Vibrant Keeneland November Sale Concludes

The Keeneland November Breeding Sock Sale concluded Nov. 16, seeing healthy gains and vibrant worldwide participation. The 10-day event was held on the heels of the remarkable Breeders' Cup World Championships at Keeneland. 

The sale was highlighted by Midnight Bisou , who was hammered down to Japanese buyer Katsumi Yoshida at $5.5 million during the opening session Nov. 7. 

"We put effort into building up the front end of each catalog and sale to ensure we have quality forward. The buyers were presented with horses they expect to see in the positions they were here for," said Tony Lacy, Keeneland's vice president of sales. "We appreciate our consignors and the breeders supporting us in that endeavor, and I feel like the buyers responded." 

This year the deep buying bench saw 13 offerings bring over $1 million topped by Midnight Bisou, 2019 champion older dirt female, who sold in foal to leading sire Tapit  ; she was consigned as Hip 235 by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa for owners Jeffery Bloom and Chuck Allen.

"With the close of the November Breeding Stock Sale, Keeneland is nearing the end of a remarkable fall season. We send a sincere thank you to everyone who supported our September and November Sales, fall meet, and Breeders' Cup," Keeneland president and CEO Shannon Arvin said. "Since September, we have been hard at work to showcase the best in Thoroughbred racing and sales, and we are privileged to have had the opportunity to share Keeneland with a global audience. Our November Sale benefited from the excitement of the Breeders' Cup, the sale of the Flightline interest, and the fireworks of Book 1, creating positive experiences from start to finish."

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy a 2.5% interest in Breeders' Cup Champion Flightline   got the ball rolling during the sale's first session, seeing a packed pavilion and a new virtual reality experience in the metaverse put into action. The four-time grade 1-winning, undefeated son of Tapit lit up the bid board, with electric action that stopped in Freddy Seitz's favor. Seitz was victorious at $4.6 million, acting as agent for an undisclosed client.

"We are trying to push boundaries all the time, and this was a situation where all the stars aligned," Lacy said. "When Flightline was brought into the conversation as a possibility to sell a fractional interest in him in November, everything started to engage. After he won the (TVG) Pacific Classic (Stakes, G1), things got real coming into the Breeders' Cup. The whole industry was absolutely in awe of what he had achieved and his future as a stallion. To put something like this together, which was a mammoth effort on the legal and logistics sides, was a very exciting adventure for all of us to be involved in. I want to thank West Point, Lane's End, and all the partners in Flightline who made this happen. It went off better than we could have expected."

At the close of the final session Nov. 16, Keeneland reported 154 of the 187 horses to go through the ring Wednesday sold for gross receipts of $1,148,600, with an average price of $7,458 and a median of $3,600. Thirty-three individuals failed to meet their reserve to represent an RNA rate of 17.6%.

The final day of last year's sale was bolstered by the Horses of Racing Age portion, which this year will be held as a stand-alone sale Nov. 17.

During the final session last year, 231 horses of the 262 on offer sold for gross figures of $9,122,400, at an average of $39,491 and a median of $14,000. Thirty-one horses remained unsold, representative of an RNA rate of 11.8%.

"In November Book 1, there were 45% more weanlings than in the previous year's book. We truly had great support from the breeders and consigners. We depend on them heavily," Cormac Breathnach, director of sales at Keeneland, said. "This sale is only as good as the catalog you can put together. The feedback has been excellent, and the markets have been bullish, so we're enjoying a good time in the industry and terrific support from everybody."

Cumulatively over the 10 sessions, 2,324 of the 2,868 horses on offer sold for gross receipts of $211,730,400, showing a marginal increase of 1.9% over the previous year. The average price increased by 11.1% to $91,106 and the median dipped by 5.4% to $35,000. Five hundred forty-four horses failed to attain their reserve, representing 19.0%.

Cumulative figures for 2022 do not include the $4.6 million fractional interest in Flightline to help present an accurate comparison to the previous year.

Cumulatively last year, a total of 2,534 horses sold of the 2,988 through the ring for gross figures of $207,835,500, with an average of $82,019 and a median of $37,000. Four hundred fifty-four horses failed to meet their reserve, representing an RNA rate of 15.2%.

"The international market was a critical part of the outcome of the sale. The Japanese buyers were extremely active, especially at the top, despite a swing in the exchange rates, not in their favor over last year," Breathnach commented. "It was gratifying to see Mr. Yoshida buy Midnight Bisou for $5.5 million. Among many other horses that were bought and sent overseas was gratifying, especially for the connections of Midnight Bisou, who sold her. We are grateful to all of the international participants; we had buyers from 29 countries participate at the sales, which was on the high end of what we were expecting; with the dollar being so small, it's very pleasing to get the international support."

Katsumi Yoshida spent gross receipts of $9,700,000 on three purchases to be the leading sales buyer. Those purchases included Midnight Bisou, French group 1 winner Dreamloper , who contested the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile Presented by PDJF (G1T) and sold for $2.7 million, and $1.5 million for grade 2 winner Jouster .

The weanling market continued to be highly competitive, producing North America's top-priced weanling for the fourth consecutive year. Results proved the demand for quality individuals: Fifty-two weanlings sold in Book 1 for $12,715,000 for an average of $244,519 and a median of $200,000.

A weanling filly by Darley's leading sire Medaglia d'Oro   out of the stakes-winning Storm Cat mare Serena's Cat  realized $1.5 million from Coolmore's M.V. Magnier. Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa consigned the filly as Hip 161. The filly is the highest-priced weanling sold at the Keeneland November Sale since 2015.

Bill Farish's Lane's End Farm traded 128 of their 140 horses (129 of 141 including Flightline's share) under their banner for receipts of $18,860,400 ($23,460,400), at an average price of $147,347 ($181,864) per head, to be the leading consignor by gross.

Gainesway's prolific sire Tapit once again led from start to finish being responsible for siring 26 horses sold for a total of $9,507,000, at an average of $365,654, bolstered by Flightline. Spendthrift Farm's Into Mischief   was leading sire by gross excluding the stallion share, with 31 hips selling for $6,961,500 and averaging $224,565. Newcomer Charlatan   was recorded as the covering sire for 27 mares who sold for gross receipts of $8,472,000, at an average of $313,778 per mare, to be the highest grossing covering sire.

With the breeding stock sale concluded, buyers can switch gears Nov. 17 for the Keeneland Horses of Racing Age Sale, which begins at noon ET, giving trainers and buyers plenty of time to see the in-form stock on the grounds.

Lacy explained: "For the first year, the Horses of Racing Age will run as its own sale for several reasons: having a later deadline allows people to fine-tune their plans with horses that are actively running. It's a more dynamic catalog; we can feature it with a greater online presence and more form figures and data associated with each offering, which is a little difficult to do when you have an Aug. 1 entry deadline like you do for the breeding stock sale; you're confined by the number of horses in each session. And another big reason why, those racehorses, which were usually cataloged in the second half of the later parts of Books 3 and 4, would take up spots that breeders wanted mares and foals to be in."

As of Wednesday evening, the catalog of 356 horses has decreased to 206, scheduled to go under the hammer tomorrow, with 150 individuals being withdrawn from the sale.

"It's its own sale now; it can have its own identity, have its own dynamic catalog, and builds from here. It allows it to go forward because the horse-in-training market is quite strong and something that we see as a growing area as we go forward," Breathnach said. "The position in the calendar, at this time of year, is the season where people are transitioning to new locations for winter racing. Overall, you can buy or sell stock that you think is where you're going or will be better off elsewhere."