The Keeneland Breeding Stock Sale jumps into action Monday. The sale marks the first offering of the highly sought after mares covered by Darley’s fabulous four – Any Given Saturday, Discreet Cat, Hard Spun and Street Sense.
Discreet Cat (pictured), while sustaining a perfect record at three, shared the highest merits of the International Classifications with Eclipse champion Bernardini. He crushed a field which included Invasor, in the G2 UAE Derby. Fresh off a 10 1/4-length win in the one-mile G2 Jerome H., he bulleted the G1Cigar Mile in 1:32 2/5 which equaled Easy Goer’s record achievement in the 1989 Gotham.
Among the thirty broodmares representing Discreet Cat are fifteen black-type earners, seven Stakes producers, and half-sisters to Grade One winners Wildcat Bettie B (Hip 153), Secret Savings (Hip 1119), and two champions - Arazi (Hip 1192) and Banshee Breeze (Hip 1306).
Gone West’s young Stakes-placed daughter Luxury Class (Hip 90) is the best foal to date for her highly accomplished mother, the champion distaffer Gourmet Girl - a paternal half-sister to Tiznow.
Stakes Winner Daylight Ridge (Hip 2615) goes under the hammer carrying a half-sibling to multiple Stakes winner and course record holder Independent George, a $326,507-earner whose namesake derives from the zany self-proclamation by the ‘George Costanza’ character in the comedy show ‘Seinfeld’. Daylight Ridge is by world-class sprinter Dayjur out of G1 BC Juvenile Fillies winner Twilight Ridge.
The 2004 thoroughbred foal crop unfurled some of the most extraordinary and gifted racehorses of the last half century. Preceding the feats of four-year-olds Zenyatta, Street Boss and Desert Code in 2008, was an assemblage of vintage sophomores that exchanged victories at the highest level. Regally bred stallions Any Given Saturday, Hard Spun and Street Sense are among the finest.
In foal early to G1 Haskell Invitational winner Any Given Saturday is Hollow Design (Hip 51), the dam of graded winner Actin Good ($280,465). Her dam’s half-sister is BC Sprint winner Very Subtle. Hollow Design’s brother is the hickory campaigner Voice of Destiny ($553,278).
Spoken Softly (Hip 499), carrying her first foal, is the winning full sister to the charmingly honest 2003 G1 CC American Oaks and the G1 Mother Goose winner, Spoken Fur.
There is strong promise in the Lure mare Cuddly (Hip 1013). She is a three-quarter sister to G1 Del Mar F. winner and BC runner-up Qualify. Her second dam, the champion handicapper Straight Deal, founded an accomplished family of graded winners which includes G1 winner Adored G1, the ill-fated Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles, and G3 winner Belong To Me.
The G1 Kings Bishop winner Hard Spun had a speed-burning cruising gear that laid waste to all who dared to pace him. An intrepid runner-up in Street Sense’s Kentucky Derby, the $2.5 million earner attracted an incredible court. Among the mares offered are 18 Stakes winners and placers.
An update to the catalogue: Stakes-placed Princess Patricia (Hip 804) is the half-sister to the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner, Forever Together. Her latest victory elevated her tally past $2 million.
Additional celebrity siblings of Hard Spun’s mates include champions Lammtarra (2130), Banshee Breeze (Hip 1026), and Exciting Story (Hip 203), plus the Grade One winners Lion Heart (340), and Adieu (Hip 428).
A spirited bidding foray is anticipated for Irish-bred Glimmering (Hip 35). She is a half-sister to treble Group-winning champion Oratorio and Stakes winners Fahim and Mowaadah.
The G2-placed Major Wager (Hip 93) is the dam of J Be K - the rocketing winner of the 2008 G2 Woody Stephens, G3 Bay Shore and G3 Jersey Shore. The Hard Spun foal that she is carrying doubtless has potential considering J Be K also set a five-and-a-half furlong track record in his maiden victory at Saratoga.
Second to J Be K in the Woody Stephens S. was Most Distinguished (G2) whose dam Stylish Storm (Hip 202) also sells in foal to Hard Spun. Very similarly bred to Stylish Storm is European Champion Balanchine. They are both daughters of Storm Bird and are maternal granddaughters of Morning has Broken.
Champion Two-Year-Old and Classic winner Street Sense enjoyed his fair share of Stakes-winning mates and nine sell at Keeneland. Secret Liason (Hip 171) hails from the family of the millionaire Grade One winners Sachuista and Raging Fever. The young Mr. Greeley mare Pretty Proud (Hip 446) is out of the Quiet American producer Thorough Fair, who proved her worth through her sons G1 Futurity S. winner Why Why Why and Grade Two winner Spellbinder.
Two mares, Luv a Drama (Hip 400) and Silver Highlight (Hip 488), guarantee an “A+” nick along with their Street Sense foals in utero. Their siblings by Street Cry are Grade One southerner Tomcito and Grade Two winner Street Sounds ($350,375). Luv a Drama is a daughter of Behrens, a stallion that is also presented as a half-brother to the Seattle Slew Stakes producer Queen Mama (Hip 457). Street Sounds hails from a female family that includes the Calumet-born Andora Springs (Hip 947).
