Pioneerof the Nile colt goes for $600,000

A dark bay colt by WinStar Farm stallion Pioneerof the Nile  , sire of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah  , sold to RC Thoroughbreds for $600,000 to become the highest-priced weanling more than halfway through the Nov. 8 session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Consigned as Hip 174 by Three Chimneys Farm, the Pioneerof the Nile colt is out of the multiple graded stakes winning Vindication mare Dust and Diamonds, who herself sold to Japan-based Northern Farm for $1 million immediately after her foal. Flaunting a big, athletic walk, the Pioneerof the Nile colt made himself an early standout in an auction that is loaded with top-class babies.

"The sire doesn't hurt and all the things you want to see are there physically, his scope, presence, athleticism, an easy moving horse," said Chris Baker of Three Chimneys Farm. "He has a great mind. You saw what he did out there. He was standing there like, 'This is about me.'" He's got a lot of good things about him, a lot to like. We weren't going to give him away."

Three Chimneys Farm also consigned Dust and Diamonds, who became the ninth horse to crack the seven-figure barrier through the first 200 hips of the November sale.

Out of the Gone West mare Majestically, Dust and Diamonds is a full sister to stakes placed Personal Interest.

"We weren't going to give her away either," Baker said. "But (the buyers) are coming to play. If you have what they like, they're willing to pay for it."