2 years old Commissioner Dan (Commissioner) (hip 120), who began their debut on Wednesday and added to the sale on Thursday, topped the Keeneland April Selected Racehorse Sale on Sunday in Lexington with a final bid of 500,000 dollars from Pedro Lanz, bidding on behalf of Saudi Arabia-based KAS Stable.
Keeneland sold 67 horses on Sunday for $6,743,000. The median of $100,642 is up 9.13% from last year’s $92,224, while the median is up 40% from $50,000 to $70,000. In 2022, 58 horses sold for $5,349,000.
“Today is very positive. This is a sale that sits perfectly on the calendar, right after our Spring Meetup and right before the Kentucky Derby,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “This sale is really growing and there is a lot of energy and enthusiasm around it. The shipper is really happy; a lot of them were here today. We’ve had great engagement from longtime buyers and new owners alike, and it’s great to see Saudi participation.”
Commissioner Dan Tops Buys Lanz
Commissioner Dan (Commissioner) was one of the backpacks purchased by Pedro Lanz on behalf of KAS Stables. Dealers have also signed for Carmel Street (Quality Sugar) (hip 12) for $260,000 and navy pilot (faucet) (hip 81) for $170,000.
“We were looking for older horses and I didn’t know there were two-year-olds here,” Lanz said. “It was a last minute call. When I saw Commissioner Dan and saw his numbers and saw him as Commissioner [sire of 2023 Saudi Derby winner Commissioner King]I told them [we should bid on him]. We saw him for the first time a few days ago. We watched his video. He has a lot of potential.”
Lanz admitted that Carmel Road, who came in second behind the actual Kentucky Derby contender (Realistic jokes) in the GII Los Alamitos Futurity, which was his main target for the sale.
“We are looking for a [son of] Quality Sugar to race in Saudi Arabia,” Lanz said. “This is a great purchase to find a horse with potential. He was second to one of the main contenders in the Kentucky Derby. Nice pedigree, stallion potential. Used to be very happy.”
Regarding KAS Stable, Lanz said, “They are trying to get the best horses in North America to compete at the best level. Maybe we’ll have a horse for the Saudi Cup next year.”
Commissioner Dan is trained and co-owned by trainer Pavel Matejka, who purchased him on behalf of majority owner Bob Grayson for $40,000 on the Keeneland sale last September.
Matejka said: “He is a really forward-looking horse like an avid horse and earlier this year. “We don’t mind that his pedigree is a little light because he looks like a trainable horse and can run a bit. Lucky for us he’s in Book 6. If he’s in Book 2 or 3, I think he’ll be more expensive. We just took pictures and it worked.
Commissioner Dan was an 11-1 outsider as he saw off the much-favored Blue Eyed Soul (Ire) (Ire) (No Now Never) to win his debut at Keeneland Wednesday (videotapes) is 1 3/4 of the length.
After that win, Grayson began receiving calls from interested buyers, according to Matejka.
“We decided that we might as well sell him and see what the market has to say,” Matejka said. “The final price is a bid versus reserve. We decided that was the price we were willing to let him go. If not, we’ll keep him and run him in the Bashford Manor in Churchill. We would be happy to run him as we don’t usually sell horses.
Matejka admits the results have been bittersweet.
“My assistants and grooms were here and they were all crying,” the coach said. “They weren’t happy because he was a horse that was great to be around. But I think he will succeed wherever he goes.”
Also heading to the Middle East after the Keeneland Sunday sale is Talladega (Inverse) (hip 76). The 3-year-old boy who was about to be subsidized won Oaklawn on April 8, having been purchased by Ahmad Alabdullatif for $320,000.
Kueber Racing, Big Easy Racing and Martin Schwartz have teamed up to buy Promise me a ride (own) (hip 55) for $400,000, the second highest selling price. The trio is one of the big partnerships for the 3-year-old, who crossed the 4 1/4 in his Fair Grounds debut on March 19 for coach Brad Cox.
Hibernacle to join Walsh Barn
2 years old hibernation (Hootenanny) (hip 100), who passed 7 1/2 lengths in his April 12 debut for owner/breeder/trainer Wesley Ward, will join trainer Brendan Walsh’s barn post-sale with $310,000 to David Lanigan, agent of Heider Family Racing LLC.
Scott Heider admits the operation doesn’t usually buy 2-year-olds, but he made an exception after witnessing the chubby kid’s debut at Keeneland two weeks ago.
“I went down to Keeneland to see the Flirting Bridge (Ire) (camel {GB}), who was about to be fired, and happened to be her first race that day,” recalls Heider. “When I watched this dirty race, she was placing fourth and third, then she did that move and showed a pretty hard leg turn when going 4 1/2 [furlongs]. When I saw her as a late addition to the sale, I asked David Lanigan to go see her.
The team liked what they saw at the warehouse.
“Her physical build surprised us because she certainly doesn’t have the body of a typical sprinter,” Heider said. “This dirty thing has a much larger scale and scope. She is longer and has a nice path, but it is not fully furnished. And she has a huge mind about her. So we thought that if we could get the chubby girl, and she showed that early talent and it looks like her body would be more mature and strong, we thought. that she might be an ideal girl to put on the show.
The chubby girl entered the Kentucky Juvenile S. on Thursday at Churchill Downs, but Heider said she won’t be lining up for the race.
“She’s going to Margaux Farms for 12 to 14 days and we’re going to let her rest,” Heider said. “Then she’ll go see Brendan. If all goes well, we’ll send her to New York to the Astoria, but it’s still a shortcut.”
Heider continued, “I don’t usually get into this back end of the market. Most of what we have is a two-pass, but this fun one really intrigued us. We think she can have a productive summer and into the fall. As they threw hammers at her, I said to Brendan, ‘I think we just sent you your first mountain bike.’ And he laughed and said, ‘I’m really happy to have a dirt bike.’ We have been very pleased with Brendan over the past three or four years working with him. He was wonderful. Definitely a small twist for us buying an early 2 year old. But I’m excited to bring her to Brendan’s show and to see if we can have some fun with her this summer.”
