Pioneerof the Nile sired the second high-priced juvenile opening day at the OBS Spring Sale, when hip 273 sold for $270,000.
The dark bay/brown colt out of stakes winner/Graded stakes-placed Princess Belle, by Mr. Greeley, had worked an eighth of a mile in :10.2 on April 14th. He was purchased by trainer John Kimmel on behalf of owners Tobey and Mike Morton.
“The horse, to me, just looked like a nice athletic individual by a very hot young sire,” Kimmel told the TDN. “I think he has a lot of top-side potential. He checked all the boxes; he is a beautiful mover, I really liked his athleticism, his look and his walk. I am actually very interested in the way a horse’s head and eye look and the horse just, to me, had the look of a real athlete.”
Hip 273 was bred in Kentucky by Boolteenagh Bloodstock, and consigned to OBS by Paul Sharp, who purchased him as a yearling for $130,000. “I’ve been a fan of Pioneerof the Nile from the beginning,” Sharp said. “We’ve tried to buy a few of them from his first couple of crops, but we failed to get close to a horse that I thought was real quality. This horse came up and I just liked the way he carried himself…We stretched a little for my budget and bought him and he did everything I could have asked of him…We didn’t push him and gave him all the time that we could. That’s why he ended up at this sale instead of down in Miami. He was just a magnificent horse, very poised and classy. I think he has a great future ahead of him.”
Pioneerof the Nile is America’s Leading Third Crop Sire, and his 16 stakes horses include current Kentucky Derby (G1) favorite American Pharoah. Grade I winner and Derby runner-up himself, Pioneerof the Nile is standing the 2015 season for $60,000 Live Foal.
