Champion Abel Tasman sold for an auction-record-tying $5 million to Coolmore to help the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale get off to a strong start, as several key economic indicators, including the average price and buyback rate, were significantly improved during Monday’s opening session. The first of four sessions of Keeneland January finished with 223 horses sold for gross receipts of $21,052,200, a gain of 59 percent compared to 186 sold for $13,265,100 in the first of four sessions last year. Even without Abel Tasman's price tag, the gross would have risen 21 percent, as three horses surpassed the $485,000 fetched by Bellavais to top last year's opening session. A pair of seven-figure horses came during last year's second session. "It was very solid, all across the board," Keeneland's director of sales Geoffrey Russell said. "Even taking [Abel Tasman] out of the numbers, the sale is very well up. Short yearlings were very much in demand; there's a great appetite for them still. "January always, to me, follows on from November, I think. You can look at the [Keeneland November breeding stock sale] and look at this sale and say today was a good continuation." Monday's average price was $94,404, soaring 32 percent from $71,318 in the 2018 opener. The median price did dip 13 percent to $39,000 from $45,000. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales The buyback rate was significantly improved, checking in at a realistic 29 percent in a selective market, compared to 39 percent for 2018's first session. "That's a very positive note," Russell said. "The consignors are doing a good job of evaluating the market and knowing where to be." The undisputed star of the show was Abel Tasman, who could not be missed in the back walking ring as she arrived wearing a scarlet cooler bearing her name and career highlights written in gold lettering. The bidding on the 5-year-old daughter of Quality Road opened at $3 million, and slowly but steadily rose in six-figure increments with a hush in the crowded sale pavilion. After the hammer fell at $5 million, the crowd applauded the mare's exit from the ring. The price tied the $5 million Britton House Stud paid in 2000 for Grade 3 winner Mackie, a half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero in foal to the great Mr. Prospector. "She's a queen, though, isn't she?" Dermot Ryan, manager of Coolmore's Ashford Stud, said after signing the ticket on Abel Tasman. "They're very rare when they come across like that, animals like her. She had everything. She'd be anybody's dream filly to own, wouldn't she?" Ryan said stallion plans are in the process of being finalized for Abel Tasman's first mating, which will come during the Northern Hemisphere breeding season beginning next month. Coolmore, of course, stands Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify at Ashford Stud. American Pharoah's first foals, who have been a commercial success, are juveniles of 2019, while Justify begins his stallion career next month as the most expensive new stallion on the continent. "Hopefully, she'll go on and produce herself from one of our own stallions," Ryan said. "American Pharoah, Justify, Uncle Mo, Galileo - all those directions." Abel Tasman concluded her career with a record of 16-8-4-0 and earnings of $2,793,385. Simon Callaghan trained her to win the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes as a juvenile. Transferred to Bob Baffert early in her 3-year-old season, she won the 2017 Kentucky Oaks, Acorn Stakes, and Coaching Club American Oaks, and also finished second in the Breeders' Cup Distaff to champion Forever Unbridled. She was honored with the 2017 Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly. This year, Abel Tasman added two Grade 1 triumphs in the Ogden Phipps Stakes and Personal Ensign Stakes. However, she tailed off in the final two races of her career, finishing fifth in the Zenyatta Stakes and 11th in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. “She just quit," Baffert said after the latter race. "She just quit running. Sometimes they do that. ... She just doesn't want to run anymore, it looks like.” Abel Tasman, who is an Eclipse Award finalist as outstanding older dirt female on the strength of her spring and summer, was subsequently retired. “Obviously I was disappointed in her last race, but she doesn’t owe us anything,” Bernard Cleary of breeder and co-owner Clearsky Farm said at the time of her retirement. Abel Tasman was bred in Kentucky by Clearsky, with China Horse Club buying into the filly early in her 3-year-old season. Sending a high-profile horse through public auction is a common way to fairly dissolve partnerships. The mare was consigned by Taylor Made Sales as agent for her owners. "I think it was a fair price, but I don't think it was a total premium," Mark Taylor said. "When we came over, I kind of appraised her at $4 to $6 million. Maybe if she would have been ready to go to the sale, if it would have worked ou, in November, when everybody's here and there's a little bit more momentum, you might get a couple more bids. But I thought it was a good price for the seller, and I thought it was a good value for the buyers." Abel Tasman is from a productive female family, boding well for her second career as a broodmare. She is out of the Deputy Minister mare Vargas Girl, also the dam of Grade 3 winner Sky Girl and stakes-placed Moonlight Sky. Vargas Girl is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Bevo, Grade 3 winner Moonlight Sonata, and stakes-placed Carson Hall. Moonlight Sonata, in turn, is the dam of Grade 2 winners Beethoven and Wilburn, as well as stakes winner La Appassionata. The second-highest price of the day came for A Star Is Born, sold for $750,000 to Summer Wind Farm. The winning Galileo mare's first foal is Group 1-placed stakes winner Fleet Review, and she sold carrying a full sibling to that son of commercial standout War Front. Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency consigned A Star Is Born, who is a full sister to Group 1 winner Rip Van Winkle. Fatale Bere, winner of the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks last year, sold for $700,000 to Shadai Farm as the final horse through the ring to close the day strong. The French-bred Pedro the Great filly, who was a supplemental entry, was consigned as a broodmare prospect by Elite Sales. The day's top price among yearlings came in the first hour of the session, as Ardfield Bloodstock paid $375,000 for a colt by leading juvenile sire Into Mischief. The colt, consigned as agent by Taylor Made, is out of the stakes-placed Distorted Humor mare Mary Rita. His third dam is unbeaten champion and blue hen Personal Ensign, with several stakes producers among her daughters and granddaughters. A colt from American Pharoah's second crop sold for $330,000 to Brady Bloodstock. The colt is a half-sibling to Grade 1/Group 1 winners Certify and Cry and Catch Me. The only War Front colt in the day's session sold for $300,000 to de Meric Stables, as agent for Backstretch Farm, and later, a filly from the first crop of Frosted matched that price, going for $300,000 to Renee Dailey to close out the top yearling prices.