Keeneland Book 2 Features Siblings to New Stallions

New stallions are among the most attractive investments in the breeding and pinhooking sectors, and in Book 2 of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, buyers have the opportunity to combine that open-ended promise with the progeny of proven, elite stallions on already made catalog pages. Book 2 opens Sept. 10, and the session's many attractive prospects include full siblings to 2022 champion 3-year-old male Epicenter and 2023 champion turf male Up to the Mark, plus a half brother to grade 1-winning sprinter Drain the Clock. Epicenter and Drain the Clock are first-crop yearling sires, while Up to the Mark's oldest foals are weanlings. Hunter Valley Farm, as agent, will offer Hip 499, a striking bay filly by Not This Time out of the stakes-winning Candy Ride (ARG) mare Silent Candy. She is a full sister to Epicenter, who is off to a promising start to his stallion career at Coolmore's Ashford Stud, and thus already a prized broodmare prospect. The Irish connections continue as Hip 499 was bred by the Coolmore-affiliated partnership of Orpendale, Chelston, Wynatt, and Westerberg Ireland. Silent Candy struck gold with Epicenter as her sixth foal, while Hip 499 is her 11th. The 18-year-old Candy Ride mare produced a filly by Ashford's Justify this season. Hunter Valley's Fergus Galvin said interest in Hip 499 has been strong since she arrived on the grounds. "The page speaks for itself. She's a full sister to an exceptional horse in Epicenter, and she's going over very well," Galvin said. "She's a very smooth-moving filly with a lot of quality. She seems to be hitting the lists, and we're very happy with her. "Not This Time has just had a phenomenal year. He's getting them at all distances on all surfaces. He's gone to a new stratosphere." Tapit Half to Drain the Clock Drain the Clock was a three-time graded stakes winner whose best victory came in the 2021 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, where the son of Maclean's Music defeated that year's eventual champion male sprinter Jackie's Warrior by a neck. While Drain the Clock's best attribute was his speed, the breeding of his dam—the Arch mare Manki—to Tapit has produced a beautiful gray or roan colt that could be a different type than his famous half brother. "Hip 413 is a big, leggy, classic-looking two-turn horse," Gainesway's Brian Graves said. "He's probably a little bit different than Drain the Clock, but he does take after him in another way in that he's got really good balance. "Anytime you have a half to a current stallion, people's minds gravitate to the immense possibilities there." Hip 413 was bred in Kentucky by Nick Cosato and the Tapit Syndicate. He is the eighth foal out of Manki, whose production record is further buoyed by the Vino Rosso filly Corposo, who finished third in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1) and second in the George E. Mitchell Black Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) in 2024. Drain the Clock stands at Gainesway near Lexington. His stud fee was $10,000 for the 2025 breeding season. "Drain the Clock's yearlings were extremely well received up in New York at the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale," Graves said. "He's really stamping his offspring, and we've had a lot of activity on his shares and breeding rights at the farm. We're really excited about the stock he's throwing. He's reproducing himself." Full Brother to Up to the Mark Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for Summer Wind Equine, will send Hip 628, a full brother to three-time grade 1 winner and champion Up to the Mark, by Not This Time, through the ring later in Wednesday's session. Summer Wind purchased Hip 628's dam—the unraced Ghostzapper mare Belle's Finale—for $1.25 million at the 2023 edition of Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale when she was carrying the Not This Time colt. Belle's Finale is a full sister to stakes winner Zapper Belle. Up to the Mark was her second foal, while Hip 628 is her seventh. A good-moving, April 27 foal, Hip 628 has the look of a yearling who hasn't reached his best physical form yet. "This colt is a good mover, and he has the color of Not This Time. We think he's a very nice horse." Taylor Made's Duncan Taylor said. "He's wiry, and I've seen a lot of these types run. Not This Times are not just one mold. Hip 628 is a smart horse, not an overly big horse, but he has a license to be any kind. "My brother Mark has been looking at him regularly, and he said the horse has really improved in the last 60 days. I think he has a lot of developing to do ahead." Not This Time stands at Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Ky., where his 2025 stud fee was $175,000. "This is a very good cross for Not This Time," Taylor said. "Obviously, we see Ghostzapper in Up to the Mark's pedigree, and also his sire Awesome Again, who you also see in Princess Noor, winner of the grade 1 Del Mar Debutante."