Keeneland November sale closes with gains in gross, average

LEXINGTON, Ky. – With high-ticket horses who finished among the sale's highest prices of all time, a robust international buying bench, and the exciting sale of a fractional interest in superstar Flightline, the Keeneland November breeding stock sale concluded Wednesday evening with gains in several major economic categories.

Keeneland reported 2,245 horses sold through the ring during the 10-day auction, prior to any private sales later factored in, for gross receipts of $210,027,700. During last year's 10-day sale, 2,470 horses sold through the ring for a total of $203,585,500. This year's gross marked the highest since the sale garnered $221,188,000 in 2016.

The cumulative average price for Keeneland November was $93,554, rising 14 percent from $82,423 in 2021. The average, which was fueled by a dozen seven-figure mares and weanlings through the ring, is the highest since pre-recession, when the 2007 sale averaged $100,821, and ranks as the fifth-highest.

“We’ve really made an effort to build up the front end of the sale to make sure we have quality forward and that buyers have the horses they expect to see in the positions they are here for,” said Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales. “Everyone has responded favorably to that move. We really appreciate the consignors and breeders for supporting us in the endeavor because without their buy-in it can’t be achieved."

While the average figures can be fueled by the top of the marketplace, the median is considered a key figure in assessing the health of the marketplace overall. This year's median did drop 5 percent, to $35,000, from last year's record $37,000. It still finished tied for the second-highest all-time.

The buyback rate was the one real blight in a strong but somewhat polarized marketplace. The cumulative buyback rate finished at 22 percent, rising from 17 percent last year. Even consignors who found a strong clearance rate emphasized that the market was seeking quality.

“It was an amazing market this year,” said consignor James Keogh of Grovendale Sales. “Post COVID-19, people are really stuck into this business and are trying to take a swing. Purses are up and betting seems to be holding. . . . With the exception of one or two, we sold every mare we brought in here. The mare market really embraced quality. We have a very sophisticated level of buyer at this sale, and they can sniff counterfeit very quickly.”

The strong figures for the November breeding stock sale are especially impressive considering that this year's sale was not bolstered by the usual offerings of racing stock, an increasingly important segment of the mixed marketplace in recent years. Keeneland November has regularly offered a selection of racing stock in the second week of its run, but this year, in order to create a more dynamic catalog for that fluid marketplace, the horses of racing age have been broken out into their own stand-alone sale set for Thursday, with those figures not factoring in to the breeding stock sale. Last year's horses of racing age, offered in Book 5 of Keeneland November, provided a big shot in the arm to the final figures, led by $825,000 Strava.

However, what it lost by breaking out the racing stock, Keeneland made up with an exciting addition, as it sold a fractional interest in Flightline for $4.6 million less than 48 hours after he concluded his career unbeaten with a dazzling win in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland. Flightline competed for the partnership of Hronis Racing, Woodford Racing – an affiliate of Lane's End Farm, which will debut him at stud in 2023 – West Point Thoroughbreds, Summer Wind Farm, and Siena Farm. That racing partnership has now been converted to a breeding partnership, and what was expected to be a rare opportunity to buy into that partnership came as a 2.5 percent share in the horse was offered from West Point Thoroughbreds, with Lane's End acting as agent.

Lacy said the prospect of offering the share had been discussed for close to three months before it was announced in late October as a catalog addition.

"This was a situation where the stars aligned," Lacy said, adding that the process of auctioning the share was "a mammoth effort on the legal side as well as the logistics side. It was a very exciting venture to be involved in."

Fred Seitz of Brookdale Farm made the winning bid on the $4.6 million share as agent for an undisclosed West Coast-based client.

“It was very exciting; it’s a tribute to Flightline,” Bill Farish of Lane’s End said. “He’s just an incredible horse. There was a tremendous amount of interest. It was so hard to know where something like that would go. It’s the first time anything like this has ever been done with a horse of that magnitude. And there was only one available. It’s an incredible opportunity, and only because it’s Flightline.”

Stallion shares are a rare offering in the public auction marketplace. The most ever paid for a share at Keeneland November was when a share in Nijinsky II – then 16, and an active stallion – sold for $1.4 million in 1983.

