Keeneland September: Records set for gross, average, median

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Early in the Keeneland September yearling sale, with seven-figure horses flying out of the barns left and right, Hill 'n' Dale's John Sikura made an early assessment.

“It’s a very strong market. It feels like the best sale in a decade," Sikura said. "There are a lot of people giving a lot of money for a lot of good horses.”

That would prove not to be hyperbole. The September sale - the largest of its kind in North America, and considered the bellwether for the marketplace - traded 30 seven-figure horses, the most since prior to the 2008 recession. And after a 2021 renewal that rebounded from a coronavirus-hampered 2020 edition, the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale continued to build on that momentum, smashing the record gross established in 2006 and bettering last year's records for average and median.

Keeneland reported that 2,847 horses sold through the ring for gross receipts of $405,495,700 at the 12-session sale, which concluded Saturday afternoon. The sale was arranged into six books of two sessions each. The gross had already, with two sessions remaining, eclipsed the prior record gross established in 2006, in the heyday of the marketplace prior to the 2008 recession. That sale grossed $399,791,800 from 3,556 horses sold over 14 sessions.

The sales figures Keeneland initially reports include horses sold in their trip through the ring only, and not private sales negotiated on buybacks later on, which are factored into the auction company's official figures that are published in media guides and other communications at a later date.

“There was almost a sense of euphoria for a number of days,” Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said. “It carried all the way through.”

At last year's Keeneland September sale, 2,671 horses sold through the ring in an 11-session sale for an initial final gross of $352,815,500. Last year's sale was arranged into five books. The September sale's format of the first week this year remained consistent from 2021, with Books 1 and 2 prior to a "dark day" of the sale on Sept. 16, in an effort to put what Lacy called a "critical mass" of horses before a high-end buying bench up front. The only changes of format took place late in the sale; while 2021 concluded with a three-session Book 5, this year's sale concluded with a two-session Book 5 and two-session Book 6.

Despite offering more horses, the September sale's average and median finished strong. The average price finished at $142,429 bettering, by 8 percent, the prior record through-the-ring average of $132,091 established last year. The official 2021 figure was recorded at $130,698 after post-ring sales were factored in.

“I mean, all year, the good ones have just been really tough to buy," bloodstock agent Donato Lanni said. "You’ve got to be ready for it. It’s a strong market.”

The average was bolstered by a staggering 30 horses who sold for seven-figure prices, doubling the 15 who reached that mark in the 2021 and 2020 editions of this sale. It is the most horses to break that ceiling since 32 reached the mark in both 2006 and 2007; the record is 40, set in 2005.

The market is "rich," said prominent owner Larry Best. "You wouldn’t know we had a recession."

The sale's median price finished at $70,000, also jumping 8 percent from the record $65,000 established last year, which did not change.

The median is considered a key figure for market health, because, unlike the average, which can be skewed by the horses at the top of the marketplace, it provides a cross-section of the sale's strength overall. While buyers at the upper levels may be insulated from the economic uncertainty the world has experienced of late, and thus have more discretionary income to stretch for the seven-figure horses, the median shows that the middle and lower marketplaces are strong as well.

The sale's buyback rate finished at 18 percent, improving just a tick from 19 percent last year. That fairly steady figure was especially remarkable, as a number of consignors said they still faced hurdles in a selective marketplace.

"The market's strong – we thought it would be strong – but it's very selective," Brian Graves, general manager for Gainesway, which traded four seven-figure horses, said. "If you have anything – we had a Speightstown earlier that just had some mild sesamoiditis, and he brought half of what we hoped he could. It's very selective. There's a lot of hoops to jump through, but when you have something by the right sire that vets clean, you get a pretty good [reward]."

Peter O'Callaghan, whose Woods Edge Farm consigned a seven-figure yearling and several others on the cusp, agreed.

“The market is great, but it’s the same story," O'Callaghan said. "You have to be good. It has to be the right sire, and it has to vet. If you want to break out, you have to be squeaky clean.”

