Keeneland says September yearling sale on track to open on schedule

As the Thoroughbred racing and bloodstock industry faces an uncertain spring and summer calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Keeneland announced that it plans to run its September yearling sale on schedule. Keeneland September is North America's largest auction of yearlings.

The September sale is scheduled to open Sept. 14, just more than a week after the rescheduled Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5. The sale will run through Sept. 26.

The sale is considered the bellwether for the market in North America as it tests the market at a number of levels, with both pinhookers and international buyers shopping through a nearly two-week run.

“This auction is vital not only to Keeneland, but to the entire Thoroughbred industry and the central Kentucky community at large,” Keeneland president and CEO Bill Thomason said in a release. “The Keeneland sales team is moving forward full steam with plans for the September sale.”

The September sale format will mirror last year's schedule, with a three-day Book 1 portion featuring selected yearlings, followed by a dark day, a two-day Book 2 session, and the rest of the sale continuing on from there. The entry deadline for the September sale is May 1, with the catalog for the sale typically published in August, after inspections and review of the thousands of yearlings entered has taken place to slot them into the various books of the catalog. Keeneland stated that consignors who withdraw horses from the sale by June 12 will not pay any portion of the entry fee. Keeneland in its release recognized that the process of conducting physical inspections of yearlings may be delayed due to travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders in place to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

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Only one juvenile auction has taken place this year, the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s March sale, with the pandemic forcing the cancellation or postponement of sales in April and May, including Keeneland's sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age, which was scheduled to take place this week. The season is scheduled to resume in June and to conclude with a rescheduled Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction from July 14-17.

Fasig-Tipton, the other major Kentucky-based auction house, is scheduled to open the yearling sale season with its July sale of yearlings and horses of racing age in Lexington on July 13-14. In a memo to potential consignors this week, Fasig-Tipton said it could shift those dates, believing it is important for the yearling season to begin after 2-year-old sales have concluded.

“It would be premature to make such a determination at this time,” Fasig-Tipton’s statement read. “We will carefully evaluate and monitor the health conditions throughout the United States in the next few weeks before making that decision.”