It may be the 10th session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale but impressive horses are still garnering impressive prices at the mammoth auction.
About three-quarters of the way through the second session of Book 5 of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Internet bidder Mick Wallace, agent for St. Elias Stables, secured a son of Girvin for $290,000. The price for the dark bay or brown colt consigned by Brookdale Sales topped both the Sept. 22 session as well as Book 5, which was offered Wednesday and Thursday.
"That was a very good price," said Freddy Seitz of Brookdale. "It just says this is a really hot market and it's really good if you got a nice one."
Bred in Kentucky by Brookdale Farm, Seitz said the colt (offered as Hip 3504) progressed nicely going into the sale.
"He's always been a nice horse, a really nice, correct, good-moving horse," Seitz said. "So it's just been a matter of kind of staying out of his way and letting him grow up. Our crew did a great job with him and they had him looking really sharp. So he's one of the easy ones."
The colt is out of the winning, stakes-placed Into Mischief mare Into Summer. The second dam, Summertime, by Siberian Summer, is a full sister to grade 2 winner Summer Wind Dancer. Into Summer sold in foal with this colt for $60,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, where she was consigned by Legacy Bloodstock and purchased by Dixon Enterprises. The Girvin colt was foaled April 23, 2021.
Girvin's initial crop of 2-year-olds are on the track, led by Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) winner Damon's Mound and Astoria Stakes winner Devious Dame. A grade 1-winning son of Tale of Ekati , Girvin currently ranks eighth on the leading freshman sires list. He'll stand the 2023 season at Airdrie Stud for a fee to be announced.
