Keeneland sale: Saturday's fifth session off to a good start
After posting gains in average and median prices Friday, the Keeneland November breeding stock sale opened with solid early figures in its fifth session on Saturday, as nine horses sold for six figures through the first five hours.
Through the first 136 horses sold Saturday, gross receipts totaled $5,771,700, for an average price of $42,439 and a median of $35,000.
The fifth session of 2011 finished with an average price of $47,507 – or $45,149 without 26 horses included from the record-setting dispersal of the late Edward P. Evans’s Spring Hill Farm.
Sekmet, a full sister to Grade 1 winner In Lingerie, was the Saturday session topper as of 3 p.m., selling to Besilu Stables for $310,000. Winter Quarter Farm, agent, consigned Sekmet, a 7-year-old Empire Maker mare in foal to City Zip. Out of the Grade 2-winning Storm Cat mare Cat Chat, she is from the family of champion Phone Chatter.
A Candy Ride colt was the top-priced weanling early, with Maverick Racing buying him for $220,000. Consigned by Lane’s End, agent, the colt is out of the stakes-placed Smart Strike mare Magical Theater.
Friday’s session at Keeneland finished with 224 horses sold for a total of $18,567,500. The average price was $82,891 and the median $70,000, both gains over the fourth session of 2011. Last year’s session included 257 sold for $20,265,700, an average of $78,855 and median of $50,000. The average rose 5.1 percent from 2011 and the median by 40 percent.
The decrease in number of horses sold and gross receipts were accountable to the presence of a number of horses from the Evans dispersal in last year’s fourth session.
“It was a good day, all in all,” said Walt Robertson, Keeneland’s vice president of sales. “Weanlings held up good, and mares with good pedigrees sold really well.”
Friday’s session-topper was the stakes-winning American Lady, who sold for $350,000 to Castleton Lyons. A 4-year-old Stormy Atlantic filly, she was offered as a racing or broodmare prospect by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency. Out of the winning Rubiano mare Comfort Zone, American Lady is a half-sibling to three stakes horses, most notably multiple Grade 3 winner The Pamplemousse.
Friday’s top-priced weanling was a $210,000 colt from the first crop of Eskendereya, purchased by Stonestreet Farm. Eaton Sales, agent, consigned the colt, a half-brother to Grade 2 stakes winner Eaton’s Gift