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    • LEXINGTON, KY – The 2026 Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale opened with the first of two sessions Monday and optimism remained high across the board as a pair of top-class mares crossed the seven-figure mark for the first time in two years. “Today was a great day,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “Obviously, it's a long day, but I think the structure of what we did in creating two big sessions sort of lent itself into building a momentum that carried through right to the end of the day.” Indeed, the last horse through the ring was a weanling filly by Gun Runner (hip 542) who brought $575,000. Leading all short yearlings on Monday was a colt by Gun Runner (Hip 114), who realized $800,000 from Marc Gunderson's MWG LLC. “It's a reflection of a really positive, strong day,” Lacy continued. “Across the board, mares, short yearlings. I think the mares were incredibly healthy from, not just the top, but all the way through to a strong middle market. I think that was incredibly encouraging. There was a very large crowd, probably the largest crowd we've seen at a January Sale for quite awhile, even though we had a couple of inclement days. People got to see the horses and they responded.” For the session, 319 horses sold for $31,706,400. Compressed from three sessions to two this year, the sale saw a 9.9% increase in average to $99,393 while the median dropped 35.38% from the same opening session last year to $42,000. The opening session last year saw 200 horses bring $18,087,000 with an average of $90,435 and a median of $65,000. With 106 horses reported unsold, the buy-back rate was 24.94%, down from 32.20% last year. “We've got to take a lot of encouragement out of what we've seen in the numbers,” added Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach. “It's a new year, and the January Sale offers a lot of possibility that way. We were pleased with the catalogue when it came together and pleased that there were opportunities for people to buy foundation mares. Apart from having so many people on the grounds, there's also international presence and a lot of online presence as well. It's really a sale that offers a lot to the market and to see it come to life like it did today, it's very encouraging for 2026.”    Tiffany Case (Uncle Mo), the dam of Eclipse 3-year-old filly finalist Nitrogen (Medgalia d'Oro) topped the sale at $3,200,000 while GISW Simply in Front (Summer Front) was not far behind at $2,000,000. “It's great to see someone like Greg Tramontin, who has bought the old Siena Farm, building up a broodmare band,” Lacy said. “He was really excited to get Simply in Front. Obviously an exciting mare to add to any roster. But for him, looking to curate a quality group of mares, it was great to see. We saw that all the way through from the established breeders like Mandy Pope. So it's a great cross-section of breeders and end-users as well as pinhookers. It's a very broad market. We see so much positivity in the marketplace that carried over from November. A lot of positives to take from it.” The Keeneland January Sale concludes Tuesday with bidding beginning at 10 a.m.   Mandy Pope Adds Tiffany Case for $3.2m Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm added another illustrious broodmare to their collection when Pope went to $3,200,000 to acquire Tiffany Case (Uncle Mo) (hip 465), who sold in foal to Not This Time. Stakes placed in her racing career, the mare got on base with her first foal, producing SW/MGSP Love to Shop (Violence). Len and Jon Green's D.J. Stable, who bought Tiffany Case for $320,000 at Keeneland November in 2019 with Love to Shop in utero, has also bred Canadian champion 2-year-old filly and Eclipse finalist 3-year-old filly Nitrogen (Medaglia d'Oro) from her. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency as agent for D.J. Stable, Tiffany Case makes it two in a row as her daughter, Love to Shop, co-topped last year's Keeneland January Sale at $700,000. Mandy Pope purchased Monday's topper at the Keeneland January Sale | Keeneland “This is what makes the January Sale so great,” Jon Green said of the result. “When you have an upper-echelon horse, it can get really electric.” Tiffany Case's price tag marked the highest-priced horse sold at the Keeneland January Sale since champion 3-year-old filly Abel Tasman (Quality Road) brought $5,000,000 back in 2019. “[Tiffany Case is] really a neat mare, she has an 'A' foal,” added Taylor Made's Frank Taylor. “Every time she has a foal, it's an 'A' individual, so that was good money for her. Not This Time had 17 yearlings bring over a million (dollars) this year and none of them were bred as good as this foal's going to be bred. Hopefully, they have luck with it.” After quickly jumping past the million-dollar mark, the bidding began to slow as Pope traded bids into the $2-3 million range. “Wow, you always love that, when a battle happens,” Taylor continued. “I thought the other mare [Simply in Front] could potentially top the sale. I was hoping [Tiffany Case] would, but the right people lined up on her and she presented herself very well here at the sale. I think with Not This Time, he's so hot right now and Nitrogen being champion 3-year-old [finalist], everything was lined up.” D.J. Stable will retain Tiffany Case's 2-year-old Gun Runner filly, now named Sniper. Taylor noted that the filly, born in July, was a “beauty” and would race in North America for the Greens.   Simply in Front Leads Greenwell Trifeca Greg Tramontin wound up the winner on a quick but exciting bidding battle for GISW Simply In Front (Summer Front) (hip 413), paying $2-million for the 5-year-old mare from the consignment of Richard G. Hogan, acting as agent for Colebrook Farms. Signing the ticket as Greenwell Thoroughbreds, Tramontin continues to add mares for his recently-purchased Siena Farm–now renamed Greenwell Farms. Simply in Front marked Tramontin's third purchase on the day; he also picked up a close relation to the mare in Closing Statement (Blame) (hip 91). “I came up here with my friend from Baton Rouge, and I came to help him,” Tramontin said. “I said, 'I'm not buying anything'. I've bought three! All of them will be good for the farm. That's what we're trying to do, raise some quality top-end horses.” “We had her priced between two and three [million], and so did the consigner,” continued Tramontin. “So when it stopped, I was close to the end myself.” Tramontin confirmed that the GI First Lady Stakes winner is set for a visit with Taylor Made's sire on fire Not This Time. Purchased as a yearling at Keeneland September for $115,000 by Colebrook Farms, Simply In Front is a half-sister to MGSW Honor D Lady (Honor Code), a mare who brought $1-million herself in 2024 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale from agent Steve Young. Other siblings include her half-brother, stakes winner Churchtown (Air Force Blue), and half-sister, GI Johnnie Walker Natalma Stakes winner And One More Time (Omaha Beach). “It all happened fast for sure,” Hogan, who operates as Colebrook's racing manager, said of the bidding battle which hit the seven-figure mark in seconds. “We were hoping [the price would be] around there. I told the new owner, 'I hope she's as lucky for you as she was for us'.”   