Brogden Using Keeneland Sale to Upgrade Broodmare Band

While many of the leading buyers during the first eight days of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale were nowhere to be found Nov. 14, Carrie Brogden liked the ninth-session offerings.

Buying in the name of Machmer Hall, Brogden purchased the day's top lot when she went to $135,000 for Alana B. (Hip 3391), an unraced daughter of Animal Kingdom in foal to Midshipman . Consigned by her breeder, Godolphin, the mare has a catalog page covered with black-type runners, all in the first dam.

The mare's dam, the six-time-winning Ocean Crest mare Surf Club, has produced eight foals to race, all winners, from 12 foals of racing age, including grade 1 winner Emcee, group 2 winner Surfer, stakes winner and graded stakes producer Spring Party, and grade 3-placed Baffled. A daughter of Distorted Humor , Baffled is the dam of multiple grade 1 winner Constitution , who is off to a hot start as a sire, as well as group 2 winner Boynton and grade 3 winner Jacaranda.

"How could you not love the family?" Brogden asked, adding the mare was not the most correct individual. "She does have some dodgy wheels. We thought at that level it made sense. I have known the female family forever."

Brogden said Alana B. would be bred to leading sire Into Mischief  in 2020.

"She is a big, strong beast of a mare, and he always throws correct foals," Brogden said, noting the hope that the stallion mating would offset the mare's conformation flaws.

Brogden said the purchase of Alana B. and the Unbridled's Song mare Lyrical Diva (Hip 3191) was part of a plan to cull the lesser mares in the herd, replacing them with better-quality stock.

"We're trying to sell the bottom and keep the better-quality mares," she said. "Obviously, her family is moving and is successful with all the daughters, granddaughters, and nieces all being bred really well."

Lyrical Diva, a daughter of the winning Giant's Causeway mare Code Book, is in foal to Collected . Her second dam is multiple grade 1 winner Secret Status, a daughter of A.P. Indy who produced Dunkirk, the Florida Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) runner-up and sire. She was offered by Bryan Lyster and Gray Lyster's Ashview Farm.

Brogden, who is known for her affinity for mares sired by prominent broodmare sire Unbridled's Song, is also bullish on Collected , the Airdrie Stud stallion whose first foals arrive next year. Mares in foal to Collected have been popular at the November mixed sales.

"It's an Unbridled's Song mare, and we're hearing really good things about her 2-year-old (unraced Tiznow colt Runyon)," she said. "I know the foals out of her were raised at Ashview, which means they were raised as runners, which is a huge plus for us. I know it's all pie in the sky, and I'm a shareholder in Collected."