Pedigree Updates Add to Appeal of Some Yearlings

When Bellafina was offered for sale at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale, breeder Joe Minor was dissatisfied with the $220,000 final bid and bought back the Quality Road filly.

Minor, who breeds under the nom de plume JSM Equine, was later rewarded in his decision to keep the filly as she was eventually purchased by Kaleem Shah's KSI for $800,000 from the Wavertree Stables consignment to this year's The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's selected 2-year-olds in training sale at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Simon Callaghan, Bellafina improved her record to 2-1-0 in three starts when she won the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) Sept. 1, providing a timely boost to the market prospects of her half sister entered in the Keeneland September Yearling Sale that begins Sept. 10.

Scheduled to sell during the auction's third session Sept. 12, Bellafina's half sister by Verrazano  is consigned as Hip 621 by Four Star Sales, agent for JSM Equine.

"She's a great-moving filly who really covers some ground and has a great mind," said Four Star's John Greathouse III of the sale filly. "That pedigree update is about as good of an update as you can get."

Offered at the 2017 yearling sale by Taylor Made Sales Agency, Bellafina was raised at Four Star Sales, and Greathouse remembers she showed the ability evidenced in her racing career that includes a victory in the Sorrento Stakes (G2) that also took place after the sale catalog was printed.

"She was always a special individual," Greathouse said of Bellafina, a daughter of Quality Road . "(Minor) had a lot of convictions about her from day one, and I have to give him a lot of credit for sticking to his guns. I'm glad he got rewarded."

The Verrazano filly produced from the stakes-placed Malibu Moon  mare Akron Moon is also a half sister to multiple stakes winner Diamond King, who is also by Quality Road. 

Among the other Keeneland September offerings who had significant pedigree updates over the Labor Day weekend are two yearlings consigned by Warrendale Sales as agent.

Dream Tree, Phoenix Thoroughbred's Uncle Mo  filly, remained undefeated in five starts with a victory in the Prioress Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course Sept. 2, her fourth stakes triumph. The filly's half brother from the first crop of Lea  is consigned by Warrendale as Hip 1666. Like Dream Tree, the colt was bred in Kentucky by Mike Freeny and Pat Freeny. He was sold for $65,000 at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Finishing second in the Prioress was Mia Mischief, an Into Mischief  filly out of the Speightstown  mare Greer Lynn. The filly's half sister from the second crop of Cross Traffic  is cataloged by Warrendale, agent for breeder Spendthrift Farm, as Hip 2634.

Hunter Simms, partner and director of bloodstock services for Warrendale, said the significant pedigree updates only enhance the sale yearlings' appeal.

"They are very nice physicals, but any time you can get graded stakes updates like that, it does wonders for the families, and people are going to want to come see them," Simms said, adding that the yearlings are entered in Books 2 and 3 of the sale, mainly because they are by young sires. "You usually see updates like that in Book 1, so that will only add to their appeal because they will stand out."