Champion Abel Tasman Tops Keeneland January Entries

Keeneland has cataloged 1,555 horses, headlined by champion Abel Tasman, for its 61st January Horses of All Ages Sale, to be held Jan. 7-10, 2019 in Lexington. Each of the January sale's four sessions begins at 10 a.m. EST and will be streamed live on Keeneland.com.

January sale catalogs are available online at Keeneland.com and print catalogs are scheduled to be delivered the week of Dec. 17.

The catalog includes 701 broodmares and broodmare prospects, 597 yearlings, 252 horses of racing age and five stallions. Supplementary entries are being accepted.

Abel Tasman is cataloged as a broodmare prospect and will sell Monday, Jan. 7, as Hip 288. One of the top distaffers of her generation, Abel Tasman captured six grade 1 races at ages 2, 3 and 4 and earned nearly $2.8 million. She was named champion 3-year-old filly of 2017. Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, is consigning the 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road  for co-owners China Horse Club and Clearsky Farms.

"The presence of Abel Tasman adds a great deal of excitement to this year's January Sale," Keeneland vice president of racing and sales Bob Elliston said. "This sale traditionally gives breeders--both domestic and foreign--an opportunity to purchase quality broodmares just before the start of breeding season. It also is a notable marketplace for buyers shopping for racing prospects and horses of racing age."

Prominent 2018 graded stakes winners that went through the ring as yearlings at the January sale include grade 1 winner Catholic Boy (Belmont Derby Invitational and Travers) and Mind Your Biscuits (Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News and Lukas Classic-G2); grade 2 winners Catapult (Del Mar Mile and Eddie Read; second in Breeders' Cup Mile-G1T) and Ms Locust Point (Barbara Fritchie); and grade 3 winners Code Warrior, Flameaway, Limation, Mucho Gusto, and Toinette.

The January sale catalog features broodmares in foal to 151 new and established stallions, among them American Pharoah , Arrogate , California Chrome , Candy Ride , Distorted Humor , Empire Maker , Ghostzapper , Gun Runner , Hard Spun , Honor Code , Into Mischief , Kitten's Joy , Liam's Map , Lord Nelson , Malibu Moon , Mastery , More Than Ready , Nyquist , Pioneerof the Nile , Quality Road , Runhappy , Speightstown , Tapit , Tiznow , Uncle Mo , Union Rags , Violence , War Front  and Will Take Charge .

Newly-turned yearlings in the catalog represent 152 stallions such as American Pharoah, Cairo Prince , California Chrome, Candy Ride (ARG), Distorted Humor, Empire Maker, Flatter , Frosted , Ghostzapper, Honor Code, Into Mischief, Kitten's Joy, Lea , Liam's Map, Malibu Moon, Medaglia d'Oro , More Than Ready, Quality Road, Speightstown, Tiznow, Uncle Mo, Union Rags, Violence, War Front, and Will Take Charge.

Several exciting young stallions, including Air Force Blue , Anchor Down , Brody's Cause , Exaggerator , Mshawish , Nyquist, Runhappy, Speightster , Tourist  and Upstart , will be represented by their first yearlings.

TVG coverage of the auction will begin Sunday, Jan. 6, and continue the following two days.