Like many consignors, Peter O’Callaghan was concerned about the state of the bloodstock market going into the Keeneland September yearling sale, especially after the previous yearling sales this year had experienced downturns.
Now, with the auction continuing to show vibrancy midway through its second week, O’Callaghan’s Woods Edge Farm is among those having one of the best auctions in recent history.
After the first eight sessions of the marathon auction that continues daily through Sept. 25, Woods Edge had sold 19 head for total receipts of $5,965,000 for an average price of $313,947. Chief among its transactions were two Pioneerof the Nile colts, Hips 1816 and 345, sold for $700,000 and $650,000, respectively. Woods Edge also scored a big pinhooking profit on behalf of a client with a Tiznow colt, Hip 146, purchased for $275,000 as a weanling and sold at Keeneland for $575,000.
“This market is much better than I would have anticipated,” O’Callaghan said the afternoon of Sept. 21 while showing horses at his Keeneland barn while the sale took place up on the hill. “It’s a relief for a great many people after the results of the other sales. It builds optimism for the industry going forward. We needed a bit of an uptick.”
For O’Callaghan, the 2016 September sale ranks alongside the 2013 edition as one of the best for Woods Edge. The farm near Lexington topped the 2013 sale with a War Front colt from the female family of Will's Way and Willa On the Move sold to Coolmore Stud for $2.5 million and a Tapit filly bought by Shadwell Estate Company for $1 million.
O’Callaghan believes the pre-sale predictions of a possible continuation of the declines felt in other yearling sales had an inverse effect on the sale, with buyers descending on Lexington earlier than they normally would.
“With the other sales being down, I think people thought there would be opportunity to buy in Book 1,” he said. “A lot buyers, including pinhookers, came in early and it created a much better sale that has carried through.”
The consignor said another difference in the Keeneland auction from the previous sales is its place on the calendar, coming after the prestigious Saratoga Race Course and Del Mar meets have ended, allowing buyers, especially trainers, ample time to shop for future racing prospects. And the lure of more than 4,600 horses cataloged doesn’t hurt.
“Keeneland is a one-stop shop,” he said. “They can come in here for a couple, or five, or 10 days and fill all their orders. It’s a very good time of the year. There’s a window where they can take off a couple of days.”
If the sale’s strength is due to a reverse psychological effect in which the pre-sale predictions resulted in an influx of buyers who thought it might be a down sale, it could be hard to duplicate next year, according to O’Callaghan.
“I think this may be a one-off because a lot of people thought there would be an opportunity to come in and work the market to their advantage,” he said.
O’Callaghan said despite the sale’s numbers that are ahead of last year and the success of his own horses, there are some weaknesses within the marketplace, especially on yearlings with any defects on the radiographs on file in the sale repository.
“It’s not all blue skies,” he said of the auction. “There have been a lot of RNA’s, especially in Books 1 and 2, and the vetting has been very stringent. It’s a fine line between success and failure. It’s been good when you have the right horse by the right sire and it vets well.”