$500,000 Karakontie colts tops opening Book 5 session at Keeneland September sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A colt by Karakontie set off early fireworks Tuesday at the Keeneland September yearling sale, selling for $500,000 to kick-start Book 5, the penultimate book of the auction.

Keeneland reported 253 yearlings sold in Tuesday's session, the first of two in this Book 5 portion, for gross receipts of $6,484,100. The average price was $25,629, while the median was $15,000. The buyback rate finished at 18 percent, a stellar figure in what has become an increasingly selective marketplace. After opening with a 40 percent buyback rate in last week's Book 1 portion, the rate has steadily improved as Keeneland September progresses; the rate one session prior to this was 24 percent.

The session-leading Karakontie colt was just the second horse through the ring Tuesday and was purchased by Marsha Naify. His price was exceptional for the later books of this sale; for comparison, the Book 5 toppers in the last three editions of Keeneland September sold for $180,000, $170,000, and $300,000, respectively. The colt's price was more than double that of the second highest-priced horse in the session, a $240,000 Speightster colt.

The colt was consigned as agent by Gainesway, which also stands the Japanese-born millionaire Karakontie in Kentucky. The Bernstein stallion, who is from the female family of prominent sire Kingmambo, was a Group 1-winning juvenile in France and went on to take the French 2000 Guineas the following season before traveling to the United States to win the 2014 Breeders' Cup Mile. His oldest foals are 3, and he is the sire of Grade 3 winner Sole Volante, Group 3 winner Kenzai Warrior, and three other stakes winners.

Karakontie's high-ticket colt is the first foal out of the Speightstown mare Untouch, a half-sister to stakes winner Mr. Big News, who was third in the Kentucky Derby. This is the immediate family of Canadian Horse of the Year Glorious Song, who produced multiple stakes horses, including the globe-trotting champion Singspiel and successful sire Rahy. It also is the family of champion juvenile Devil's Bag, Grade 1 winner Sligo Bay, and of graded stakes winner and prominent sire Saint Ballado.

The Keeneland September sale continues through Friday. For hip-by-hip results, click here.