Three hours into the third day of selling at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale Nov. 7, the stakes-placed Tapit mare Veronica Greene saw the hammer drop to winning bidders Richard and Denise Brunacini at $725,000, the second-highest price of the day.
Consigned as Hip 838 from ELiTE, agent for White Birch Farm, the 5-year-old mare entered Thursday's ring with one of the most active families of the Book 2 catalog. Two of her half siblings, Cugino (Twirling Candy ) and Battle of Normandy (City of Light ) are entered in graded stakes races this weekend.
"I thought she was one of the best mares in the sale today," said ELiTE's Liz Crow. "She has two half brothers running in stakes this weekend, she's in foal to Justify—a tremendously good cover. She's a beautiful mare and she could run herself, she was stakes-placed in New York. She was prepped by Des Ryan and she looked fantastic coming in here and so yeah we were expecting she would be one of the top mares here today."
Veronica Greene left a memorable impression on the Brunacinis, who stopped by the ELiTE consignment numerous times over the past 24 hours to see the mare.
"She had everything," said Richard Brunacini, a former stakes-winning trainer and previous owner of the stud farm Brunacini Farms in New Mexico. "She's by Tapit. She's in foal to Justify, and she's just beautiful. She's a young mare having her first baby, and her conformation, everything was perfect. I couldn't fault her."
As a yearling, Veronica Greene was acquired by Peter Brant (White Birch Farm) for $260,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Trained by Chad Brown, the mare won twice from 10 starts and bankrolled $195,500. She is out of the stakes-winning Kitten's Joy mare Adorable Miss.
Veronica Greene's 3-year-old half brother Cugino is the 5-2 morning-line second choice in the Nov. 9 $200,000 Hill Prince Stakes (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack. Earlier this year, the Shug McGaughey-trained colt captured the Audubon Stakes at Churchill Downs and placed in Keeneland's Transylvania Stakes (G3T). The mare's 4-year-old half brother, Battle of Normandy, vies for his first black-type victory in Saturday's $300,000 River City Stakes (G3T) at Churchill after winning his past three starts, all in New York allowance company, for McGaughey.
The Brunacinis have "10 or 11 mares" they own in partnership near Lexington. They sold a weanling colt by Epicenter (Hip 71) for $225,000 during the sale's opening session Nov. 5. Commercial breeders, the couple was looking to reinvest that money into a new broodmare purchase.
"We've had a good year selling, and you can almost call me a CPA. I know where my tax situation is," Brunacini said.
