Vibrant Sale Continues at Keeneland

Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables has made racing headlines with his horses on the track, led by his elite grass fillies Newspaperofrecord and Competitionofideas and upper-echelon turf horses Bricks and Mortar and Annals of Time, colts he owns with William Lawrence.

Sept. 17 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Klarman was again in the spotlight, this time for an acquisition, with bloodstock agent Mike Ryan purchasing the day's session topper, a Flatter  filly consigned as Hip 2379, on his behalf for $310,000. The filly is the third foal out of the graded stakes-placed Candy Ride  Mare Co Cola, and was offered by Select Sales, agent for Machmer Hall.

"I'm hoping she's Schuylerville, Spinaway class," Ryan said, referring to graded stakes for 2-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course, where Klarman regularly races his horses. "She's very, very impressive. I'm not surprised she made what she made."

The Flatter filly was not alone in selling well. Seven yearlings brought $200,000 or more Tuesday during the first day of Book 4. In total, Keeneland announced 273 horses were sold Tuesday for gross receipts of $15,463,700, an average of $56,644, and a $40,000 median price. The 104 horses that went unsold reflected a 27.6% RNA rate.

With this year's sale reformatted to a different schedule, session-to-session evaluations to prior years are widely considered to be unequal comparisons. The final numbers of the sale, which comes to a conclusion Sept. 22, are expected to deliver the truest measurement of the yearling market at Keeneland.

Due to the sale being reconfigured, this year's eighth session would have been most comparable to the ninth day a year ago, in which 283 yearlings grossed $13,354,600, with a $47,189 average and $35,000 median.

From 2,209 horses offered through Tuesday, Keeneland sold 1,582 yearlings for $330,293,200, with a cumulative average of $208,782 and a $130,000 median.

With five days still remaining, that cumulative total is second highest in Keeneland September Yearling sales history since the Great Recession's impact was felt in 2009, trailing only last year's $377,130,400 from the sale of 2,916 yearlings.

Typical of the marketplace, there was a premium on conformation from buyers Tuesday. When a horse stood out as an individual, it commanded a large price, as reflected by the session topper, whose pedigree further appealed to Ryan.

"I loved her, absolutely loved her," he said.  "And the mother could run. The mother was graded stakes-placed at Gulfstream Park. She was one of our top horses today, and that's why she sold like she sold."

Ryan went after more than the highest-priced offerings Tuesday. He also bought, as agent, Hip 2170 for $105,000, and Hip 2387 for $55,000, who he purchased moments after securing the session topper. By Brody's Cause , Hip 2387 is a half brother to grade 2-placed Animosity, out of the stakes-winning Exchange Rate mare Coup de Coeur.

"I haven't seen too many Brody's Causes but I rated him the best I had seen," Ryan said.

Other prominent bloodstock agents represented clients that purchased at the upper end of the market Tuesday. Among them was Marette Farrell, who bought Hip 2368 for $300,000 for Allen Wise of Wise Racing, and David Ingordo, who signed the sales ticket on Hip 2440 for Michael Dorsey for a price of $280,000.

In addition to her attractive looks, Hip 2368, an Empire Maker  filly out of the Deputy Minister mare Chief Secretary, appealed to Farrell because of her catalog page. The dam is a half sister to Exchange Rate and has already been represented by stakes winner Left a Message, who won the Flaming Page Stakes at Woodbine in 2013.

"They wanted to have a filly that had some pedigree with residual value," Farrell said of Wise Racing.

Ingordo's purchase of Hip 2440 represented the top-priced colt of the sale's eighth session. By Palace Malice , he is out of the Giant's Causeway mare Giant Sensation and related to a couple of winners, topped by Lady Banba, an Into Mischief  filly who won an allowance this summer at Parx Racing.

"He's a lovely, big, strong horse. He's an April 2 (foal) so he's got a lot of improvement still to come," said Ingordo, who indicated the colt would likely be trained by John Shirreffs in California.

The sale's success of these yearlings, and others like them, reflected the strength at the top of the market, which does not necessarily extend to lower levels, where buyers are harder to find.

"When (buyers) get on them, you get well rewarded," said consignor Peter O'Callaghan of Woods Edge Farm. "If they're not on them, it's very tough. The target now for breeders and pinhookers alike is so narrow. When you get one that hits the target, you kind of need to get rewarded because you might not with the others."

As the September Sale continues toward its Sept. 22 conclusion, day-topping prices are expected to fall, as is customary as hips with less commercial pedigrees comprise the offerings. In turn, a new set of buyers can take the place of bloodstock agents that are so prominent in the early to middle portion of the sale. Ryan, for one, is ready to take a deep breath after looking at yearlings well before the sale's Sept. 9 start date. He has bought 30 horses, as agent.

"I'm winding down—I've been doing this since the 19th of August," he said.