Keeneland, Seller Respond to Repole Allegations

On the eve of the 2026 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, owner/breeder Mike Repole raised red flags about the transactional transparency of a filly he'd purchased at the 2025 edition of this sale. Both Keeneland and the breeder of the filly involved disputed Repole's description of the transaction.

On the social media platform X, Repole relayed how he had been bidding on a full sister to grade 1 winner Seismic Beauty  sold as Hip 5 during the 2025 Keeneland September sale. Determined Stud bred the filly by Uncle Mo out of Knarsdale and offered her at the sale through agent Scott Mallory. Repole went to $800,000 and stopped bidding. The filly eventually sold for $900,000 with trainer Cherie DeVaux signing the ticket.

"Thirty minutes later, the consignor offered me the horse for $800,000," Repole wrote on X. "I offered $500,000. They declined, then called back and accepted. I own the horse. I paid $500,000. Yet one year later, Keeneland still publicly reports a $900,000 sale, even though Keeneland invoiced me for $500,000."

Repole questioned why the purchase price for Hip 5 of the 2025 Keeneland September sale remains listed at $900,000 when he paid $500,000.

"If this isn't addressed before that first hip walks into the ring today, how can I, or any buyer, bid with confidence? Are we buying horses, or are we playing a rigged game where only certain people know the rules?" Repole said on X Sept. 14. "These industry leaders love preaching 'transparency.' Stop preaching. Start practicing."

Keeneland responded to the allegation that the transaction on Hip 5 is misrepresented by noting that its policy is to report results as they happened in the sales ring. Hip 5 had been offered without a reserve, according to the sales company and the breeder/seller, Matt Dorman, owner of Determined Stud.

"Keeneland's published summary results reflect what occurs in the sales ring, including the hammer price recorded at the conclusion of bidding," Keeneland said in a statement. "This is consistent with standard auction practices worldwide."

If a sales horse has a reserve and the reserve price is not met, then it is identified in the results as an RNA along with the value of the final bid. If a consignor then sells the horse privately after it has gone through the ring within 30 days after being offered, Keeneland reports the negotiated price in the results and flags the transaction as a private sale.

If the horse does not have a previously set reserve price, then the final bid is recorded as a sale.

"To the best of my memory there was no reserve," Dorman said. "I don't recall the details, but we did buy the horse back because she was a solid horse from Day 1, and I wish the new owner the best."

Other agents and people associated with the sale of Hip 5 also confirmed that the horse was sold without a reserve, but they had been told the seller wanted more than $900,000 for the filly.

Keeneland's conditions of sale notes: "the right to bid in this sale is reserved for all sellers, including their disclosed and undisclosed agents."

In this same section of the Conditions of Sale, it is noted: "Sales results reported by Keeneland may or may not reflect the fair market value of any horse(s) going through the Keeneland's sale as, among other reasons, Consignors may inform Keeneland after the sale concerning horses that may have been initially reported as a sale(s) which are, in fact, not a sale."

Contacted later by BloodHorse, Repole said he remembered being told the reserve on the horse was $495,000 and believed agents acting on behalf of the seller ran up the price and got caught with the horse. 

"We bought the horse for $500,000 and reported it to Keeneland. They did nothing," he said. "Today Keeneland made a public statement that insults every buyer and encourages cheating and corruption with no consequences."

Hip 5 has not been named yet.