The Keeneland September yearling sale returned from its traditional dark day to kick off its third book on Saturday, and showed continued momentum that generated positive returns, topped by a $525,000 Pioneerof the Nile colt. At the end of trade on Saturday, a total of 253 yearlings sold for revenues of $31,392,500, marking a 35 percent gain from the first session of Book 3 in 2016, when 269 horses brought $23,243,000. The average sale price for the similar sessions rose 44 percent to $124,081 from $86,405, while the median produced a 43 percent boost to $100,000 from $70,000. Saturday’s buyback rate finished at 30 percent, compared with 26 percent in last year’s Book 3 opener. “The session started very quickly and successfully and ran all the way through,” Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s director of sales operations, said. “The prices were very fair and were quite spirited at times in the bidding. People are still hungry to buy. “The transition into the next group of buyers has gone very well,” he continued. “We still have some people left over from the first week, and now we see some new, fresh faces who are participating. “ At the top of the market, one horse eclipsed the half-million mark, tying last year’s comparable session. The number of horses sold for $250,000 or more jumped to 28 from 13. “The feel and the vibe was very good,” Russell said. “The auctioneers said it continued on [from earlier sessions]. Having a day off, sometimes you worry if the atmosphere keeps on rolling, and they said it kept on going. When a special horse came in, they said there was plenty of money for it.” Bloodstock agent Steven Young landed the session-topping Pioneerof the Nile colt for an unnamed client. The bay colt, consigned by Gainesway as agent, is the first foal out of the Elusive Quality mare Bella Fafa. The mare was Group 1-placed in her native Brazil. "I thought he was a Book 1 horse that was in Book 3,” Young said. “He cost about what we thought he would. It appeared like basically everyone in the pavilion bid on him once.” Bred in Kentucky by Goncalo Torrealba’s Stud TNT, the colt’s extended family includes South American Group 1 winners Fanciulla Del West, Reraise, Macbeth, and Victory is Ours, as well as Group 3 winner Cosmopolitan. :: KEENELAND SEPTEMBER: Real-time analysis and streaming video :: Torrealba is president of Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. Chris Baker, the farm’s chief operating officer, noted that there are challenges to marketing a yearling with a heavy international page in the North American auction market, a factor in the colt’s placement in Book 3. "We talked about that plenty and thought it was a concern, that maybe he would be undervalued because of the lack of familiarity,” Baker said, “but obviously, in his case, the sire and the way he looks like the good ones by his sire, superseded that. It was on our mind, but he overcame that, clearly. "He's developed very well physically through the process, but certainly, in general with [catalog] placement, we believe if you're a big fish in a small pond, you're going to sell well,” Baker continued. “He has always been a solid physical, and he just got better with the prep process and became an outstanding physical. We put him on a day where we thought that would stand out, and his pedigree would be less of an issue, and it worked." Violence finished as the day’s leading sire by gross, with nine horses sold for $1,774,000. His second crop of yearlings was led Saturday by a $425,000 filly who sold to Samantha Siegel’s Jay Em Ess Stable. Maclean’s Music was the session’s leading sire by average price among those with three or more sold, with three yearlings hammering for an average of $248,333. Both young sires stand at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm. Led by the session topper, Gainesway was the day’s leading consignor by gross, with 21 horses sold for $4,140,000. Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan capped an active day as the day’s leading buyer, with 16 purchases totaling $3,350,000. No other buyer secured more than eight on Saturday. Ryan’s most expensive purchase was a $375,000 Maclean’s Music colt. Book 3 of the Keeneland September sale concludes on Sunday, and the auction runs daily through Sept., 23, with each session starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. For hip-by-hip results, click here.