Pray for Leslie Brings $2,025,000 at The November Sale

Pray for Leslie, dam of 2025 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) winner Praying, registered the highest price through about the first third of the broodmare and broodmare prospect portion of Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale Nov. 2 in Lexington. In foal to current leading sire Not This Time, the 11-year-old daughter of leading broodmare sire Bernardini brought a winning bid of $2,025,000 for Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables. John Moynihan signed the ticket. Consigned by Buckland Sales (Zach Madden), Pray for Leslie is the dam of three starters, all winners, including grade 1-placed Alys Beach and grade 3-placed Spa Prospector, who set a course record this year at Woodbine when going 7 1/2 furlongs on the inner turf in 1:27.68. Besides Praying's win in last year's TCA, the winner at 2 also earned a stakes placing in her first season of racing, won the 2025 Prioress Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course, and at 4 finished second in this year's edition of the TCA. "Being a Bernardini mare, and that she's 3-for-3 with graded stakes performers, and in foal to Not This Time—that's the same cross as Magnitude; I think she was really exciting for people," said Buckland director of bloodstock Lauren Morgan. "And she's just extremely classy. She didn't put a foot out of place. She's beautiful and just really deserved that (price)." Bred in Kentucky by Carl Gessler Jr. and Danny Wiginton, Pray for Leslie is out of grade 2-placed winner C J's Leelee, by Mizzen Mast. The Not This Time foal she's carrying is bred on the same cross as two-time grade 1 winner Magnitude (Not This Time—Rockadelic, by Bernardini). Pray for Leslie is a half sister to stakes-placed winner C J's Awesome as well as C J's Gal, dam of grade 3 winner Hidden Connection and grade 3-placed Very Connected. Morgan said Buckland Sales sold the mare for Jeff and Melissa Prunzik's Stone Bridge Farm. She said they've been great clients for Buckland. After putting a lot of effort into the sale, Morgan was pleased to see the outcome. "You don't get opportunities like this with mares that often. They're really hard to come by," Morgan said. "So when you have a farm that you've been selling for and have a really good relationship with them, and just over the years you kind of start out slow and things develop; the fact that they gave us the chance with her was just really, really awesome." After winning two of her three starts on the track for owner/breeder Gessler and trainer Al Stall Jr., Pray for Leslie was purchased for $130,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale by McMahon & Hill Bloodstock, agent, from the Lane's End consignment.