Well-Bred Uncle Mo Colt to Heiligbrodt for $255,000

Unlike many pinhookers who play in different markets, Hoby and Layna Kight have carved out a profitable niche doing one thing well: buying yearlings to resell as 2-year-olds.

According to BloodHorse MarketWatch data, among consignors with 10 or more sold between 2013-17, Hoby and Layna Kight sold 17 of their 22 pinhook horses offered for sale as 2-year-olds. From an average purchase price of $127,647, the average resale price was $300,412. After factoring in sale commission and other costs, their return on investment was an impressive 92%.

At this year's OBS March Sale, the Kights sold a Pioneerof the Nile colt for $1.2 million on behalf of Beryl "Sonny" Stokes Jr. and his son-in-law, former Quarter Horse jockey Leroy McClurg. Stokes and McClurg had bought the colt privately after he went unsold for $190,000 as a yearling. 

But an Uncle Mo  colt purchased by the Kights for $350,000 from Betz Thoroughbreds out of Book 1 of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale represented a rare and costly venture outside their comfort zone, with the colt going to William Heiligbrodt's East Hickman Bloodstock for $255,000 during the June 13 penultimate session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale.

Cataloged by Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables as Hip 572, the colt was bought back on a final bid of $485,000 at The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's selected 2-year-olds in training sale at Gulfstream Park in March when offered by the Kights.

Bred in Kentucky by Betz, Lamantia, CoCo Equine, Magers, and Burns, the colt was produced from the grade 1-placed Vindication mare Modification, the dam of Sawyer's Hill, runner-up in the 2014 Del Mar Derby (G2T) and Twilight Derby (G2T). The colt's second dam, stakes winner Swift Alliance, has also produced grade 3 winner Sky Alliance and stakes winners Classic Alliance and Prime Ruler.

During the under tack show, the colt breezed an eighth-mile in :10.

Heiligbrodt said he liked the colt's looks, pedigree, and workouts prior to both sales.

"He's got a great pedigree and has breezed twice and really good both times," said the owner who will send the colt to trainer Steve Asmussen. "He's a nice horse. We will give him some time and see how he does."

Heiligbrodt owns and Asmussen trains Mitole, an OBS April Sale grad who has won back-to-back grade 1 stakes this year, including the Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park.

Kight, who sent the colt through the June sale ring with Dunne because he did not have enough juveniles in his portfolio to have his own consignment at this juncture of the sale season, said a vet issue precluded the colt from attaining his reserve in March and might have affected his June purchase price.

"He's a runner, but maybe I paid too much for him," Kight said. "That's the most I've paid in a long time, but I thought he was as good of a horse as there was in Book 1 last year. I'm going back to my comfort zone—$100,000."

Kight said he would have liked to retain the colt and race him but couldn't afford to.

"We really loved him, but we needed to sell him because we had so much (investment) in him," Kight said. "We were prepared to race him. But Steve loved him, too."

The consignor said a veterinary issue was probably the reason he was able to even buy the colt for $350,000 as a yearling. But it was also the reason he wasn't as popular at the 2-year-old sales.

"The vets were beating me up a little on sesamoiditis," Kight said. "In all reality, that's probably the only reason I got him bought. … He would have brought $1 million or $850,000 if he vetted really well in September. It just wasn't that big of a deal to me because it doesn't stop them (from running). And his works showed it doesn't stop him."

Meredith Daugherty contributed to this story