Keeneland September sale: Book 1 closes with double-digit gains across the board

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The tone was set early in Tuesday's session of the Keeneland September yearling sale as the second horse in the ring broke through the seven-figure barrier. The pace never slowed as four of the final 15 horses through the ring reached that threshold.

When the dizzying activity concluded, the auction's elite Book 1 portion had produced 22 seven-figure yearlings – nine in Monday's opening session, and 13 on Tuesday – to finish with double-digit gains across the board, perhaps setting the tone for the rest of the bellwether sale.

"Coming out of Day 1, I think that momentum was almost euphoric, and coming into Day 2, we felt like, can we maintain this?" said Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy. "Put into racing terms, we hit the wire hard. We finished off those last couple of hours with a sort of euphoric feeling all the way through the session. . . . The demand for quality horses was beyond our expectations."

With 2 of 12 sessions – albeit, the ones considered the most elite sessions – in the books, Keeneland September has already surpassed the 15 total seven-figure horses sold in both the 2020 and 2021 editions of this sale and has matched the pre-pandemic total of 22 from 2019. Keeneland September sold 32 seven-figure horses at its 2007 edition. Since that sale, with a recession striking in 2008, the September sale has sold more than 20 seven-figure lots just three times – 27 in 2018, the 22 in 2019, and now 22 thus far this week.

"It feels like the best sale in a decade," said John Sikura of Hill 'n' Dale Sales, which consigned a pair of seven-figure offerings. "There are a lot of people giving a lot of money for a lot of good horses.”

Keeneland reported that 220 horses sold through the ring in Book 1 for gross receipts of $113,660,000, compared to 208 horses sold for $90,622,000 during last year's comparable two-session Book 1.

The 2021 sale went on to finish its 11-session run with record average and median figures, and this year's sale has started strong in pursuit of those numbers. The Book 1 cumulative average was $516,636, rising 19 percent from $435,686 at this point last year. The median price, considered a key figure for market health because it is not affected by outlying prices at the top of the market as much as average may be, jumped 29 percent, to $450,000 from $350,000.

Book 1's buyback rate was 22 percent, a solid improvement from 34 percent last year. That change was especially remarkable as sellers said they still found hurdles in a selective marketplace.

"The market's strong – we thought it would be strong – but it's very selective," said Brian Graves, general manager for Gainesway, Book 1's second-leading consignor by gross. "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.

Into Mischief and Quality Road, currently the nation's leading sires on the general earnings list, were the leading sires of Book 1. Into Mischief, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, was represented by six seven-figure yearlings, while Lane's End Farm stallion Quality Road recorded five of those high-ticket lots.

Book 1 was topped by a $2.5 million Quality Road colt who sold Monday to a partnership familiar to the Keeneland sale leaderboard in recent history, with Talla Racing, Woodford Racing, and West Point Thoroughbreds joining forces. Various iterations of that partnership landed the top three lots at last year's September sale. The colt was consigned by his breeder, Stonehaven Steadings, which will come back in for a piece of the partnership, a common practice.

This partnership purchased seven Book 1 horses this year, and Terry Finley of West Point said the top of the marketplace is extremely competitive.

"When you see a physical like that, you have to stretch a little bit” in the bidding, Finley said. "There's a lot of good buyers that are well prepared and have a lot of capital behind them, and when you get to that level, they're people who usually get what they want. And when you have a number of people [like that], you usually have to pay a pretty good price."

Quality Road's book 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.

True Feelings is out of Grade 3 winner Grand Charmer, making her a half-sister to Flirtatious, dam of Eclipse Award champion Wait a While. Another Eclipse champion appears on the page in Lookin At Lucky, voted the best of his class at ages 2 and 3.

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.

Quality Road, the sire of three career Eclipse Award champions, led the 2021 Keeneland September sale by average price among stallions with multiple lots sold. He was represented by two seven-figure horses at that sale, and his son City of Light, who stands alongside him at the Farish family's Lane's End Farm, also had two seven-figure September yearlings from his first crop, including last year’s $1.7 million sale-topper.

Quality Road and City of Light again turned in blockbuster results in 2022's Book 1. Quality Road's book-leading colt was joined by a $1.3 million filly purchased by Larry Best's OXO Equine, a $1.2 million filly purchased by Claiborne's Bernie Sams on behalf of a farm client, and a $1.15 million colt purchased by D. Wayne Lukas for BC Stables.

