LEXINGTON, Ky. – The first four days of the Keeneland September yearling sale produced 30 seven-figure yearlings, all bound for top stables with big hopes for them. But don’t be surprised if a star also comes out of the second week of the September sale, North America’s largest of its kind. Following Books 1 and 2 on Monday-Thursday, featuring yearlings considered to have the strongest conformation and pedigrees at the time of cataloging, the September sale took its traditional dark day on Friday. It was to resume with a two-session Book 3 over the weekend and continues with daily sessions through Sept. 24, making up Books 4, 5, and 6. This second week of the sale will be a test of the middle and lower markets, which ultimately make up large segments of the Thoroughbred industry. Although the later books of Keeneland September typically don’t include seven-figure firepower, they are still likely to include future major winners. Graduates of the second week of the sale in the last five years include Horse of the Year Knicks Go ($87,000 in 2017), Eclipse Award champion Swiss Skydiver ($35,000, 2018), and Grade 1 winners including Casa Creed ($105,000, 2017), Colonel Liam ($50,000, 2018), Eda ($240,000, 2020), Mischevious Alex ($75,000, 2018), Rattle N Roll ($220,000, 2020), Search Results ($310,000, 2019), Spendarella ($220,000, 2020), Super Stock ($70,000, 2019), Two Emmys ($4,500, 2017), and Zandon ($170,000, 2020). “I think one of the strengths of the sale is that good horses come out of every book, and we know that,” Keeneland’s director of sales operations Cormac Breathnach said. “They’re harder and harder to find. They’re not as obvious on paper, but there are always horses in the middle and later books that have updates, and maybe don’t have quite the sire power or had quite the pedigree at the time of placement to end up in the front. There’s good reason to stay involved, and we’re expecting that to drive the buyer base deep into next week as well.” Keeneland reported that the average sale price sat at $354,245 through Books 1 and 2, a gain of almost 10 percent from the same point last year, while the median jumped 10 percent, to $275,000. The buyback rate was 26 percent, improved from 30 percent at the comparable point of 2021. The competitive front end of the marketplace could lead to a trickle-down effect of increased bidding competition in the second week as some buyers seek to finish filling their orders after being shut out during week one. “I spoke to one of the biggest buyers on the way in this morning, and they said they vetted 38 horses yesterday, and only managed to buy one,” Breathnach said. “That was pretty staggering to hear. It’s frustrating for them, I’m sure, but it is what creates a buoyant market like we’re seeing here, and hopefully putting a lot of money in our breeders’ pockets as well.” Buyers still shopping after the early books will have to contend with the traditional middle-market buyers who are just getting started. “It is very active in the barns,” Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said. “There is a whole wave of pinhookers from Europe who are just arriving. There are a lot of international people who are coming for the first time or the first time in a long time. I predict the market to be energetic through the entire sale.” The final days of this sale will see a slight format shift from last year. The 2021 sale concluded with a three-session Book 5, while this year’s sale finishes with four sessions over the final two books due to the number of horses entered to sell. “People are going to find good horses all the way through the books,” Lacy said. “I think we will run out of horses before we run out of demand.”