Family of Miss Debutante on offer at Keeneland's January sale

Cover image courtesy of Keeneland

While most will be enjoying the sunshine on the Gold Coast this weekend, one lone expat Australian will be braving the cooler climate of Lexington in search of broodmare prospects for the Southern Hemisphere in the 1097-strong catalogue of Keeneland’s January Horses Of All Ages Sale.

A total of 489 mares and fillies have been catalogued to sell over January 12 and 13, and Byron Rogers of Performance Genetics LLC has selected a number that will appeal to the Australian buyer.

The rise and relative ease of the digital sales platform has somewhat curtailed the size of the Keeneland catalogue.

“We have really pivoted to paying attention to digital sales as well as traditional, in-person ones,” said Rogers. The benefit however is that the average quality across the catalogue is higher, and the January sale also allows race fillies the full calendar year to add to their resumes before heading to the breeding barn.

“A lot of people like to see them race the end of the season out,” Rogers said. “We have the New York and California circuits that finish up after the November bloodstock sales. It’s an opportunity for those race fillies to get the most out of the season before going to stud. It is one of those sales where you can do a bit of digging and find something very suitable for Australia.

“You are typically looking for mares who are in foal with early due dates, where you can foal the mare down in the States and wean the foal before flying her down to the Southern Hemisphere in July, or a mare not in foal that you can bring down immediately after quarantine and winter her as normal in Australia. There’s a couple of flights in the months in between to send mares down.”

More Than Real chances to buy quality bloodlines

One of the catalogue highlights is Hip 734 offered by Blandford Stud, Heras Hope (USA) (Audible {USA}), a Northern Hemisphere 4-year-old whose dam is a half-sister to Breeders’ Cup-winning More Than Real (USA) (More Than Ready {USA}).

A US$675,000 ($1 million) purchase for James Bester on behalf of Kia Ora Stud at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale in 2011, More Than Real’s name will be well known to the Australian industry.

A new dynasty has sprung by her blue hen daughter Miss Debutante (Fastnet Rock), dam of G1 Golden Slipper Stakes victress Lady Of Camelot (Written Tycoon) and her Group-winning half-sisters Queen Of The Ball (I Am Invincible) and Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar). Miss Debutante’s fourth foal Lancelot Du Lac (Flying Artie) was a city winner on debut in December.

More Than Real’s full sister Miss Always Ready (USA) has also produced GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf victor Structor (USA) (Palace Malice {USA}), and this lot’s dam Miss Lavinia (USA) (Speightstown {USA}) has already proven capable of producing black-type offspring herself, being the dam of 15-time winner and Grade-performed Arch Cat (USA) (Arch {USA}) as well as the granddam of twice Grade I-placed Cassies Dreamer (USA) (Flatter {USA}).

A winner at two, Heras Hope is offered as a maiden broodmare prospect. Her sire Audible (USA) won the GI Florida Derby and is a son of Into Mischief (USA), who has carved a name for himself as a broodmare sire with his daughters producing 41 stakes winners to date, four at Grade I level including 2025 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint victress Shisospicy (USA) (Mitole {USA}).

“More Than Real is outstanding,” said Rogers. “Heras Hope is a typical example of a California-raced mare. Her sire Audible has come up with a few handy horses recently, and she is out of a Speightstown mare, so there is a lot of speed to her that will suit Australia. There is certainly plenty of appeal to Australian breeders in her pedigree.”

Hip 73 offered by Gainesway provides another avenue into this family by way of Cassies Dreamer’s daughter Camera (USA) (Curlin {USA}), a winner at three who is offered in foal to Practical Joke (USA) on a mid-May cover. Daughters of Curlin (USA) have produced 45 stakes winners worldwide and strike at 63.4% winners to runners. From very limited opportunities, they have produced four individual winners from seven runners in Australia and New Zealand.

