Flightline and Cogburn Shares Highlight Inaugural Keeneland Championship Sale

Media Release - Friday November 1

Stallion shares in Horse of the Year and exciting young sire Flightline and also Widden Stud's new shuttle prospect Cogburn changed hands at the inaugural Keeneland Championship Sale.

The Keeneland Championship Sale is a new innovation.

Flightline, who stands at Lane’s End Farm and whose first foals are weanlings of 2024, sold for $2.5 million to Jane Lyons’ Summer Wind Equine to top Keeneland’s inaugural Championship Sale. The event, held Wednesday evening in the Paddock at Del Mar, site of the 2024 Breeders’ Cup World Championships on Friday and Saturday, featured a large crowd of participants from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, South America and across the U.S., spirited bidding and a party atmosphere.

“We have said from the beginning we wanted to be innovative and creative, and I think this sale accomplished those goals,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “Breeders’ Cup Week is about celebrating all the champions that are running this weekend. Keeneland has 58 sales graduates participating in the Breeders’ Cup. Hosting a boutique sale during Breeders’ Cup Week just made sense. But we wanted to have a party with a sale, not a sale with a party. That was the intention, and we are thrilled with the results.”

“We wanted to create the experience,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “What we’re really leaning into is to make the sales as fun and energetic as possible. Anytime you start something new there is always a learning curve. Tonight’s sale worked very well and the feedback has been incredibly positive. We have a great partnership with Breeders’ Cup and Del Mar, and we’re thankful to the people who supported us on the selling side. Buyers were really excited and hopefully it works out well for them in the very near future.”

Consigned by Lane’s End, agent, the Flightline share was offered by an original owner of Flightline.

Steve Jackson signed the ticket for Lyons, who bred and co-owned Flightline during his racing career.

“Jane loves the horse, and I thought it was a fair price,” Jackson said. “She has 10 or 12 foals by Flightline now. And she has plenty of mare power. The (Flightline) foals are very, very nice: athletic, plenty of muscle and correct with lots of presence.”

Advertisement

For the single-session auction, Keeneland sold five of the ten offerings for $4,325,000, for an average of $865,000 and a median of $475,000. 

Larry Sarf’s LSU Stables paid the evening’s second-highest price of $850,000 for Pandora’s Gift (IRE), a multiple group/graded stakes-placed winner in England and the U.S. who finished third in Keeneland’s Franklin Stakes (G2) on Oct. 13. She is entered in the PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1). Pandora’s Gift was consigned as a racing/broodmare prospect by Stuart Williams Racing.

“We think she has good potential. We liked the way she ran on synthetic and we liked her movement,” Sarf said, confirming the filly will be trained by Christophe Clement. 

Cogburn runs in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and is headed to Widden Stud in 2025.

A stallion share in Grade 1 winner and North American record holder Cogburn, the morning-line favorite for the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1), brought a final bid of $475,000 from Richard and Connie Snyder. Cogburn will be retired at the end of the year to WinStar Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, for the 2025 breeding season. The share was consigned by ELiTE, agent for the Cogburn Syndicate.

Reincarnate, a graded stakes-winning colt by Good Magic consigned by ELiTE, agent, sold for $375,000 to K.O.I.D. Winner at 3 last year of the Sham Stakes (G3) and the Los Alamitos Derby (L), Reincarnate is Grade 1-placed in the FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic Stakes and the Santa Anita Handicap Presented by Yaamava’ Resort & Casino in 2024.

For $125,000, Agave Racing Stable acquired a 25% interest in Grade 1 winner, millionaire and Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) contender Gold Phoenix (IRE), consigned by Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables and Marsha Naify. This year, Gold Phoenix won the Del Mar Handicap (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association for the third consecutive time and took the Charles Whittingham Stakes (G2) Presented by FanDuel TV; last year he won the Frank E. Kilroe Mile (G1) and the Eddie Read Stakes (G2).

Advertisment
More Reading...
Kiwi Bred Evaporate Wins G3 Sandown Stakes
Smart four-year-old Evaporate bounced back from a setback to win Saturday’s Gr.3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) in gallant fashion, defeating favourite Transatlantic by a nose.
Sires With Winners - Sunday September 28
Here is the full list of 73 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Beiwacht Breaks Track Record In G1 Golden Rose Romp
With many of the opinion that Godolphin would provide the winner of this year’s $1m Group 1 ATC Golden Rose (1400m), they were right, but not with the 3yo expected as the Chris Waller trained Bivouac colt Beiwacht was simply sensational in his track record breaking victory.
Pedigree Potential –NZB Ready to Run – Nicks that Click
A quality packed catalogue for the 2025 NZB Ready to Run Sale is now online and in the lead up to the sale we’ll go looking each week for some horses of interest that jump out on pedigree for various reasons.
Sires With Winners - Saturday September 27
Here is the full list of 106 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Inglis Ready2Race Purchase Headed to $3million Big Dance
Sales for two year-olds in training are looming on the horizon for all three auction houses and the $150,000 Dubbo Gold Cup (1600m) on Sunday has eligibility for the $3million Big Dance for the winner and it was progressive Exceedance 4YO Cristal Clear, who claimed the prize.
Dozens of Drawcards - NZB Ready to Run
As the NZB Ready to Run Sale goes from strength to strength with its stunning results in the sale ring and on the racetrack, the catalogue for the world’s leading sale of two-year-olds continues to get better and better.
Waterford Wins G2 Shannon Stakes
Talented import Waterford (IRE) has long promised to win a stakes race and he did the job in spectacular fashion at Rosehill on Saturday when scoring a dominant win in the $300,000 Group II ATC Shannon Stakes (1500m).
Pedigree Potential –NZB Ready to Run – Nicks that Click
A quality packed catalogue for the 2025 NZB Ready to Run Sale is now online and in the lead up to the sale we’ll go looking each week for some horses of interest that jump out on pedigree for various reasons.
Favourite Whisky On The Hill (GB) Wins Listed R.M. Ansett Classic
With just a small field of seven runners jumping away in the Listed MRC R.M. Ansett Classic (2415m) at Mornington on Sunday, it was the Glen Thompson trained Whiskey On The Hill (GB) (Ribchester) who took the prize, securing his first black type victory.