Second Week Stars Presented By Keeneland: Gaming Was A Grade 1 Pinhook For Pick View originally appeared on Paulick Report.

In “Second Week Stars,” the Paulick Report recognizes notable horses who sold during the second week of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, typically spanning Book 4 and later, showing that a Grade 1 horse can be found anywhere in the catalog.
Pinhook buyers can be found shopping in every session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, but if the whole point is to re-sell the young horses for a profit, it helps to start with a lower price of admission.

As such, the second week of the September sale is fertile ground for the 2-year-old auction prospects of tomorrow.

That’s where Joe Pickerell of Florida-based Pick View spotted Gaming, a colt from the first crop of sire Game Winner who became a successful pinhook, then a Grade 1 winner.

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Gaming was cataloged in Book 4 of the 2023 Keeneland September sale, offered as Hip 2309 from the Lane’s End consignment. Bred in Kentucky by Mt. Brilliant Farm & Ranch, Gaming is out of the Irish stakes-placed Johannesburg mare So Stylish, who is herself a half-sister to European champion One Cool Cat.

Pickerell works his way through the sale’s upcoming offerings by splitting up the barns with his wife Courtney, then reconvening to compare notes on their standouts. From there, they double back to inspect the shortlist horses together and formulate a bidding strategy for the ones that pass muster from both Pickerells.

Joe had the Lane’s End barn that housed Gaming the morning they combed the colt’s session, and he said he still vividly remembers seeing the yearling for the first time.

“I couldn’t wait for (Courtney) to see him the next day,” Pickerell said. “It’s always the anxiety of if they’re going to make both of our lists when we feel strongly about one. Fortunately, he did, and we vetted him and put him on the list.”

The Pick View operation landed the colt for $40,000. Even as the hammer fell, Pickerell knew he’d just gotten one past a buying bench that rarely lets a good one fly under the radar.

“We had quite a bit more budget for him than that, but we got lucky,” he said. “It was in the later books, and if you’re patient and do your homework, some horses are going to land.

“I think that’s where your value is,” Pickerell continued. “It’s easy to pick out the stars in the early books, but they’re often not attainable, so you’ve got to get a little bit creative, and first-year sires have been very good to us. You’ve got to find an advantage, and a lot of times, some of the folks are getting tired by that point in the sale, and you’ve just got to persevere. Every once in a while, working hard pays off.”

Gaming was one of eight Pick View purchases at that year’s Keeneland September sale, either alone or in partnership, that were sent to Pickerell’s Ocala, Fla., base to begin training toward the 2-year-old sales. The colt quickly began separating himself from the rest.

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“He’s just a horse that everything came to him very easily, and he didn’t have to train as hard or do as much as some of his classmates because it was coming to him a lot faster and everything was very easy for him,” Pickerell said. “He was pleasure from day one.”

“He was the fastest we’ve ever had, and I don’t remember a colt faster than him,” he continued.

Gaming lived up to the early promise he showed on the farm when he clocked a quarter-mile in a blazing :20 2/5 seconds during his time at the 2-year-old sales.

Raw, stopwatch-smashing speed is not necessarily something Pickerell could have predicted when he inspected Gaming as a yearling, but it’s nice when it works out that way.

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“I think that’s very hard to do,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we project the (breeze show) time as much as we project how we would like to see a move on the racetrack. It’s very difficult to project the time. Fast looks fast, but big strong colts, a lot of times, just because they don’t breeze the bullet work on the racetrack doesn’t mean they’re not going to be a stakes or graded stakes kind of horse. Fortunately, when it’s both like he was, you get paid.”

Gaming sold to the Three Amigos for $250,000 after that fast workout, completing a successful pinhook for Pickerell. But, there was more to come.

The colt was placed in the barn of trainer Bob Baffert, and he became one of the stars of last year’s 2-year-old class, winning on debut in a Del Mar maiden special weight by 5 1/2 lengths, then taking the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity by a clear 1 3/4 lengths.

Gaming then faced off against the best in his class, and finished second in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, also at Del Mar. He finished his season with a third-place effort in the G2 Los Alamitos Futurity.

At three, Gaming hit the high point of his season recently, when he led at every point of call to take the listed Affirmed Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

In total, Gaming has won three of eight starts and earned $771,000.

This story was originally reported by Paulick Report on Aug 12, 2025, where it first appeared.