A top producer both on the track and in the ring, More Than Real has sold yearlings for $1.2 million, $580,000, and $500,000, and will no doubt garner much interest for her Farnan yearling filly when offered at auction this year. Miss Debutante’s daughter Platinum Jubilee was a $3.5 million broodmare prospect when bought by Coolmore Stud in 2024, and delivered her first foal by I Am Invincible this past spring.

More than a Nugget of potential in Gainesway draft

Hip 158, offered by Gainesway, is another mare in the catalogue whose family have already made a mark in Australia. Fun With Flags (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) is a 4-year-old with European form out of a Galileo (Ire) mare, who is herself a full sister to stakes-winning juvenile Gemstone (Ire) who boasts Nugget (GB) (Siyouni {Fr}) among her stakes-winning foals.

The winner of over $1.5 million during his career - more than $1.4 million of which was earned in Australia - Listed-winning Nugget twice ran third at Group 1 level, in the G1 Doncaster Mile and the G1 CF Orr Stakes, the latter of which he was beaten a neck by Jacquinot.

A winner at her only start as a 2-year-old, Fun With Flags collected two wins - one at Listed grade - and a second placing in the G3 Prix Cleopatre in three starts in France as a 3-year-old. She added a fourth placing at Listed level in the States in the latter half of her 3-year-old career, completing a racing profile similar in success to that of Gemstone.

“This mare could clearly run,” Rogers said. “She was a Listed winner in France that didn’t quite acclimatise to American racing. That’s not unusual though, and she is still a young, stakes-winning mare coming off the track, so she will be really easy to breed in Australia.”

Gainesway will offer another lot with Australian connections in Hip 455; Talk To Ya Later (USA) (Perfect Timber {USA}) is out of a Sea The Stars (Ire) half-sister to Street Secret (USA) (Street Cry {Ire}), whose first foal on Australian soil is Listed WJ McKell Cup victress Frankely Awesome (Frankel {GB}).

Frankely Awesome was at her best as an autumn 3-year-old, where she ran second in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes behind Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) and in the G3 Kembla Grange Classic. She topped off the preparation with a third in the G1 Australian Oaks to the same filly.

Just like Street Secret before her, Talk To Ya Later is a Listed winner and has performed multiple times at the same level throughout her career and has continued to improve as an older horse, winning again as a 6-year-old in 2025. Through her fourth dam Allegretta (GB) (Lombard {Ger}), she is from the family of Galileo and Sea The Stars.

“She could also really run,” Rogers said. “She went through all of the major races in Canada and was very consistent throughout her career. She really danced every dance, and was still winning races and being exposed as a 6-year-old. She is obviously a very sound mare, which makes her a very attractive prospect.”

Talk To Ya Later is offered as a maiden who could be brought south ahead of the 2026 breeding season.

“This is an interesting one (pedigree-wise), as Perfect Timber is from the family of Danehill himself,” said Rogers. “Being out of a Sea The Stars mare and so closely related to Frankely Awesome, it gives you a lot of opportunities with breeding down under. Frankeley Awesome is inbred to Urban Sea, which could be replicated with this mare. A breeder could have a lot of fun with her.”

Perfect Timber (USA) is also an extension of the Sadler's Wells (USA) sireline that remains popular worldwide on both sides of the pedigree.

In the same vein, buyers might be attracted to Long Neck Paula (USA) (Uncle Mo {USA}), a winner of the Listed Debutante Stakes at Prairie Meadows and Listed Bowman Mill Stakes on the dirt as a juvenile who is offered by Hunter Valley Farm.

“She was early and she was very quick,” said Rogers. “The Bowmans and the Debutante are both very early 2-year-old races. Uncle Mo possibly hasn’t done as well in Australia as you might have hoped, but I think she is the sort that could throw a nice type.”

Gypsy Robin (USA) (Daaher {Can}), dam of G1 Moir Stakes winner Wild Ruler, has Uncle Mo’s (USA) sire Indian Charlie (USA) as her damsire.

