'He's the best horse in here' - $5 million Curlin brother to Grade 1 winner Clairiere dominates second day of Keeneland

Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm went to $5 million deep into day two of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale on Tuesday to land hip 347, a Curlin colt who roared to the top of sale standings. 

The colt, bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and consigned by Indian Creek, is a full-brother to multiple Grade 1 winner Clairiere.

"As one person just told me, he speaks for himself," said Pope. "He was my favourite, and obviously the grey one that I bought from Three Chimneys, those were the top two. I knew he was going to be a lot. He should be the sales topper because he's the best horse in here."

Primarily known for securing top race fillies, Pope said she is looking to add colts with potential to be stallions to her roster. She is planning deep into the future of the empire she is building. She also purchased the session-topper on Monday – hip 169, a $2.2 million Gun Runner colt out of Princesa Carolina.

She said: "We need colts to become stallions, to get the numbers all working. They're what makes it work. This is not a short game in any manner, unless you're just once or twice and get out, like day trading, but it's a very long story. You can't be faint of heart in this at all."  

Curlin was in high demand on the second day of the Keeneland September sale, with 15 of his yearlings sold for a gross of $14,115,000. Four sold for seven figures, with the average at $941,000.

Lynda Hayes, Todd Quast and Mandy Pope after purchasing the Curlin colt on the second day of Keeneland's September Yearling SaleCredit: Keeneland Photo

It was a bittersweet day for Barbara Banke of Stonestreet Stables, who bred the session-topping colt and also campaigned his sire, dual Horse of the Year Curlin. He retired with more than $10m in earnings and has stamped himself as one of the most influential stallions of modern times. 

"He was the best horse we raised this year," Banke said of the sale-topper, who is the highest-priced September sale colt since Meydan City sold for $11.7m in 2006. "He's from a great family, and he looks great."

He is out of multiple Grade 1 winner Cavorting, by Bernardini, who was raced by Stonestreet with trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. She won three Grade 1s and retired with more than $2m in earnings. Besides Clairiere, she has also produced stakes winner La Crete (Medaglia D'Oro) and stakes-placed winner Judge Miller (Curlin).

When asked if it is hard to part with horses of this quality, Banke said: "Yes, but I can't keep everything. As my financial adviser and my team tells me, we need to sell to pay the bills, so we can make more and do it again next year."

Sarah Sutherland of Indian Creek said: "He was one of those that as soon as you saw him, you understood; you got it, you grasped what he is. And I think that speaks for the whole programme that Stonestreet has worked so hard to develop and continues to improve upon. 

"It's pretty cool to have campaigned Curlin, and Cavorting speaks for herself. The mare's got a 100 per cent strike-rate with stakes horses. It doesn't get any better than this.

"It's very, very rewarding and humbling. It's pretty cool to be a very small part of this horse's life. I know this isn't the best day of his life, he's going to have a really exciting future, we're just delighted that Mandy got him." 

The Into Mischief filly out of Grade 1 winner Shared Account sells to Heider Family Stables for $1.5 million at KeenelandCredit: Keeneland Photo

The top-priced filly was hip 210. Heider Family Stables went to $1.5m for the Into Mischief filly who is out of Grade 1 winner Shared Account, making her a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Sharing. Gainesway bred and sold the bay filly. 

David Lanigan, serving as agent along with Ted Durcan for the buyer, said she will go to trainer Brendan Walsh. The Heider family has had success with Walsh and wants to put more fillies under his care. 

Lanigan said: "She's just very nice, well balanced, really. We all liked her. And then we brought Brendan Walsh to have a look at her and he was very keen. She's strong, she looks like she could do both turf or dirt.

"We usually look at them as a team, and then we'll give [Scott Heider] a list, and he'll already have made a list on pedigrees that he likes or works for him, and if we line up, he'll have a go at them. 

"Then the big thing . . . is the trainer that we're sending them to. It's all very good us liking them. If the trainer doesn't like them, he's got to live with them for the next three years. So it helps if the trainer likes them as well. Brendan was very keen on this filly."  

Sixteen horses sold for seven figures on the sale's second day, of which Into Mischief and Not This Time each had three. 

The average for the second session was $602,227, with a gross of $66,245,000, including private sales. The median was $475,000. A total of 144 horses went through the ring, with 110 sold, making the buyback rate 23.6 per cent, down slightly from the first session.

The $5 million Curlin colt after his seven-figure sale at the Keeneland September Yearling SaleCredit: Keeneland Photo

Tony Lacy, vice-president of sales at Keeneland, said: "When we were looking at the figures during the day, we could see that it was potentially going to tee up to be equally as good as yesterday, and that was a high bar to try to achieve. The median is up almost 20 per cent over last year."

Gainesway was the leading consignor for session two, with a gross of $11,725,000, from 17 horses sold. Whisper Hill Farm was the leading buyer of the day with two purchases totaling $5,300,000. West Bloodstock, agent for Repole Stable, was very active and the second-leading buyer with eight horses totalling $3,875,000. 

"These are numbers we dream of," said Lacy. "It's not for us; it's for our clients, the people that entrust us with these horses. We have an incredible team, our auction team, our bid spotters, our sales team, everybody in this organisation that gets behind this.

"Everybody takes pride in it, but we're really proud of the people that bring the horses, and the buyers that entrusted that we are doing the job that will give them the opportunities to buy the next champion."

The Keeneland September sale continues on Wednesday, with Book 2 beginning at 11am ET (4pm BST) with hips 381-760 to go through the ring. As of Tuesday afternoon, Keeneland reported 52 outs for the third session.

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