Father and son Pioneerof the Nile and American Pharoah topped the leading covering sire ranks by gross and average at the five-day Keeneland January horses of all ages sale that ended Jan. 13.
Mares bred to American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner who stands at Ashford Stud, attracted the highest gross of $955,000 and the highest average of $477,500 for only two sold out of seven offered. As an indication of how thin the offerings were by top covering sires at the January sale, however, five of the top 10 sires by gross were represented by only two purchases.
WinStar Farm's Pioneerof the Nile ranked second by gross and average, with total purchases equaling $610,000 and averaging $305,000 for two sold out of three offered.
American Pharoah's top seller was the unraced Mineshaft daughter Joyfully, who is out of the graded stakes producer Rejoicing (Forestry), the dam of grade 3 winners Divine Oath and Auntie Joy. The 4-year-old mare was sold for $575,000 to Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holding out of the Paramount Sales consignment. Joyfully delivered an Uncle Mo colt in 2016 and will be bred back to War Front, Aboughazale told BloodHorse earlier in the week.
An even closer to connection to leading second-crop sire Uncle Mo existed with Pioneerof the Nile's highest-priced mare as a covering sire, the winning Silver Deputy daughter Grosse Pointe Anne. The 10-year-old mare is a half sister to Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) and the dam of stakes-placed winner Indian Annie (Indian Charlie). Gross Pointe Anne has an unnamed 2-year-old colt by Speightstown and had a filly by Pioneerof the Nile in 2016.
The third-ranked covering sire by average price is Spendthrift Farm's Into Mischief, who was represented by two mares averaging $157,000. His top seller was On the Backstreets, a multiple stakes-winning daughter of Street Boss, who Mulholland Springs as agent sold for $235,000 to Kempton, as agent for Not This Time/AFS. On the Backstreets' dam is Mutakaway, a winning daughter of Mutakddim and the producer of three winners out of three foals to start. On the Backstreets is her only stakes winner to date. The family has also produced grade 3 winner Jet Stream and grade 1-placed winner Western Justice.
Three other sires who will be represented by their first crop this year were among the leading covering sires by average price: Honor Code, ranked fourth at $145,000; Liam's Map, ranked sixth with $124,000; and Tonalist, ranked 10th with a $71,667 average. All three sires stand at Lane's End Farm.
2017 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale
Top Covering Sires by Average
(min. 2 sold)
| Sire |
Offered |
Sold |
Average |
Median |
| American Pharoah |
7 |
2 |
$477,500 |
$477,500 |
| Pioneerof the Nile |
3 |
2 |
$305,000 |
$305,000 |
| Into Mischief |
3 |
2 |
$157,500 |
$157,500 |
| Honor Code |
2 |
2 |
$145,000 |
$145,000 |
| City Zip |
2 |
2 |
$130,000 |
$130,000 |
| Liam's Map |
5 |
3 |
$124,000 |
$140,000 |
| Street Sense |
3 |
2 |
$118,500 |
$118,500 |
| Hard Spun |
4 |
4 |
$89,625 |
$73,500 |
| Union Rags |
4 |
2 |
$73,500 |
$73,500 |
| Tonalist |
8 |
3 |
$71,667 |
$45,000 |
