Applauding Tops First Session of Keeneland January Sale

With no breakout horse or major dispersal to boost numbers, it was business as usual for the crowd of January buyers shopping for horses during the Jan. 13 first session of the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale.

At the end of the eight-hour session, Keeneland reported 219 horses were sold for gross receipts of $14,257,800, an average price of $65,104, and a $35,000 median price. The 88 horses that went unsold represented an RNA rate of 28.7%.

Comparisons with last year's first session would be misleading, since that day's selling was highlighted by the $5 million sale of champion Abel Tasman, tying a January sale record for a broodmare or broodmare prospect.

For the record, on Day 1 in 2019, 234 horses were sold for an aggregate $21,929,200, an average of $93,715, and a $39,500 median. The RNA rate was 25.9%.

"Today was a typical January sale, and those horses that stood out were very rewarded," said Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland's director of sales operations. "We always look to try to find an Abel Tasman every year or get a dispersal to add a little spice to the January sale. Some years we're successful; some years we're not.

"Without an Abel Tasman, I think the rest of the catalog is a good solid catalog with some nice broodmare prospects with some black type that sold pretty well and good yearlings were very well rewarded. Overall, I think it was a successful session."

Top price on the day of $360,000 was paid by Hunter Valley Farm for Applauding, a daughter of Congrats  sold by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency in foal to Curlin . Initially a $350,000 RNA transaction, the mare was later purchased privately by Hunter Valley.

Meets Expectations, the dam of World of Trouble , a candidate for a 2019 Eclipse Award in both the champion male sprinter and champion male turf horse categories, was bought back on a final bid of $675,000, which would have topped the session. A winner of seven of his past eight starts—including a perfect four-race season last year—World of Trouble earned top-level victories in 2019 for trainer Jason Servis in the Carter Handicap (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack and Jaipur Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park and his dam was added to the Keeneland sale as part of the Hunter Valley consignment.

Short yearlings were in demand during the session, with Horse of the Year Gun Runner  represented by four foals from his first crop of 2019 that sold for a total $782,000, an average price of $195,500.

Also in demand were 2019 foals by Constitution , the second-leading first-crop sire last year, who had six foals sell for a total $722,000.