A 2.5% stallion share in Flightline sold for $2.5 million Oct. 30 at the inaugural Keeneland Championship Sale at the Breeders’ Cup.
The Championship Sale was held at the Del Mar paddock just days before the World Championship.
Part of the appeal of this sale is the possibility of buying into a Breeders’ Cup runner, celebrating in the Del Mar winner’s circle, and even the the potential of reselling the horse or interest at either Keeneland or Fasig-Tipton’s upcoming November sale.
The event was as much an auction as it was a social gathering. Keeneland hosted a party around the sale, which included whole ownership or partial stakes in 10 horses including some Breeders’ Cup runners.
But the star of the show was the stallion share in Flightline, the undefeated 2022 Horse of the Year and champion older horse.
The fractional share was purchased by Summer Wind Equine, who bred the champion. The ticket was signed by Dr. Stephen Jackson.
“I’ve seen a lot of his foals, and they’re really fancy, nice horses, nice foals,” Jackson said.
He said that Summer Wind’s Jane Lyon doesn’t have a specific mare in mind for Flightline, but noted that she has “plenty of mare power” with 10-12 options at her disposal.
Jackson said that the $2.5 million price tag was close to the limit for what Summer Wind was willing to go to in order to secure the fractional share of Flightline.
A share in Flightline was purchased nearly two years ago in the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale when the same percentage stake sold for $4.6 million shortly after his career finale in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).
With his first weanlings set to go through the ring at the upcoming November sales, Flightline stands at Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Ky. He will stand there for $150,000 in 2025.
Overall, there were 10 hips to go through a nonexistent sales ring. With bidding done in person and online, ultimately there were five RNAs.
The other sales that were completed were:
- Agave Racing Stable bought a 25% racing interest in Gold Phoenix , entered in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1T), for $125,000 out of the Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables, and Marsha Naify consignment.
- A 2.5% fractional (one of 40) stallion share of Cogburn , who will run in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), sold for $475,000 to Richard and Connie Snyder out of the ELiTE, agent for Cogburn Syndicate, consignment.
- 2023 Sham Stakes (G3) winner Reincarnate sold for $375,000 as a racing or stallion prospect to South Korea-based K.O.I.D. out of the ELiTE, agent, consignment.
- LSU Stables went to $850,000 for Pandora’s Gift as a racing or broodmare prospect. The daughter of Churchill , entered in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), was from the Stuart Williams Racing consignment.
These five sales generated gross receipts of $4,325,000, an average of $865,000, and a median price of $475,000.
With the sale being the first of its kind, Keeneland officials were pleased with how the evening turned out.
“Anytime you start something new, it’s always a learning curve and an acceptance from the public or from the industry, understanding what it is exactly,” said Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy. “Obviously, we were breaking new ground and selling parts of horses, and horses who were holding entries (in the Breeders’ Cup). There was a lot of hoops we had to jump through to make sure this came through. But it worked really, really well. And we look forward to doing this over and over again, because the feedback we’ve gotten tonight has been incredibly positive, and that’s something that I think is only good for the sport.”
Lacy said that moving forward, Keeneland would like to keep the sale roughly the same size—giving it a boutique feel. The idea is not a sale that has a party, but a party that happens to have a sale.
Attendees enjoyed the laid-back atmosphere accompanied by live music, food, and drinks.
“I think it was the right size. I liked that we had the variety of offerings, and I think we definitely want to continue offering that. … We just have to keep that balance to get the right number of offerings. And I think this was close to being right,” said Keeneland president and CEO Shannon Arvin.
