Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm landed the top-selling mare of the day during Tuesday’s opening session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale when she bought multiple graded stakes winner Roses For Debra for $2.4 million.
The strapping gray or roan mare is a daughter of Liam’s Map who won Graded stakes on all-weather and grass.
Roses For Debra, consigned by Candy Meadows Sales, is out of the Bernardini mare Essential Rose, making her a half-sister to stakes winners Rose’s Vision (Artie Schiller) and Rosie’s Alibi (Justify).
“She was very elegant, very well put together,” Pope said. “She was very fast. It was on grass, which is not necessarily ideal for American breeding programs, but she was so fast.
“I needed some quick mares to add to the stallions I would like to breed to.”
John O’Meara, who raced Roses For Debra alone at first and later in partnership with Cheyenne Stable, said the sale was “unbelievable”, considering he bought her for $25,000 from Dromoland Farm which spread stock after the death of farm owner Gerry Dilger, a friend of O’Meara’s.
“It’s very exciting,” he said. “I can’t believe I was lucky enough to buy such a nice mare for such a small amount of money. All thanks to Gerry Dilger.
“It was incredible to go to the races with a horse like this. It was a wonderful ride, it will be terribly difficult to find another one like her.”
While Pope said she’s always looking for opportunities at stud sales, this year she’s keen to find mares to support homebred stallions and Grade 1 placer, Grade 2 winner Charge It, who goes into breeding next year at Gainesway for $12,500, and 2023 Blue Grass Stakes winner Tapit Trice, whom she raced with Gainesway and also enters stud next year at a fee of $20,000. Both are by Gainesway’s multiple leading sire Tapit.
Todd Quast, Antony Beck, Mandy Pope and Brian Graves at Keeneland November 2024 SaleCredit: Photo from Keeneland
“Probably similar kind of mares (for both stallions),” she said. “None of them could really get out of the gate. They always needed a chance to get going. We’ll probably be looking for some mares to get them going.”
As for mating plans for Roses For Debra, Pope said she is looking for a stallion that can have the same versatility as her latest broodmare purchase. Roses For Debra won her first graded stakes in the 2023 Caress Stakes at Saratoga. As a five-year-old this year, she added to her Graded stakes credentials by taking the Giant’s Causeway Stakes and then proved her versatility when she won the Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes on the Tapeta main track at Presque Isle Downs.
“We’re thinking about Curlin, Justify, we’ve got a couple of good options there,” she said. “Both work on the grass and the dirt, it’s a good cross.”
Roses For Debra compiled a 9-2-2 record from 16 starts and earned $821,618.
Whisper Hill paid a total of $4,875,000 for five horses to lead buyers during the session, while Roses For Debra was one of nine seven-figure horses sold, contributing to a gross sales increase of nearly 15 percent over last year.
Weanlings by Into Mischief and Curlin sold for $900,000 and $725,000 respectively to be the highest priced weanlings sold at public auction in North America this year.
Glen Hill Farm acquired Tuesday’s prized weanling, consigned by Taylor Made, agent for the full distribution of Ed Seltzer’s Solera Farm. Out of Grade 3 winner Eres Tu, by Malibu Moon, the Into Mischief colt is from the family of Preakness winner Tank’s Prospect; Class 3 winners Kays and Jays; and stakes winners It’s True Love, Pangburn, Caddo River and Ain’t Got Time.
The Into Mischief weanling that went for $900,000 at Keeneland last TuesdayCredit: Anne M Eberhardt
“We tried to buy some stallions in September, and we couldn’t get close to anything,” said Glen Hill’s Craig Bernick. “We thought we would try to buy some foals. He was the best here. It was a lot of money, but I thought he would be.
“When we got here he was a very obvious horse – a real handsome exerciser, beautiful head. I really like him. He’s going to go back to the farm in Ocala. We’re going to raise him and we’re going to put him in training.”
Amo Racing USA paid $725,000 for the weanling colt by Curlin from the family of Grade 1 winners Cavorting and Clairiere. He is sent by Denali Stud and is out of the Liam’s Map mare Liam’s Promenade.
On Tuesday, Keeneland sold 143 horses through the ring for $62,370,000, for an average of $436,154 and a median of $350,000. Compared to figures from the first session in 2023, the gross increased 14.78 percent from $54,340,000, while the average fell 3.68 percent from $452,833 to $436,154. The median of $350,000 was 6.67 percent lower than last year’s $375,000.
The November sale continues on Wednesday at 10:00 local time (15:00 GMT) with the first session of the two-day Book 2.
For all the latest bloodstock and racing news from North America visit Blood horse
