Keeneland November sale caters to all levels of the market

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There’s a bit of something for everyone at the week-plus of the Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

The auction runs over eight sessions from Tuesday, Nov. 4, through Nov. 11. Including supplemental entries through Oct. 25, there were 3,085 lots cataloged. The stand-alone Keeneland November horses of racing age sale follows on Wednesday, Nov. 12, and had 184 horses cataloged through Oct. 25.

The November breeding stock sale begins with a single-session Book 1, with 220 curated offerings currently in that session. The sale continues with two-session Book 2 and Book 3 portions and a three-session Book 4, which will provide crucial tests of the middle and lower marketplaces. A wide selection of broodmares, for racing or breeding purposes, weanlings, and even stallions and stallion prospects will be on offer.

The Breeders’ Cup will be hosted at Del Mar on Friday and Saturday, and a number of participants will be seen throughout the Keeneland sale. Among them are Vahva and Sarawak Rim, two mares who have been based at Keeneland and will be offered in Book 1.

Grade 1 winner and multimillionaire Vahva, who is trained by Cherie DeVaux, will run in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

“Her graded stakes success at Keeneland makes her return to our sales ring especially meaningful, underscoring the unique connection between our racing and sales,” said Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales.

Vahva will be consigned as agent by Lane’s End, for which DeVaux’s husband, bloodstock agent David Ingordo, serves as an adviser.

“It is strategic on our part to sell Vahva at Keeneland because we believe in the reinvestment of their dollars into the industry and community,” Ingordo said. “I also believe that being able to train her at Keeneland has played a huge role in her development and success.”

Argentine Grade 1 winner Sarawak Rim has spent the last several months training at Keeneland, getting acclimated as she prepares to make her U.S. debut in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Her trainer, Ignacio Correas, is retiring and plans to return to his native Argentina.

Keeneland November’s Book 1 has a number of other connections to the Breeders’ Cup, including Chilean champion and Filly and Mare Sprint entrant Richi, and Lifetime Memory, the dam of Grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic candidate Antiquarian.

There are also Breeders’ Cup connections among the weanlings who will be offered at the sale. A Curlin filly out of Canadian Broodmare of the Year Galloping Ami is a half-sister to several graded winners, including Grade 1 winner and Breeders’ Cup Sprint hopeful Kopion. A filly by rising sire Nyquist is a half-sister to Juvenile Turf Sprint candidate Cy Fair.

Catalog highlights among the racing and broodmare prospects or active broodmares in Book 1 include White Hot, dam of 2021 Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Pizza Bianca; the dams of Grade 1 winners And One More Time and Arabian Lion; and Grade 1 winners Kilwin and Restless Rider.

The Keeneland November sale also includes dispersals of selected stock from some major programs, including Bonne Chance Thoroughbreds, D. J. Stable, and Woodford Thoroughbreds.

Last year’s Keeneland November breeding stock sale was led by $2.4 million Roses for Debra, purchased by Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway. Including private sales, last year’s sale posted gains across the board from the 2023 edition, with 2,159 horses sold for $196,492,900, an average of $91,011, and a median of $40,000.

The picture for the racing age sale – broken out a few years ago from inclusion in the main body of the breeding stock sale, and thus no longer factoring into those final figures – will continue to develop with racing and family catalog updates and supplemental entries.

Last year’s renewal was led by the $675,000 filly Alyeska, purchased by bloodstock agent Steven Young. She led 106 horses who grossed $8,620,500, with an average of $81,325 and median of $47,500.

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