Eaton's McDonald Assesses Fasig-Tipton, Keeneland Sales

With the Sept. 25 session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale set to bring down the curtain on an unprecedented beginning of the annual yearling auction season, one veteran consignor gives thumbs-up to both Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland for their efforts to enable commerce to take place.

"Well, it's certainly a sale season we've never seen the likes of," said Reiley McDonald of Eaton Sales, echoing a sentiment expressed by buyers and consignors. "Considering that in May and June we were not sure if we would even have a sale, it was a really remarkable event. We saw the sales companies do something that they've never historically done, and that was cooperate with one another in order to make the Thoroughbred market as successful as it could be, and I think they both did an incredible job."

Historically, three Fasig-Tipton sales—The July Sale, the Kentucky selected yearling sale; The Saratoga Sale, the selected yearling sale in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; and the New York-Bred Yearlings Sale also in Saratoga—kick off the yearling sale season.

Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, those July and August sales were canceled and Fasig-Tipton unveiled the Selected Yearlings Showcase on Sept. 9-10, with 348 horses reported sold for gross receipts of $61,765,000 for an average price of $177,486 and a $120,000 median. The RNA rate was 33.7%, with 177 head going unsold.

Going into the Sept. 25 finale, from 3,922 cataloged, Keeneland has reported 2,302 yearlings sold for an aggregate $247,437,300, an average $107,488. The cumulative RNA rate is 26.4% with 825 yearlings not sold.

The two auction houses employed extensive measures that limited participation to those essential to the sale process, from grooms to buyers. A COVID-19 negative test was required of many participants with both sales companies cooperating on a credentialing process. They also limited seating in their respective pavilions and took other measures to ensure safe distancing and a mask requirement.

"I think the horses that Fasig-Tipton selected to lead off the market were as good a group of physical horses as they could have put together, which is one of the reasons that sale seemed to me to be very solid, at least more solid than I ever thought it would be," McDonald said of the auction that effectively replaced three sales. "I also thought Fasig did a great job of opening up their facility and providing comfortable seating and bars and food options that made it all feel as good as it could be, considering that we're struggling through selling horses in the middle of a pandemic."

As the world's largest yearling market, with 4,272 horses cataloged over 12 days, Keeneland faced even greater logistical challenges to conduct its auction. 

"Considering the number of horses, I thought the Keeneland auction staff put on one of the most unbelievable performances I've ever seen from an auction team," McDonald said. "From the auctioneers to the spotters to the book passers, it was so professional and the auctioneers really worked for every last dollar. They were on their game and they did a great job.

"So I thought the sales companies did a great job, and I thought one other reason for the relative success of the sale is the horsemen and women. Horse people are tough and they're resilient. And they're risk takers. And despite everything going on, they came and made this thing happen, and it was a relative success across the board."

McDonald said Keeneland's first four sessions that comprise Books 1 and 2 were affected by fewer principal buyers on hand than would have been in a non-pandemic environment. 

"Keeneland Book 1 was really hard work, and Book 2 was even harder work," McDonald noted. "But I think the reason for that is some of the principals couldn't be here, and it takes the principals to make those big horses bring the big dollars. And it was reflected on the top end of the market."

As the sale progressed into the middle market, it gained surprising momentum, according to McDonald.

"I was a little surprised to see Book 2 dive like it did, and in the middle of Book 3, I was thinking, 'How in the world are we going to have a horse sale in Books 4,5, and 6, based on the fact that people seemed to have stopped coming in.' We all kind of thought the market would just fall off a cliff.

"But then (two days of) Book 5 were the strongest days, horse for horse, during the entire sale for me. It was packed, and there were people from all over the world. They came not in big numbers, but they came and they bought. A lot of those people were the principals, and they needed to get horses bought and leave."

Although there are still several yearling auctions left before the breeding stock sales begin, the numbers for the first two sales were well below a strong market in 2019, leaving many breeders and pinhookers facing lower returns and losses, and excess inventory.

"All in all, it was a really good success considering how bad it could have been," McDonald said. "I thought it ended up incredibly well, which none of us ever expected. But it shows that when we all cooperate, we have a very extraordinary group of horsemen and women in this business.

"I just hope that the people who take financial hits can weather the storm, and we're all back again next year," he added, noting that breeders with buybacks have to decide whether to race them or go to next year's 2-year-old sales. "Not everybody can afford to go race, so I'd say you'll have quite a few more horses in the 2-year-old market next year, and hopefully the economy will be bouncing back and we'll have a new pandemic status then."

McDonald said the horse sales industry has shown an ability to overcome the obstacles posed by the pandemic.

"You've got to remember where we were back in May, June, and July, and you didn't know if the governor was even going to allow people to be here," he said.