Longoria Strikes Again for $725K Justify Colt on Day 3

Long-time friends turned clients Zane Kiehne and Grier Brunson put their trust in agent Jessie Longoria to source elite offerings from the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearlings Sale, and he did, picking up two session-toppers. Hunter Valley Farm consigned the Justify   colt Oct. 25 on behalf of breeders Andre Lynch and Pat Durtschi as Hip 1023, which realized $725,000 to top the Day 3 session.

"We had our eye on this horse since we got here. We debated between getting this colt and the Bernardini colt (Hip 714) and ended up getting them both," Longoria said. "Zane and Grier are thrilled and will have a good time with these horses."

The Florida pinhooker picked the chestnut colt out of Palace Princess, a winner by Hard Spun  , which carries the family of Horse of the Year, three-time champion mare Azeri.

"He's by Justify, who's throwing outstanding racehorses off the bat, and this yearling is an athletic individual," commented Longoria. "He looks like he will have a lot of speed, plus the pedigree."

Longoria purchased yesterday's session-topping Bernardini colt for $500,000. Today, he was given the same instructions to be there and bring the horse home.

"Hopefully, I'll still have a job tomorrow," Longoria joked. "He was definitely one of the nicest horses here. We thought he would bring maybe $500,000—$600,000, so we went a little bit more and got the job done."

Lynch, co-breeder with Durtschi, picked the mare up from the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale for $80,000 as a 4-year-old broodmare prospect in 2020, sent her to Triple Crown winner Justify, and then sold the short yearling for $180,000 during the Keeneland January Sale. St Elias Stables owns the now 2-year-old and has recorded two promising three-furlong breezes at Palm Beach Downs. This year, the mare was bred to Coolmore's Munnings   with the plan to sell the resulting foal.

"The mare looked terrible when we bought her; she had mange all over her, but she was beautiful underneath, a great walker and correct," Lynch said. "We bought her for $80,000 and, at the time, didn't think it was a bargain, but we wanted her.

Both breeders were on hand to see the fruits of their labor sell for a healthy profit Wednesday.

Lynch added: "Being a late foal, this was always the plan for this colt. We thought he would bring between $300,000-$400,000, so this was fantastic. Jessie and his clients have an excellent horse here, and he is by the best stallion in America at the moment. I thank Coolmore for letting us breed the mare to Justify; it's fantastic."