Grade 1 Winner Sailor's Valentine Sells for $1.25M
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Sailor's Valentine in the ring at the Keeneland November Sale
Grade 1 winner Sailor's Valentine landed a final bid of $1.25 million Nov. 6 at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, with James Delahooke signing the ticket as agent for Pursuit of Success.
Consigned as Hip 78 by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, the 5-year-old Mizzen Mast mare won the 2017 Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland and retired with earnings of $409,052. Sailor's Valentine's third dam is Coup de Fusil, a multiple grade 1 winner who set a track record in the Delaware Handicap (G1).
The mare, bred in Kentucky by Curtis Green, is out of the winning Tale of the Cat mare Sortilege, a half sister to stakes-placed Thats a Good Thing and to Competition, the dam of five stakes-placed runners. Sailor's Valentine was purchased by Town & Country House Farms/Pollock Farms for $800,000 from Taylor Made's offerings at last year's Keeneland November sale. She is carrying her first foal, sired by War Front .
"I thought she was the nicest mare in the sale today," Delahooke said. "I am very happy to have her, and that was my last bid. She is drop-dead gorgeous, the most beautiful individual. She's a grade 1 winner in foal to a top sire. What's not to like? I know that it is cliché, but she ticked all the boxes."
Delahooke was pleased to make his purchase early in the Keeneland sale after getting outbid Tuesday during The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's breeding stock sale.
James Delahooke at the Keeneland November Sale
"It was a very strong market at Fasig-Tipton, and I thought I was well armed, but I took a knife to a gun fight, which never works," Delahooke said.
Taylor Made's Duncan Taylor said that considering what Sailor's Valentine cost last year and the fee paid for War Front, the connections were hoping for a big payout Wednesday.
"She was a big, pretty gray mare that was very correct," Taylor said. "I think the buyer got a very nice mare. She's straightforward. It's not a home run, but she's a grade 1 winner, and that's what they're bringing. We weren't expecting a lot more but thought we could have gotten a little bit more. It was a fair price."