D. J. Stable Nabs $1.1M Tapit Filly on Keeneland Day 3

D.J. Stable's Len and Jon Green snapped up a Tapit filly Sept. 13 out of Sugar Swirl Stakes (G3) winner Lady's Island from breeder/consignor Gainesway for $1.1 million at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The filly, Hip 589, is the first foal out of the two-time grade 3-winning Greatness mare, who captured 18 of 35 starts. Jon Green, seated alongside Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, signed for her purchase. "Certainly, this filly took my breath away and Mark Casse, our trainer, went to go look at her independently, and when we looked at it and we compared notes this morning, there was no doubt that she was the No. 1 filly on both of our lists," Jon Green said. He remarked that the Tapit filly offered surprising value in his eyes, even at her seven-figure sales price, with other buyers hot in their pursuits of other commercially attractive sires. "Our program, we can't outspend people (at the top of the market)," the younger Green said. "So we have to look for trends and then zig when they're zagging. "So, thankfully we set a trend by having an Into Mischief champion (2-year-old filly Wonder Wheel in 2022), but now everyone is after the Into Mischiefs, everyone is after the Gun Runners, and you forget that there are some really great sires out there like Tapits, like Medaglia d' Oros, the Quality Roads that are now 'under the radar,' even almost forgotten about because they're not hot and sexy and new." Hip 589 was D.J. Stable's third buy of the ongoing sale, following Hip 463, a $525,000 Quality Road filly, and Hip 242, a $300,000 Candy Ride (ARG). D. J. Stable added a fourth yearling in Hip 615, a Gainesway-consigned daughter of War Front, for $425,000. He said Hip 589 rated higher in their sales-selection rating system than did Wonder Wheel, who D. J. Stable acquired for $275,000 from the 2021 September Yearling Sale at Keeneland, a year before her Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1)-winning season in 2022.