Moyglare Stud Buys Beautiful Lover for $650,000

When only the third horse in the ring at the Jan. 12 session of the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale sold for just shy of seven figures, bloodstock agent Fiona Craig was admittedly on edge. The race mare, Regal Glory (Hip 403), had been picked up by Peter Brant's White Birch Farm for $925,000. Craig, who had her eye on another turf runner cataloged as Hip 537, wondered if she would find herself on the losing end of a bidding war come Tuesday afternoon. "It was a bit of a shock this morning when (Hip 403) made $925,000," said Craig, who works as the bloodstock consultant for Moyglare Stud. "So I was listening all the time to see if Mr. Brant was on the phone deciding if he wanted her too." Consigned by Lane's End, agent for the complete dispersal of the estate of Paul Pompa Jr., Beautiful Lover went through the ring without reserve. As Craig expected, a bidding war soon erupted over the 5-year-old daughter of Arch. After several tense minutes, Craig—who was accompanied by Moyglare Stud's Eva Bucher-Haefner—emerged victorious on a final bid of $650,000. "She'll go to Payson Park hopefully tomorrow," said Craig. "Christophe Clement will train her. We'll race her on and we'll probably breed her next year. She's by Arch, she has a smashing pedigree, and she's got a lot of racing left in her we think. Long term, we'll breed her and add her to the broodmare band. Hopefully she'll race in New York. They said she's ready to breeze so she'll go on down to him and he'll evaluate her." Bred in Florida out of the Quiet American mare American Skipper, Beautiful Lover is a half sister to graded stakes winner Zivo. Formerly trained by Chad Brown for Pompa and co-owner Gary Tolchin, the mare holds a 3-3-1 record from 10 starts and earnings of $242,870. "She's a nice mare and what they didn't announce was that a few races ago they took her out to California and she was a close fourth in a grade 1," said Craig, referring to the May 25 Gamely Stakes (G1T). "It's a good, tough, hard-knocking pedigree full of winners and that is what she is. They aren't making any more Arch mares. They're gone. We came in here a couple years ago and bought an Arch mare. She's now a broodmare as well so on we go. Hopefully the pandemic will cease so Eva will be able to come over and see her." Having received a special dispensation to travel to the Keeneland January sale from Switzerland, Bucher-Haefner was on the grounds with Craig Tuesday to witness the purchase of Hip 537 as well as the sale of three Moyglare Stud-bred horses. Among those sold was Hip 418, a colt by WinStar Farm's Speightstown who was purchased by E. B. S. for $270,000. Bred in Kentucky out of the Street Cry (IRE) mare Sansibar Jewel, the colt's second dam is group 3 winner Irresistible Jewel (IRE), who also produced group 3 winner and Darley Irish Oaks (G1) third-place finisher Princess Highway (Street Cry). Irresistible Jewel is also the dam of Royal Diamond (IRE), winner of the Gain Horse Feeds Irish St. Leger (G1). Hip 418 was consigned by Blandford Stud (Padraig Campion), agent. Moyglare also sold Hip 454, a 4-year-old filly by Claiborne Farm's War Front named Stella Stellina, through the consignment of James B. Keogh (Grovendale), agent. Purchased by Siena Farms for $80,000, the filly hails from the same family as Hip 418 being a daughter of Princess Highway. The last to sell through the ring for Moyglare was Hip 470, a colt by Ashford Stud's Uncle Mo purchased by Eastern Bloodstock for $30,000. Consigned by Blandford Stud, the colt is out of the Galileo (IRE) mare Switch In Time (IRE), a daughter of multiple grade 1 winner Switch. Overall, Craig said she was more than pleased with how the day went for Moyglare. "We sold a foal early on, our Speightstown colt for $270,000, which was brilliant," said Craig. "So we've sold three and bought one. It was a good day of trading."