Pin Oak Buys Session-Topping Twirling Candy Colt

Halfway through the Sept. 19 session eight of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Pin Oak Stud's Jim and Dana Bernhard on the internet engaged with a phone bidder and made sparks fly in $10,000 increments for Hip 2555, a Twirling Candy   colt the Bernhards finally landed for $925,000.

"Physically, he fits everything we are looking for in a two-turn, classic distance-type colt," said Matt Weinmann of Equine Analysis, which assists Pin Oak Stud in purchasing. "We have had good luck with Geaux Rocket Ride, by Candy Ride, and Twirling Candy has very similar physiology. We are hoping to strike gold again from that line."

The bay colt is out of Possibly Perfect Stakes-placed mare Hiking  and was sold Tuesday by his Kentucky breeders Alice Bamford and Highfield Investment Group. The First Defence  mare out of Santa Barbara Handicap (G2T) placed Trekking  is from the family of stakes winner Tantina, dam of grade 1-winning sire Cityscape  and Temple Stakes (G2) winning sire Bated Breath .

"We are delighted with the price; it's a horse sale, and anything can happen," said Gabriel "Spider" Duignan with Paramount Sales, which consigned Hip 2555. "He was a lovely horse, a Twirling Candy out of a nice mare, but higher (price) than I thought. Obviously, two people liked him a lot."

Duignan added: "It was a home run for his breeders, and I couldn't be happier for them; they are two lovely people. He was a popular horse, and Twirling Candy gets a lot of respect. He had a lot of vet work as well."

Pin Oak Stud has made 19 purchases from this year's September Sale, spending a gross of $8,835,000 at an average of $465,000.

The most expensive purchase was a $1 million Uncle Mo   colt (Hip 528) during the second session. The second highest an Omaha Beach   colt (Hip 920) secured for $950,000 from the fourth session. Today's colt ranks as the third-most expensive for the Versailles, Ky., farm.

"That was quite a bit more above what I thought he would bring," Weinmann said. "Being back here at the end of Book 4, I hoped he would be buried, but all the major players were on him. For a prospect as nice as him, we are happy to have him, even if he costs that much, and if we are right, then he was cheap."

Shopping during the second week from Book 4 has proven fruitful in the past, with horses such as 2020 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt Authentic   (Hip 2616, $350,000 sold to SF Bloodstock/Starlight West in 2018) and 2022 champion 2-year-old colt Forte  (Hip 2035, $110,000 sold to West Bloodstock, agent for Repole Stable and St. Elias in 2021) both coming from the second-week session.

The $925,000 Twirling Candy colt nearly set an all-time record as the session's priciest offering, which happened in 2015 when John Brocklebank, agent for Dickman's Legacy Ranch, went to $975,000 for a Curlin   colt consigned by Lane's End for Stonestreet.

The bevy of yearling purchases will head to Pin Oak Stud for breaking with farm trainer Joss Saville before moving on to their respective trainers. The Bernhards have seen the winner's circle this year with horses under tutelage of trainers Richard Mandella, who manages Haskell Stakes (G1) winner Geaux Rocket Ride ; Bill Mott, who saw success over the weekend when Parchment Party  broke his maiden; and Michael Stidham.