A colt by all-time leading North American sire Tapit lit up the board at $400,000 during Keeneland's January Horses of All Ages Sale's first session Jan. 13, becoming the highest-priced short yearling of the day. The Gainesway-consigned colt sold to JPM Bloodstock, who also purchased Hip 253, a filly by Jack Christopher .
Hip 293 was bred in Kentucky by Dr. Oscar Benavides, AEMC and Tapit Syndicate. The bay colt comes from a strong female family and is the second foal out of the stakes-winning mare Maybe Wicked. She is a full sister to Molly Pitcher Stakes (G3) winner and Beldame Stakes (G1) runner-up Money'soncharlotte and multiple stakes winner Mizzcan'tbewrong.
"I thought it was a very fair price for the horse," said Brian Graves, general manager at Gainesway Farm. "Tapits averaged $400,000 for the last couple of years, and he (Hip 293) was certainly at least average."
Tapit stands at Gainesway for an advertised fee of $185,000. May Day Ready, runner-up in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), was his top earner in 2024 with $1,014,025.
Tapit was ranked No. 5 on the leading sires of yearlings list for 2024, with 33 head selling for a total of $14,587,000, an average of $442,030.
"It's typical," Graves said of the market. "You're unhappy with a lot of what you're getting, until you identify a horse that you really want to buy and then you go to the sales ring and you can't obtain the horse. It's a little bit feast or famine, little spotty in January, but so far it's been pretty good."
