$375K Gun Runner Colt Tops Short Yearlings at Keeneland

A Gun Runner colt with a "very good presence about him" will remain in the United States to race for an undisclosed client after topping the short yearling portion of the Jan. 11 opening session of the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. Agent Emmanuel de Seroux went to $375,000 for the son of the leading first-crop sire of 2021, and said sire power was the driving factor behind his buy. The colt out of the winning Empire Maker mare Take a Memo was the most expensive short yearling sold during Tuesday's session, while a $300,000 daughter of Justify was the most expensive short yearling filly. "First, he's by Gun Runner," de Seroux said of the colt, who was bred in Kentucky by Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm and was consigned by Hunter Valley, agent, as Hip 365. "Second, he's a very athletic colt, he walks very well, he's nice, and we loved everything about him. … He had a very good presence about him. "The good Gun Runners, you have a lot of people trying to get them." After initially standing for $70,000, a fee that dipped to $50,000 for 2021, Gun Runner will stand for an advertised fee of $125,000 in 2022. His 58 yearlings sold at auction in 2021 averaged $288,483 and his 14 2-year-olds sold last year averaged $306,286. The Three Chimneys stallion enjoyed an explosive debut season during which he set a record for progeny earnings by a first-crop sire with over $4.2 million. NetJets Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Echo Zulu and Hopeful Stakes (G1) winner Gunite were among his standout performers, along with grade 2 winners Wicked Halo and Pappacap, the latter second to Corniche in the TVG Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1). Regan said an abundance of caution after a barn incident at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale caused connections to withdraw the colt, who was originally slated to sell as a weanling. "We had him here in November and we had a little bit of a mishap with him down at the barn and we weren't happy with the way he was moving, so we sent him home," Regan said. "We originally thought we'd wait until the yearling (sales) but Gun Runner obviously took off. At the time we switched him straight over to January." The colt's second dam is the grade 2-winning, grade 1-placed Memo mare Memorette. His dam's lone foal to race, the Union Rags daughter Miss Ava's Union, was a winner at 3 in 2019. "…We were thinking of keeping him until a yearling, but then Gun Runner was just so good, we sent him in there because we knew he was a good horse," Regan said. Justify Filly Catches Graves' Eye A standout daughter of Justify consigned as Hip 317 caught the eye of Brian Graves Tuesday, and the astute horseman went to $300,000 to bring her home from consignor Sequel New York, agent. "We will definitely bring this filly back through the sales," said Graves, who signed for the filly in the name of his Fish Stables. "I thought she was gorgeous. Maybe the prettiest Justify I have seen yet. She did everything right for me—drop-dead gorgeous, athletic walk. Liked everything about her." Bred in Kentucky by Lakland Farm, the filly is the first foal out of the Australia (GB) mare San Saria (IRE), a daughter of the group 3-winning Daggers Drawn mare San Sicharia. Justify's first crop of yearlings went to market in 2021, when 81 sold for an average of $370,329. The 2018 Triple Crown winner will stand the 2022 season at Ashford Stud for an advertised fee of $100,000.