Leading First-Crop sire Upstart’s $410,000 colt during Friday’s session of the 2020 Keeneland September Yearling sale had strong ties to his breeder/consignor Machmer Hall and its owner Carrie Brogden.
The dark bay colt, hip No. 1467, was the second-highest lot sold during the session. Liz Crow, on behalf of BSW, was the winning bidder.
“I just think Upstart has it all. Every single one I’ve had has had tremendous brains, they have bone, they have soundness.” Brogden said after the sale. “(This colt) has been like this from the beginning. I’ve been telling the guys at Airdrie the whole time, ‘I have a special Upstart, I have a special Upstart.’ Last night I texted when we knew how he was going down and I said, ‘Now I know I have a special Upstart.’”
The colt’s second dam is Baby Betty, named after Carrie Brogden’s grandmother. Baby Betty is the dam of graded winner Sweet Whiskey. The subject colt is the first foal out of his dam Miss Baby Betty.
“My mom’s been gone a long time, but she was such a special woman,” Brogden’s mother Sandy Fubini told the TDN. “Her maiden name was Machmer and my grandfather had Machmer Hall named after him, so the whole farm goes back to them.”
Upstart has got off to a spectacular start with his first on-track crop, with 10 winners to date, led by Reinvestment Risk, who followed up his maiden victory with a second in the Grade 1 Hopeful S.
