Swiss Skydiver's dam to be sold in foal to Catholic Boy at Keeneland next month

Expo Gold, whose teak-tough daughter Swiss Skydiver won a thrilling stretch duel with Authentic to land the $1 million Preakness Stakes on Saturday, will be offered in foal to multiple Grade 1 winner Catholic Boy at Book 1 of Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale.

The 12-year-old daughter of Johannesburg will be consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, and comes under the hammer on November 9.

“Swiss Skydiver’s Preakness win puts her in rarified air alongside other iconic fillies like Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra and Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors,” said Mark Taylor, Taylor Made’s vice-president of marketing and public sales operations.

“We are excited to offer her dam, Expo Gold, at Keeneland in November. Her mating to Catholic Boy follows the same cross as Swiss Skydiver and as Expo Gold’s four-year-old stakes-placed filly, Miss Hot Legs.”

In the Preakness, Swiss Skydiver clocked a time of 1:53.28 – second only to Secretariat’s stakes record of 1:53 from 1973.

Only the sixth filly to win the Preakness, Swiss Skydiver showed that same grit against males in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass, when she led her rivals through zippy fractions before settling for the runner-up spot in a field of 13.

Swiss Skydiver is a headliner of her generation, and she has drawn comparisons to Hall of Fame fillies for her gallantry against male rivals.

This year, Swiss Skydiver also has won the Grade 1 Alabama, the Santa Anita Oaks, Gulfstream Park Oaks (both Grade 2) and Grade 3 Fantasy, and she was second in the Kentucky Oaks.

“The 2020 Preakness showcased the heart and tenacity of two great thoroughbreds, and we’ll never forget their stretch battle,” said Keeneland president-elect and interim head of sales Shannon Arvin. “Keeneland is so proud that our September Yearling Sale produced both Swiss Skydiver and Authentic, and now we are especially honoured to be able to offer Swiss Skydiver’s dam, Expo Gold, at the November Sale.”

Expo Gold is in foal to the promising young stallion Catholic Boy, who, like Swiss Skydiver’s sire Daredevil, is a son of the internationally acclaimed More Than Ready. Catholic Boy was a Grade 1 winner on turf and dirt before starting his stud career in 2020.

While Swiss Skydiver is becoming a racehorse for the ages, Expo Gold boasts a lineage rich with quality. Her sire, Johannesburg, is the broodmare sire of such additional standouts as Grade 1 winners Basin and Collected. Her graded stakes-placed dam is a reliable producer of winners, one of which is already a stakes producer.

In addition to Expo Gold, two other members of Swiss Skydiver’s family are catalogued to Book 1 of the November Sale:

• Half-sister Is It Gold, a winning daughter of Indygo Shiner in foal to Nyquist, is consigned by South Point Sales Agency, agent
• Hunter Valley Farm agent, consigns the aforementioned Miss Hot Legs, a daughter of Verrazano (another son of More Than Ready), as a broodmare prospect

Read more

Longchamp Sunday breeding wrap

Preis der Diana third Virginia Joy tops Arqana's Arc Sale at €975,000

The Juddmonte purchase who just keeps turning the page

Princess Zoe scaling the heights in Prix du Cadran success