‘A Strong Finish To A Remarkable Sales Season’: Bishops Bay Tops Keeneland HORA Sale on Record $1.3m Bid

[Wandering Eyes]

A day after the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale closed with new records in the average and median prices, there were more headlines made Wednesday afternoon when recent GIII Forty Niner Stakes winner Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo–Catch My Drift, by Pioneerof the Nile) was knocked down to bloodstock agent Pedro Lanz, agent for Saudi Arabia's KAZ Stables, for a record $1.3 million in the first 30 minutes of trade during the auction house's standalone Horses of Racing Age Sale. The previous Keeneland HORA Sale record was the $1 million paid for the 2-year-old colt Extortion (Into Mischief) in 2022. The HORA sale is in its fourth year as a separate auction.

The 5-year-old entire was one of three horses to sell for better than a half-million dollars during a 3 1/2-hour session where 108 horses changed hands for $10,455,000, an increase of 21.39% over last year. The average of $96,806 represented a gain of 18.01%, while the median price of $40,000 declined by 20%. Twenty horses were reported as not sold (15.63%), a slight uptick numerically and on a percentage basis from 2024, when 14 horses (11.76%) failed to find new homes.

In the aftermath of booming results from its September Yearling Sale and again over the course of the eight days of trade during the breeding stock sale, Wednesday's results gave sales officials even more to crow about.

“This was a strong finish to a remarkable sales season,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “Setting a record for top price in this format is very satisfying and reflects an ongoing demand for quality, race-ready horses as we move into a new season.

“The momentum we've seen throughout the year carried right through to the end, and we are grateful to all the buyers and sellers whose participation and confidence make success like this possible.”

Next up on the Keeneland sales docket is the 2026 January Horses of All Ages Sale which begins Jan. 12.

Saudi Cup The Target For Bishops Bay

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, the launching of the Saudi Cup in 2020 has dramatically altered the trajectory of horses-of-racing-age sales in Central Kentucky and further afield.

With that in mind, bloodstock professionals representing ownership interests in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf countries at large have been understandably more aggressive with their spend, willing to invest top dollar with the lure of a potential high-six, seven-, or in the case of the main event, eight-figure payday over the winter months in the desert.

Bishops Bay is the latest to tick the necessary boxes, according to Lanz.

“All year,” the agent told Keeneland media when asked how long the 5-year-old has been on his radar. “That's a typical horse that can work for us. I was watching the replays and I recommended this horse because he is a very honest horse: 12 starts, eight wins, three seconds. It's a very honest horse and I think he will be fine.”

Bred by WinStar Farm and sold for $450,000 as a Keeneland September yearling in 2021, the bay was trained by Brad Cox for a partnership headed by Spendthrift Farm, won his first two starts as a 3-year-old and transitioned into stakes company, finishing runner-up to future champion Arcangelo (Arrogate) in the GIII Peter Pan Stakes and second to Two Phil's in the GIII Ohio Derby.

Restricted to a single appearance at four, Bishops Bay has won five of his seven outings this season, including the GIII Westchester Stakes and GIII Salvator Mile in addition to the Forty Niner on Nov. 2. Bishops Bay has amassed a record of 8-3-0 from 12 starts to date for earnings of $702,800. The other partners in Bishops Bay include Steve Landers, Marty Schwartz, Michael Dubb, Ten Strike Racing, Jim Bakke, Titletown Racing, Kueber Racing, Big Easy Racing, Rick Kanter, Michael Caruso and WinStar.

Bidding on Bishops Bay was fractionally slow to develop through the early stages, with incremental lobs of $10,000 and $15,000 ushering Bishops Bay into the $400,000 range. It picked up–dramatically so–once a $450,000 bid was upped by $50,000, and it progressed in $25,000 chunks through the $1-million mark before the competition bowed out on Lanz's $1.3-million salvo. Bloodstock agent Chad Schumer was the immediate underbidder.

“Pedro was sitting right across from me and poor E. C. [46-year Keeneland bid spotter E. C. Larkin] was going back and forth, I felt sorry for him,” Schumer said anecdotally.

Bishops Bay will race on under Cox's care into a 6-year-old campaign that could end up in a start in the world's richest race, should all go according to plan.

“We have the [GII] Cigar Mile [at Aqueduct on Dec. 6],” Lanz said. “We will talk to Brad Cox and that's a possibility. We have the option to continue training the horse in quarantine for the Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia, not confirmed yet.

“If we win the [G3] King's Cup (Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup) against local-trained horses, we have a pass. We qualify. If we win the Cigar Mile and we get a nice high rating, that's another way. We have to receive an invitation from the Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia.”

