Keeneland offers 34 horses of racing age in digital sale

As the bloodstock industry grapples with its new normal, Keeneland moves into a new era by debuting its digital auction platform with a select horses of racing age sale on Tuesday.

A catalog of 34 horses has been assembled for the sale, taking place via what Keeneland has dubbed its “digital sales ring.” Bidding will open at 9 a.m. Eastern on the entire catalog. The bidding on Hip No. 1 will close at 2 p.m., with each following hip closing in approximately two-minute intervals after that. Interested parties must pre-register in order to bid and then may either bid manually or enter a maximum amount, with the platform’s software bidding on their behalf up to that amount.

In addition to traditional telephone bidding, auction houses worldwide have been seeking to expand online and other remote bidding options in order to address the market restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Keeneland said in a press release this spring that it had been working on its digital platform prior to the pandemic, but that its efforts were “expedited” beginning in March when it became clear that the pandemic would have long-lasting impacts. Keeneland’s platform, developed with the Kentucky technology company Horseco, is similar to one used by Magic Millions in Australia earlier this year.

“We received positive and constructive feedback after presenting the platform to a focus group of buyers and consignors in early May,” said Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s vice president of racing and sales. “Their input informed the final product that we are making available to the public.”

One of the standouts in the debut catalog is the Grade 2-placed 3-year-old filly Tempers Rising. Through June 19, the filly sat 12th on the points leaderboard toward the Kentucky Oaks for Mark and Nancy Stanley and trainer Dallas Stewart after facing some of the division’s leaders during a winter at Fair Grounds.

Tempers Rising, from the first crop of Bayern, finished third in the Silverbulletday Stakes behind Finite and Ursula, beaten a neck. She finished fourth in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes behind Finite, champion 2-year-old filly British Idiom, and Swiss Skydiver, who beat her a neck for third and has since come back to win three straight graded stakes. Tempers Rising was then second by 2 1/4 lengths to Bonny South in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks.

“She really finishes off her races well,” Stewart said of the filly earlier this year. “I like that in a young horse. . . . She proved that she belongs with this kind. The best thing about her is she’s got a good mind, she likes to run, she never gets tired, and she can go all day.”

Other stakes-seasoned runners entered in the catalog include the 4-year-old colt Surf and Turf, who was third in last year’s Grade 3 Kent Stakes, and the older campaigner Ballagh Rocks, a Grade 3 winner in 2017 and Grade 1-placed in 2018.

The next event on Keeneland’s schedule is its September yearling sale, which the auction house said it intends to conduct in a live auction environment. Keeneland is in development on separate digital technology, as well as the expansion of its phone-bidding capabilities that will integrate with on-site bidding for buyers unable to attend the auction.