Gun Runner, Into Mischief Colts Reach $2.3M at Saratoga

A rangy chestnut colt by leading sire Gun Runner reset the high mark on opening night of Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale going for $2.3 million to trainer Wesley Ward. The colt, sold as Hip 78, was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency and became the seventh yearling to sell for seven figures to that point in the Aug. 10 session. Three Chimneys Farm, which stands Gun Runner, bred the colt out of the grade 1-placed Tapit winner Shook Up, who was runner-up in the 2015 Kentucky Oaks (G1). Ward did not identify the clients on whose behalf he purchased the colt. When asked about what he liked about the colt, Ward replied, "Everything. I train for Gonçalo Torrealba, and Three Chimneys' (vice chairman) Doug Cauthen and his team bring me out every year to see the horses in the sale. This is my favorite this year so far, and he's just a beautiful colt. Sometimes horses can get here and they can go one way or the other. This horse just kept going the way we wanted. "He's everything I look for in a racehorse. He looks like he's going to be not just a really good horse, he could be a really nice 2-year-old next year for the Hopeful or Breeders' Cup in the fall." Consignor Mark Taylor, president and CEO of Taylor Made, said, "When I saw the horse at Three Chimneys, I loved him, and then when he arrived here at the sale grounds, I thought he'd even gotten better. "My comment to Jeffrey Hayslett who is one of my associates at Taylor Made was, 'The horse could top the sale.' You know he's not going to top the sale necessarily, but I knew he was that kind of horse. When you sell for people like (Three Chimneys), they raise horses the right way. They stand arguably the best stallion in North America right now. (Gun Runner) is one of the top three, and they got a great broodmare band. "When you get to represent people like them, the quality speaks for itself and it makes our job easier. I thought it was a great price, but if that horse wins a grade 1, he's a $30 to $40 million horse." Flying Dutchmen Lands Into Mischief Colt The second $2.3 million colt came from the consignment of Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, agent for Don Alberto Corporation, selling to Flying Dutchmen, the leading buyer at the session with five purchases totaling $5,225,000. "He's just a really nice horse," said Hunter Rankin, president of Flying Dutchmen, of Hip 91. "There are so many nice horses here, and you just hope you pick the right one. You pick a group and you try your best, and you end up with the ones you end up with, and you hope you can help them to the best of their ability." The gray/roan colt is a full brother to last year's sales topper, a bay colt that sold for $4.1 million to Coolmore and White Birch Farm. That colt was also consigned by Hill 'n' Dale for Don Alberto. Hip 91 is a son of Into Mischief out of Stellar Sound, a multiple graded stakes-placed Don Alberto homebred. His third dam is Versailles Treaty (Danzig), a millionaire who won five graded stakes races, four of them grade 1 and who is the dam of George Vancouver, who won the 2012 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T), and Saarland, a winner of the 2001 Remsen Stakes (G2) who was also five times graded stakes-placed that included a second in the 2003 Metropolitan Handicap (G1). "This was a great-bodied colt," said Jes Sikura, Hill 'n' Dale's director of bloodstock. "He was straightforward all week. He really just developed into himself, and he's so well bred. There are a lot of things that were working for him, and he did great today, as he should have done." Sikura admitted that he was surprised to see that Flying Dutchmen had signed for the colt. "I was shocked when I walked out and saw that it was Flying Dutchmen," he said. "I didn't think they'd go that high on a yearling, but I was pleasantly surprised because we're great friends with the Boersmas and their whole crew and Hunter. We really wish them the best and hope he goes on to be a great racehorse, and we're happy for them." "It's a very, very strong market, no doubt," Rankin said. "But that's great. We say all the time when we get outrun, it's like that's awesome because we feel like we have a very competitive idea of what a horse is worth, and if somebody thinks it's worth more, that's awesome." The colt will be trained by Brian Lynch.