JS Company Buys Handful of Flashy Mares

Among the plentiful contingents of Japanese buyers and agents at The November Sale—buoyed by their countrymen's recent successes in the Breeders' Cup World Championships—was JS Company. Shopping the marquee breeding stock sale with gusto, agent Keisuke Onishi purchased three horses on behalf of his clients, one of which reached seven figures. 

Topping the purchases was Valiance , the grade 1-winning Tapit   mare consigned to the sale by Bluewater Sales, agent, as Hip 251. One of the last horses to go through the ring Nov. 9, she was purchased as a racing or broodmare prospect for $3 million. 

"I have my clients in Japan. She's by Tapit and he's the No. 1 sire in the US," said Onishi. "I don't know which stallion he will choose to breed, but any stallion she will breed good to in Japan. Hopefully the owner could send the racehorse to the Breeders' Cup. That has been a fantastic thing for us and encouraging for us."

Bred in Kentucky by China Horse Club, Valiance is out of the Empire Maker mare Last Full Measure , who was a grade 1 winner of the Madison Stakes (G1). Her dam, Lazy Slusan  (Slewvescent), was also a grade 1 winner, having scored in the Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap (G1) and Milady Breeders' Cup Handicap (G1) in 2001. 

A multiple stakes winner, Valiance at last earned grade 1 honors in 2020, when she took the Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland for owners Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Marty Schwartz, and China Horse Club. 

Bluewater's Meg Levy said the sale was a particularly poignant one, as she had consigned Valiance as a yearling. The filly had then come to live at her farm after being purchased as a yearling by her racing partnership for $650,000 at The Saratoga Sale, Fasig-Tipton-Tipton's select yearling sale. Levy had also helped raise the previous female generations of the family, so it was a bittersweet moment to watch the mare sell. 

"What do you say when you sell horses in that range? They've been benchmarks of our consignment that we knew were coming," said Levy. "Having had Valiance since she was a yearling was pretty cool. That's probably the first horse we've had out of a grade 1 winner out of a grade 1 winner, who then became a grade 1 winner. We also happened to be at Keenland when she won the Spinster during the pandemic." 

JS Company spent $650,000 for Hip 200, a daughter of WinStar stallion Constitution   out of Light of a Star  (Muqtarib). Named Laura's Light  and consigned by Bluewater Sales, the filly was graded stakes-placed and is a half sister to stakes winner Barry Lee . She was bred in Kentucky by Golden Pedigree. 

Last on the list was Hip 164, a filly by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa stallion Maclean's Music   named Estilo Talentoso , who was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent. A winner of the Bed 'o Roses Stakes (G3), she was offered as a racing or broodmare prospect and purchased on a final bid of $600,000. Total receipts for the three purchases came to $4.25 million. 

"This is a quite strong market but every year this sale is very strong," said Onishi. "There are good runners who are mares here and that has been proven."