LEXINGTON, Ky. - The first yearling Gainesway Farm sent into the Keeneland September ring from its consignment was the first of the sale to bring the hammer down at seven figures. "Your first horse in the ring brings a million, you hope that means all the rest of them are going to go as well," Gainesway general manager Brian Graves said. The day only got better for Gainesway. The farm sold three seven-figure yearlings, including the session-topping $2.3 million Into Mischief filly, and overall, traded 12 of the 15 horses it sent through the ring. Buoyed by that high-ticket trio and five others to break seven figures, the bellwether Keeneland September yearling sale opened Monday with what sales officials felt was a steady marketplace. "It's been a great start," Graves said. "Hope we keep going." Keeneland reported 110 horses sold through the ring on Monday, the first of 12 sessions in the sale, and the first of two sessions making up the elite Book 1 portion. The yearlings brought gross receipts of $55,330,000. The Keeneland September Sale has the same format as last year when 114 yearlings totaled $57,095,000 in the opener en route to a sale that finished with record gross, average, and median figures. The figures do not include horses who failed to meet their reserve in the ring who later sold privately, numbers Keeneland ultimately factors into its final results. Monday's average price was $503,000, ticking upward less than 1 percent from $500,833 in the 2022 opener when nine horses broke the seven-figure threshold. The session's median price did drop 11 percent, to $400,000 from $450,000. "Really the numbers, if you look at the sales results, they were very similar to last year," Keeneland president and CEO Shannon Arvin said. "And we all were biting our fingernails a little bit, thinking about being measured up to last year's sale, which was so phenomenal. But it was very similar to last year's first session. The buyback rate for the session was 26 percent, compared to 21 percent last year. Eaton Sales managing partner Reiley McDonald described the market as very strong in the upper end. "It's running about 50 percent outs and buybacks, but the other 50 percent are selling about 30 percent above what they would have the last couple years," McDonald said. "So I think on the upper end, it's really good. “Where we're going to be tested is the middle end and the lower end, because I think that's where the economy's been hit. But this upper stuff, it's very strong." Shadwell Racing won a prolonged bidding war, with the immediate underbidder working by phone, for the $2.3 million Into Mischief filly who led the day. Into Mischief, the nation's four-time reigning leading sire, was responsible for five seven-figure yearlings on opening day. He has led the past three consecutive editions of this auction by total gross sales. Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum, the daughter of late Shadwell founder Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, was in attendance to work a Keeneland sale for the first time since taking the helm of the international operation, following the death of her father in 2021. Shadwell purchased a handful of yearlings at Keeneland September in 2022, with Sheikha Hissa following from afar. On Monday, the owner and her associates bid from a private room on the Keeneland grounds, purchasing a pair of fillies. "She's such a smart person, she's very much like her father," Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said. "Very passionate, very intelligent, very well-educated in pedigrees and form lines. . . . She knows exactly what she's doing." Gainesway handled the session-topper for breeder Oussama Aboughazale's International Equities Holdings. The filly is out of Delightful Joy, winner of the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks. She is now the dam of three winners from as many starters, including this year's Grade 2 Summertime Oaks winner Window Shopping. :: Bet the races with a $250 First Deposit Match + $10 Free Bet and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Delightful Joy, a half-sister to graded stakes winner Cali Star and stakes winner Seymourdini, is a daughter of emerging broodmare sire Tapit. The cross of Into Mischief over Tapit has proved a solid one, producing Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous. "It was a little more than we thought, but honestly, I thought she'd bring every penny of 1.5 [million]," Graves said. "A top physical, she's out of a graded stakes-winning Tapit mare, who has already produced a Grade 2 winner who's still performing on the track, so she's shown that she can get horses at the top level. And she was one of the best-looking yearlings that I saw this year, period." Gainesway's other seven-figure lots on the day were a pair of Into Mischief colts, sold for $1.7 million to Jersey City Destroyers Stables and for $1 million to Robert Clay's Grandview Equine, respectively. Both colts were bred by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm. "It's good to see Mandy Pope selling million-dollar horses," Graves said of the owner, who has made massive investments into building a star-studded broodmare band over the last decade. Jersey City Destroyers made its single purchase of the day bidding via the internet. The stable's acquisition is out of the winning Indian Charlie mare I'll Take Charge, the dam of multiple graded stakes winner Charge It. I'll Take Charge is out of multiple Grade 1 winner and Broodmare of the Year Take Charge Lady, dam of Eclipse Award champion Will Take Charge and Grade 1 winners As Time Goes By and Take Charge Indy. She is the second dam of champion Take Charge Brandi and Grade 1 winner Omaha Beach. Grandview's seven-figure Into Mischief colt led a pair of purchases for the operation, which bred this year's Kentucky Derby winner Mage. The colt is the second foal out of the Concord Point mare American Gal, winner of the Grade 1 Test Stakes and Grade 1 Humana Distaff. American Gal, out of Grade 2-placed American Story, is a half to stakes winner Americanize. American Story is a half-sister to Grade/Group 1 winners Reynaldothewizard and Seventh Street. The latter is the dam of Grade 2 winner Lake Avenue. The second-highest price of the session was a colt by classic sire Uncle Mo, with Donato Lanni going to $2 million to secure the colt for Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing. Zedan was an active upper-market buyer at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale last month, purchasing the sale's top two lots for a combined $7.3 million. The colt was consigned by Runnymede Farm, which co-bred him with Peter Callahan and Three Chimneys Farm. "It's the second time this year I was in disbelief," Runnymede chairman and chief executive officer Brutus J. Clay III said. Runnymede foaled and raised Derby winner Mage for client Grandview. "We're just thrilled for our partners - they've been incredible to work with," Clay continued. "And our team did a wonderful job, an extraordinary job, getting the horses ready." The colt, one of three seven-figure lots for Uncle Mo, is out of the winning Johannesburg mare Helena Bay, dam of four winners from five runners, led by millionaire Collected. His seven stakes victories were highlighted by the Grade 1 Pacific Classic. In addition to Gainesway's trio of high-ticket graduates and Zedan's big purchase, the day's other seven-figure yearlings were a $1.4 million Into Mischief colt who is the first foal out of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Guarana, purchased by Winchell Thoroughbreds from the consignment of Hill 'n' Dale Sales, as agent. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales A $1.35 million Uncle Mo colt from the extended family of European Horses of the Year and stellar sires Galileo and Sea the Stars, purchased by Coolmore from Penn Sales, agent for Bar C Racing Stables. A $1.35 million Uncle Mo half-brother to champion Midnight Bisou, graded stakes winner Verifying, and stakes winner Stage Left, purchased by West Point Thoroughbreds, Chuck Sonson, and Woodford Racing from the consignment of Hunter Valley Farm. And a $1 million Into Mischief full brother to multiple Grade 1 winner and successful young sire Practical Joke, purchased by John Stewart from the consignment of Eaton, as agent. "I think that's really encouraging," Lacy said in noting the diversity of the buyers. "It's unhealthy if you get one or two entities coming in and controlling the market. It's important that people who come in here feel like they have a chance." For hip-by-hip results, click here.