Keeneland sale session sees gains over '09

LEXINGTON, Ky. - WinStar Racing's strong draft of racing-age horses provided a batch of six-figure horses that lit up a rainy day at Keeneland's November breeding stock sale and helped the ninth session produce a long-awaited gain in gross and average.

Seven WinStar horses brought $100,000 or more, led by the $380,000 juvenile winner Funny Sunny. Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm purchased the Sharp Humor filly. She won her first start, a Hoosier Park maiden race, by 2 1/4 lengths on Oct. 13 for WinStar and trainer Richard Budge. She is a half-sister to stakes-placed Awesome Launch.

The session ended with 250 horses bringing $5,670,200, a 70-percent increase over last year's equivalent session gross for 236 horses. Average price also leaped 60 percent, from $14,139 to $22,681. But median remained exactly level with last year's figure at $10,000.

The cumulative figures through day nine were still running behind last year's numbers. The 13-day sale's first nine sessions sold 2,174 horses for a total of $141,815,800, 8 percent less than last year's figure for 2,022 horses. The nine-day average stands at $65,233, down 14 percent, and the $25,000 median is 22 percent lower than last year's at the same stage of the sale.

WinStar horses accounted for eight of the session's top 10 prices. One of the two non-WinStar horses to bring more than $100,000 was 2008 Belmont Stakes winner Da' Tara. Consigned by the Lane's End agency, he sold for $180,000 to Foye Genetics, agency.

The other six-figure WinStar lots were $340,000 Glint, by Sharp Humor, who sold to Kevin and Tammie Hulse; $205,000 Crystal Moment, who sold to Mary K. Grum; $200,000 Tabby, to Janis Whitham (Frank Penn, agent); $200,000 Keep Me Informed, to Paul Pompa, Jr. (Hidden Brook, agent); $125,000 Bluegrass Bull, to Patricia B. Blass; and $115,000 Antidote, to Doug Cauthen, agent.

One other horse brought $120,000. That was the 8-year-old Storm Cat mare Cat Dancer, consigned by Bluewater Sales, the receiver for horses being sold because of the bankruptcy of a number Stonewall Farm. Glen Hill Farm bought the mare. She was cataloged in foal to Strong Contender.

The sale was to continue through Nov. 20. Sessions begin daily at 10 a.m. in Keeneland's sale pavilion