Noble Tune Update: Mare Pure Symmetry Sold For $230 000 At Keeneland

Noble Tune Update: Mare Pure Symmetry Sold For $230 000 At Keeneland

A half-sister to the third dam of Rathmor’s resident sire Noble Tune, flashy chestnut mare Pure Symmetry, sold for $230 000 at the recent Keeneland January Sale.

The dam of an outstanding chestnut foal, a colt by Kitten’s Joy in 2014, she is out of champion racemare Serena’s Song by Storm Cat – a half-sister to Serena’s Tune (by Mr Prospector). Consigned as Lot 47, Pure Symmetry sold to Round Hill Stud, believed to be in foal to Take Charge Indy.

In a manner reminiscent of Personal Ensign, Serena’s Song, whose retirement from breeding at the age of 22 was announced recently, was one such horse; a brilliant American racemare who became the foundation of a thriving family.

Serena’s Song carved her place in American racing history as the champion three-year-old filly of 1995. She retired from racing in 1996 as the leading female earner of all-time with prize-money of $3,283,388 and in 2002 she was inducted into the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame in Saratoga.

She has visited Kentucky stallions throughout her breeding career and resides in that state at Craig Bandoroff’s Denali Stud.

Yet she can be described as a truly international influence. Besides making her presence felt at stud in the US, her descendants have acquitted themselves well at stakes level in Britain, Ireland, France and Australia.

There are 11 stakes-winning descendants in all, an impressive number given she delivered her first foal in 1998. Three – Honor Code, Rathmor’s new sire Noble Tune and last season’s smart French juvenile Sivoliere – have won Group races in the past two years.

From the second crop of Rahy and out of the Northfields mare Imagining, Serena’s Song was bred by Dr Howard Baker and pinhooked by Florida breeder Arthur Appleton, then owner of Bridlewood Farm, for $42,000 as a foal.

She blossomed into a $150,000 Keeneland July yearling for Appleton, who returned to the well later that year to pay $180,000 for Imagining at the Keeneland November Sale. As a result, Appleton is listed as the breeder of Imagining’s 1994 Rahy filly Serena’s Sister as well as Serena’s Sister’s daughter Princess Serena, the dam of Puissance De Lune and granddam of Rizeena for Round Hill Stud.

Robert and Beverly Lewis struck the winning bid on Serena’s Song as a yearling and turned her over to D Wayne Lukas, for whom she went on to win 18 of her 38 starts.

Her tally included 11 Gr1 races from two to four, including the Haskell Invitational over colts, Santa Anita Oaks and Oak Leaf Stakes. She also finished placed a further nine times at Grade 1 level, including when second in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and 1996 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Such a record naturally afforded Serena’s Song the very best opportunities at stud and over the course of her stud career she would visit the likes of A.P. Indy, Mr Prospector and Storm Cat.

However, that wealth of opportunity shouldn’t detract from her achievement of breeding ten winners from 13 foals, among them five black-type winners. Five of her progeny were million-dollar yearlings, led by Colourful Score, a $3.5 million Storm Cat colt.

The mare’s other million-dollar yearlings ultimately became good investments. Her first foal was the Mr Prospector filly Serena’s Tune, who cost Winsong Farms $1 million as a yearling. She became a Listed winner and bred Jim Bolger’s Tetrarch Stakes winner Vocalised, himself the sire of Killavullan Stakes winner Steip Amach, as well as minor stakes winner Serena’s Cat, the dam of Grade 2 winners Noble Tune and Honor Code.

Serena’s Song’s second foal, the Storm Cat filly Sophisticat, was a $3.4m yearling and captured the 2002 Coronation Stakes for Aidan O’Brien. She has since bred Listed winner Sefroua (the dam of Sivoliere) and Pursuit Of Glory, who finished third in the 2008 Cheveley Park Stakes.

Sophisticat’s brother Grand Reward was also initially trained by O’Brien, for whom he finished second in the Mill Reef Stakes. Later switched to Lukas in the US, he landed the 2005 Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap at Oaklawn Park.

He stood for several seasons at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky, where he sired a quartet of Graded stakes winners. His younger brother, Schramsberg, was a Grade 3 winner who stands in Canada.

Serena’s Song also clicked with Unbridled to produce Gr2 winner Harlington, another former member of the Hill ‘n’ Dale roster before his sale to Saudi Arabia.

For the Lewis family the Serena’s Song story does not end with her retirement as they own three of her daughters, including her final foal, a 2014 filly by Medaglia D’Oro.

While we wait to see how she fares on the track, there is every chance the family will continue to thrive around the world, whether it be through the likes of Honor Code in the USA, Noble Tune in South Africa or the promise of Sivoliere alongside the first crops by Vocalised in Europe.

– extract racingpost.co.uk