out of grade 3-placed winner Tesoro de Amor (Medaglia d'Oro ) that Airdrie sold for $260,000 to Samantha Siegel's Jay Em Ess Stable. The colt was bred by Airdrie founder Brereton Jones.

Cairo Prince has two yearlings cataloged in the upcoming Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select sale Aug. 7-8. Both will sell during the first session, as Hip 63 and Hip 91.