2021 Keeneland September sale: Pair of $1 million colts continue momentum as Book 2 closes

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A pair of $1 million colts, by sires Into Mischief and Street Sense, led the way as the Keeneland September yearling sale's Book 2 portion ended with major gains on Thursday evening.

Keeneland reported that 201 horses sold through the ring Thursday, the second and final Book 2 session, for a gross of $48,801,000. In the 2020 Book 2 finale, 195 horses sold for $34,507,000, before any private sales were factored in. Last year's Book 2 began after the single dark day off from the sale. This year, Keeneland positioned Book 2 immediately after Book 1 – the dark day comes Friday – in order to show buyers more horses during the week and keep the momentum from the opening sessions.

"I think a lot of people love the format," said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland’s director of sales operations. "It's speaking for itself in terms of the results that we're looking at."

Thursday's average price was $242,791, up 37 percent from $176,959 in the comparable session of last year's sale, which was, of course, more strongly affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The median was $200,000, soaring 48 percent from $135,000. The buyback rate for the session was 30 percent, compared to 40 percent.

"The median is really important," Breathnach said. "That's that middle ground – what the horses are 'really' bringing, not so influenced by the very high numbers. And the RNA rate's very much in control. . . . This is a sale that's keeping pace with a banner year, which was 2019, and it's really just blowing last year out of the water."

Overall, 620 horses have sold over the first four days of the Keeneland September sale – the two-session Book 1, followed by the two-session Book 2 – for a gross of $200,419,000, compared to last year after four sessions, when 589 had sold for $160,583,000. The cumulative average price at this point is $323,256 percent, tracking upward 19 percent from $272,637 at the same stage in 2020. The median sits at $250,000, up 25 percent from the same point in 2020. The overall buyback rate is 30 percent, compared to 40 percent.

A blockbuster Book 2 fueled the double-digit overall gains. Book 1 posted its usual run of high-ticket horses, with 11 seven-figure offerings in all, leading to a 7 percent gain in average from its 2020 counterpart. Book 2 came roaring in its wake, finishing with four seven-figure horses, compared to just one last year, and two in the final pre-pandemic edition in 2019. Those included a $1.7 million City of Light colt sold on Wednesday to take the overall sale lead. Keeneland officials said that according to their recollections, a sale-topper had not emerged from outside of Book 1 in the last 15 years. Bolstered by that activity, Book 2 finished with a 34 percent gain in average from its 2020 counterpart.

"Cannot complain about anything that's gone on this week," said Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales. "I think it's been extremely strong, and very, very deep, and it's been a powerhouse week one."

Mike Ryan signed the ticket, as agent, for a partnership that came together for the Into Mischief colt who was the first to seven figures to set the bar at Thursday’s session. He said the colt would be trained by Chad Brown.

"He looks like a horse that hopefully would run at Saratoga next summer and strike out from there," Ryan said.

The colt, who was consigned by breeder Greg Goodman's Mt. Brilliant Farm, is out of Grade 3-placed stakes winner Secret Someone. The A.P. Indy mare is out of the stakes-winning Unbridled mare Private Gift, whose daughter Gift List produced Grade 1 winner Dunbar Road. Private Gift also provided a catalog update in August when her daughter Private Mission, by Into Mischief, won the Grade 3 Torrey Pines Stakes at Del Mar. Ryan cited those pedigree connections as an attractor.

"I'm very familiar with the family because a good client of mine bred Dunbar Road – I bought the dam of Dunbar Road," he said. "It's a family that I'm familiar with, and I own some mares from the family. We bid a long way on Private Mischief, a three-quarter sister to this filly. She's 3 for 4, she won the Torrey Pines. She could be anything. So we know the pedigree works. He reminded me an awful lot of Practical Joke. If he runs to his pedigree, top and bottom, sire and the female line, he's got terrific stallion potential. The dam is by A.P. Indy and the second dam is by Unbridled. Empire Maker and Unbridled under Into Mischief has been very, very successful – Mandaloun comes to mind."

Private Gift, a $2.3 million purchase by Mt. Brilliant at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale, is out of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Private Status, making her a half-sister to Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Status. Grade/Group 1 winners Fair Maiden, Maria Candela, and Miss Brio also appear on the catalog page.

“We loved the horse," Goodman said. "We put a low reserve just to get him started, because we knew he could do the work himself. We love his family. Private Gift is the first really expensive horse I ever bought. I have sold a lot of the family and kept a lot of the daughters. He could not be in better hands, and I am so happy about it."

Later in the session, the Street Sense colt matched the session's top price, selling to the partners dubbed the BSW/Crow Colts Group, working with Spendthrift Farm.

This group is a partnership that began buying colts intended for trainer Brad Cox's barn in August, under the auspices of BSW Bloodstock founder Brad Weisbord and bloodstock agent and business partner Liz Crow.

"It's a stallion-making group," Weisbord said. "We want to have fun along the way, but Brad Cox's goal was to make a stallion and to make this whole thing make sense. We want to return some capital to the partners. . . . We're trying to make stallions, and that's the way to turn a profit in this game.

"Liz loved the horse,” Weisbord continued. “Ned [Toffey, Spendthrift general manager] loved the horse, Eric [Gustavson, Spendthrift owner] loved the horse, Brad Cox was giddy."

The May foal, consigned by breeder Farfellow Farms, is out of the stakes-placed Aptitude mare Critikal Reason, dam of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Bajan and Grade 3-placed Virtual Machine. Critikal Reason is out of the Argentinian Group 2 winner Critikola, making her a half-sister to Kentucky Oaks winner Lemons Forever. The latter is a Broodmare of the Year honoree, producing Breeders' Cup Distaff winner and Eclipse Award champion Forever Unbridled and fellow Grade 1 winner Unbridled Forever.

"We have bred the whole family starting with Critikola," Farfellow's Kip Knelman said. "He just kept getting better and better. Our farm manager and staff at the farm did a marvelous job. We handle our horses all the time from the time they are babies. He was a real gentleman the whole time."

Flirting with a session lead-tying price, but ultimately landing a solo third on the leaderboard, was a $950,000 Violence colt purchased late in the day by Jacob West, bloodstock agent for Repole Stables and St. Elias.

The colt, consigned by breeder KatieRich Farms, is out of the winning A.P. Indy mare False Impression, dam of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Standard Deviation and stakes-placed Dr Schultz. Kentucky Oaks winner Believe You Can appears on the catalog page.

Following its day off on Friday, the Keeneland September sale continues its run from Saturday through Friday, Sept. 24, with Books 3 through 5.

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