Early Fireworks at Keeneland Fourth Session

The fireworks started early during the Nov. 11 fourth session of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale when Evelyn Benoit’s Star Guitar Inc. went to $850,000 to acquire Moment of Majesty, a multiple stakes-winning daughter of Saint Liam in foal to Curlin   consigned as Hip 917 by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency.

James Keogh signed the ticket on the 9-year-old mare whose second dam is 1999 champion grass female Fiji, a daughter of Rainbow Quest who also produced multiple group III-placed Marcus Andronicus. Keogh said Benoit bought the mare specifically to breed to her stallion Star Guitar  , the four-time Louisiana-bred Horse of the Year who stands at Clear Creek Stud.

“It was her pick of the sale; she just said ‘buy the mare’,” Keogh, who operates Grovendale, said of his client. “She’s a huge Curlin fan. Miss Benoit loves to race and has got mares in foal to Curlin. That was a bonus.”

Keogh said the mare’s additional appeal was the female family and that she was a daughter of the deceased Saint Liam.

“I loved Fiji. She was a champion grass mare,” he said. “(It’s a) wonderful old family. It’s just one of those classy old pedigrees that’s been around forever and a lot of people have very done well by them. I was a big fan of Saint Liam’s and thought he died way too soon. This mare had a lot of race class.”

Produced from the A.P. Indy mare Lady Indy, Moment of Majesty was a hard-knocking racehorse, winning four for 28 starts, with 13 placings, and $630,269 during five seasons of competition. Winner of the Belle Mahone and Zadracarta Stakes at Woodbine, the mare placed in eight stakes at the Canadian track, including a second in the grade II Dance Smartly Stakes and third in the grade III Canadian Stakes.

Star Guitar, a homebred for Benoit’s Brittlyn Stable, won 24 of 30 starts, including 22 stakes, and retired as the all-time leading Louisiana-bred earner with more than $1.7 million. The son of Quiet American was represented by his first winner Sept. 24 when Clifford Grum's homebred Senor Guitar rallied from fifth to score a clear 1 1/4-length win in a maiden-claiming race for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs and has one additional winner from six starters.

Keogh said he would continue shopping the Keeneland sale for more mares on behalf of Benoit.