Keeneland April Sale Entices Buyers With Recent Winners

The April Sale at Keeneland will kick off what is sure to be a week of non-stop action April 26 ahead of the 147th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) May 1 at Churchill Downs. 

Comprised of several, well-seasoned horses of racing age, this year's renewal of the April sale will be a bit different from years past as it will conducted as an integrated event with both live auctioneers selling horses through the ring at Keeneland as well as virtually selling horses residing at offsite locations. A total of 78 horses were originally cataloged to the sale. As of April 25, 30 had been withdrawn bringing the total to 48. 

"We were trying to do this as a convenience to everybody both buyer and seller, so that the horses could remain at racetracks so they wouldn't lose any of their racing days," said Keeneland's director of sales operations Geoffrey Russell. "But a lot of people commented that they would like the horses to be on the grounds to be seen by potential buyers. It's something I'm sure we will develop going forward, but it's a good start anyway." 

Another change to this year's sale is the timing on the calendar. Instead of being held at the start of the Spring Meet, this year's sale will be held the week after the meet closed. Many of the horses that are on the grounds were participants in the spring meet—four of them winners. 

"When we looked at it we thought, because we had a horses of racing age sale before the meet starts to help get horses on the grounds, you can have it after the meet so the original owners can run them and then sell them on to their next stop," said Russell. "We felt that the opportunity to sell after the meet, especially starting with Derby week would be a good idea. There are four horses in the sale that won during the race meet, so it gave buyers an opportunity to see those horses run and now they have the opportunity to buy them." 

The four horses to win during the Keeneland Spring Meet are: 

• American Bound  (Hip 40), a 2-year-old filly by American Freedom   who was an impressive winner on April 2 to open her career. She is consigned by Joe Sharp, agent.
• A Thing of Beauty  (Hip 41), a 3-year-old daughter of Bernardini   who won 1 1/8-mile maiden turf race on April 7. She is consigned by ELiTE, agent, as a racing or broodmare prospect.
• Baytown Frosty  (Hip 77), a 2-year-old colt by Frosted   who won April 18. He is consigned by McEntee Racing.
• Brooke Marie  (Hip 48), a 5-year-old daughter of Lemon Drop Kid   who won a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race on turf on April 17. Consigned by ELiTE, agent, she is cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect.

"It's an easy spot to have these trainers walk these horses down at the conclusion of their meet," said Bradley Weisbord of ELiTE Sales, who has consigned 10 horses to the April sale. "They can be shown by their consignors and if they run earlier in the meet they can stay with their trainer, in case they don't get sold, to prep for their next race. Obviously, we're in a COVID-19 atmosphere. If we weren't, people would be plunging into Louisville and Lexington this week in anticipation of the (Kentucky) Oaks and Derby so you could have owners potentially fly in early in the week and then go to Churchill Downs. The other thing is, there is a huge race card Friday and Saturday  with some of the very best racing in the country all year. If you have a prospect that could potentially go to this sale, sell on, and potentially run next Friday or Saturday that could be really rewarding.

"Keeneland took off last year and really started the horses in training portion two years ago. The one issue Keeneland will have this year is that there aren't that many 2-year-olds in training. I'm a believer in the fact that you always need more horses and there aren't that many on the grounds. I don't think it will be fair to assess the timing of this sale based on the results because of the small nucleus of horses. I do think, compared to when the sale was previously held at the beginning of April, that this is a better time going forward." 

In addition to the two Keeneland winner's consigned by ELiTE, the operation will also sell two additional recent winners in Don't Call Me Mary  (Hip 52),a 4-year-old filly by El Padrino , and Too Sexy (Hip 70), a 4-year-old filly by Quality Road  . 

"Don't Call Me Mary won for Todd Pletcher at Gulfstream Park," said Weisbord. "She's breezed very well in anticipation of this sale and if she doesn't sell she'll go to a Mid-Atlantic stakes this summer. Too Sexy is a beautiful Quality Road filly that came off a win at Gulfstream Park that ran on short rest back at Aqueduct in 3 1/2 weeks and was only beaten two lengths for it all. We're excited about those four horses breaking out into the six-figure range.

"We are only going to bring, one of our horses, Mary's France  (Hip 4), to the online portion. That's because she's entered on Tuesday at Churchill Downs and we didn't want to hurt the owners in the case she didn't sell and wouldn't be allowed to run because we had to show her for two or three days. The rest of our horses we've encouraged our clients to bring to the sale because we've had all of our success showing the horses." 

While the April sale was canceled in 2020 due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic,  the 2019 showed how quickly new connections can turn around success when graduate Higher Power   sold for $250,000 to Lane's End bloodstock from the consignment of Stidham Racing. The son of Medaglia d'Oro  went on to win the $1 million TVG Pacific Classic (G1) for new owners Hronis Racing while amassing career earnings of over $1.5 million. He now stands Darby Dan Farm for a fee of $10,000 for the 2021 breeding season.