Keeneland September: Curlin colt sells for $900K in Book 3 opening session

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A $900,000 Curlin colt led the way as the Keeneland September yearling sale returned to action with its Book 3 opener on Saturday.

Keeneland reported that 287 horses sold through the ring on Saturday, the fifth session overall of the 12-session sale, and the first of two in in Book 3, for gross receipts of $50,747,500. In last year's comparable Book 3 opener, 269 horses brought $45,003,000.

Saturday's average price was $176,821, a gain of 6 percent from $167,297 in the corresponding 2021 session. The session's median also rose, by 4 percent, to $140,000 from $135,000.

The session-to-session buyback rate improved slightly to 23 percent from 25 percent.

The session-topping Curlin colt was purchased by a wide-ranging partnership. Joining forces were the BSW/Crow Colts Group, a partnership buying horses intended for trainer Brad Cox; Spendthrift Farm, which has teamed up with that partnership on a number of young horses; and Gandharvi Racing.

Stonestreet Farm, which bred the colt and consigned him via Elm Tree Farm as agent, came back in for a piece of the partnership, a common practice.

Brad Weisbord of BSW spoke to the impact of partnerships on this marketplace.

“It’s been tough to buy this sort of horse,” Weisbord said. “With [partnerships such as] Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola, and the SF group dominating the marketplace, we’ve tried to buy [less expensive horses], but Liz [Crow] and [Spendthrift general manager] Ned [Toffey] said keep going, so that’s what we did.

“We try to stay in the $500,000-$600,000 range, but we thought he was the top colt today, so we stretched. The breeder stayed in for a piece – we think one of the top breeders in the game. For us, all the stars lined up.”

The Curlin colt is out of the Street Sense mare Tangere, dam of one winner from two starters to date. She is a half-sister to Grade 1 winners Tara's Tango and Visionaire, as well as to graded stakes winners Scarlet Strike and Madison's Luna.

Tara's Tango has gone on to enhance the page by producing this year's Grade 3 Virginia Derby winner Capensis. Scarlet Strike is the dam of Group 3 winner Toro Strike, while another half-sister, Zaharias, is the dam of stakes winner Windmill.

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