Into Mischief and Quality Road, currently the nation's leading sires on the general earnings list, finished as Keeneland September's leading sires, as well. Into Mischief, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, was represented by eight seven-figure yearlings to lead all sires by gross sales. Lane's End Farm stallion Quality Road recorded seven of those high-ticket lots, including the sale topper, to lead by average price, among stallions with multiple horses sold.

A Quality Road colt sold for $2.5 million on the first day of the sale, Sept. 12, to set the bar that would not be cleared over the duration of the auction's run. The colt was purchased by the partnership of Talla Racing, Woodford Racing, and West Point Thoroughbreds. The colt was consigned by his breeder, Stonehaven Steadings, which came back in for a piece of the partnership, a common practice.

"When they're handsome like [this colt] was, usually you have a good shot," West Point’s Terry Finley said of Quality Road's offspring. "You go to the racetracks and you look at those stakes races and you look at the Quality Roads, and they're really big, pretty horses. So this horse is the same, and we just hope we get to Saturday afternoon with him."

The sale topper, a May foal, will have his early lessons in Florida before eventually going to California-based trainer John Sadler. The colt is out of the Grade 3-placed Latent Heat mare True Feelings, dam of three winners from as many starters, including stakes winner Feeling Mischief and graded stakes-placed Royal Act. It is the family of Eclipse Award champions Lookin At Lucky and Wait a While.

"From the moment he was born he’s been special," said Aidan O'Meara of Stonehaven. "When he was born, he got up off the ground – usually foals, they fall over couple of times, but he jumped up and got stuck under his mother’s legs. But he doesn’t do anything crazy. He just stands there and backed himself up, real cool, and walked away. At that moment, it told me he was special.

"He was a May foal, so he was always behind the others," O'Meara continued. "We knew he was a special type physically, and when he started to develop as a yearling he developed that walk he has. ... He held his own as a Book 1 yearling as a May 5 baby. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better moving horse in my life."

Quality Road led the national earnings list early this year, thanks to Emblem Road's victory in the Group 1, $20 million Saudi Cup. Far from a one-hit wonder, however, Quality Road also is the sire, this year, of Grade 1 winner Bleecker Street, graded stakes winner Friar's Road, and four other stakes winners. The stallion finished with 37 lots sold for an average price of $533,514 to lead Keeneland September in that regard for the second consecutive year.

"He's been a very, very good sire all along, but he sort of seems to be taking it to another level right now," Lane's End's Bill Farish said. "With a lot of sires, you get used to seeing a certain type by that stallion, and I think people like what they see when it comes to him."

Rounding out the top five sires by average price behind Quality Road were Into Mischief, with his 58 yearlings sold averaging $525,776; Three Chimneys Farm's young sensation Gun Runner, with 40 sold for $461,875; Hill 'n' Dale's consistent classic sire Curlin, with 48 sold for $418,229; and Gainesway's perennial leading sire Tapit, with 28 for $356,071.

Three-time reigning leading sire Into Mischief recently overtook Quality Road on the earnings leaderboard in pursuit of his fourth consecutive title. The stallion is the sire of a nation-leading 12 graded stakes winners this year, including Grade 1 winner Life Is Good. With his continued results on the racetrack, Into Mischief continues to be in demand in the auction arena. His 58 lots sold grossed $30,495,000 to lead the sale by that metric.

"We've sort of run out of superlatives for him," Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said. "He's just a tremendous horse, and the story just keeps getting better and better."

The partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables purchased seven yearlings by Into Mischief, including a pair of seven-figure colts.

"We love him," SF's Tom Ryan said. "How could you not love him?”

