Flightline's Zee Drop hits $1 million at Keeneland

A 10-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid, carrying a foal by undefeated champion Flightline, sold for $1 million on Wednesday to top the second session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Zee Drop was consigned by Lane's End as agent and purchased by Al Ruwais Stables, with Bertie Butler signing the ticket on behalf of owner Saleh Al Otaibi.

"I think she's a really, really nice mare," Butler told reporters after the sale.

"Good quality mare. She has great covering, and I just loved her. We're just trying to get good mares for [owner Saleh Al Otaibi]. We're very happy with the mare."

Zee Drop is already a proven producer.

Her offspring Kokomotion finished third in this year's Grade 3 Florida Oaks.

She is a half-sister to stakes winner The Reds and comes from the family of Grade 1 winner Wickedly Perfect.

Her dam, Ash Zee, is a winning Grade 2-placed daughter of Exchange Rate.

The $1 million price tag made Zee Drop the 24th horse to reach seven figures across the opening two sessions of the sale.

At the corresponding stage in 2025, only 18 horses had sold for $1 million or more.

Al Ruwais Stables finished as the session's leading buyer, purchasing five horses for a total of $2,455,000.

Among their other acquisitions was Heavenly Scat, a Scat Daddy mare in foal to Munnings, bought for $600,000.

Despite the strength at the top, the session's overall figures showed a decline from the previous year.

Keeneland sold 210 horses through the ring on Wednesday for a gross of $39,535,000.

That gross was down 16.53% from the $47,362,000 recorded for 235 horses on the second day of the 2025 sale.

The average price fell 6.59% to $188,262 from $201,540 a year ago.

The median dropped 6.25% to $150,000 from $160,000.

Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy put the day's trading in context.

"The market was a little more reserved than [Tuesday]," Lacy said.

"Yesterday was a fantastic sale and today was a little more normal in how it measured out. But in saying that, quality horses sold well."

Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland's senior director of sales operations, offered additional insight into buyer behavior.

"The mare market was steady," Breathnach said.

"The pinhookers are here; they're active, and there's a lot to come. They're maybe not pitting themselves against each other so much to this point in the sale."

"A lot of end users are still buying the weanlings, so there's still a lot of buyers with volume orders that haven't really struck at their regular rate yet."

"There are good horses tomorrow, and there's a long way to go in the sale."

Three mares tied for second place on the session leaderboard at $650,000 each.

Green Lantern Stables bought Runrate, a four-year-old Gun Runner mare in foal to Nyquist, for that price.

Repole Stable paid $650,000 for Shandy, an Arrogate mare in foal to Army Mule.

St. Elias Stable purchased Shop Lifting, an Into Mischief mare in foal to Yaupon, for the same amount.

The top weanling of the day was an Arabian Knight filly, a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Seismic Beauty.

Frisco Bloodstock bought her for $485,000.

Cumulative figures through two days of trading paint a stronger picture than the single-session numbers suggest.

Through Tuesday and Wednesday combined, 362 horses have sold through the ring for $135,464,000.

That gross represents a 12.79% increase over the $120,099,000 recorded for 357 horses at the same stage in 2025.

The cumulative average of $374,210 is up 11.24% from $336,412 last year.

The median remains unchanged at $225,000.