Jamie Insole was a man on a mission at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, with the Urloxhey Stables joint-trainer featuring among the buyers at the Kentucky bonanza via a daughter of sire-on-fire Justify .
Having enjoyed a banner year largely thanks to Lennox Stakes (G2) winner Witness Stand, Insole was not resting on his laurels when purchasing the WinStar Farm-bred filly, consigned by ELiTE as agent, at Book 2 Sept. 11 alongside Matt Houldsworth and owner Adam Spratt. It was his first trip to the September sale and an overwhelmingly positive experience for Insole, who trains with Richard Newland at the Worcestershire yard.
There were a number of reasons for heading out to the United States on behalf of Spratt, principally access to different sires and Kentucky-breds who qualify for the valuable Kentucky Downs state-bred initiative. The European-style turf course, just outside the city of Franklin, Ky., has only one meeting each year but eye-watering prize money which draws runners from Britain and Ireland.
Insole said: "One of our owners, Adam Spratt, saw Jess (Stafford, racing presenter and partner) was there in Kentucky and he was watching the coverage. He thought it would be great to try to find a horse to go out there next year or the year after, so we ended up going out and looking for a horse with that profile.
"The reason we went there was to access stallions we probably wouldn't have access to in the UK. We looked at quite a few Justifys and Golden Pals. Golden Pal is a first-crop stallion but he was a very good turf horse. We must have looked at 25 to 30 Justifys. They came in all shapes and sizes, but the filly was at the top of our list and we loved her."
The $130,000 filly is out of Cairo Prince mare Royal Charlotte, a dual graded winner in the U.S. and the dam of the stakes-placed Medicine Dog, a son of Constitution . The filly's physical presence, combined with her pedigree, stood out for the team during showings.
"She was a good size and was strong, she showed very well and walked nicely," Insole said. "She's out of a grade 2 winner who was pretty fast herself and has already produced a stakes horse with her first foal.
"The filly was a late foal (May 14) but we liked how developed she looked. She won't be super early but we'd love to target the valuable Kentucky Downs meeting. Being Kentucky-bred, she'll get the premiums on top, which is a great initiative."
The bay is by Ashford Stud's sire sensation Justify, responsible for Sept. 13 St Leger Stakes (G1) hero Scandinavia. Insole points out the 2015 American Triple Crown hero has now sired a winner of all three British Triple Crown races, after City of Troy's victory in last year's Epsom Derby (G1) and the late Ruling Court's Two Thousand Guineas (G1) victory this spring.
"It's a nice pedigree and Justify is really doing well over here," he said. "I don't think anyone's really made much of a song and dance about it, but in two years he's won every colts' classic now. That's pretty impressive and it would be interesting to see who the last stallion was to have done that."
On Keeneland as a whole, Insole reflected: "It's a special sale; I was just listening to (audiobook) 'Horsetrader' and there's a lot of history there, but it's also a really great setup and the barns are easy to get around.
"It's astonishing looking around Book 1 and seeing what these horses are fetching. It was an amazing experience and one we can hopefully make into a yearly trip."
Spratt has owned horses with Insole and Newland for a couple of years. He is also part of the syndicate which owns the National Stud-bound Diego Velazquez, winner of last month's Prix Jacques le Marois (G1). The Frankel colt will head stateside next month for the Turf Mile Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland before a likely last start in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) at Del Mar in November.
Insole said: "Adam's definitely on the lookout for some mares for the future. He's been really successful in the last couple of years; he bought his first yearling with us two years ago and that was Ruby's Profit. She's danced every dance and been to the biggest festivals; she's been a great servant. Another yearling Adam bought was Knights Gold, who won his fifth race at the weekend.
"It's a nice team and, now he's involved with a stallion as well, he's looking to hopefully branch out into the breeding side of it in the next year or two."
Witness Stand has been a flagbearer for the stable this year with his Goodwood group 2 success. The Expert Eye gelding was not disgraced when second to the upwardly mobile More Thunder in the Hungerford Stakes (G2) last time and is on course for the Prix de la Foret (G1) at Longchamp next month.
Insole said: "He's in great form and had a gallop this week. He's on track to go to the Foret on Arc weekend so we're looking forward to that. Jess reminded me he has form with most of the horses in the Park Stakes and beat the winner (Marvelman) last time out, so we're a bit gutted we didn't take our chance at Doncaster last week, but we wanted to keep him fresh for the group 1.
"He's also in the Champions Sprint. It's six furlongs but it's a race which throws up some interesting results given it's normally run on soft or heavy ground. He could potentially go there as well."
