Ace Bloodstock, under the name Raging Torrent Syndicate, struck early during the Nov. 5 second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, going to $1.3 million for multiple graded stakes-placed Anywho (Hip 290).
Grovendale Sales offered the 5-year-old Bolt d'Oro daughter who is in foal to leading sire Not This Time . Brookfield Stud bred the mare in Kentucky out of the stakes-placed Zensational winner Fancy and Flashy. She is carrying her first foal.
Anywho did most of her racing from 2 to 4 and made one start at 5 in January for Hronis Racing, who campaigned her for all but one of her 12 career starts. She retired with more than $249,000 in earnings.
"She's obviously a well-raced filly, the cover and stallion was very popular with us, and we bought a couple this week by Not This Time," said Ace Bloodstock's racing and bloodstock manager Paul Curran.
"He's a phenomenal, phenomenal stallion. He seems to be the real deal, in the sense he's come up from a very small fee to where he's at now at $250,000, stands a testament to him really."
Curran said the mare was purchased to support its new stallion, Raging Torrent , who will enter stud next year at Lane's End.
"We're trying to pick up a couple nice mares with some nice covers, and she fit that bill really well. We gave exactly where we were thinking she'd make, so we're really happy with that. She's a nice high-profile mare to send to (Raging Torrent). We really like the Medaglia d'Oro broodmare line as well. That'll suit really well for him."
Curran said they are in search of younger mares to support their new stallions Raging Torrent and Carl Spackler . Thirty hips earlier, they went to $625,000 to purchase Very Scary, a graded stakes-placed mare by Connect , also from the Grovendale Sales consignment. The 6-year-old mare is in foal to Into Mischief .
"Well, it's just really cool," said James Keogh of Grovendale Sales. "It's always lovely to sell a horse for a million dollars. And, you know, she was a lovely, lovely mare, and she came from a tremendous female family, and she was just impossible to fault.
"You have hopes and dreams, but they'd be hopes and dreams. Really, it was a tremendous price, and we're just very, very grateful to everyone who made it happen. To the crew back at the barn and girls at home that prepped them for me. Julie Cauthen, at Four Star (Sales), she also comes and works for me in the evenings and I have a bunch of high school girls that come and help me every afternoon. They get in there and they just rub the hair off of these horses and we're just very, very proud of the job they do."
During Book 1 of Keeneland's November sale, Ace Bloodstock purchased three mares for $3.3 million, including graded stakes winner Chatalas, who brought $2 million. The young Gun Runner mare was offered in foal to Into Mischief.
