Buyers were eager to get their hands on BLAME yearlings at this year’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale with the stallion seeing eight of his 17 sell for six figures.
Showing the well-known popularity of his fillies, BLAME’s top priced yearling was a $300,000 filly purchased from breeder Penn Sales by James Heyward.
The filly’s dam Convertible has four winners from four to race with the group including the multiple stakes winning Greavette. Placed herself, Convertible is a half-sister to the stakes winning Cosmic Kris and stakes placed Foret and is one of three stakes producers out of Lil Cozette whose daughters have also produced stakes winner The Gray Dehere and stakes placed Savio.
Each of this filly’s first eight dams have produced stakes performers with multiple daughters under many of them doing the same.
A WinStar-bred BLAME filly offered by Grovendale Sales sold for X-Men Racing for $275,000.
The filly is the first foal out of the winning Justify mare Aunt Shirley and comes from one of the best families in the Stud Book. Aunt Shirley’s granddam Pearling produced the multiple Group 1 winner Decorated Knight and Pearling is a full sister to European Horse of the Year Giant’s Causeway and Group 2 winner and blue hen broodmare You’resothrilling in addition to the graded stakes placed Tumblebrutus, Freud, Tiger Dance, and stakes placed Roar of the Tiger.
Claiborne teamed up with Blue Bird Stables to purchase a $220,000 Nicky Drion Thoroughbreds-offered BLAME filly in Book 4.
Bred by Drion with Will and Bill Arvin, Stephanie Pool and Wes, she is the second foal out of Flatter mare La Bombalina. That mare was unraced but is a half-sister to six winners out of stakes winner Miss A. Bomb with the group led by stakes winner and Grade 2-placed A Little Bit Sassy and Grade 3-placed Missle Bomb. A Little Bit Sassy is also the dam of WAR FRONT’s Grade 3 winner and Grade 2-placed Sumter and stakes winner Pizzazz.
This is also the family of Grade 1 winners Red Bullet and Silent Poet and Grade 2 winners Suzuka Causeway and Cadenas.
BLAME’s offerings also sold for $185,000, $135,000, $135,000 with a $105,177 average for 17 sold.