After feeling a bit like he missed out during yearling season, Craig Bernick went to $900,000 to purchase a weanling Into Mischief colt for his Glen Hill Farm at Book 1 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale Nov. 5 in Lexington.
Foaled March 24 in Kentucky, the colt by the five-time reigning leading sire was the highest-priced weanling of Tuesday's session. Bred by Edward and Beverly Seltzer, the colt was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for the complete dispersal of Ed Seltzer's Solera Farm.
Tuesday's big splash followed Glen Hill Farm's purchases of three weanling colts for a total of $850,000 Nov. 4 at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale. Bernick said Glen Hill has been looking closely at weanlings in both sales, and Tuesday's purchase of the Into Mischief colt followed Monday's haul of colts by Jackie's Warrior , McKinzie , and Justify .
"We decided to try and buy some colts in September and we couldn't get near anything. You have to be so organized in September," Bernick said. "So, we thought we'd try to buy some foals. We bought a few (Monday) and this was kind of our favorite one. We've seen everything in Book 2, everything today, everything last night, and he was the best one here."
The colt, offered as Hip 173, is the second foal out of the grade 3-winning Malibu Moon mare Eres Tu, a half sister to stakes winners Pangburn (dam of grade 1-placed Caddo River) and Ain't Got Time. The second dam of the colt is the stakes-winning Yes It's True mare It's True Love.
Bernick already was familiar with the Into Mischief weanling colt as he was raised at Amaroo Farm, near Lexington, where Glen Hill keeps its mares.
"I've kind of known the horse all his life. He was a dispersal, so he normally wouldn't come for sale as a foal; he normally would be (offered as) a yearling," Bernick said. "He's out of a Malibu Moon mare, really good family, good race mare. Obviously Into Mischief. I'm not going to say he ticked all the boxes because that's very obvious. He was a lot of money, but we figured he would be."
Those early impressions lasted.
"I remember when I came back here and was seeing some of our foals, Jamie Frost, who has Amaroo, said this Into Mischief is a really good colt," Bernick said. "Jamie's always had a high opinion of the horse. When we came here, he was a very obvious horse. A really classy mover, pretty head. It looks like he'll hopefully run around two turns. I really like the horse."
The weanling will go back to Glen Hill Farm near Ocala, Fla. He'll be raised there and then put into training.
Amo Racing Lands Curlin Colt
The session's second-highest-priced weanling was a gray or roan son of Curlin purchased by Amo Racing USA for $725,000. The Kentucky-bred colt, foaled March 16 out of the unraced Liam's Map mare Liam's Promenade, was consigned by his co-breeder, Denali Stud.
"Honestly, there were some very lengthy discussions as to whether we were going to bring him here or not," said Conrad Bandoroff of Denali. "This is typically the kind of horse that in our careers, my father's career and our career, we hold to take to a yearling sale. There were some lengthy discussions and debates on what was the right thing to do. We put him in here and protected him. We thought if we could attract some end-user attention, it made sense.
"He's a lovely horse. We're thrilled that Kia (Joorabchian of Amo Racing) bought him. He's going to go into a great program. It's a good thing for our mare. Just delighted all the way around."