Rattle N Roll (Connect) won the 2025 King's Cup ahead of a fourth to Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) in the Saudi Cup. The 2026 King's Cup, an internationally recognized Group 3 contest, is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 17, four weeks ahead of the Saudi Cup on Feb. 14 over the same course and 1800-meter distance.

Lanz wasn't entirely surprised that a bidding war ensued.

“Well, that's what usually happens when we have the Middle East fighting for the same horse,” he said. “He was, for me, the best horse–two turns, long distance horse. We (had) to be ready.”

In an ironic twist, Bishops Bay is a half-brother to Strava (Into Mischief), who topped the racing-age section in 2021 when it was still folded into the breeding stock sale. The winning bid of $825,000 was made by the late Louisville head basketball coach Denny Crum.

'Rising StaRRR' World Record Also Off To Middle East

Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi's Dubai-based RRR Racing went to $900,000 to acquire 'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard World Record (Gun Runner–Marwa {GB}, by Exceed and Excel {Aus}) as Wednesday's Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale neared its conclusion in Lexington.

“I thought he sold well, that's kind of where we had him pegged, from $500,000 to $1 million,” said WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden, who raced the colt in partnership with BBN Racing. “He had 12 vets and was very popular.”

Consigned by ELiTE Sales, agent, the bay colt was bred by Runnymede Farm LLC, Falguieres Bloodstock, Gestut Zur Kuste AG, et. al. and was originally a $410,000 purchase as a weanling out of the 2021 Keeneland November Sale.

Trained by Rodolphe Brisset, World Record was named a 'Rising Star' when graduating by open lengths at second asking at three and two starts later, ran his rivals off their feet in the GII Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga, scoring by 6 3/4 lengths.

World Record | Keeneland photo

An impressive allowance winner at Churchill Downs during Derby week this past May, the bay was second in the GIII Aristides Stakes and third in the GI Bing Crosby Stakes this season. His career record stands at 11-4-1-4 for earnings of $504,540.

“I think there was quite a bit of interest in this horse from the Middle East,” said Ed Prosser, who signed the ticket on behalf of RRR Racing. “Bhupat Seemar, who will train him in Dubai, asked me to bid on him. He rang me earlier. He had seen the catalog and was interested in a few and this was one of them. He is always on the lookout for horses in America. There are some people from Saudi Arabia and the (Persian) Gulf region who are interested in this horse and this sale. They did their homework and they liked him. He looks like he will be a good horse for the races in Dubai.”

Among RRR Racing's best horses to date are Isolate (Mark Valeski), winner of the G2 Godolphin Mile; Clapton (Brethren), victorious in the 2023 GIII Lukas Classic Stakes and Group 1-placed in Dubai; G3 UAE Oaks heroine Rayya (Tiz Wonderful); and Mufasa (Chi) (Practical Joke), twice a winner at Grade III level in this country at the back end of 2024 and acquired thereafter by RRR.

The WinStar stallion barn contains some of the country's most fashionably bred sires by top sires-of-sires, but one thing it is 'missing' is a son of the white-hot Gun Runner. The sale of World Record boiled down to a business decision, Walden said.

“We've had discussions about him over the years and there are great opportunities to run in those races in Saudi and Dubai. I think he's a good fit for them,” Walden said.

“For us–and typical of what we've sold in this sale–we felt he just missed the mark on being a stallion in Kentucky at this point and that's why he was for sale,” he added. “It's not at all that he's a bad horse or that we were trying to unload him. Hopefully he'll go on and do good things there and prove us wrong. We've sold horses like him in the past who have gone on and done well. There are also a lot of sprint sons of Gun Runner in Kentucky.”

WinStar has had previous success with horses offered through the Keeneland horses-of-racing-age sale. In 2006, the farm sold Spring At Last (Silver Deputy) to Paul Reddam for $675,000 and the Chief Stipe O'Neill trainee would go on to win the 2007 G2 Godolphin Mile and 2008 GI Donn Handicap before returning to cover mares at WinStar.

Another 'ELiTE' Day at the Office

Brad Weisbord and Liz Crow's EliTE agency was the leading consignor by gross at the Horses of Racing Age Sale, realizing turnover of $5,370,000 for 41 horses sold. Some 40% of those gross receipts were due to Bishops Bay and World Record, and Weisbord was duly pleased as he prepared to depart Lexington.

“They way exceeded expectations,” he said. “Bishops Bay is the end of a terrific partnership with Spendthrift and WinStar bred the horses and stayed in. The reserve was just a fraction of that.

“Anytime you bring these sorts of horses to the marketplace, both Bishops Bay and World Record, you're going to get paid. The opportunities to buy these sorts of horses are rare, so when they come about, especially right ahead of the racing carnivals there in Saudi and Dubai, you're going to get paid. The owners were rewarded. We're just grateful that the Spendthrift guys and the WinStar guys are part of our team.”

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