30 Years in 30 Days: Winners by Auction Price

The Breeders' Cup World Championships provided a storybook ending for the racing careers of the two most expensive winners sold at public auction.



Royal Academy tops the list as the highest-priced yearling sold through the 1988 Keeneland July select yearling sale at $3.5 million. The son of Nijinski II—Crimson Saint, by Crimson Satan, was purchased by Classic Thoroughbreds, a then-publicly traded Irish company controlled by legendary trainer Vincent O'Brien, eventual Coolmore Stud founder John Magnier, Robert Sangster, and Michael Smurfit. The colt had been bred in Kentucky by Tom Gentry and was sold by Barry Weisbord as agent.



Royal Academy would make only one start in a race that didn't possess group status. He broke his maiden in September of 2-year-old season at the Curragh and finished unplaced in the group I Three Chimneys Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket.



He would resume racing in April of his sophomore year and never finish worse than second in five group stakes, four of them group I. Royal Academy finished second in the Airlie Coolmore Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-I), won the Carroll Foundation July Cup (Eng-I), and finished second in the Ladbroke Sprint Cup (Eng-I) before starting in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) at Belmont Park. The 5-2 favorite was ridden by Lester Piggott, who had retired from riding to become a trainer and returned to the saddle just two weeks prior to the championship at O'Brien's urging. Royal Academy would win by a neck over longshot Itsallgreektome, trained by Wally Dollase and ridden by Corey Nakatani.



Royal Academy entered stud the following year and went on to sire 172 stakes winners, including Val Royal, who won the 2001 Breeders' Cup Mile.

[image url="http://cdn.bloodhorse.com/images/content/APIndyYearlingBHL298.jpg" alt="A. P. Indy" credit="Blood-Horse Library"]A.P. Indy brought $2.9 million as a yearling[/image]Leading U.S. sire A.P. Indy is the other auction price leader, having sold for $2.9 million to Tomonori Tusurumaki at the 1990 Keeneland July select sale. Bred in partnership by William S. Farish and W.S. Kilroy and sold by Farish's Lane's End Farm, the son of Seattle Slew—Weekend Surprise, by Secretariat, would also start exclusively in graded stakes at 3. He won the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) by 1 3/4 lengths and appeared in good form heading into the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) but got sidetracked by a bruised left front foot. A.P. Indy would reinforce his place among the country's best runners by winning the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) and the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I). He would also retire to stud at Lane's End Farm the following year.

Now pensioned, A.P. Indy has sired 150 stakes winners to date including champions Bernardini  , Mineshaft   and Belmont Stakes-winning female Rags to Riches.



The auction prices of other Breeders' Cup winners can be found below.

*Unbridled's Song was hammered down as sold for a then-world-record price but turned back to the seller Ernie Paragallo when the buyer's veterinarian discovered a chip in his left front ankle. Paragallo raced him under Paraneck Stable.