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Better Than Honour Fetches Record $14 Million - 11-04-08
November 4 - On Sunday, November 2nd in Lexington, Kentucky, 2007 Broodmare of the Year, Better Than Honour, fetched a record $14 million at Fasig-Tipton's 2008 Selected Mixed Sale at its Newtown Paddocks headquarters, where she was sold to Southern Equine Stables.
Not only did Southern Equine Stables' bid smash the previous record of $10.5-million that Darley Stud paid for Playful Act at the 2007 Keeneland November Sale, but it also increased its stake in Better Than Honour from 70 to 100 percent as a result of a buy-out from partner Hill 'n' Dale Farm.
What is amazing is as in the case of Playful Act, Better Than Honour was not in foal at the time of the sale. Thanks to the record sale, Fasig-Tipton's turnover took a large leap compared to its last year's sale. Yesterday auction saw 91 thoroughbreds sold for a total of $70,279,000, a 35 percent increase on 2007.
The saying 'saving the best for last' certainly applied in the case of Better Than Honour, as she was the last horse to come under the auctioneer's hammer, in a bidding frenzy that reportedly lasted less than 2 minutes. And - as most horseracing experts present expected - she quickly reached the record price.
When Better Than Honour's lot came up, Auctioneer Walt Robertson gave cause for a chuckle from the sizeable gathering when he suggested that the biding should open at $10 million. However, it started off at $1 million and quickly escalated to the final $14-m bid from Southern Equine Stables' Mike Moreno.
Said Moreno, 'My bidding strategy was a simple one - to bid enough to take her home with us as she is undoubtedly the best mare in the world. Better Than Honour is a Picasso of the horseracing world and we've recognized that to build a long-term breeding operation you need top-quality broodmares like her.'
It seems this was not an unexpected outcome considering Better Than Honour is the only North American mare to have produced back-to-back Belmont Stakes winners - Jazil in 2006 and Rags to Riches in 2007. She is also the dam of top Japanese runner Casino Drive who won the Peter Pan Stakes in October.
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