Keeneland Sale Continues on Par With 2015

Buyers with unfilled orders continued to shop the Keeneland September yearling sale during the Sept. 24 penultimate session as numbers for the marathon auction are nearly identical to 2015.

During the first day of the two-day Book 6 portion of the sale, Keeneland sold 168 yearlings for $1,490,300, slightly below the $1,518,800 paid for 170 yearlings during the 12th and final session of last year’s sale. The session average of $8,871 was nearly equal last year’s $8,934, while the median plummeted 46.4% to $3,750 from $7,000 last year.

Cumulatively, 2,645 yearlings have grossed $271,853,900, compared with the $281,496,100 total for 2,645 yearlings sold during last year’s 12-day sale. The average of $102,780 is slightly higher than $102,549 in 2015, while the median of $50,000 remains unchanged from last year.

Randy Miles, shopping on behalf of owners looking for racing prospects and for his pinhooking ventures, said it continued to be difficult to buy the good horses, even deep into the sale, a common theme throughout the entire yearling public auction season.

“It’s a very competitive market for the good horses,” said Miles. “I thought demand for the quality horses would fizzle out near the end of Book 3 or beginning of Book 4. but it continued through Book 5 (ended Sept. 23).

“We bought some racehorses early in the sale, and late in the sale we’ve been trying to buy some horses for ourselves (to pinhook). We’ve only bought five and would have loved to have walked out of here with 10 horses to pinhook. But the demand has been too high for the type we want to buy. But we are happy the market is strong for those horses. We would rather buy fewer horses but play in a strong market. We just have to work harder to buy horses.”

Miles said the market depth at Keeneland bodes well for the Oct. 4 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale in Timonium, Md., and the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Oct. 24-26 yearling sale in Lexington.

The Sept. 24 top price of $90,000 was paid by prominent owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey for a First Defence   colt consigned by Upson Downs Farm, agent. Bred in Maryland by Sagamore Farm, the colt was produced from Listen Boy, a Sagamore-bred daughter of After Market who finished second in the Caesar’s Wish Stakes at Laurel Park and earned $61,950 and is a half sister to stakes winner Monzon. The colt’s extended female family includes grade III winner Keys to the Heart and stakes winner and grade I-placed Avie’s Shadow.

Second-highest price on the day and the top price paid for a filly was the $87,000 winning bid from McMahon and Hill Bloodstock, agent, for a daughter of Trappe Shot   who had a significant family update since the catalog was published. Bred by and consigned by Lakland Farm, the filly is out of the stakes-placed Songandaprayer   mare Stormandaprayer, bought by Lakland for $150,000 from the Denali Stud consignment to the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Harlands Thunder, a 2-year-old Harlan’s Holiday filly half sister to the Trappe Shot yearling filly, has placed in three stakes, including a third in the Schuylerville Stakes (gr. III) at Saratoga Race Course since the September sale catalog was published.

McMahon and Hill, agent, was the session’s leading buyer, spending $111,000 for two yearlings.

Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent, was the leading consignor, selling 14 horses for $135,500.

The sale concludes Sept. 25 with a session that begins at 10 a.m. EDT.