Royal Delta commands $8.5 million at Keeneland

Royal Delta starred in the auction ring four days after impressively winning the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) Royalty reigned at Tuesday’s second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale as presumptive champion three-year-old filly ROYAL DELTA (Empire Maker), and her assorted kin, comprised half of the eight horses to bring seven figures. Royal Delta herself was the superstar of the proceedings, bringing $8.5 million from Benjamin Leon’s Besilu Stables. It was the most ever paid for by a horse in training at Keeneland November and the most paid for any horse at the sale since broodmare Playful Act brought $10.5 million in 2007. The previous Keeneland record for a horse in training was the $6.1 million paid by Aaron Jones for the graded stakes-winning colt Half Ours in 2006. Leon, who said Royal Delta was a birthday gift for his wife, Silvia, confirmed that the filly will race again next year, though it is undecided who will train her. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and she’s the whole package,” he said. “As I’ve said before, my passion is breeding. I can’t think of a better mare to breed in the future than her. But I also can’t think of a better filly to enjoy now on the track than her. So we’re going to enjoy her at the track as long as she can do that, and then there will be the day that she will become a mom and begin to have babies, but no rush on that. We want to give her all the opportunity to do her thing.”

Royal Delta, who likely clinched championship honors last Friday with a
decisive score in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic at Churchill Downs,
was the marquee name among the stock of the late Saud bin Khaled’s Palides
Investments N.V. Inc., whose holdings were dispersed Tuesday with Chanteclair
Farm acting as agent.

One of the last to go through the ring, as Hip No. 427, Royal Delta was
offered as a racing or broodmare prospect. Her 2 1/2-length Ladies’ Classic
triumph, along with earlier victories in the Grade 1 Alabama and Grade 2
Black-Eyed Susan, elevated her record to 8-5-1-1, $1,694,600. She also placed in
the Grade 1 Beldame and Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks this season under
the tutelage of trainer Bill Mott.

Benjamin Leon plans on bringing Royal Delta back to the races in 2012 (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) Besilu also secured Hip 314, Royal Delta’s weanling half-sister by Smart Strike, for $1.6 million. “These mares that we have acquired and this filly are automatically putting us light years ahead of where our whole program would’ve been,” Leon said. “The stars aligned and the opportunity was here.” The dam of Royal Delta and the February 16 foal, multiple Grade 3 winner DELTA PRINCESS (A.P. Indy), sold earlier to Adena Springs for $2.6 million. In foal to Distorted Humor on a March 20 cover, the 12-year-old was offered as Hip 313.

A daughter of Group 2 winner Lyphard’s Delta (Lyphard), Delta Princess is a
three-quarter sister to Italian Group 1 winner Biondetti and a full sister to
Grade 1 winner Indy Five Hundred, the dam of Group 2-placed Ecliptic (Kingmambo).
Delta Princess counts as a second dam 1976 champion older mare Proud Delta
(Delta Judge).

Another member of the clan to bring a high price Tuesday was CAMARGUE
(Mineshaft), an unraced three-quarter sister to Delta Princess. She, too, was
sold to Adena Springs for a price tag of $1.65 million. The four-year-old
produced a Smoke Glacken filly this year and was offered in foal to Street Sense
on a March 16 cover. She sported Hip 293.

Royal Delta will be eyeing next year’s Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) UNRIVALED BELLE (Unbridled’s Song), the upset winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, was gaveled down to Brushwood Stable for $2.8 million. The five-year-old mare was consigned by Eaton Sales, agent for owner Peter Vegso, and toured the ring as Hip 261. Victorious in the Ladies’ Classic over champion Blind Luck (Pollard’s Vision), who sold for $2.5 million during Monday’s opening session, as well as this year’s presumptive older female champion Havre de Grace (Saint Liam), Unrivaled Belle was retired earlier this year with a mark of 14-6-6-1, $1,854,706. Brushwood owner Betty Moran placed her bids via phone with Keeneland auctioneer Justin Holmberg. After the sale was completed, Holmberg reported that Moran “is very excited. She’s looking forward to having (Unrivaled Belle) in her broodmare band.” “It was a great market yesterday, so you had to think she would do well,” said Reiley McDonald of Eaton Sales. “She had all the right marks to make it happen. She looks good and she’s still fit. There were quite a few people who didn’t buy anything yesterday and who are still looking. So that worked to our advantage.”

McDonald said Unrivaled Belle will remain in Kentucky though breeding plans
are undecided.

“She is a great horse. We loved her,” Vegso said. “It’s always been an
emotional roller coaster with her. It was an adventure with her every time you
went to the track. But this was a great result.”

In addition to her Breeders’ Cup score, Unrivaled Belle also captured the
Grade 2 La Troienne and Grade 3 Rampart last season, and placed second in four
Grade 1 events: the Gazelle, Ogden Phipps, Ruffian Invitational and Beldame. A
distant third when defending her title in the Rampart on April 2, she concluded
her career in the May 6 La Troienne where she finished second to Blind Luck by a
half-length.

