Tapit Colt New Sale Topper at $1.2 Million

They saved the best for last during the second session of the Keeneland September yearling sale when a colt by Tapit   out of the grade I winner Hooh Why was bought by Crupi's New Castle Farm for $1.2 million.

Consigned by Baccari Bloodstock, the new sale topper is out of a mare who won the 2009 Ashland Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland and 2010 Seaway (Can-III) at Woodbine among seven stakes wins. The colt was bred in Kentucky by SF Bloodstock.

Hooh Why was a $750,000 RNA at the 2014 Keeneland November breeding stock sale while carrying the Tapit colt in utero.

"He just had a beautiful body, he had a big walk, and I fell in love with him," Crupi said of the colt who was one of the last horses through the ring. "We weren't leaving here without him. It's going to the racetrack, it's not going to the sale, it's going to become a racehorse, he'll be broken at Crupi's New Castle Farm and then move on probably to Todd Pletcher.

"I fell in love with him when I saw him come out of his stall. I just thought he was gorgeous. I mean, you can knock any horse, he's got some knocks, but Tapit overcomes those knocks. We just finished in a dead heat with two Tapits at Saratoga.

Crupi said the purchase price was near his liimit.

"I wouldn't have gone much more (higher price wise), maybe another couple hundred." he said. "It's a fair market, good horses sell good, bad horses don't sell. It's like every other sale in the world. You've got a good horse, he sells; everyone wants it."

Erin Shea contributed to this article