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...
G1 Haydock Sprint Cup Upset
Wathnan Racing were expecting to win the Group I Haydock Sprint Cup (6f) overnight with short priced race favourite Lazzat, but the best he could manage was fifth behind progressive three year-old colt Big Mojo.
Ka Ying Rising Straight to Everest Quarantine after Return Romp
Hong Kong Champion Ka Ying Rising was headed straight to quarantine to prepare for the Group I The Everest after another stunning performance when resuming for the new season on Sunday at Sha Tin.
Pedigree Watch – 3YO Plus That G1 Late Bloomer
Saturday delivered another exciting instalment of early spring racing with three stakes races for 3YO’s and once again all of them were won by new first time stakes-winners that were virtually unsighted at two and we also had a new G1 winner, whose path to the top has been anything but smooth.
Five Lots Announced for Tattersalls Online Barrier Trials Pop-Up Sale
Tattersalls Online, Europe’s leading online thoroughbred sales platform, will break new ground when offering for auction five lots who took part in the ITM Irish EBF Barrier Trials at Leopardstown Racecourse earlier this week. The sale which takes place on 3rd – 4th September can be viewed on the Tattersalls Online website www.tattersallsonline.com.
Ole Kirk share headlines strong September (Early) Online Sale
A share in - and mares in foal to - reigning Champion First Season Sire Ole Kirk are joined by a bevy of quality racing and breeding stock in the Inglis Digital September (Early) Online Sale, which is now open for bidding.
2025 NZB Ready to Run Catalogue Online - World’s Most Successful 2YO Sale
The catalogue for the 2025 edition of the leading sale of two-year-olds is now online and in mailboxes, with NZB excited to unveil another stellar offering at the Ready to Run Sale.
Derby Dreaming for Crown of Russia
Danny O’Brien already has one promising winner by his former G1 star Russian Camelot (IRE) in the stable in Censori and on Sunday at Bendigo he unleashed another.
Sires With Winners - Sunday September 7
Here is the full list of 67 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Ones to Watch – Bendigo
At this time of year, you tend to take special notice of well-bred 3YO debut winners and three of them arrived at Bendigo on Sunday that were all interesting for different reasons and none more so than one who has a name that has become infamous this year.
Toronado Withdrawn from Service
Victorian breeders have been dealt a blow with Swettenham Stud announcing on Sunday evening that their champion sire Toronado (IRE) would not cover any mares in 2025 as he recovers from a significant infection that caused lameness.