Courting an impressive group of mares in 2020, CATHOLIC BOY and DEMARCHELIER (GB) saw their first mares through the ring at last November’s sales in demand, a trend set to continue at this week’s Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale.
Dual-surface Grade 1 winner CATHOLIC BOY’s first mares in foal sold for up to $950,000 at the November Sales and he’s back for more at Keeneland. The Claiborne stallion has only two in-foal mares going through the ring but both are sure to turn heads.
Supplemented into the sale’s second session is proven broodmare Surrender from Warrendale Sales. Selling as Hip 800C, Surrender is a half-sister to stakes placed Indian Brut out of the stakes placed Beaucette. The mare’s second dam is Grade 3 winner Mackie, a half-sister to Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero. Mackie also had success as a stakes producer as the dam of Grade 2 winner Mr. Mellon and Group 3 winner Seeking The Best.
Surrender has inherited that producing ability with her first foals an indication of the talent yet to come. The dam of four foals of racing age, all four have visited the winner’s circle at least once in their careers. Her second foal was the first to give her a stakes victory with Surrender Now taking home a Santa Anita stakes and finishing on the board in two others. Surrender’s page looks to get even better with her 2018 foal Red Flag, who has won two of four starts including the Grade 3 Bob Hope Stakes in November, currently gearing up for his 3-year-old campaign.
The CATHOLIC BOY foal she is currently carrying is bred on the same More Than Ready son x Storm Cat granddaughter cross as Grade 2 winner Third Runway and Grade 3 winner Mongolian Wolf among 17 stakes horses.
Dubawi’s only son in Kentucky, the regally-bred DEMARCHELIER (GB) had his mares sell for up to $150,000 at the November sales. This week, he sees the Group 1 winner Last Kiss (Brz) kick off his four offerings on Tuesday as Hip 694. Consigned by Hidden Brook, Last Kiss was a Group 1 winner at three and added two more Group 1 placings to her resume in South America before coming to the United States.
Last Kiss is one of two group horses for the Group 2 winner and Group 1 placed Last Bet alongside Group 2-placed In Love. The family also includes Brazilian champion Oriental Flower and Group 2 winners Olympic Canada and Olympic Berlin among the seven stakes horses listed under Last Kiss’s first two dams.
By top broodmare sire Elusive Quality, the mare is carrying her first foal on a March 20 cover to DEMARCHELIER (GB).
The stakes winning mare Free N Clear is offered by Ballysax Bloodstock is carrying her second foal on an April 12 cover to DEMARCHELIER (GB). A stakes winning mare out of the multiple stakes-placed Mama I’m Home, Free N Clear is from the family of Grade 1 winner Romance Is Diane and Grade 2 winner and sire Badge of Silver among 21 stakes horses on Free N Clear’s page.
Selling as Hip 1017, the Bluegrass Cat mare’s foal by DEMARCHELIER (GB) is bred on a proven cross.
As a granddaughter of Storm Cat, Free N Clear provides the bottom half of the Dubawi son x Storm Cat granddaughter cross that has produced seven stakes horses, led by three Grade 3 winners. Dubawi himself with Storm Cat granddaughters has sired Grade 1 winner Lord North among seven stakes winners, giving buyers confidence that it’s a cross that has worked through the generations.
Also in foal to DEMARCHELIER (GB) is multiple winner Maryanna Star as Hip 1494 from Four Star Sales. Another Storm Cat granddaughter, she is a half-sister to stakes placed Sweetnessngoodness and out of a half-sister to Grade 3 winner and Grade 2-placed Mr. Maybe.
She is joined on the last day of the sale by Hip 1545 from KatieRich Farms. Pick Me is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Optimizer and multiple graded stakes placed Lady Zuzu with their second dam the Grade 1 winner Fantastic Find.
All four sessions of Keeneland’s January Sale start at 10:00 a.m. Monday through Thursday.