Gunderson Adds $800,000 Gun Runner Colt A short yearling colt (hip 114) by leading sire Gun Runner kicked off the action early in the opening session, hammering down to $800,000 to Marc Gunderson, signing as MWG LLC. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa consignment, the colt is out of Canadian GSW Deceptive Vision, a mare who also placed in the GI E. P. Taylor Stakes in her own racing career before producing MGSP Ancient Peace. The result continued a run of success for the family at Keeneland January as Deceptive Vision initially went Hill 'n' Dale's way for $900,000 at the 2021 edition. Ancient Peace then returned to the Keeneland January ring in 2023, topping the sale when selling to Boardshorts Stables [Flying Dutchman] for $650,000. “He's an athlete,” Gunderson said of his newest acquisition. “You can't go wrong buying a Gun Runner with a good family.” Simply in Front | Keeneland Deceptive Vision is from a very talented Sam-Son Farm family including her dam, Sovereign Award-winning 3-year-old filly Eye of the Sphynx, and her full-brother, Canadian champion 3-year-old colt Eye of the Leopard (A.P. Indy). The family also includes a Canadian Horse of the Year in Quiet Resolve (Affirmed). “I've been pretty active in the last few sales and [the price] was taken up right about where I thought it would be,” Gunderson continued. “It's a different market. I was maybe 12% higher than I thought I should have been. The market's carried [its momentum] forward from the last year, especially the second half of last year. I don't feel like the market's falling off one bit. What's started to happen is people are really focused now on what it's going to cost. So they're all focused on the same horses. If you're going to spend that kind of money, you have to work on your ROI rather than a risk-analysis aspect. You can still find plenty of good horses in three-to-five [hundred thousand] range.” Gunderson, who signed for 22 yearlings at Keeneland September and an additional 20 horses in November, picked up 12 more Monday. “We'll send him back to [Hill 'n' Dale] for a couple of days and see what we have,” Gunderson said. “We'll see if we can move him down to Ocala later and go from there. He might go to Saratoga. I don't mind running a horse, but I'll see how he pans out. One thing about this market, is there's a concentration of pinhookers who are saying 'I can't pay more than this number for a horse'. But the reality is, I'm not sure that's in play right now. If it's the best horse in a sale, and you're moving it on to be the best horse in the next sale, then you might be surprised what you can pay and still end up successfully pinhooking a horse.” “He was always very good,” added Hill 'n' Dale's newly-appointed Director of Bloodstock Jes Sikura. “One we had a lot of excitement for coming into the sale. I knew there was a lot of popularity and [we're] thrilled with the result. [He has] a great page. His sister's with the Flying Dutchman and being bred to good stallions so there's a lot of things happening in the family. We're happy with [the price], he was deserving. Excited to see what his plans are for the future.”   Nothing But Net, presented by Muirfield Insurance:   Constitution Colt Brings Quick Return for Hunter Valley A colt by leading young sire Constitution (hip 458) brought a quick return on investment for Hunter Valley Farm. Purchased by the operation in utero for $150,000 at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, he was resold Monday for $310,000 to Clover Creek Bloodstock. Team of Teams, stakes placed in France and a stakes winner in United States, is a daughter of MGSW/MGISP Teammate, making her a half-sister to MGSP Team Colors (Street Cry {Ire}). This is also the family of GSW/MGISP and top stallion War Front (Danzig). “She was a lovely mare,” said Hunter Valley's Fergus Galvin. “She was a good runner. We loved her cover. And when the colt came out, he was nice from the get go. And we're really happy with the price.” While Galvin initially planned to keep the colt through this year, the strength of the weanling market at last year's Keeneland November Sale convinced him to change his mind. “We hadn't entered him in November,” Galvin said. “We were thinking, at the time he was born, that we'd hold onto him as a yearling. But then we saw how strong the weanling market was in November and that's why we went ahead and placed him in the January Sale. [The market has carried its momentum] 100%. We were resigned to the fact that we were going to keep him until next year and then [November] was so strong.” Team of Teams is due this year to Maxfield and she also has an Uncle Mo colt bought by Repole Stables at last year's Keeneland September Sale. “We're hoping a few things might happen for this mare,” Galvin continued. “We'll foal her out this but we haven't booked her yet [for 2026]. The post ‘A lot of Positives’: Keeneland January Kicks Off in Style appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. View the full article
    • Entain would be happy if they just had the sports and online gambling that is what they wanted all along. Low cost and big reward, and that is what they will be aiming for in a couple of years! TAB and McAnulty were wrong in going with Entain for the betterment of racing! Anyone know how many are still employed at Petone or is everything being done from Oz? Are there many Bookies remaining or is it being done by computers??
    • Chief, personally think the way they are operating their business is poor! They must be haemorrhaging big time losing potential income by their restrictions and odds slashing. At the end of the day the odds are always in their favour so why dont they operate that way?
    • In most jurisdictions that I know of it is legislated.  Very few agencies if any will not have some limits.  Bookies are not in the game to go broke.
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