St George Sales and Brookstone Farm hit pay dirt late in Book 2 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale with Hip 1079, a bay colt by Practical Joke out of Gal Factor, by The Factor .
Brookstone Farm purchased the colt bred in Ontario by South Point Sales Agency as a pinhook prospect for $105,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. He returned to the same ring eight months later to fetch the highest price of any Practical Joke yearling ever sold at public auction.
Talla Racing, which co-owns the 2021 RUNHAPPY Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Rock Your World , beat out underbidders David Ingordo and John Shirreffs with a final bid of $750,000.
St George Sales owner Archie St George explained the ideology behind the profitable pinhook.
"Roger O'Callaghan rang me before the January sales, and we had a Practical Joke filly back with him at Tally-Ho, and he said, 'Whatever happens, we're buying a Practical Joke,' so we did, and the rest is history," he said.
Their determination was rewarded with a significant payday, one St George said took him by surprise.
"You just hope that he's good enough that the stars can align. It was certainly way beyond my wildest expectations that he was going to bring that. You buy these horses and you hope that you can double your money, and after that you try to get a bit of luck. The stars aligned and we got very lucky."
St George implied the bay colt's physical development vaulted him into the high six figures.
"He's a big, tall horse, and as the spring and summer went on he filled out... I think it boils down to the individual," he said. "He was a very nice horse—straightforward, correct, good-walking horse, good limbs, and everything like that. Everything fell into place. The stallion has done very well."
Practical Joke has been kind to St George Sales at this year's Keeneland September Sale, accounting for the consignment's two highest-priced yearlings They sold a Practical Joke filly (Hip 989) earlier in the session for $575,000 to Phil Schoenthal, agent for D. Hatman Thoroughbreds. The grade 1-winning son of Into Mischief stands at Ashford Stud, where his 2021 fee was advertised at $22,500.
