Paradise Bound sells for $110,000 on day four

The session topper comes from the family of the talented but lightly raced Globetrotter (Benoit Photos) PARADISE BOUND (Pulpit), a half-sister to currently undefeated stakes winner Unbridled Humor (Distorted Humor), was sold to Colts, LLC (Roger W. Schipke) for $110,000 to lead Thursday’s penultimate session of the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale in Lexington, Kentucky. Consigned as a broodmare prospect by Warrendale Sales, agent, for Live Oak Plantation, the five-year-old was cataloged as Hip No. 1231. Cumulatively through the first four days of the five-day sale, 849 horses have changed hands for $24,354,850. Not only did that represent a 6.8 percent rise from the $22,799,200 raked in by 816 horses in 2010, but it already surpassed last year’s five-day total of $23,895,100. The average crept up 2.7 percent, from $27,940 to $28,687, and the median has held steady at $10,000. Thursday’s numbers, however, were down across the board compared to the fourth session last year. On the day, 230 horses grossed $1,876,500, a decline of 16.4 percent from the $2,245,300 realized by 199 lots a year ago. The average dropped 27.7 percent, from $11,283 to $8,159, while the median fell 16 percent, from $5,000 to $4,200. Paradise Bound, a turf allowance scorer at Keeneland and a maiden winner at Fair Grounds early last season, earned $72,356 from her 11-2-2-1 record. The gray is the first foal from the Grade 3-placed stakes winner Devotion Unbridled (Unbridled), whose second foal, Unbridled Humor, remained perfect from three starts in the November 14 Memories of Silver S. at Aqueduct. Devotion Unbridled is herself a half-sister to multiple stakes victress Snow Cone (Cryptoclearance) as well as the winning Cool Slew (Seattle Slew), the dam of Grey S. (Can-G3) hero and Charles Whittingham Memorial H. (G1) runner-up Globetrotter (Street Cry [Ire]). Paradise Bound’s second dam, multiple stakes queen and Grade 3-placed Icy Warning (Caveat), is in turn a full sister to Grade 1 winner Ops Smile.

The next two best sellers were males offered by Eaton Sales, agent.
Canadian Grade 3 victor PRUSSIAN (Danzig) was knocked down to Federico
Barberini, agent, for $85,000 as a stallion prospect, while Dennis
O’Neill snapped up Grade 2 winner SKY CAPE (Najran) for $67,000.

This was Prussian’s third visit to the Keeneland sales ring, having
RNA’d for $300,000 as a September yearling and again for $625,000 as an
April two-year-old. The bay scored his signature win as a juvenile
in the 2007 Summer S. (Can-G3), and he finished second in the Hill
Prince S. (G3), Majestic Light S. and Lamplighter S. at three. The
six-year-old retired with a mark of 15-3-3-1, $279,969, and sported Hip
1454 on Thursday.

Prussian is a full brother to the winning Tomoohat (Danzig), the dam of
English Group 3 scorer Tabassum (Nayef). Prussian’s dam, the multiple Group
1-placed Crystal Downs (Alleged), is a half-sister to French and English
highweight Mubtaker (Silver Hawk), a three-time winner of the Geoffrey Freer S.
(Eng-G2) and once runner-up in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1).

Just a few minutes later Hip 1460, Sky Cape, hero of the 2008 La Jolla H. (G2) and most recently second in a
January 7 allowance at Santa Anita, was sold to O’Neill as a racing or stallion
prospect. Trained throughout his career by Kristin Mulhall, the six-year-old
chestnut has compiled a 27-5-8-1 line to go along with a $383,268 bankroll. Sky
Cape’s resume also includes victories in the Harry Henson S. and Alcatraz S. and six
stakes placings, chief among them the Best Pal S. (G2) and Baldwin S. (G3).

A half-brother to the stakes-placed pair of Reality Show (Royal Anthem) and K
O Love (K. O. Punch), Sky Cape is out of the unraced Marquetry mare Skyscape and
comes from the family of multiple New York-bred stakes winner Certifiably Crazy
(Fit to Fight).

The sale concludes Friday, beginning at 10 a.m. (EST).

For complete results, as well as live video of the auction, log onto
keeneland.com.