Four Star Sales

by Jessica Martini & Christina Bossinakis LEXINGTON, KY - The first of two Book 2 sessions of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale saw marked polarization, as the demand for the perceived quality remained strong, but fell off for the less desired offerings. "It's been a realistic, selective market today," said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. "I think it was pretty evident throughout the day, people knew what they wanted and they were very specific about what they were willing to invest in. Speaking to a lot of...

Richard and Connie Snyder moved their commercial breeding operation from New Mexico to Kentucky nine years ago with the aim of competing at the highest levels of the game. The Snyders' Cove Springs Farm seems to have that goal well in its grasp after a memorable August which saw the operation represented by its first Grade I winner when Randomized (Nyquist) captured the GI Alabama S. and by a high-water mark in the sales ring when a colt by Not This Time brought $725,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. Cove...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Fasig-Tipton July Sale of Selected Yearlings will open the yearling sales season Tuesday in Lexington, with bidding slated to begin at Newtown Paddocks at 10 a.m. The 370 catalogued offerings kick off with a selection of 109 yearlings by first-crop sires. Activity at the sales barns was brisk throughout the weekend and continued to be strong on a cloudless, sunny morning in Lexington Monday. "We are into day three of showing," said Kerry Cauthen outside of his Four Star Sales consignment barn. "The first two days...

Steve Cauthen sat in the shade of Barn 42 at the Four Star Sales consignment Tuesday afternoon, basking not in the memory of his glory days as a Hall of Fame jockey, but in quiet celebration after selling one of the top-priced yearlings of the day at the Keeneland September Sale. The colt, a flashy son of Sharp Azteca out of the stakes-placed mare She's Roughin It (Forest Camp), sold for $250,000 to Jerry Namy and Garry Simms. "This is as exciting as winning a race," Cauthen declared. "When you...

The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale concluded its four-day run in Lexington Friday with steady figures which continued to show strength in the marketplace into the new year. "We are very, very pleased with the sale," said Keeneland's vice president of sales Tony Lacy. "Continued competitive trade, high clearance rate and high median price have solidified some confidence in people who were nervous before the beginning of the sales season. They feel positive about moving forward into the rest of 2022 and are investing as such. The market...

Bidders will have the chance to vie for a promising 3-year-old when debut winner Belgrade (Hard Spun) (hip 853H) goes through the ring at the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale Wednesday in Lexington. The colt was purchased by Randy Bradshaw for $45,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase and had originally been targeted for resale at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Sale. "He was a good-looking horse, but I am kind of a Hard Spun fan," Bradshaw said of the colt's appeal as a yearling. "He fit the bill...

A Four Star Sales-consigned Kentucky-bred filly by Juddmonte Farms' Frankel (GB) out of Lady Ederle (English Channel) was knocked down for $800,000 to become the priciest weanling offering a little past the midway stage of the opening session of the Keeneland November Sale Wednesday in Lexington. Midlantic-based conditioner Phil Schoenthal signed the ticket on behalf of his client D. Hatman Thoroughbreds. The May 1 foal, cataloged as hip 144, is a half-sister to MGSW Nay Lady Nay (Ire) (No Nay Never) and GSW & MG1SP Arizona (Ire) (No Nay Never)....

Generally well-represented at most sales venues throughout the yearling season, Spendthrift Farm offers a sextet of homebred youngsters, dominated by the offspring of a trio of the nursery's fledgling stallions, at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, set to take place July 13. And while the operation has reached great heights with its marquee stallions--the late Malibu Moon and Into Mischief--the basis of Spendthrift's program has been largely built upon the continuous replenishment of young stallions offered at affordable fees. "We want breeding to work for everybody involved," explained Spendthrift General Manager...

As the calendar reaches the midpoint of June and the summer heat starts to rise in the Bluegrass, yearling inspections for the 2021 Keeneland September Sale are well underway. Former bloodstock advisor and consignor Tony Lacy, who was named as Keeneland's Vice President of Sales this April, is in his element as his team travels across Kentucky and beyond, inspecting the many young Thoroughbreds that will soon make up the massive catalog lineup come September. "I grew up a horseman and that's what my family is, so this is really...

Internationally respected bloodstock adviser and consignor Tony Lacy will join Keeneland as the company's vice president of sales. Keeneland has simultaneously announced that Geoffrey Russell, who has served the auction house for 25 years--the last 20 as director of sales/sales operations--is retiring from the company, but will remain as a consultant through 2021. "Tony possesses a well-rounded knowledge of the Thoroughbred industry, bolstered by valuable insight and a unique skill set gained from having worked on the ground in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East," Keeneland President and CEO...

Over the past eight months, there have been very few jobs more demanding, more exhausting, more defeating, than that of an ER nurse. Malia Hopkins can attest to that. She's the ER nurse manager for not one, but two ERs in Stuttgart, Arkansas. It's been an unimaginable year for the well-practiced RN, but she said one event last week made the ongoing battle against the pandemic more than worth it. In the fourth session of the Keeneland November Sale, her first-ever horse to go through a sales ring hammered down...

LEXINGTON, KY - While the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc with sales across the globe from March through August, the calendar will return to some semblance of normalcy when the Keeneland September Yearling Sale kicks off right on schedule in Lexington Sunday at noon. "So many sales companies in the Northern Hemisphere have had to rearrange some things, but we have been very fortunate that the September sale is taking place in September at Keeneland," said Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell. "We are resilient and I think we've had...