Book 3 Proves Lucrative for Mt. Brilliant Homebreds

Greg Goodman's Mt. Brilliant Farm may have had only four horses to send through the ring during the Sept. 16 session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, but it was enough to put him among the day's leading consignors. 

First to go Monday for Goodman was Hip 1801, a dark bay or brown colt by Uncle Mo  purchased for $380,000 by Red Oak Farm and Newtown Anner Stud. Bred in Kentucky by Goodman, the colt is the first foal out of the stakes-winning, grade 3 placed A.P. Indy mare Secret Someone. 

"We loved the colt. He's very well balanced and we had a lot of luck with Uncle Mo through grade 1 winner Unbridled Mo," said Rick Sacco of Red Oak Farm. "He's a beautiful, well-balanced colt and checked all the boxes. We had a high of $400,000 between $300,000-400,000, so it is right about where we wanted to go. We thought with this type of pedigree and we love what's coming behind the horse—with the mare having a Candy Ride  on the ground and is in foal to Into Mischief . As far as the mare and pedigree and his conformation, he checked all out boxes.

"Right now we don't have a strong yearling crop of colts. We have six or seven yearling fillies and hardly any colts. We're trying to do everything a little bit better, trying to upgrade all of our stock." 

A homebred mare for Mt. Brilliant Farm, Secret Someone's third dam, Private Status, placed third in the Ashland Stakes (G1) and produced Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Secret Status and grade 3 winner Alumni Hall. 

Secret Someone is a half sister to Gift List, dam of Mother Goose Stakes (G2) victress Dunbar Road. She foaled a filly by Candy Ride Feb. 26. 

Mike Ryan, agent, went to $320,000 for Hip 1874, a Malibu Moon  filly out of the Giant's Causeway mare Una Mac Cool—a half sister to Secret Someone. 

"She's a beautiful filly. To me, obviously the family has worked very well with Dunbar Road on the female side," said Ryan, who purchased the filly on behalf of a client who trains with Chad Brown. 

"I saw her at Greg Goodman's farm about three weeks ago and I loved her then," Ryan said. "I loved her in the back ring. She's very elegant. Some by the sire can be a little on the heavy side but the second dam is by Unbridled and (Hip 1874) is bred the same way as Orb. But she's out of the Giant's Causeway mare and I could see some Storm Cat coming through her. She's a really smooth filly, easy on herself, and will get two turns. She's the kind you're looking for to run on Saturdays. If she gets her own black-type she'll be very valuable because it's a very active female line. We love the family. Mt. Brilliant raises a good horse and we're very happy to get her." 

The highest price of the day for Mt. Brilliant went to Hip 1895, a chestnut colt by American Pharoah  purchased for $500,000 by Ben Glass, agent for Gary and Mary West. Bred by Mt. Brilliant, the colt is out of the A.P. Indy mare You Make Luvin Fun, a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner Classic Elegance and to the Taegu, the second dam of Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Believe You Can.

Glass said the colt was a standout among the 15 other colt's that the Wests had purchased during the first week of the sale. 

"We like American Pharoah. We actually just had an American Pharoah in Australia born yesterday—a half brother to Fighting Mad who just won a grade 3 at Santa Anita," Glass said. "We liked the family and we liked the colt. (He looks like) he'll take a lot of training. He looks like a tough son of a gun." 

Glass said the strength of the market for good horses had continued through Book 3, pushing buyers to think big when it comes to spending. Total receipts for the 16 yearling colts purchased by Glass for the Wests through Monday came to $5.125 million. 

"It's been tough here all the way through," Glass said. "Mr. West, he went a lot more on a lot of horses and they just kept going. They never quit. Those partnerships are tough to outrun. You lead a good one in there—you just saw what happened. It's tough. I think we got 16 or so. We weren't going to buy that many this year but we found some colts we liked and the Mr. West said keep going." 

The final Mt. Brilliant horse of the day was Hip 1999, a filly by Lemon Drop Kid  purchased for $200,000 by Federico Barnerini. The gray or roan yearling is out of the Danehill Dancer mare Famous, a full sister to European champion 2-year-old colt and sire Mastercraftsman, and half sister to Locust Grove Handicap (G3T) winner Genuine Devotion. Famous is also the dam of Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup (G3) third Il Paradiso, who recently finished fifth in the William Hill St. Leger (G1)

"I love Book 3," said Goodman, who amassed receipts of $1.4 million for his four Book 3 yearlings. 

"We just felt really good about Book 3," said Goodman. "I think if you have a decent horse, the buyers are here. This whole sale has been incredible the whole way through. We thought they would stand out more in Book 3. And I guess a lot of people didn't get what they wanted in Book 1 and 2 and they are still here. So we're happy about that."