LEXINGTON, Ky. – Yearling sale catalogs are organized alphabetically by the name of the horse’s dam, beginning on a random letter. Conventional wisdom is to hope for the luck of the draw to land later in the session, when market momentum is established. But when the yearlings on offer are a stellar group, like those handpicked for Book 1 of the Keeneland September yearling sale, it doesn’t take long to establish that momentum. The eighth horse through the ring on Monday at North America’s bellwether yearling auction broke the seven-figure barrier, and five of the first 10 horses offered brought $500,000 or more. That activity continued all the way to the end of the day, with the fourth-to-last horse through the ring, a Gun Runner colt from a deep Phipps family, attracting a session-leading $3.3 million. With that colt leading 15 horses ultimately sold for seven-figure price tags, Keeneland September began its 12-session run with double-digit gains in key economic indicators. “It was a good, fun environment,” said Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales. “We put the right horses in front of the right people. . . . It gives us positivity, not just for the next day or two, but for the next 12 days.” Keeneland reported that 106 yearlings sold Monday for gross receipts of $69,240,000 during the first of two sessions that make up Book 1. In last year’s comparable Book 1 opener, 98 horses brought $54,795,000. Both sets of session figures include only horses sold through the ring, not yet accounting for private sales on the grounds that will ultimately be factored into official results. Monday’s average price was $653,208, up 17 percent from $559,133 in the comparable session last year. The median jumped 19 percent, to $537,500 from $450,000. The buyback rate also improved dramatically, to 21 percent compared to 31 percent. The 2024 Keeneland September sale ultimately finished with record numbers for gross and average and tied its record median. “We saw a really healthy environment,” Lacy said. “It’s okay to break records, but the fact that we were able to sustain it – it wasn’t that it was crazy, it was very logical, in a very healthy way. Strong, but logical. I feel like it’s sustainable. Everybody here who came to buy horses, they felt like they had to spend more to get them, and they were willing to do it.” Horse of the Year and Hall of Famer Gun Runner, who stands at Three Chimneys Farm, set an earnings record for a North American freshman sire in 2021 and has quickly transitioned into a prominent general sire, finishing sixth on the earnings list in 2022, third in 2023, and second last year, according to Daily Racing Form statistics. As of Monday, he ranked third this season. Gun Runner was Keeneland September’s leading sire by gross sales last year and got off to a fine start in his title defense, with four seven-figure lots Monday led by his $3.3 million colt. Peter Brant signed the ticket in the name of his White Birch Farm and the Coolmore partners; the latter’s representative, M.V. Magnier, said there are “a couple others as well” in the partnership. Winchell Thoroughbreds later also appeared on the ticket in the official results. Ron Winchell’s operation co-campaigned Gun Runner with Three Chimneys on the track.  Coolmore and White Birch currently race Gun Runner’s champion son Sierra Leone in partnership with Brook Smith. “Gun Runner’s flying,” Magnier said. “And we’ve got Gunite at home at Ashford there, and he was very popular, got a big book of mares.” The family familiarity doesn't stop with Sierra Leone or Grade 1 winner Gunite, who debuted in 2024 at Ashford Stud. This colt is the second foal out of Thoughtfully, a Grade 2-winning juvenile by Tapit. Coolmore and White Birch went to $1.3 million for her first foal, a Curlin colt, last September. He has yet to race but is breezing regularly at Belmont for trainer Chad Brown. “We bought his brother last year, and Chad actually likes him quite a bit, so hopefully he’ll win soon enough,” Magnier said. Both colts out of Thoughtfully were bred by the partnership of Hill ‘n’ Dale and Determined Stud and were consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale. “We knew he was a very smooth, very good horse by a great sire,” Hill ‘n’ Dale’s John Sikura said, pointing out that Gun Runner had his latest of 11 Grade 1 winners, Brant, on Sunday at Del Mar. “You hope for the best. . . . I knew we were strong going in, multiplicity of interest from strong people. After that, you’re just a spectator in the process, and hopefully they all get brave and stay brave” bidding. Thoughtfully is a full sister to stakes winner Signator and a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Annual Report, stakes winner Giant Payday, and stakes-placed Flores Island. Her granddam is Grade 1 winner Furlough, and this is the family of Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Dancing Spree, Grade 1 winners Fantastic Find and Finder’s Fee, and of other stakes performers including Feathered, dam of champion Flightline. Following Gun Runner with the day's second-highest price was Not This Time, with a $2 million filly purchased by the Heider family’s stable, with David Lanigan and Ted Durcan acting as agents. Grade 3 winner Not This Time, who stands at Taylor Made Farm, is already the breakout sire of Eclipse Award champions Epicenter on dirt and Up to the Mark on turf. He has emerged as America’s leading heir to Giant’s Causeway’s branch of Storm Cat’s sireline. Following a strong meet at lucrative Kentucky Downs, Not This Time sits second to Into Mischief, and ahead of Gun Runner, on the general sire list. More success could be in the offing. Not This Time’s current yearlings represent his first conceived on a six-figure stud fee, his fee tripling to $135,000 for the 2023 season. Buyers certainly think so. “I love Not This Time,” Scott Heider said. “We’ve been breeding to him the last three years hoping that he’s going to be something special . . . and he’s been nothing but special. This summer’s been incredible watching what he’s done on the track.” The filly, consigned by her breeder, Hinkle Farms, is out of the stakes-placed Ghostzapper mare Stave, whose first foal is a winner. Stave is out of Grade 2 winner Buy the Barrel, whose daughter Indian Bay is the dam of graded stakes winner Shivaji, of Grade 1-placed stakes winner Tarabi, and of Grade 1-placed Westwood. “I never expect anything like that,” said Anne Archer Hinkle, representing her family’s consignment. “Before we came up here, we thought if we got like $700,000 that would be great. Then after all of the activity surrounding her the past several days and just seeing who was coming back to look at her multiple times, we realized she had a shot to break out and be a star. We’ve never had a yearling viewed that many times.” Like Gun Runner, with four seven-figure lots, Not This Time also had multiple horses to ring the bell, with two on the leaderboard. Other stallions represented by top lots were champion and first-crop standout Flightline (Lane’s End Farm) with three; six-time reigning leading sire Into Mischief (Spendthrift Farm) and kingpin Tapit (Gainesway) with two each; and Constitution (WinStar Farm) and Curlin (Hill ‘n’ Dale) with one each. Keeneland September’s Book 1 portion concludes Tuesday, followed by a two-session Book 2 on Wednesday and Thursday. After the sale’s lone dark day on Friday, the sale continues daily through Sept. 20, with Books 3, 4, 5A, and 5B. For hip-by-hip results, click here. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.