Following Into Mischief by gross sales to round out the top five sires were Curlin, with 48 sold for $20,075,000; Quality Road, with 37 sold for $19,740,000; Coolmore's classic sire Uncle Mo, with 65 sold for $19,340,000; and WinStar's young classic sire Constitution, with 74 sold for $19,069,000. Constitution sired the second-highest-priced horse of the sale behind Quality Road's topper, with a $1.8 million colt out of Grade 1 winner Last Full Measure - dam of Grade 1 winner Valiance - selling to Jim and Dana Bernhard's Lynnhaven Racing.

A number of international buyers traveled to Keeneland this September, with pandemic travel restrictions largely eased, and Japanese trainer Hideyuki Mori did make himself known in Book 1, buying a half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify for $1.2 million. Keeneland, which does a significant amount of international outreach at races around the world and a number of major events, said that 10 different Japanese entities made purchases, in addition to buyers from jurisdictions around the rest of the world. Still, the top of the buying bench was largely dominated by domestic entities and/or those buying horses intended to race in North America. The U.S. dollar came into the sale with strength compared to international currencies such as the Euro and the yen.

“They probably couldn’t swing as hard as they could in a more favorable market for them,” Lacy said. “But they did still see the value in what they were buying, and that’s very important.”

While all the seven-figure horses came in Book 1 and Book 2, the momentum created carried through to the later books of the sale. Every one of the first 11 sessions - there was no comparable 12th session - posted an increase in the median, and all but one had a gain in the average price.

“Market is strong, tough," said trainer Phil Bauer, who was shopping throughout the sale on behalf of Rigney Racing. "We’re happy we have been able to land a few.”

Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland’s director of sales operations, also noted the depth of the buying bench in the late sessions of the sale.

“[Buyers included] several leading trainers the last few days,” he said. “It just shows the hunger for racehorses was there.”

There was still quality to be found in later books, with strategizing by consignors to give their horses room to shine one factor in that.

“We’re appreciative of Keeneland’s format and the support of the buyers," said Rodney Nardelli, whose Nardelli sales sold a $1.7 million colt in Book 2. "We were trying to get away from some of the competition (in Book 1)."

In an era of large books for major stallions, some offspring of prominent sires wound up throughout the sale in various books, a strategy allowing them to be a bigger fish in a smalller pond, and one that also helped the sale continue its momentum. That was the case for Stonehaven, which brought in multiple yearlings by Into Mischief, led by a $900,000 filly in Book 2.

"She was a Book 1 quality filly, but we had two Into Mischief fillies, and we wanted to separate them a little bit," O'Meara explained.

Nardelli (five for $521,000) and Stonehaven (19 for $435,947) were the leading consignors by average price, among those with multiple horses sold, followed by Bridie Harrison (nine for $391,111), Timber Town Stable (seven for $356,429), and Valkyrie Stud (five for $323,000).

By gross sales, perennial leading consignor Taylor Made Sales, which was active through all six books, again led the way, amassing $38,969,000 from 273 yearlings sold. It was followed by Gainesway ($33,263,500 for 141), Paramount Sales ($20,448,500 from 136), Lane's End Farm ($20,112,500 for 118), and Denali Stud ($15,499,000 from 83).

The partnership of Mike Repole's Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable led all buyers by gross, with 31 yearlings purchased for $12,840,000. That partnership was followed, on a domestic-dominated buying bench, by the SF/Starlight/Madaket partnership, which spent $12,825,000 for 21 horses; Courtlandt Farm, which spent $8,235,000 on 11 yearlings; Repole on his own, with Jacob West as agent, at $7,940,000 for 27; and noted bloodstock agent Mike Ryan for various clients, with $7,650,000 for 21.

By sheer volume, Repole led the way. In addition to buying on his own and with Viola, Repole made purchases in partnership with M.V. Magnier of Coolmore, West Point, Spendthrift, Robert and Lawana Low, Vekoma LLC, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Gary Barber. In total, his name appeared on the ticket for 70 yearlings.

For hip-by-hip results for the entire September sale, click here.

For in-depth detail on every seven-figure horse sold at Keeneland September, as well as on the leader of each session, click here for DRF's sales news feed.

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