My Miss Sophia commands $4 million at Keeneland November

Agent Steven Young went to $4 million on Monday to purchase My Miss Sophia, who is in foal to War Front, for an undisclosed client at the 2018 Keeneland November Sale. My Miss Sophia’s price was shy of Lady Eli’s sales-topping $4.2 million.

My Miss Sophia was consigned by Lane's End as Hip 147.

“She’s a great mare. The term great is overused I think, but she is a great mare,” Young said of My Miss Sophia. “I was around her through most of her career. She was good for Todd (Pletcher). She was good for Billy Mott. She ran second in the Kentucky Oaks.

“Two weeks later I bought Materiality in Maryland. I didn’t buy him because of her, but she emboldened us to buy that horse, and I just hope she’s brave and lucky. We thought she was the best horse selling in November.”

My Miss Sophia is by Unbridled’s Song and out of Wildwood Flower, making her a half-brother to the Florida Derby (G1) winner Materiality. The 7-year-old mare had her own success on the track. She won the Gazelle (G2) on dirt and switched to turf to place in the Ballston Spa (G2) and the First Lady (G1). From three wins in 13 career starts, she earned $605,040.

Young said while you always wish you could buy horses for less, she sold for what he thought she might fetch.

“Horses like that, it depends on the underbidders,” he said, “and the room did fill up when she got ready to walk in there.”

Young said the foal was “part of the equation,” but not the whole reason his clients wanted My Miss Sophia. It certainly helped drive the price up, though.

“She’s got a War Front colt in her and if he looks like she does, you could get even quickly,” Young said. “But she wasn’t cheap, by no means.”

Lane’s End’s sales director Allaire Ryan later said, “She was a lovely mare, a beautiful mare. Just ticked all the boxes, and that was a situation where two buyers lined up and she just far exceeded our expectations.”

The consigner had another big sell in Hip 221, Tiffany’s Honour, a half-sister to Rags to Riches, who sold for $2.2 million to Katsumi Yoshida of Japan. 

Tiffany’s Honour is a 7-year-old mare by Street Cry and is believed to be in foal to Medaglia d’Oro. In addition to Belmont Stakes winning-filly Rags to Riches, her half-siblings include Jazil, another Belmont Stakes winner, Peter Pan (G2) winner Casino Drive and Breeders’ Cup Marathon winner Man of Iron. 

Another half-sister, Teeming, produced Grade 1 winner Streaming and listed stakes winners Treasuring and Cascading. 

“Plenty of foot traffic and action in the barns. A lot of interest in this mare and the one that we sold previously today,” Ryan said of Tiffany’s Honour. “This mare in particular is really attractive because she’s young and she has such a deep female family. She has a fantastic foal back at the farm and she had a million-dollar yearling earlier this year, so we’re glad for the new connections and glad for the old ones too. It worked out for everybody.”

Later, Zipessa hammered at $1.25 million and will head to Teruya Yoshida's Shadai Farm in Japan. The 6-year-old daughter of City Zip was consigned as Hip 245 by St. George Sales.

Zipessa holds a race record of 17:5-3-3 and made $783,550 on the track. Her best effort came just over a year ago when she pulled off the upset win in the First Lady (G1) at Keeneland.

“She's a gorgeous filly,” Yoshida said. “Strong-looking, good runner, conformation is good.”

He has no definite plans for Zipessa's future in Japan.