Candy Ride colt contributes to strong Book 2 finish at Keeneland September

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland September wrapped up its Book 2 portion on Saturday night with continued momentum, as a pair of $1 million colts in the book helped fuel across-the-board gains.

Both of the seven-figure lots in Book 2 were sired by stallions standing at the Farish family's Lane's End Farm, with a $1 million Union Rags colt sold Friday and a Candy Ride colt matching that price on Saturday. The operation also consigned the Union Rags colt, as agent.

"It lined up well for us," Bill Farish said. "We had some really good horses in this book, and it was great to see a couple of our stallions represented there at the top."

The 224 yearlings sold in Saturday's session, close of the two-session Book 2 segment, generated revenues of $43,356,000. This year, Keeneland has again tweaked the format of its top-market portions in Books 1 and 2. Book 1 made up the auction’s first three days with a total of 569 hips cataloged, compared to four sessions with 989 cataloged in 2018. The size of the Book 2 catalog is 730 horses compared to 826 last year, both over two days. Because of the changes and differing catalog sizes, year-to-year comparisons for some figures, notably gross receipts, are not applicable. However, the activity thus far at Keeneland has compared favorably when placed in context against similar sections of the marketplace.

Saturday's average price for the fifth overall session finished at $193,554, a 42 percent gain from $136,568 in last year's corresponding Book 2 closing session, the sixth in the sale overall. The overall Book 2 average price finished at $219,292, up 38 percent when compared with $158,948 last year.

"We made a concerted effort to trim the numbers a little bit," Keeneland director of sales Geoffrey Russell said. "Our goal was to continue on with the quality from Book 1, to keep the quality level as high as we can, and the numbers reflected that that went very well.

Strong activity at the top of the market helped boost those average figures. Two horses sold for seven figures in Book 2, compared to a single seven-figure horse last year, but beyond that, a total of 25 horses sold for $500,000 and up, easily bettering the 17 to reach that threshold in 2018's Book 2. The number of high-ticket horses was helped along by this year's smaller Book 1 portion, as horses who may have been slotted in that book last year, perceived as top-quality offerings, instead slipped into Book 2, creating strong activity at the top of the market.

"She was actually our top horse, even including of Book 1," Courtlandt Farm manager Ernie Retamoza said after that outfit purchased a $975,000 American Pharoah filly on Friday who ranked as the third-most-expensive horse of the book. "We thought she was Book 1 quality . . . [The market is] strong on the ones we were after, I'll tell you that. We were having to stretch a little bit."

The median price for Saturday was $160,000, rising 36 percent from $117,500 in the corresponding session. The buyback rate was 30 percent, compared to 29 percent.

Through the first five sessions of Keeneland September, comprising Books 1 and 2, the cumulative average price sits at $328,724, up 24 percent from $265,661 at the similar point last year, the first six sessions making up Books 1 and 2. The median price currently sits at $250,000, up 25 percent from $200,000. The overall buyback rate is 28 percent, compared to 27 percent at this point in 2018.

"That just tells you where the market is, it's consistent to last year," Russell said regarding the steady buyback rates. "We take that as a good positive."

The $1 million Candy Ride colt who led Saturday's session was purchased by Peter Fluor and K.C. Weiner's Speedway Stable.

"Our whole team loved him," said bloodstock agent Marette Farrell, who signed the sales ticket. "Every single person on my team loved this horse from the very first sighting. He took my breath away. We were the underbidder on [Candy Ride's graded stakes winner] Mastery a couple years ago, and for me, this horse gave me that same feeling. He's very easy on the eye, such a good mover, and an amazing demeanor. I saw him at the beginning of the day and I saw him at the end of the day, and he looked the exact same, and that was very important to me."

The colt is out of the Leroidesanimaux mare Always a Princess, who was a multiple Grade 2 winner and also Grade 1 placed. Out of multiple stakes winner Gabriellina Giof, the mare is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Gabby's Golden Gal.

The colt was consigned by Don Robinson's Winter Quarter Farm, as agent for breeder Arnold Zetcher.

"I'm speechless," Robinson said. "He was so popular, I knew he would be at the top of this sale, or up there. he's probably the most popular, the most well-received yearling I've ever brought to the sale. People that usually keep their mouths shut told me this was the best-looking horse on the grounds, so I didn't have to do anything."

Young sire Union Rags was represented by his second seven-figure lot of the sale on Friday as the partnership of SF Bloodstock, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables went to $1 million to acquire a colt by the stallion.

“He’s a big, obvious horse," Tom Ryan of SF Bloodstock said. "Competition was strong from all over the ring as I could see. We found ourselves in the position where that’s what we had to give if we wanted to buy him.”

The Union Rags colt, out of the winning Smart Strike mare Miss Squeal, was bred in Kentucky by G. Watts Humphrey, Jr., and was consigned by Lane's End. Miss Squeal is out of stakes-placed Miss Kate, making her a half-sister to stakes winners Katerbug, Outplay, and Raconteur. Japanese champion To The Victory and Belmont Stakes winner Creme Fraiche appear on the catalog page, as do Grade 1 winners Clear Mandate, Dream Deal, Romantic Vision, and Strong Mandate.

For hip-by-hip results, click here. Keeneland September continues on until Sept. 22 with Books 3 through 6.