Half to In Our Time Set for Keeneland Sales Ring

Laura's Pleasure has a tendency to stamp her offspring. When you are the dam of a grade 1 winner, that's a good thing. So when she was paired with 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) winner Oscar Performance, it caught the attention of Neal Clarke of Bedouin Bloodstock. Then he got a look at the bay colt, which he is consigning Sept. 19 as Hip 1459 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. "I actually think this horse is going to have a lot of broad appeal," Clarke said. "What on the face of it looks like a pure turf breeding, it's not necessarily so. And he's just a lovely, smooth, good-moving, elegant kind of colt. We've had the mare ever since she came off the racetrack, so we've bred and raised all of her babies, and this is just another very, very nice one." When Clarke says she stamps her babies, he says she produces horses that look like sprinters. "A very big, strong hip, and fast-looking horse," he said. Among her 10 other foals—nine of racing age—the one that stands out is a pretty good sprinter in her own right. In Our Time, by leading sire Not This Time, won the Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes (G1T) at Kentucky Downs last time out, and also claimed the Giant's Causeway Stakes (G2T) and placed in the Caress Stakes (G2T) this year to go with five graded placings last year. Bred by Brian Kahn, who co-owns Laura's Pleasure, In Our Time is on the cusp of breaking the $2 million threshold for lifetime earnings and has hit the board in 75% of her 20 career starts. Just a little bit of In Our Time's magic would likely make Hip 1459 a bargain at the Keeneland sale. Laura's Pleasure raced on every surface, and no matter the track, had a knack for speed, something she inherited from her sire Cactus Ridge. She's also produced quality dirt runners such as Important Mission, who is a grade 3-placed, stakes-winning sprinter on the dirt at Meydan Racecourse after beginning his career in England. Mix that with Oscar Performance's reliability as a turf sire, and you might have one heck of a future sprinter on your hands. "The mare definitely leaves her mark," Clarke said. "There's no doubt about it. But he is more in line with Oscar than we had seen before." Clarke said there had been ample buzz around the colt before he arrived at Keeneland. He and his Bedouin Bloodstock partner Conor Doyle have held private showings at their Atlas Farm base near Nicholasville, Ky. "I think he's gone down very well with those private showings," Clarke said. Book 3 of the yearling sale kicks off Saturday at 10 a.m. ET with hips 1137-1552 on offer.