Henry Hinkle of Hinkle Farms watched in the doorway of the Keeneland sales pavilion Sept. 13 as his homebred son of Arrogate was hammered down on a final bid of $750,000 at the opening session of the September Yearling Sale.
The winning bidder was Yuji Hasegawa, who made his final bid for the colt remotely via phone.
Though the chestnut yearling may not—at first glance—appear similar to his champion sire, Hinkle said there were enough physical similarities between father and son to tempt buyers into bidding high.
"Color-wise, yes, he doesn't look like Arrogate. But body type-wise, the Juddmonte folks commented that he had a very similar body type," Hinkle said. "We're very pleased, and I know he'll be in good hands.
"We had a lot of really great buyers on him, and we were really happy when he was so well accepted. We got a lot of compliments on him. He's one of the nicest colts we've ever brought up here to sell."
If being sired by the late Horse of the Year wasn't enough, Hip 116 can also boast more depth in his female family than most. The colt is out of the Storm Cat mare Crosswinds, the dam of Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) winner Weep No More and grade 3 winner Current.
Hip 116's second dam is Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Flute, who produced graded stakes winner and multiple grade 1-placed producer Filimbi. Flute also appears as the granddam of English group 3 winner Qabala, who ran third in the QIPCO One Thousand Guineas (G1).
"The mare has been a great producer," Hinkle said. "She had those two chestnut graded stakes winners, and I hope he'll follow in their footsteps."
Arrogate earned the title of North America's richest racehorse when acquiring more than $17 million in purses during his career. A son of Unbridled's Song, he was retired to stud at Juddmonte Farms in 2018. The promising stallion was euthanized June 2 after battling with an undetermined neurological illness.
