Stony Point's One-Horse Consignment Attracts Attention

With 4,538 entries, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale attracts its share of mega-consignments, some numbering well over 100 head.

And then there are Laura and Ouisha McKinney, who, as heavy rain fell the morning of Sept. 9, were proudly tending to their one-horse consignment in Book 1, a Bernardini  colt cataloged as Hip 2 under their Stony Point Farm name.

Located within a stone's throw of Keeneland, adjoining the Bluegrass Airport, Stony Point is a small family operation with a past that combines the hunter-jumper discipline with breeding Thoroughbreds for sale, on a small scale.

Members of the McKinney family competed in the show ring growing up, and Tamara McKinney went from showing horses to winning Olympic Gold Medals in skiing.

The family is now involved with hunter-jumpers only on a limited basis, with McKinney noting, "for the last 30 years, Thoroughbreds have been our bread and butter."

The McKinneys also board horses for clients, and their property includes a training pen that has been useful in breaking and prepping Thoroughbreds, including the yearling colt at Keeneland.

"He's a beautiful mover," Laura McKinney said, adding, "We've pretty much broken him. (He) has really good manners. It was easier to ride him than it was to walk him. He has never missed a beat."

Being a one-horse consignment in Book 1—Stony Point also has a Tizway filly consigned as Hip 4042 in Book 6—has not proven a detriment to Stony Point, as Mckinney said the colt has attracted a lot of attention.

"We're just so lucky to be here in Book 1," McKinney said. "He's had a lot of looks, and a lot of people have come to take videos. There have been a lot of Europeans looking at him."

Produced from the McKinneys' stakes-placed El Prado mare Halloween Fun, the Bernardini colt is a half brother to Tom's Tribute, a son of Lion Heart the McKinneys bred and sold for $60,000 at the 2011 Keeneland September sale. Pinhooked by Wavertree Stables into the 2012 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds In Training auction, the colt was purchased by Marilyn Braly for $310,000.

Racing for Tom and Marilyn Braly and the Braly Family Trust, Tom's Tribute won six of 16 starts, including the Eddie Read Stakes (G1T).

As a grade 1 winner, Tom's Tribute has enabled the McKinney sisters, who only have three or four horses of their own at any time, to enter into some foal-sharing arrangements with top breeders such as Godolphin, co-breeder of the Bernardini colt.

McKinney said Halloween Fun produced a foal this year from a mating with Speightstown  that was the result of a foal-share arrangement with WinStar Farm.