Gradys Take Home Mares to Breed to Girvin

All week, Brad and Misty Grady and their team had been scouring the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, picking up mares to breed to their grade 1 winner Girvin , who enters stud next year at Ocala Stud near Ocala, Fla.

While they had already acquired nearly a dozen mares entering the Nov. 10 sixth session of the sale in Lexington, the Gradys waited until Saturday to make their most expensive purchase, taking home K J Warrior, a daughter of Tapit , for $235,000, topping the day's action.

Keeneland reported 223 horses sold Saturday for a total of $7,236,400 for an average of $32,450 and a median of $20,000. There are no comparable figures from 2017 as a result of a format change this year. The 103 horses that did not sell represented an RNA rate of 31.6%.

Cumulatively, Keeneland has sold 1,317 horses for $165,159,900 for an average of $125,406 and a median of $67,000, with an RNA rate of 26.8%.

The session topper was consigned as Hip 2123 by Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck's Summerfield, as agent for Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. The winning 4-year-old mare was produced from the multiple stakes-winning Harlan's Holiday mare J Z Warrior and is believed to be in foal to Kantharos  on a last cover date of Feb. 26. J Z Warrior is a half sister to grade 1 winner A Z Warrior, grade 2 winner Jojo Warrior, and grade 3 winner E Z Warrior.

"We liked her, she's got a fast family. We think she'll fit well with Girvin," Brad Grady said.

Through the end of Saturday's session, the Gradys had purchased 12 horses for total receipts of $1,214,800, at an average price of $101,167.

"We're trying to find some speed and obviously (mares) as pretty and correct as we can buy," Grady said of their strategy. "We're putting some classic pedigrees to him too. We don't know what's going to work, so we're trying a little variety."

Girvin will stand the 2019 season for $7,500 under a partnership of the Gradys' Grand Oaks Farm, Airdrie Stud, and Ocala Stud in a deal structured by West Bloodstock. A son of Tale of Ekati , Girvin was bred in Kentucky by Bob Austin and John Witte out of the Malibu Moon  mare Catch the Moon and is a half brother to 2015 Iroquois Stakes (G3) winner Cocked and Loaded. He was a $130,000 purchase from Legacy Bloodstock's consignment to Fasig-Tipton's The October Sale in 2015.

Girvin retired with a record of four wins and three seconds from 10 starts and earnings of $1,624,392. Trained by Joe Sharp, he scored back-to-back stakes victories in the Risen Star Stakes (G2) and the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2), and he went postward in the 2017 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) as the top points earner on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. Following a troubled 13th-place finish in the Derby, Girvin finished a close second in the Ohio Derby (G3) before capturing the Betfair.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1). Girvin was runner-up to Bee Jersey  in the Steve Sexton Mile Stakes (G3) at Lone Star Park in his lone 2018 start.

Jacob West, who along with Bobby Dodd of Grand Oaks are assisting the Gradys in their quest for mares at Keeneland, said the couple is committed to providing the horse that took them on a great ride along the Triple Crown trail with every opportunity to succeed in his new career.

"They are getting behind this horse to give him every chance to succeed because he took them on a trip of a lifetime," West said. "They are making a financial commitment. They are making an emotional commitment. They said they want to do what's best for the horse so we came up with a game plan of what that would look like. They own some mares, but the majority they own are fillies that were bought as yearlings."

West said a diverse group of mares will fit with Girvin's pedigree.

"He's a little bit of an outcross for a lot of mares," West said. "Brad and Misty are going to breed a lot of mares with speed, which is kind of ideal. Unbridled's Song was very precocious and seems like a lot of his sons are too, as well as being beautiful horses and are passing that along."

Saturday's second-highest seller was I'm Pretty Strong, a 3-year-old daughter of Street Cry out of Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) winner Shared Account, by Pleasantly Perfect. The filly sold to Boomer Bloodstock on behalf of Australian clients for $220,000. Consigned by Upson Downs Farm, agent, I'm Pretty Strong is from the family of grade 2 winners Sapphire n' Silk and Shaniko, grade 3 winner Golden Itiz, and stakes winner Colonial Flag.

En Fuego Stables bought the session's top-priced weanling, paying $145,000 for a filly by Kitten's Joy . Perrone Sales, agent, consigned the filly (Hip 2268) out of the winning Honour and Glory mare Sunday Sport and from the family of grade 1 winner Contredance.

The sale continues through Nov. 16, with daily sessions beginning at 10 a.m. EST.