It took less than 10 hips for the price to spike past the $1 million mark on September 12 at Keeneland’s September Last Year Sale. A belt Quality Sugar from the strong female family of Horse of the Years Gunman and Saint Liam was the first to break the mark, dropping the hammer for $1.2 million on Claiborne Ranch.
Contracted to the name Hip 8 from Gainesway, the bay is “top” on Claiborne Ranch’s list of private clients, said Bernie Sams, Claiborne’s blood lake manager.
“She’s a nice person with that pedigree,” Sams said. “When he (Benjamin) Leon distributed it with that group of families, it was all expensive. (Claiborne) also bought a few to disband. So we planned it to be expensive. money.”
This cat was raised in Kentucky by Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Ranch. Pope gets her dam, wins Medaglia d’Oro mare Princess Silvia, for $1.4 million at the November 2016 Livestock Share Sale in Keeneland. The mare comes from an all-star family, being half-brothers with four classified stake winners including the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Classic backed by hero Dodge (G1) Saint Liam and 2018 United Nations Stakes (G1T) Funtastic winner. She is also a half-sister to two 1st grade production mares in the 2nd grade winner Quiet Giant, Gun Runner’s dam, and Beatem Buster, the 2011 Mother Goose Stakes (G1) dam. supplied to Buster’s Ready.
Princess Silvia has produced four ponies so far, including Tapit 3 year old pony, King Silvio. Whisper Hill Ranch’s hybrid broke her maidenhood last month at Gulfstream Park for coach Kent Sweezey.
“(Hip 8) looks like she’ll be quick,” Sams said. “The guy (customer) was looking for a dirty thing to take two turns with. She got that and there’s a lot of pages in the second dam.”
Brian Graves of Gainesway was expecting the scumbag to bring in a significant amount of money in the sales round.
Graves said, “(Hip 8) is the real deal. “She’s special and she comes from Gun Runner’s family. We expected a lot of her coming here and she sold (final sale price) 10 to 20 percent.”
“It turned out to be good. She was a chubby, long-legged person. She was rough. She had a long neck and really good walks. She looked as if she could run through a brick wall. and that’s what you would expect in a Good Qualities Dirty Road.”
