Buckland Sells Song of Mine for $700K at Keeneland

Day 2 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale was a memorable one for Zach Madden of Buckland Sales. He sold Song of Mine , consigned as Hip 550, for $700,000 to Gage Hill, with West Point's Terry Finley signing the ticket.

"I would recruit mares while I was at Three Chimneys and some of them brought (a lot), $1.9 million was the highest price. Since we've started Buckland, I have never sold a horse for that much money," Madden said. 

Having begun his consignment in 2016 at the very same sales grounds, Madden said he is just grateful to have received the opportunity to sell the mare.

"The people we sold her for have been friends of mine for a long time," Madden said. "We kind of had a little hiatus in doing business. This was our first time doing stuff in three or four years, which is obviously very significant to me.

"Paula Haughey, who passed away a few years ago, was always so nice to me, gave me the biggest hug. Very sentimental. I love her daughter Kaitlin and her husband Tom. They're the nicest folks. They could've given that mare to anyone and it's very special."

The 7-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper   was bred by John Antonelli in Kentucky out of the grade 2-winning West Acre mare Ivanavinalot . She is also the dam of Champion Songbird , who earned more than $4 million in a career with the incredible record of 13-2-0 from 15 starts.

Song of Mine sold to PTK for $800,000 at the 2016 Fasig-Tipton New York Saratoga Select Yearling Sale. She made five starts but never crossed the wire first. PTK got the mare in foal to Curlin   for the November Sale.

"She's an absolute queen. I'm pretty sure she was the prettiest mare on the sales ground. It all just came together," Madden said. "Obviously, Curlin didn't hurt anything, and his huge weekend (at the Breeders' Cup). She was a rock star, her physical, everything. Being able to exceed our expectations is just awesome."

Representing Finley was Will Farish, the son of Lane's End's Bill Farish who is getting his own start in the business. Will Farish said they were delighted to have the mare.

"She was beautiful, and we love Curlin mares, so we're excited to get her and at the price we got," Farish said. "It's been a fun start. This past weekend was fun, I've been really lucky."

Song of Mine was sold toward the end of a steady and slower-paced day, and Madden said he had to take a moment after the mare came back out of the ring.

"I had to walk back to the barn. I texted my wife and I was by myself for five minutes. I didn't know what to do. Whether to cry, laugh, do a cartwheel," Madden said.

"I'm ecstatic that she's going to Lane's End to (probably) be bred to Flightline... It's just crazy. It's a storybook. I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm one of the big dogs and this just happens every day of the sale. It's huge for us. I had to go back and high-five our team."