By Alan Carasso
That the offspring of Menifee (Harlan) are coveted in South Korea is no surprise, given that the former US Grade I winner and multiple Classic-placed runner has been the leading sire in the country each year since 2012. The sire of Power Blade (Kor), the first horse in the modern era to win the nation's Triple Crown, Menifee accounted for three of the top five lots at a 2-year-old sale conducted Tuesday by the Korean Thoroughbred Breeders Association.
The top price of the day was the ₩134 million (about US$120,000) for a March-foaled daughter of the American-sold, but Korean raced Soseono (Aldebaran), whose MSP dam Foreign Aid (Danzig) is a half-sister to champion Inside Information (Private Account) and Educated Risk (Mr. Prospector). Soseono was a three-time winner in Korea and earned nearly $200,000, having been purchased for $13,000 as a short yearling at Keeneland January a decade ago.
The expatriated GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Hansen (Tapit) was responsible for the day's second-best lot when a colt from the stakes-placed Palmetto Bluffs (Salt Lake) fetched ₩110 million (about US$98,486). A New York-bred daughter of MSW Secret Prospect (Allen's Prospect) and a half-sister to MSW & GISP Livermore Valley (Mt. Livermore), Palmetto Bluffs was purchased for $35,000 in foal to Flatter from the Select Sales consignment at Keeneland November in 2013. Hansen stood his first year in Korea in 2014 and is represented by his first-crop of 2-year-olds in 2017.
A first-crop juvenile by Spendthrift USA resident Jimmy Creed (Distorted Humor) made ₩106 million (about US$94,903), having been sold in utero by Blackburn Farm for $52,000 at the 2014 Keeneland November sale.
A total of 76 horses were reported as sold from 146 offered for turnover of ₩3.4 billion (about US$3.04 million) for an average of ₩44.7 million (about US$40,053).
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