Listed-winning American mares to produce stakes winners down under include Mohegan Sky (USA) (Straight Man {USA}), dam of G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winner Little Brose, and More Aspen (USA) (More Than Ready {USA}), dam of G1 JJ Atkins Plate winner King Colorado, and daughters of Zoffany (Ire) have produced 12 stakes winners to date. His daughter Osmose (Fr) won the G3 Epona Stakes in Australia before retiring to stud in 2025.

Top end talent commands attention

Richard G Hogan, acting as agent for Colebrook Farms, has something particularly special on off in Hip 413, which is Grade I-winning mare Simply In Front (USA) (Summer Front {USA}). The best performed of 22 stakes winners for her sire, Simply In Front was Grade I-performed as a juvenile, finishing second in the GI Natalma Stakes, and only improved with age.

Venturing south from Canada to the States as a 3-year-old, she added the GII Music City Stakes to her resume, and she improved again at four to win her Grade I in the First Lady Stakes, as well as the GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes, earning over US$2.85 million ($4.26 million) in the process.

Rogers singled her out as possibly the top lot in the sale, saying, “she was genuinely a very good horse, and a very, very quick filly. She could get quite expensive.”

Simply In Front is one of four stakes winners - including her GI Natalma Stakes-winning half-sister And One More Time (USA) (Omaha Beach {USA}) - for her dam Complicated (USA) (Blame {USA}), ratifying Blame’s (USA) position as a superb broodmare sire. His influence is most keenly felt in Australia with his daughter Ms Bad Behavior (Can), dam of G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Switzerland.

This family has a fantastic record of producing stakes winners out of black-type mares, further demonstrated by Simply In Front’s dual Grade I-winning third dam Educated Risk (USA) (Mr Prospector {USA}), who produced two stakes winners herself, and the dams and grandams of a further 11 stakes winners and six stakes performers.

Supplementary selections throw up outcrosses

Rogers is of the opinion that the catalogue supplementary lots contain several more mares of interest to Australian breeders, highlighting Hip 1103 in particular; offered by Bluegrass Thoroughbred Services Inc, 4-year-old Tigerish (USA) (Tiz The Law {USA}) is from the first crop of GI Belmont Stakes winner and GI Kentucky Derby second Tiz The Law (USA).

A juvenile winner and third in the GIII Surfer Girl Stakes, Tigerish is a half-sister to three stakes winners, including GI Rodeo Drive Stakes victress Avenge (USA) (War Front {USA}), and a European Group performer.

“Tigerish is one that I think could really appeal to Australians,” Rogers said. “She’s a really nice filly and an outcross for Australia. Tiz The Law has started out extraordinarily well with his first crop runners. She ran at Group level in California and I thought she was a lovely type. She was fast too, and it’s a fast family.

“These types of American mares have done so well in Australia. Foxwedge was out of an early sprinting American mare as well.”

Another possibility for Rogers is Hip 1097; consigned by Cara Bloodstock, Storm Miami (Ire) is from the first Northern Hemisphere crop of Blue Point (Ire) and she placed at stakes level as a juvenile and as a 3-year-old. Out of a stakes-placed Sea The Stars mare, there are plenty of proven matches for her bloodlines in the Australian stallion ranks.

“Storm Miami is another option for Australia,” Rogers said. “She has a good European family and Blue Point and his sire Shamardal are already well known to Australian breeders.

“The exchange rate might not be as good as a couple of years ago, but there’s still value to be found in the catalogue. If you are trying to buy a nice mare in Australia, you are looking at spending $300,000 domestically, which is about $200,000 in the States, and I think you could still buy a nice mare at Keeneland to suit Australia for that price.

“You don’t have to spend too much money, but you do need to do the work and find these mares. You still need to assess their shape, they need to not be narrow and lean and weak, they need substance and good bone to work in Australia.”

For the prospective buyer soaking up the Gold Coast sun, Litt Bloodstock’s Jason Litt and Bourbon Lane Stable’s Mike McMahon and Jamie Hill will be on site at Lexington alongside Rogers, inspecting the catalogue over the weekend. Lots can be previewed from Saturday, January 11, with the sale commencing on Monday, January 13.