Among the best-sellers offered during Fasig-Tipton's The July Sale, its selected yearlings sale July 9, were a pair of $400,000 colts by proven sires Uncle Mo and Justify .
Meg Dumaine's Funny Farm, which bred, raised, and consigned the Uncle Mo colt cataloged as Hip 135, was confident he would be well received by buyers.
"I bought the mare as a broodmare prospect and she is gorgeous," she said of Conquest Superstep, a stakes-placed daughter of Super Saver that Dumaine bought for $150,000 during the 2017 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale. "She is one of the most beautiful horses conformationally. This colt is not as quite as stretchy as she is but this colt looks like her. She stamps her babies.
"I knew everybody would love him because he is beautiful. Judging the market, though, is impossible," she continued. "But we were confident the reserve wouldn't matter and there were at least two people that loved him, and we were right."
April Mayberry, with Mayberry Farm in Florida, loved the colt the most and said his final price was where she expected it would land.
"This is a beautiful colt, well balanced and a nice way about him," she said. "There really wasn't much not to like about him."
Mayberry said she bought the colt for a client who will take him to the races.
"He looks like he'll be early to me, but with our client's program, he might not be early," she said. "It will depend on where he is at the end of our program. The horse tells you what to do."
Mayberry also said she is a big fan of Ashford Stud's leading sire Uncle Mo.
"They are lovely horses that are smart. They have to have a good brain to be a good racehorse, on top of the ability," she said. "They are nice to work with, and they are usually handsome horses as well."
Conquest Superstep has already produced three winners from three to race, with two of them having been winners at 2. The mare's 3-year-old filly by Ghostzapper, named Pula, broke her maiden last November at Churchill Downs, where she beat future grade 3 winner Lemon Muffin.
Funny Farm sold two other horses during the July sale, a $200,000 American Pharoah colt (Hip 218) to trainer Kenny McPeek, and a $200,000 Quality Road colt (Hip 253) to Columbine Stable.
Gainesway consigned the other $400,000 yearling, a chestnut colt (Hip 168) by Ashford's Triple Crown winner and leading third-crop sire Justify.
Golden Star Farm bought the colt that was bred by Thor-Bred Stables in Kentucky out of the Indygo Shiner mare Indygita, who is a half sister to grade 3-placed stakes winner Lemoona (Lemon Drop Kid).
Mickey Gonzalez, a retired real estate developer, owns Golden Star Farm, which is northwest of Ocala, Fla. He declined to comment on his purchase of Hip 168 after signing the ticket. He was not done with his purchases, however, and picked out a $150,000 Practical Joke colt from the Blake-Albina Thoroughbred Services consignment as well.
Brian Graves, with Gainesway, said the Justify colt was one identified early on as a good fit for the Fasig-Tipton July sale.
"I say this about a lot of the horses we pick, but for a select sale you want a horse with a nice neck and shoulder and plenty of hip and balance and correct through the legs. He had all of that," Graves said. "Justify also is leading the way in becoming a top stallion and doing it on both sides of The Pond. It was good timing to have a horse like him in the sale. We thought he would be among the horses that would top the sale."
To stand out in July, Graves said a horse needs to be "fast-looking and early-looking."
"And sire power is king," he added.