"Quality Road speaks for itself," Best said. "You sensed [early in the sale] the value of the Quality Road bloodline. This filly was just beautiful."

Quality Road finished as Book 1's leading sire by average price, with his 17 lots sold averaging $762,059. By gross sales, he was second only to Into Mischief.

"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."

Quality Road separated himself from the other sires on the Book 1 leaderboard by having a son break into the seven-figure ranks this week as well. City of Light, who now has Grade 3-placed Battle of Normandy and stakes winners Chop Chop and Sendero in his first crop, was represented by a $1.1 million colt sold to partners Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, and a $1 million colt sold to Courtlandt Farm.

"It's really great to have him," Farish said of City of Light.

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 11 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 29 lots sold grossed $19,270,000 to surpass the $12,955,000 grossed by Quality Road's 17 sold.

"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."

Into Mischief's lots were led by a $1.35 million filly purchased by Courtlandt. He also w was represented by a $1.25 million filly sold to Frank Fletcher Racing; a $1.15 million filly purchased by Mandy Pope's Whisper Hill Farm; a $1.05 million colt to bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, for the partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables; a $1.05 million colt to Courtlandt; and a $1 million colt purchased by Lukas for BC.

Archie St George's St George Sales consigned the colt sold to Courtlandt on Tuesday. St George called Into Mischief "one of the best stallions in North America we’ve seen in recent times."

Joining Quality Road, City of Light, and Into Mischief with multiple seven-figure yearlings in Book 1 to round out the action were Hill 'n' Dale's Curlin ($1.7 million colt to Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys Farm; $1.2 million colt to Hideyuki Mori; $1.1 million colt to M.V. Magnier and Repole Stables); WinStar Farm's Constitution ($1.8 million colt to Jim and Dana Bernhard's Lynnhaven Racing; $1.3 million colt to Richard Knight); Three Chimneys resident Gun Runner ($1.5 million colt to Winchell and Three Chimneys; $1.1 million colt to Knight); and Triple Crown winner Justify ($1.1 million colt to Coolmore; $1.05 million filly to Knight), who stands at Ashford Stud.

Constitution's $1.8 million colt topped Tuesday's session and finished as the second-highest price of Book 1 overall. This year's yearlings represent the quality book of mares Constitution garnered following a standout freshman season on the track in 2019, and that quality was seen on the page of the session-leading colt. He is out of the Grade 1-winning Empire Maker mare Last Full Measure, who in turn is out of Grade 1 winner Lazy Slusan. Last Full Measure is the dam of Grade 1 winner Valiance.

The colt was consigned by Taylor Made Sales, as agent for breeder China Horse Club.

"I thought he was one of the better colts we had seen in this crop," Mark Taylor said. "He's beautifully bred – he's out of a Grade 1 winner who's out of a Grade 1 winner, and she's also the dam of a Grade 1 winner. So the blood is there, and this just looked like a Derby horse. A lot of presence, big walk, a lot of substance, very strong."

With the Constitution colt leading three seven-figure lots, Taylor Made finished as Book 1's leading consignor by gross sales, with 24 lots for $13,525,000, compared to 23 for $11,145,000 for Gainesway.

Although Courtlandt was Book 1's leading buyer by gross spent, Repole, who was involved in two seven-figure purchases, was a leading buyer by volume. Bloodstock agent Jacob West signed 13 tickets for Repole. Repole also made eight purchases in partnership with St. Elias Stables and bought horses in partnership with Magnier, Robert and Lawana Low, and West Point.

The Keeneland September sale continues with a two-session Book 2 prior to its dark day on Friday. This remains consistent with the format introduced for last year's auction, with sale officials aiming to create momentum by placing as many quality horses as possible in front of upper-level buyers in the portion of the week before the dark day. Last year's Book 2 produced four seven-figure horses, including the sale-topper by City of Light.

"I think the momentum is only building," Lacy said. "We're moving into another section of the market, [but] I think you'll find there's a crossover between the front-end buyers and some of the middle market, so I anticipate it'll be every bit as strong. Obviously, the average and median prices may adjust, but there are a lot of good horses coming down the pike."

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