Unrivaled Belle comfortably defeated Blind Luck and Havre de Grace when winning the 2010 Ladies Classic (Matt Wooley/EquiSport Photos) Unrivaled Belle was produced by the multiple Grade 2 winner Queenie Belle (Bertrando), a half-sister to English group 3 winner Canon Can (Green Dancer). LOVE ME ONLY (Sadler’s Wells), an unraced half-sister to multiple highweight and leading sire Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat), sold to Summerwind Farm for $2.1 million. The three-year-old, carrying her first foal by European superstar Sea the Stars on a May 3 cover, was offered as Hip 383 from Eaton Sales. “That bloodline will go down in history probably as one of the best ever,” said Jane Lyon, who owns Summerwind with her husband, Frank. “So I’m very excited to have a young Sadler’s Wells mare. You just do not get a better pedigree. And she’s in foal to Sea the Stars. I was fortunate enough to see him a year or so ago right after he came off the track and he was a remarkable animal. So I can hardly wait for the baby.”

A daughter of the multiple Grade 2 winner Mariah’s Storm (Rahy), Love Me Only
counts as other half-siblings the Group 2 winner You’resothrilling, the Group
2-placed sires Freud and Timnlebrutus, the Group 3-placed sire Tiger Dance, and
the stakes-placed Roar of the Tiger. Like Giant’s Causeway, all were sired by
Storm Cat. Further back, this family yielded 1975 champion juvenile filly Dearly
Precious (Dr. Fager).

PORTE BONHEUR (Hennessy), whose five stakes victories included the Grade 2
First Flight in 2009 and the Grade 3 Victory Ride in 2008, sold to Waratah
Thoroughbreds for $1.6 million. Offered by Paramount Sales, agent, Hip 414 is
carrying her second foal by Tiznow on a March 1 cover after delivering an
Elusive Quality colt earlier this year.

Produced by the Group 3-placed Sous Entendu (Shadeed), Porte Bonheur retired
with a mark of 16-6-1-4, $478,266. She’s a half-sister to the Group 2 winner
Slip Stream (Irish River) and the multiple stakes-winning producer Banafsajee
(Pleasant Colony).

Porte Bonheur’s second dam was It’s in the Air (Mr. Prospector), the
co-champion juvenile filly of 1978. Others hailing from this family are
Grade/Group 1 winners Storming Home (Machiavellian), Music Note (A.P. Indy) and
Musical Chimes (In Excess).

Gypsy’s Warning is a three-time Group/Grade 1 heroine (Benoit Photo) GYPSY’S WARNING (Mogok), whose signature victory in the U.S. occurred in the Grade 1 Matriarch last November, sold to the Niarchos family’s Flaxman Holdings Limited for $1.05 million. The six-year-old South African-bred was offered as a racing or broodmare prospect by Denali Stud (Craig and Holly Bandoroff), agent, and sported Hip 338. Campaigned by Team Valor, Gypsy’s Warning also captured the Grade 3 Eatontown in her U.S. debut, and finished third in the Grade 1 Beverly D. and Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon. When campaigned in South Africa earlier in her career, Gypsy’s Warning scored Group 1 triumphs in the South African Fillies’ Classic and Thekwini Fillies Stakes, and placed in three other top-level events. Gypsy’s Warning failed to recapture her best form this year, finishing sixth in the Grade 1 First Lady in her final start on October 8. Her record currently stands at 20-7-0-8, $512,912.

Produced by Gypsy Queen (Royal Chalice), Gypsy’s Warning is a half-sister to
Group 2 winner Surabi (Wolfhound). Gypsy Queen herself is a full sister to Group
2 winners Noble Destiny and Royal Prophecy. Multiple Group 3 winner Tales of
Bravery (Kahal) also hails from this family.

Business was again up substantially at the conclusion of the second session.
At the end of trading Tuesday, 138 horses had sold for $51,405,000. This
represented an increased of 63.8 percent from last year’s corresponding session
when $31,375,000 was grossed from the sale of 143 horses. The session average
rose 69.8 percent, from $219,406 to $372,500, while the median was up 46.3
percent, from $135,000 to $197,500.

After two days of selling, 285 horses have changed hands for $114,681,500, a
rise of 63 percent from this point last year when 326 horses had brought
$70,345,000. The average has risen 86.5 percent, from $215,782 to $402,391,
while the median is up 63 percent, from $135,000 to $220,000.

“It was another great day across the board,” Keeneland Vice President of
Sales Walt Robertson said. “It again was led by a dispersal. Not as large (as
Monday’s dispersal of the estate of Edward P. Evans), but certainly a beautiful
consignment, and they topped it with a mare that did everything single thing
right. I don’t know what else you could have asked one horse to do. She had
family. She had a dam that could run. She wins the Breeders’ Cup. Of course she
brought a lot of money, and she should have.”

The sale continues through November 17, with sessions beginning daily at 10
a.m. (EST). For the complete catalog, results, and live video of the sale, log
on to www.keeneland.com.