Breeders' Cup Contenders Head to the Sales Ring

This past weekend, the Thoroughbred world turned its eyes toward Santa Anita Park to watch the Breeders' Cup Championships Nov. 3-4, a display of talented horses from all over the world converging on the Arcadia, Calif., soil. This year, six of those contestants will hop a plane back to Lexington in time to make the Fasig-Tipton November Sale Nov. 7 and the Keeneland November Sale Nov. 8-17. The sparkling success from the weekend adds a bit of promise and hope to the prospective buyer's eye, allowing them to add a turnkey racehorse or successful graded mare to their broodmare band with the nod of their head in the sales ring. This year, the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) winner, Goodnight Olive, will grace the Fasig-Tipton grounds during the Night of the Stars. ELiTE offer's the 5-year-old Ghostzapper mare as Hip 237 for her connections in First Row Partners and Team Hanley. The four-time grade 1 winner was crowned 2022 champion female sprinter after delivering the win in the Ballerina Handicap (G1) and Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in her perfect season last year. Tuesday, she will head through the sales ring with a bankroll of $2,196,200 in 12 starts, none of which were off the board with trainer Chad Brown. Selling as a racing or broodmare prospect, the mare is out of the dual grade 3 winner Salty Strike, by Smart Strike, and brings forward much to offer as producer. Another exciting Ghostzapper daughter, the 4-year-old Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) third-place finisher Moira will be offered by Hill' n' Dale at Xalapa as Hip 156. Saturday, the Queen's Plate winner got bumped in the start and bobbled but swept four wide kicking into high gear to get up for third behind winner Inspiral (GB). Bred in Canada by Adena Springs, the Kevin Attard pupil has amassed earnings of $1.4 million in 13 starts with a record of 5-4-2. She is out of the grade 2-placed, listed stakes-winning Unbridled's Song mare Devine Aida, and is half sibling to stakes winner Jungle Cry. Purchased as a yearling for $150,000 by X-Men Racing, she has been campaigned by her buyer, Madaket Stables, and SF Racing. Search Results, a grade 1-winning offering by Flatter, will grace the grounds as Hip 179 with ELiTE sales. The 5-year-old mare ran second in the 2021 Kentucky Oaks (G1) en route to taking the Acorn Stakes (G1) and running third in the Test Stakes (G1) at 3. She captured the 2022 Ruffian Stakes (G2) and Molly Pitcher Stakes (G3), and earned a second in the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course before closing out the season with a sixth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). This year she racked up placings in the La Troienne Stakes (G1), Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1), and Molly Pitcher, and won the Locust Grove Stakes (G3) in September. This past weekend, she again ran sixth in the Distaff behind Juddmonte's winner, Idiomatic. A solid performer for Brown, her trainer, and owner Klaravich Stables, she has earned $1.94 million with a record of 7-3-5 in 17 starts. Mike Ryan purchased the runner as a yearling for $310,000 at the Keeneland September Sale from Select Sales. A fan favorite and consistent runner, Caravel, by Mizzen Mast, will go under the hammer as Hip 210 with Hunter Valley Farm Nov. 8 at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. A three-time Breeders' Cup contender, Caravel won last year's Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) at Keeneland and Saturday finished 10th in the same race against the boys. The 6-year-old mare amassed $1.98 million in four years on the track, breaking from the starting gate 26 times and hitting the board in 19 of those races. She sold to Fergus Galvin during the 2021 Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $500,000 and proceeded to capture the 2022 Queen Stakes, Intercontinental Stakes (G3T), Smart N Fancy Stakes, Franklin Stakes (G3T), and closed out the year with the aforementioned Breeders' Cup. In 2023 she was victorious in the Shakertown Stakes (G2T), Unbridled Sidney Stakes, Jaipur Stakes (G1T), and ran second in the Franklin Stakes. Wednesday, she will sell for owners Madaket Stables, Qatar Racing, and Marc Detampel. Going through the ring early on Wednesday will be the Breeders' Cup Distaff third Le Da Vida (CHI); she sells as Hip 41 with Greenfield Farms. The 6-year-old Gemologist mare is group/grade 1-placed both in Chile and the United States. This year, she placed in the Pippin Stakes, Bayakoa Stakes (G3), Allaire DuPont Distaff Stakes, Molly Pitcher Stakes, and Spinster Stakes (G1). Since coming to the United States in May 2022, she has been in the care of Ignacio Correas IV for owner Masaiva. Her dam, Viene Cantando (CHI), by Gstaad, is a group 1 winner in Chile and from the family of Chilean champions Nina Balconera and Apreton de Manos. The final Breeders' Cup contender to be on offer next week is the fast Filly and Mare Sprint third-place finisher Three Witches. The 4-year-old Into Mischief filly ran a promising race to winner Goodnight Olive for her connections e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Indian Creek consigns the filly out of Layreebelle to the Nov. 10 session as Hip 936. She boasts two graded-winning siblings in Spellbound, a winner in the La Canada Stakes (G2), and Kid Cruz, a two-time grade 3 winner. In October, Three Witches won the Princess Rooney Invitational Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park. Unstarted at 2, the filly will sell with earnings of $289,870 in eight starts and a record of 3-1-3. Similar to Search Results, she was purchased as a yearling at the Keeneland September Sale by Ryan for $350,000 from her breeder, Machmer Hall Sales.