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PEDIGREE HANDICAPPING NOVEMBER 8, 2008 World Record Selling Broodmares by Tim Holland When the hammer dropped after a final bid of $14 million for BETTER THAN HONOUR (Deputy Minister) last weekend, it marked the fourth year in a row, and the fifth time in six years, that the official world record price for a broodmare had been set. Having produced back to back Belmont S. (G1) winners Jazil and Rags to Riches as well as Peter Pan S. (G2) winner Casino Drive (Mineshaft), Better Than Honour was sold to resolve a partnership and is possibly the most deserving record holder for the highest priced broodmare, which gives one cause to take a brief look back at the last 10 record holders, along with some other high-priced sellers, and their influence on the breed. In 1981, IVANJICA (Sir Ivor), whose three Group 1 victories in France included the 1976 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-G1), drew headlines when she was bought, in foal to Nijinksy II, by the British Bloodstock Agency at the Keeneland November Sale for $2.15 million. By the top broodmare sire Sir Ivor, Ivanjica proved disappointing as a broodmare, producing just six foals of which two were minor winners, but she is the granddam of La Jolla H. (G3) winner Marine (GB) and the great granddam of Fanjica (Ire), who was second in the Yellow Ribbon S. (G1). Although the Northern Dancer foal died early that ROYAL HONOREE, an unplaced daughter of Round Table and a full-sister to French champion Targowice, was carrying when she set the world record of $3.8 million in 1982, she turned out to be a good producer of 13 foals of which six earned black-type. The best of these was Group 1 runner-up Honoria (Danzig), who was fourth in the Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) and became the dam of Composer, who won the Jim Dandy S. (G2). The following year another daughter of Round Table nearly took over as the world record highest price holder when TWO RINGS, in foal to Nijinsky II, was sold for $4.5 million from the King Haven Farm dispersal. However, the price for Two Rings was topped at $5.25 million by PRODUCER (Nashua). Winner of the Prix de la Foret (Fr-G1), Producer was sold carrying her third foal, a Northern Dancer filly named Music and Dance who became stakes-placed in Ireland. From nine subsequent foals, Producer was responsible for Bach (Ire), a champion in Ireland; Irish One Thousand Guineas runner-up Dancing Goddess; and Las Flores who was third in the Oaks d'Italia (Ity-G1). The joint fourth highest price for a broodmare in 1983 was the $3.2 million that was paid by Jeffrey Morris for the eight-year-old mare PRICELESS FAME (Irish Castle). Her first foal, Dunbeath, was a Group 1 winner in England at two and had just completed his three-year-old season which included a second in the St. James's Palace S. (Eng-G1). However, Priceless Fame really became valuable in 1984 when her third foal, Saratoga Six, won four races, including the Del Mar Futurity (G1) as a juvenile, and indeed she was resold that fall, establishing a new world record at $6 million. Priceless Fame left a lasting impression on the Thoroughbred breed, not only through the success of Saratoga Six as a stallion, but also through daughters who produced Grade 1 winners Lakeway and Jiljab, but the same cannot be said for MISS OCEANA (Alydar), who hoisted the sales record to $7 million in 1985, the fifth year in a row the record had been raised. Winner of six Grade 1 races and second in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Miss Oceana was just four when she was sold in foal Northern Dancer as part of the Newstead Farm dispersal. Purchased by Carl Icahn, her resulting foal was named Oceanic Dancer and made one unplaced start at four before being exported to stud in Venezuela where he sired six black-type winners. Miss Oceana produced just one more foal, Cien Fuegos (Seattle Slew), who was sold as a yearling for $450,000 but earned just $33,100 on the racetrack. With the Thoroughbred business booming in the mid-80s, mares from top bloodlines were in hot demand in 1985. Inaugural Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner PRINCESS ROONEY Verbatim) became the third highest-priced broodmare in history when she realized $5.5 million at Keeneland in November, and the five-year-old in-training ESTRAPADE (*Vaguely Noble), who would win the Arlington Million (G1) the following year, brought a final bid of $4.5 million. Meanwhile at Fasig Tipton, LARIDA (Northern Dancer), a Grade 2-winning sister to Miss Oceana and also from the Newstead dispersal, sold for $4 million. An indication of the strength of that year’s market was when KITTIWAKE (*Sea-Bird), the then 17-year-old dam of Miss Oceana and Larida and in foal to Alydar but nearing the end of her breeding career, fetched $3.8 million. In addition to successfully delivering the foal she was carrying at the time of the sale, Kittiwake would have four subsequent foals, including Pr Jean Prat (Fr-G1) winner Kitwood, who was foaled when his dam was 21. 