Although the seven-figure horses emerging in Books 1 and 2 during the first days of the Keeneland September yearling sale will garner the majority of headlines, stellar racehorses can, and do, come out of the second week of the marathon auction. Graduates of the auction’s second week – typically comprising Books 4, 5, and 6 – purchased for modest prices include 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go ($87,000 in 2017), champion and classic winner Swiss Skydiver ($35,000 in 2018), current leading turf female She Feels Pretty ($240,000 in 2022), recent Saratoga Grade 1 winner World Beater ($105,000 in 2023), and Grade 3 winner and fairy-tale Kentucky Derby starter West Saratoga ($11,000 in 2022). Champion Midnight Bisou and multiple Grade 1 winner War Like Goddess were both offered during Book 6 sessions at Keeneland September, but buyers missed out, as neither met their respective reserves. In keeping with that history, and judging this year’s second-week horses to be of high quality during its early season inspections, Keeneland has rebranded the book groupings for the final days of this year’s September sale. Last year, the September sale concluded with a two-session Book 5 and two-session Book 6. This year, the final four days of the sale – offering a total of 1,865 yearlings, or more than a third of the catalog – have been rebranded as Book 5A, on Sept. 17-18, and Book 5B, on Sept. 19-20. “While this shift in terminology is subtle, we believe it more accurately reflects the quality of these sessions and drives the right buyer engagement, ensuring these yearlings receive the buyers and attention they deserve,” said Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales. “Several encouraging developments have driven this decision – the strength of the individuals, the continued growth of the catalog, and the evolving commercial breeding practices that continue to raise the overall standard on offer. This has resulted in a depth and consistency of quality across all 12 days of the sale unlike anything we’ve seen before.” Several consignors sell across all books of Keeneland September, one of those being Lane’s End Farm. Allaire Ryan, Lane’s End’s director of sales, endorsed the change, also hoping it will encourage more buyers to work through all books of the auction. “It’s something that’s needed to happen for a while,” Ryan said. “We try to be pretty proactive with what we sell as weanlings and keeping what we think are going to be the most marketable yearlings on the farm. And we don’t have 30 Book 6-type horses now, we have 30 Book 5-type horses. So I’m glad that they’re changing that, even if it’s just a rebranding. I’m glad they’re changing it to reflect what quality is actually on offer. . . . I know in those long sales, there’s a certain level of buyers’ fatigue that can develop, but I’m hoping it’ll encourage people to work the entire sale, work through the sale, more than if they were to stay through just Book 3.”