LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland has altered the format for its September yearling sale slightly but will keep the night sessions for its first two days in 2011. The Lexington. Ky., auction house announced Wednesday that it has “tweaked” the format it changed dramatically in 2010. “The changes made to last September’s format were positively received, and largely met Keeneland’s goal to better serve the needs of our customers in today’s dynamic market,” said Keeneland’s vice-president of sales, Walt Robertson. “These alterations reflect a fine-tuning of that format in an effort to help consignors and buyers better navigate the first week and to further encourage buyers to stay deeper into the sale.” Book 1, the auction’s first two, select sessions, will remain unchanged from last year. Those sessions will offer about 200 horses each on Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 11-12, in evening sessions beginning at 7 p.m. Book 2, selling Sept. 13-15, will be trimmed from four days to three, with about 300 horses a day on offer. Last year, Book 2 covered four days with about 325 horses offered each day. The start time this year also will be later, 11 a.m. as opposed to 10 a.m., and there will be single stabling for all Book 2 consignments in an effort to ease logistical troubles consignors had in 2010 with moving between various barns. The auction’s dark day in 2011 will be Friday, Sept. 16, followed by Book 3, which will run from from Saturday, Sept. 17, through the remainder of the sale, with sessions starting at 10 a.m. The auction’s end date will be dependent in part on the sale’s number of eventual nominations.