Pray for Leslie entered Fasig-Tipton's November Sale with the kind of commercial profile that makes elite broodmares especially difficult to replace: an active graded-stakes family, a proven young-producing record and a pregnancy by one of North America's most sought-after stallions. Stonestreet Stables made that profile worth $2.025 million Monday in Lexington, with John Moynihan signing the ticket for Barbara Banke's operation. BloodHorse reported that the 11-year-old mare was carrying a foal by Not This Time.
Consigned by Buckland Sales for Jeff and Melissa Prunzik's Stone Bridge Farm, Pray for Leslie is a Bernardini mare out of the Grade 2-placed C J's Leelee. Her immediate value is not based on a single headline performer. She has produced three starters, all winners, including Praying, a Grade 2 winner, Alys Beach, a Grade 1-placed runner, and Spa Prospector, a Grade 3-placed horse who set a Woodbine course record this year for 7 1/2 furlongs on the inner turf in 1:27.68. That three-for-three record with graded-stakes performers explains why buyers treated the mare as a rare broodmare rather than simply another well-bred producer.
Praying has continued to support the family's momentum on the racetrack. She won the 2025 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes and the Prioress Stakes at Saratoga, then returned this season to finish second in the TCA at Keeneland. That latest placing mattered: it showed the family was still generating current black type as Pray for Leslie went through the ring, rather than relying solely on an older résumé. In the 2026 TCA, Evanescence defeated Praying by a neck after Praying had nearly carried her speed all the way around the 6 1/2-furlong contest. BloodHorse's race record lists the result and the 1:16.57 final time.
The mating added another layer to the valuation. Pray for Leslie's Not This Time foal is bred on the same sire-and-broodmare-sire cross as Grade 1 winner Magnitude, giving Stonestreet both a proven female line and a commercially attractive in-utero prospect. Buckland director of bloodstock Lauren Morgan also pointed to the mare's Bernardini background, physical quality and producing record as the combination that made the opportunity stand out. Pray for Leslie herself won two of three starts for owner-breeder Gessler and trainer Al Stall Jr. before selling for $130,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale, a modest acquisition compared with Monday's result.
The purchase also landed in a market strong enough to reward quality but selective enough to expose ordinary stock. Fasig-Tipton's 2026 November Sale produced $100.167 million in gross receipts from 138 horses sold, with an average of $725,848 and a median of $350,000, according to the sale's reported results. BloodHorse's sale recap noted that the gross topped $100 million for the second consecutive year and the fifth time in six years. Pray for Leslie's price therefore sat well above the session's general market, but it was supported by a tangible race record, three graded-stakes producers and a commercially desirable Not This Time pregnancy.
For Stonestreet, the acquisition is a long-term investment in a family with both proven speed and room to grow. Pray for Leslie is a half sister to stakes-placed C J's Awesome and to C J's Gal, the dam of Grade 3 winner Hidden Connection and Grade 3-placed Very Connected. With Praying still active and another foal on the way, the mare gives Stonestreet multiple paths to recoup the purchase: more racetrack success from her existing offspring, a valuable first Not This Time foal and the chance to build an even deeper female line around a mare whose production has already justified a seven-figure valuation.