It was another sale topper for WAR FRONT at the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale when his daughter Ancient Peace brought $650,000 from Boardshorts Stables.
Offered by Indian Creek, the winning Ontario-bred is out of the multiple Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed Deceptive Vision. That mare is a full sister to Canadian champion Eye of the Leopard and stakes winner and Grade 2-placed Hotep and a three-quarter sister to multiple stakes winner Desert Isle. Another one of her half-sisters is the dam of Canadian champion Desert Ride.
Ancient Peace had a timely win at Santa Anita to end 2022 when the Sam-Son Farm-bred won a Maiden Special Weight by 4 ¼ lengths in her second start. The 3-year-old was supplemented to the sale after that.
“We loved her from the start,” Hunter Rankin told Thoroughbred Daily News after signing the ticket on behalf of Travis Boersma’s Boardshorts Stables. “We are happy that Mike Ryan supplemented her to the sale. We are trying to get something going and I think she’s a really good foundation horse for Travis Boersma. She’s just an exciting filly.”
WAR FRONT was also the sire of the $425,000 Orinoco River. Purchased by Mike Akers from the Paramount Sales consignment in foal to Wootton Bassett, the stakes performing mare is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner and multiple Grade 1-placed Donna Veloce.
Their dam Coin Broker is a half-sister to the stakes winning Great War Eagle and to the dam of stakes-placed Best Macho. The dam of three winners from four to race, Coin Broker is a daughter of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Cash Run, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Forestry.
Orinoco River was the second most expensive in-foal mare of the second session and fourth most expensive in-foal mare of the whole sale.
BLAME’s daughter Noblame was purchased for $200,000 by Douglas Arnold during the first day of the sale.
In foal to Violence for her third foal, the multiple stakes winner is also a half-sister to stakes winning Henny’s Princess. Stakes form is strong throughout the page with her dam a stakes placed half-sister to the Grade 3 winning Tasteyville and to the dam of stakes-placed Irish Hustle. Noblame’s third dam is the stakes winner and top broodmare Tool Fee.
That mare is the matriarch of a family that includes Horse of the Year Havre de Grace and Grade 1 winners Riskaverse, Fog of War, and Tonalist.
A colt from WAR OF WILL’s first crop named Areyougoingwithme sold for $135,000 during the first session of the sale.
Bluewater Sales signed the ticket on Gary Barber’s behalf with that owner also racing the colt’s sire to Preakness Stakes (G1) and Maker’s Mark Mile Stakes (G1) victories.
Offered by Denali Stud, the March-born colt is a half-broth to the multiple graded stakes placed Dream Marie from their dam’s first foal to race. A two-time winner herself, their dam Lin Marie is out of the multiple stakes winning Coy Cat. As a broodmare, Coy Cat produced stakes performers Doups Point and Newport Breeze.
Also on the page are seven other stakes winners with 13 stakes performers overall represented under his first four dams.