Eclipse Award champion racemare Midnight Bisou, in foal to perennial leading sire Tapit, fetched the top price of the sale when she was purchased for $5.5 million by Katsumi Yoshida during Book 1. The three highest-priced broodmares and prospects of Keeneland November are all bound for Japan, as Eclipse champion Shamrock Rose, in foal to Curlin, sold for $3 million to KI Farm; and Yoshida went to $2.7 million for French Group 1 winner Dreamloper.

"The international marketplace was a critical part of the outcome of this sale," said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland’s director of sales operations. "That was very gratifying to see."

Entering the final day of the sale, 29 different countries had been active on the buying bench, Breathnach noted. That was a particularly strong showing in the face of current exchange rates that value the American dollar over a number of international currencies, including the yen.

The international participation was “on the high end of what we could expect, and with the dollar being so high, that's very gratifying," Breathnach said.

Midnight Bisou, who was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales, as agent, tied for the ninth-highest price all time for a broodmare or broodmare prospect at Keeneland November, matching the $5.5 million paid for champion Princess Rooney, in foal to Danzig, in 1985. Midnight Bisou, who is by Midnight Lute and out of the Grade 3-winning Repent mare Diva Delite, won 13 graded stakes, including five Grade 1 events. She sold carrying her second foal.

Yoshida first saw Midnight Bisou in the flesh when she raced internationally in 2020. Later that year, he was the underbidder as Jeff Bloom and Chuck Allen bought out their partners in the mare for $5 million at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale. This time, he prevailed in the bidding war for the young broodmare.

“We’ll take her back to Japan most likely – I’m kind of speechless,” Yoshida said through a translator. “The first time I saw her was in Saudi when she was running for the Saudi Cup. I already knew of her race record, and she was really gorgeous. It was very lucky for us to purchase her. We were very excited when we saw her on the catalog. We are very satisfied. We are very happy with the result.”

Hill 'n' Dale also co-bred, with Dell Ridge Farm, and consigned the sale's highest-priced weanling, a $1.5 million Medaglia d'Oro filly purchased by M.V. Magnier of the international Coolmore group. That tied for the ninth-highest price ever for a weanling filly at the November sale; Teeming, a daughter of Storm Cat and Broodmare of the Year Better Than Honour sold for the same $1.5 million in 2001.

This filly is out of the stakes-winning Storm Cat mare Serena's Cat, a granddaughter of Hall of Fame racemare and blue hen Serena's Song. Serena's Cat is the dam of Eclipse Award champion Honor Code, graded stakes winner Noble Tune, stakes winner Declarationofpeace, and stakes-placed Lady Serena.

This was the fourth seven-figure weanling out of Serena's Cat. Her daughter Serena's Harmony sold for $3 million, the second-highest price in Keeneland November weanling history, in 2014, and Declarationofpeace sold for $2.6 million to tie for the third-highest price the following year.

Tapit finished as Keeneland November's leading sire by gross sales, with his 26 lots sold, including broodmares, prospects, weanlings, and the share in his son Flightline bringing $9,507,000. Reigning leading sire Into Mischief was second on that chart, with 31 lots sold for $6,961,500. By average price, First Dude, the sire of Shamrock Rose, led the way, with his four lots sold averaging $820,000.

The top covering sire of broodmares by gross sales was first-year stallion Charlatan, with 27 mares in foal bringing $8,472,000. By average price, Curlin led the way, with three mares in foal averaging $2,100,000.

Yoshida finished as the sale's leading buyer by gross with his big-ticket purchases in Book 1, spending $9.7 million on three mares. By volume, bloodstock agent Chad Schumer led the way, signing for 51 purchases for $3,385,500. Following on that chart was the K.O.I.D. buying arm from Korea, with 37 purchases totaling $561,700 for that international market.

Fueled by Flightline, Lane's End was the leading consignor by gross sales, with 129 lots sold for $23,460,400.

"It doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, you just have to enjoy it and be proud of everybody who played a part in it,” said Allaire Ryan, Lane’s End’s sales director.

The success of the sale “was a combination of things,” she continued. “You could attribute it to the Breeders’ Cup being right here, but Keeneland did an amazing job recruiting international buyers to come to the sale. It lined up the right way."

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