Keen Ice Juveniles Precocious Ahead of Sales

The first foals by Calumet Farm's grade 1 winner and freshman sire Keen Ice  did not make a huge splash during the earlier sales of the season, but consignor/trainer Gene Recio expects their status will change now that buyers can watch them perform on the track.

Keen Ice is represented by a colt and a filly cataloged in the upcoming Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Recio has Hip 237, a filly out of the grade 2-placed Alphabet Soup mare Spelling, who is also the dam of multiple grade 2 winner Spelling Again (by Awesome Again) and stakes winner Sky Willow (by Empire Maker). The filly was bred in Kentucky by Farfellow Farms.

Gayle Woods has consigned the colt (Hip 339) that is out of the Montbrook daughter Adeste, who is a half sister to grade 1 winner and stakes producer Sweet Symphony (by A.P. Indy) and stakes winners Patriotic Flame and Infinite Glory. The colt was bred in Florida by Lara Run.

"The filly in the March sale I'd expect to be one of my earliest runners," said Recio. "You would not expect that from Keen Ice because of that sire line and him being a two-turn horse, but she is very precocious. She has one thing on her mind and that's running."

Because Recio also breaks yearlings for Calumet, he's had a lot of hands-on experience with many from Keen Ice's first crop and said he's encouraged by what he sees.

"They are all good-minded, very good-moving horses, and they are training on early. Earlier than you'd expect," he said.

Keen Ice is a 9-year-old son of Curlin  who did have some success at 2 running for Donegal Racing and trainer Dale Romans. He broke his maiden in his second lifetime start and was third in the Remsen Stakes (G2). But without question, he got better as he got older.

At 3, Keen Ice won or placed in four graded stakes, capped by his defeat of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah  in the Travers Stakes (G1). At 4, he was third in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) and at 5, he won the Suburban Stakes (G2) and was runner-up in the Whitney Stakes (G1) and Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1). Keen Ice retired with a 3-4-5 record from 24 starts and earnings of $3,407,245.

Retired to Calumet where he entered stud for a fee of $20,000, Keen Ice attracted a strong first book of 176 mares. His first foals got a modest reception as weanlings, with 20 selling for an average of $23,175. Those first weanlings, however, did include two six-figure sales—a $130,000 colt out of the Dynaformer mare Bourbonesque and a $125,000 colt out of the Hook and Ladder daughter Lenders Way. The Lenders Way colt would sell again as a yearling for $100,000, but he would be Keen Ice's only six-figure yearling. Overall, his first crop as yearlings averaged $15,055 from 64 sold. He stands this year for $9,500.

Just as a racehorse doesn't know its odds when it breaks from the gate, 2-year-olds in training are unfazed by their sire's yearling average. What matters now is racetrack performance, and Recio expects Keen Ice's progeny to be a pleasant surprise.

"They are built differently, but mentally they all have picked up everything from the get-go and are very sound and very fast," Recio said. "I've already sent two fillies down to Palm Meadows to get ready for the early races."