81 American Pharoah yearlings cataloged for Keeneland September sale

Eighty-one yearlings from the commercially popular first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and a colt who is a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify will be among the highlights as the Keeneland September yearling sale celebrates its 75th anniversary next month.

Keeneland released the online catalog for the Sept. 10-23 sale on Tuesday, with 4,538 yearlings set for North America’s bellwether sale. The first 989 of those are in the marquee Book 1 portion. Keeneland announced in July that it would alter the sale’s format by offering an expanded Book 1 that will take place over the first four sessions of the sale, Sept. 10-13.

Following a dark day, the auction will continue with two Book 2 sessions, and the sale will continue with Books 3 to 6 through Sept. 23, for a total of 13 sessions. That is one more session than last year, when Keeneland condensed Book 1 to a single highly select session and expanded Book 2 to three days. The front-loaded auction created a trickle-down effect that generated record average and median sale prices and pushed the auction's total revenue past $300 million for the first time since 2008.

The 2017 edition of Keeneland September introduced a bonus system for buyers and sellers of its stakes-winning graduates, which continues in 2018.

The majority of American Pharoah's cataloged yearlings, 66, landed in Book 1, including a half-sister to champion Songbird and a half-sister to classic winner and champion I'll Have Another. American Pharoah is represented by five members of his first crop already sold for seven figures, including a pair of yearlings who led the opening session of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale on Monday night.

A Will Take Charge colt out of the Grade 3-placed Ghostzapper mare Stage Magic will be offered for sale by Glennwood Farm, which also bred and consigned Justify. In addition to the Triple Crown winner, the mare is the dam of Grade 3 winner The Lieutenant.

Perennial leading sire and commercial juggernaut Tapit has 48 yearlings in the catalog, including a half-brother to Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra and a colt out of Horse of the Year Havre de Grace. Commercial rival War Front has 34 yearlings cataloged.

Other catalog highlights include a Medaglia d'Oro colt who is a half-brother to champion Beholder, Grade 1 winner and successful sire Into Mischief, and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn. The latter topped the 2016 Keeneland September sale when he sold for $3 million to Coolmore.