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Photo Courtesy Keeneland |
Hip 91, an American Pharoah colt, sold for $2.2 million at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Sept. 10
Colt bought as weanling for $400,000 new saletopper.
By Ron Mitchell
September 10, 2018
| Originally Published “Bloodhorse Magazine” |
Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin continued its buying spree at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale when it went to $2.2 million to purchase a colt from the first
crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah .
The colt, consigned as Hip 91 by Peter O’Callaghan’s Woods Edge Farm, is the second foal out of the multiple stakes-winning Indian Charlie mare Kindle.
Bred in Kentucky by HnR Nothhaft Horseracing, the colt had been purchased by O’Callaghan’s Cavalier Bloodstock for $400,000 as a weanling at last year’s Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
Jimmy Bell, president of Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley operation at Jonabell Farm in Lexington, said Sheikh Mohammed was taken with the colt when he saw him for the first time earlier Monday.
“Sheikh Mohammed saw him at the barn and loved him very, very much,” Bell said. “In the walking ring, he was all class and had a lot of presence about him. He really liked him from the first time he set his eyes on him.”
O’Callaghan said having prominent buyers like Godolphin battling with representatives of Coolmore Stud is what consignors strive for.
“The sheikh, I knew when he saw him today, his eyes just lit up, and I just had a feeling he was going to try hard to buy him,” O’Callaghan said. “Who knew it was going to be that level, but it took a monumental effort to outbid Coolmore. It’s the perfect scenario for any of us. That’s what we all dream of, two of the great racing powers get stuck on your horse and go at it. We’re just lucky it happened to us today.”
Meredith Daugherty contributed to this story.
