Gun Runner Colt Sells for $1.2 Million at Keeneland
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
The Gun Runner colt consigned as Hip 1086 in the ring at the Keeneland September Sale
Local bloodstock agent Mike Ryan saw a lot of similar qualities to Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Early Voting in the son of Gun Runner consigned as Hip 1086 Sept. 15 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. So much so that he fired a $1.2 million bullet to make the colt out of grade 1 winner Malibu Prayer , consigned by Four Star Sales, his sole purchase of the day.
"He's a big impressive, imposing horse that moved like a cheetah," Ryan said after signing the ticket for the yearling—saying the colt would go to a partnership. "I said to Chad (Brown), 'Can you imagine Flavien Prat or Irad Ortiz (Jr.) on his back right now?' He's a magnificent horse with a lot of class and quality. Bred to get a mile-and-an-eighth or a mile-and-a-quarter."
The colt was bred by Three Chimneys and is by their record-breaking 2021 freshman sire Gun Runner, who saw his fifth seven-figure yearling sell Thursday. The early January-born colt is out of the 2010 Ruffian Invitational Handicap (G1) winner Malibu Prayer, by Malibu Moon . The colt's dam also won the Chilukki Stakes (G2) and placed in the Mother Goose Stakes (G1), Delaware Oaks (G2), Monmouth Oaks (G3), and Molly Pitcher Stakes (G2).
"He's from a great pedigree, one of Ned Evans' best pedigrees," Ryan said. "It's the best of Spring Farm, and Three Chimneys raised a great horse. What more can you say about the stallion?"
Mike Ryan
The impressive dam is a half sibling to another star in the Medaglia d'Oro runner, Valid , a winner in the Monmouth Cup Stakes (G2), Fred W. Hooper Stakes (G3), Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3), and Skip Away Stakes (G3).
Ryan confessed they stretched to secure the colt, saying, "I'm not sure how many other million-dollar horses we've seen here this week, but plenty. He was a hell of a horse. Big, impressive, handsome, imposing horse, and as I said, his movement was unbelievable, he had a great aura, and his demeanor shows a lot of class."
Four Star Sales sent the horse through the ring Thursday evening and was blown away with the final result.
"That was awesome!" Kerry Cauthen exclaimed after the dust settled. "That was well, well above the reserve. We knew we had a lot of activity on this horse. He is a great individual. The reserve was less than half that. That is the whole point of coming to an auction. You have a chance for people to fight it out. That is what makes an auction."