Winchell, Three Chimneys to $1.5M for Gun Runner Filly

Ron Winchell and Three Chimneys Farm, who campaigned 2017 Horse of the Year and eventual leading sire Gun Runner  , went to $1.5 million to land the sire's top-priced yearling Sept. 12 during the opening session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The filly (Hip 87) was consigned by Darby Dan Farm.

"We're happy to buy a nice filly out of a Tapit   mare," said Winchell, who also raced multiple leading North American sire Tapit. "The cross has worked well for us so we're hoping to go back to that well."

Winchell Thoroughbreds has raced two stakes winners this year by Gun Runner out of Tapit mares—Wicked Halo , who won the Prioress Stakes (G2) Sept. 2 at Saratoga Race Course, and Red Run , who won the Bob Bork Texas Turf Mile Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park.

David Fiske, longtime bloodstock and racing adviser for Winchell Thoroughbreds, said the filly brought more than was anticipated but that the flurry of action early in the session had "set the tone" for the day.

"I thought she would bring $1.2 million, something like that," he said. "So the price was a little more than we initially expected. But today, the price is understandable. I think we have adopted the idea that whatever we think they are worth, we just double it."

An unusual scene occurred in the Keeneland sale pavilion as Hip 87 was being sold, with brisk bidding from multiple parties and no horse in the ring. The filly had been reluctant to walk into the ring and the Darby Dan team didn't push her.

"We were very nervous. You have to maintain calmness in that type of situation because we didn't want her to get hurt," said Renee Logan, sales director for Darby Dan. Logan added that she was thrilled to see the filly go to Winchell and Three Chimneys.

"She's a lovely filly with beautiful stretch and scope. She is from a marvelous, classic Darby Dan family, and she's going into great hands," she said.

The filly was bred in partnership by the Gun Runner Syndicate and the Phillips Racing Partnership. She is the first foal out of the Tapit daughter Tip At Tapit, who is a full sister to grade 1 winner Time and Motion , and a half sister to grade 2-placed stakes winner Awesome Bet  (Awesome Again) and graded-placed winners Liveyourbeastlife  (Ghostzapper  ) and Moment in Dixie  (Dixeland Band).

Gun Runner, who stood at Three Chimneys for $125,000 this year, was the leading North American freshman sire last year and is currently the leading second-crop sire by number of stakes winners (nine), graded stakes winners (seven), and has progeny earnings of $9,104,916, as of Sept. 12. He was represented on opening day of the September sale by nine yearlings sold that averaged $565,000.