Trainer Bob Baffert has been on the buying end of numerous high-value horses through the years at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. On Sept. 10, he was on the receiving end of one.
Hip 731, a son of Gun Runner out of the stakes-placed Quality Road mare Ginja bred by GRS and Baffert, lit up the sale Wednesday by selling to Spendthrift Farm for $1.9 million. Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa consigned the dark bay or brown colt.
GRS is believed to be an acronym for the Gun Runner Syndicate.
Baffert trained Ginja, a $106,550 earner, for his wife Jill. The mating to Gun Runner was part of a foal share agreement that he said he made with Goncalo Torrealba of Three Chimneys Farm. Gun Runner, currently the third-leading stallion in North America, stood this past breeding season at Three Chimneys for $250,000.
A foal share agreement is a contract where a mare owner and a stallion owner share ownership of the resulting foal instead of the mare owner paying a stud fee. When the foal is sold at public auction, the profits are typically split.
“So I’ve got to thank Goncalo for doing the foal share and Hill ‘n’ Dale for raising him,” Baffert said.
He was quick to congratulate Spendthrift Farm general manager Ned Toffey after Toffey signed for the purchase of Hip 731 for Spendthrift and a partner, who Toffey said wished to remain unnamed.
Whether Baffert gets the opportunity to train the colt has not yet been determined. Toffey said Spendthrift typically waits until the spring to decide which racetrack trainers will be sent their juveniles after they receive early training near Ocala, Fla., with Raul Reyes. Baffert and fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher are among Spendthrift’s trainers.
Minutes after the sale, Baffert was still riding a wave of excitement and appeared a bit overwhelmed to see the colt top the day’s third session.
“All of a sudden, I was getting word that everybody liked him, but you never know. I was (thinking) maybe 500 (thousand) or something like that. It’s crazy. It hasn’t sunk in. Jill was very excited. She called me and said, ‘Is that for real?'”
Baffert breeds a small number of horses, though he sold two Wednesday, both with Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa. The other, Hip 668, a chestnut Ghostzapper filly, was acquired by agent Tom McCrocklin, a successful Ocala-based pinhooker, for $100,000.
As Baffert is aware, those types of sales are more typical than $1.9 million session toppers.
Hip 731 is not the first breeding success story for Baffert. The Baffert-bred Misremembered won the 2010 Santa Anita Handicap (G1) with the trainer and made more than $1.3 million for Jill and co-owner George Jacobs.
“And now I can say I’ve sold one for a million dollars. Added to my resume,” the dual Triple Crown-winning trainer said.
