Full Sister To Roan Inish Available In Keeneland Sale

The 2011 January Horses of All Ages Sale will begin at Keeneland in Lexington, Kentucky on Monday, with over 1,800 horses available in the main catalogue. The sale will take place over five days and will offer prospective buyers weanlings, yearlings, horses of racing age and broodmares. Canadian consignor Cara Bloodstock has 15 horses cataloged for the sale, including several names that Woodbine followers may recognize.

Cara Bloodstock's first horse to enter the sales ring is a three-year-old filly named Lassair, who is a full sister to 2010 Woodbine Oaks winner Roan Inish. Both Lassair and Roan Inish are by Elusive Quality and out of Inish Gloria. Lassair is in Book 1 of Keeneland's catalogue and is listed as hip number 434. Owned and bred in Ontario by Arravale Racing Inc., Lassair did not have a particularly great two-year-old campaign, as trainer Carolyn Costigan started Lassair's racing career with back-to-back stakes races and eventually dropped her into Maiden Special Weight company. Lassair's best race was a fourth-place finish on August 21st in a Maiden Special Weight race. Despite the tough 2010 year, Lassair appears to have her best years in front of her, just like her sister Roan Inish. Roan Inish did not earn a lot of money as a two-year-old in Ireland, but took Woodbine by storm in 2010, winning the Woodbine Oaks and the Princess Elizabeth Stakes. Roan Inish also entered the Queen's Plate against the boys and finished third behind the winner Big Red Mike. In all, Roan Inish earned $624,500 in 2010 alone and that could attract some buyers to Lassair. My hope is that the buyer of this horse brings her back to Woodbine to race in 2011. It would be great to see her follow in her sister's footsteps during her three-year-old campaign.

Another name that Cara Bloodstock has in this sale is Sugar Bay, also listed in Book 1 as hip number 576. Sugar Bay is a six-year-old mare by Syncline out of Otra Vez. Sugar Bay is listed as a racing or broodmare prospect and her past record makes her a very interesting horse for a buyer. Sugar Bay most likely has one more season left in her, but her race record will make her an extremely attractive mare for breeding. As a three-year-old, Sugar Bay won six races, four of which were stakes races. She won the fifth stakes race of her career in her final race of the 2010 season as a five-year-old and has earned $753,546 racing at Woodbine. Sugar Bay has made 19 career starts, including eight on turf, winning eight of those races, with four second place finishes and two third place finishes. She should command a good auction price at this sale.

The final Cara Bloodstock horse that I will be watching this week is Miss McDreamy. Miss McDreamy is a seven-year-old mare by Lost Soldier out of Erica's Dream. Miss McDreamy is listed as a racing or broodmare prospect but looks like more of a broodmare prospect given her age. Although her race record isn't that attractive to someone looking to race her, the fact that she has made 25 starts over her career would look excellent to a Canadian breeder. Miss McDreamy's most recent race was a win in a claiming race at $9,500, so if I had to guess, I would say she might sell for between $10,000 and $20,000 at this sale. Her career record includes three wins, with six second place finishes and three third place finishes. Her career earnings came in at $123,487.

Looking at the past performances in each book, other horses in the sale who ran regularly at Woodbine include hip 323 Cosmic Queen, hip 440 Lightshaft, hip 488 Narrate, hip 494 Noticin' You, hip 777 Impulsive, hip 1108 Freeman's Lass, hip 1192 Manx Miss, hip 1234 Pensy, hip 1468 Aerial View, hip 1550 Margarita Hill, hip 1598 Poetfromthepulpit and hip 1805 Rockglen.

The 2011 January Horses of All Ages Sale begins on Monday at Keeneland and will run each day until Friday. Each day begins at 10:00 a.m. and can be watched live on Keeneland's website. Follow my Twitter account, @atthepostblog, all week for up to the minute prices for all of the Woodbine horses I just listed.   

Posted in: Sales