1986 saw the start of a downturn in the economy and the Thoroughbred market followed suit. The top official price, although through a dissolution of a partnership, for broodmares that year was $5.4 million for 1985's champion older mare, LIFE'S MAGIC (Cox's Ridge). Selling in-foal to Mr. Prospector, she had been a huge rival of Miss Oceana on the racetrack, meeting on eight occasions, and the score was even at four apiece. Life's Magic sold again the following year at Fasig Tipton's "All Stars" sale and was knocked down to Shadwell Estates for $4.4 million While she is the dam of three stakes placed runners, she never came close to producing a runner with her ability. In the same Fasig Tipton sale, Life’s Magic's stablemate, 1986 Horse of the Year LADY'S SECRET (Secretariat), who won an outstanding Gight grade 1 races in her championship year, brought the top official price of $5.4 million. Like Life's Magic, Lady's Secret would see the sales ring again before long, seeling to Fares Farm for $3.8 million in 1989. And like her former stablemate, she never enjoyed the success as a broodmare that she achieved on the track. Lady's Secret was the highest priced broodmare of 1989, but WINNING COLORS (Caro [Ire]), who had won the Kentucky Derby (G1) the year before and was selling as a "horse of racing age," drew a higher final bid of $4.1 million. She was the lone mare, or older filly, to sell for more than $4 million during the 10-year period from 1988 through 1997. This was changed in 1998 when the 16-year-old KORVEYA (Riverman) was sold to Reynolds Bell for $7 million, equaling the record set by Miss Oceana 13 years earlier. A Group three winner in France, Korveya was sold carrying a full-brother to French champion and classic winner Hector Protector and Bosra Sham, who was a two-time English champion and One Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) winner. Sadly for her new connections, Korveya best days as a producer were behind her as just one of her seven subsequent foals won, although she is the granddam of a promising two-year-old this year, Internally Flawless (Giant's Causeway). By the late 1990s, the market had strengthened and in 1999, Irish Oaks (Ire-G1) winner DANCE DESIGN (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), carrying her first foal by A.P. Indy, was the highest of three mares to sell for more than $3 million when knocked down for $4.7 million. In 2000, four mares sold for more than $4.5 million, with the top price of $5 million paid for Grade 3 winner MACKIE (Summer Squall), a half-sister to Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Sea Hero. TWENTY EIGHT CARAT (Alydar), who was already the dam of Grade 1 winner A P Valentine, topped the broodmare sales of 2001 at $4 million, a figure matched the next year by BLESS (Mr. Prospector), an unraced full-sister to Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus. The $7 million record that had been set by Miss Oceana in 1985, and later matched by Korveya, was finally passed in 2003 at the Keeneland November Sale when CASH RUN (Seeking The Gold) drew a bid of $7.1 million from John Magnier. Winner of the 1999 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Cash Run, who is a half-sister to leading sire Forestry, was in foal to Storm Cat. That foal, named Gstaad, is a minor winner, but Cash Run's next foal, Great War Eagle, earned black-type while being twice Group 2-placed in Ireland. No broodmare records were broken in 2004, but the highlight was the sale of I'LL GET ALONG (Smile), who was carrying a full sister to that year's champion three-year-old, Smarty Jones. However, it was not long until Cash Run's record would fall. At the Keeneland November Sale in 2005, that year's champion older mare, ASHADO (Saint Ballado), left the ring having been bought by John Ferguson for Sheikh Mohammed for $9 million. A winner of eight Grade 1 races, including the Breeders' Cup Distaff and Kentucky Oaks, Ashado was bred to Storm Cat the following spring and produced a colt in 2007. 2006 marked the first occasion in recent times that the record price for a broodmare was set outside of America when MAGICAL ROMANCE (Barathea [Ire[) was sold on the second day of the Tattersalls December Mare Sale at Newmarket, England, which would be the highest grossing day in European sales history. Winner of the Cheveley Park S. (Eng-G1) and a half sister to that year's Epsom Oaks (Eng-G1) and Irish Oaks (Ire-G1) winner Alexandrova (Ire), Magical Romance was selling in-foal to Pivotal. Knocked down to James Wigan of London Thoroughbred Services, Magical Romance unfortunately foaled 24 days prematurely -- in December later that year, putting the filly at a year's disadvantage among her peers. The record returned to America roughly 12 months later when a John Ferguson outbid the Coolmore team to secure PLAYFUL ACT (Ire) (Sadler's Wells) for $10.2 million. Selling as a barren mare having lost a foal by Kingmambo, Playful Act, whose first foal is now a yearling by Giant's Causeway, was a Group 1 winner in England by the outstanding sire and broodmare sire Sadler's Wells. She was sold as part of the Swettenham Stud dispersal, a broodmare band that had been assembled by the late Robert Sangster. World record-breaking broodmares:
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