Hystericalady a bright spot on down day
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Topped by $3 million Hystericalady, Keenelands November breeding stock auction ended its opening day Monday with precipitous declines as compared to last years opener, which had included a world-record broodmare price from the Swettenham Stud dispersal.
With no similar offerings Monday, the 2008 auction sold 149 horses for a total of $48,021,000, a drop of 56 percent from last years tally of $109,064,000 for 194 horses at last years equivalent session. The 2008 average of $322,289 was down 43 percent, and median plummeted 32 percent to $185,000. The session sold 11 seven-figure horses, as compared to 28 at the 2007 opener.
The buy-back rate nearly doubled from 19 percent last season to 38 percent on Monday.
Keeneland officials blamed a vastly different catalog and the general economic downturn as major factors in the 2008 losses.
The 2007 session featured the world-record $10.5 million sale of Playful Act to Sheikh Mohmmed al-Maktoum; that record, incidentally, was broken Sunday night at Fasig-Tiptons November sale, when Better Than Honour brought $14 million from Southern Equine Stables, the mares 70 percent owner, who was buying out 30 percent owner John Sikura of Hill n Dale Farm.
Session topper Hystericalady sold to Maktoums Darley Stud. Owners George Todaro, Jerry Hollendorfer, and Tom Clark sold the 5-year-old Distorted Humor mare through the Taylor Made Sales agency. She is a Grade 1 winner with more than $2.2 million in earnings.
Other high prices Monday included $2.5 million for Away, carrying a full sibling to Eight Belles, that Maktoum bought from Three Chimneys, agent; $2.3 million Shadow Cast, a Grade 1 winner in foal to Bernardini, another Ferguson purchase from the Lanes End agency; and $1.5 million for Apasionata Sonata, carrying a full sibling to Bsharpsonata, that King Abdullah bought from the Taylor Made agency.
The sale, which featured a record catalog of 5,709 horses, was scheduled to run through Nov. 17 with sessions starting daily at 10 a.m. in Keenelands sale pavilion.
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