Coolmore and Avenue Bloodstock swoop for $700,000 joint sale-topper Pretty Birdie
Nearing the end of the day at Keeneland's January Horses of All Ages Sale on Monday, Graded stakes winners Delahaye and Pretty Birdie revived the sales pavilion, each bringing $700,000.
Pretty Birdie, a six-year-old mare by Bird Song, was reoffered in foal to Candy Ride by Gainesway, agent for the estate of John Hendrickson, after she was found cribbing following her $1.1 million sale at Keeneland's November Breeding Stock Sale.
Adrian Wallace of Coolmore America signed the ticket for the grey or roan mare on behalf of Avenue Bloodstock. They had bid on her in the November Sale, and were elated to secure the filly from one of racing's most coveted families.
Pretty Birdie was bred and owned by the late Marylou Whitney and trained by Norm Casse. She is out of the Street Sense mare Bird Sense and hails from the family of Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone .She won the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes at two, was second in the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes at three, and was retired with four wins and $521,488 in earnings.
"She was a lovely mare, we loved her the first time we saw her," said Wallace. “She was a very precocious race mare herself.
“We're privileged to buy into one of [John Hendrickson's] great families and that of Marylou Whitney as well. She's young and she's been bought for David Nagle of Barronstown Stud."
Wallace said the mare will stay in America, where she will likely be sent to Triple Crown winner Justify.
Delahaye was offered by Four Star Sales, agent, and sold to Three Chimneys Farm, which bred the six-year-old Medagalia D’Oro mare and campaigned her in partnership with William H. Lawrence and Gonçalo Borges Torrealba, the chairman of Three Chimneys.
Trained by Chad Brown, she retired with a record of 4-1-3 from nine starts and $490,815 in earnings. Her most memorable win came in the Grade 3 Old Forester Mint Julep Stakes at Churchill Downs.
She is the third foal of the War Front mare Bella Carina, making her dam a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Malibu Prayer and Grade 1-placed Valid.
"Great price for a Grade 3 horse," said Kerry Cauthen of Four Star Sales. "She is beautiful, and it has consistently happened year-round, year after year, if they are as pretty as that and show performance, there are plenty of people who want to buy her.
"The price is a little better than I thought she would bring. I thought she was a $500,000 to $600,000, but I felt like she could have gone on a little bit. It is just a matter of finding two people who want the same thing."
Keeneland concluded Book 1 with a dramatic growth in the median, up 100 per cent from 2024 to $60,000. Gross sales totalled $19,088,000, including private sales for the 215 horses who changed hands; the average was $88,781. The reserve not attained rate was 27.1 per cent, representing the 80 horses who failed to meet their reserve.
Last year's first session saw 237 head sell for a total of $19,271,500, with an average of $81,314 and a median of $30,000. Eighty-five horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 26.4 per cent.
The January Sale saw a decrease in sessions, down from four to three in 2025. Book 1 horses were pushed into one session, instead of dividing it over two days as in years past.
The top-priced short yearling was a colt by Tapit, who brought $400,000, selling to JPM Bloodstock from Gainesway's consignment. He was bred in Kentucky by Dr Oscar Benavides, AEMC and Tapit Syndicate. He is out of the stakes-winning mare Maybe Wicked, who is a full-sister to Graded stakes winner Money’soncharlotte.
Lane's End led the consignors with 19 head selling for a total of $2,376,000.
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