Keeneland September sale: Speedway Stables stays true to Collected, buys filly for $320K

A filly from the first crop of Collected sold for $320,000 to lead Tuesday's session as the Keeneland September yearling sale closed out its Book 4 portion with continued gains, moving toward its finish line with momentum.

Keeneland reported that 313 yearlings sold through the ring on Tuesday, the eighth of 11 sessions, for gross receipts of $20,569,000. In last year's corresponding eighth session, 255 horses were sold for a gross of $11,823,500 before any private sales were factored in.

Tuesday's average price was $65,716, up 42 percent from $46,367 in the corresponding 2020 session. The median was $45,000, soaring 80 percent from $25,000. The session's buyback rate was a stellar 12 percent, improving by half from 24 percent last year.

Through the first eight sessions of this year's sale comprising its first four books, Keeneland has sold 1,801 horses for $326,782,000. Through eight sessions of last year's sale, 1,520 horses had sold for $224,090,700. Not only has this year's sale already eclipsed the $300 million threshold - a mark the pandemic-hampered 2020 edition failed to reach for the first time since 2016 - this year's gross receipts have already surpassed last year's final figure, accomplished several days ago.

The sale's cumulative average price sits at $181,445, tracking upward 23 percent from $147,428 at this point last year. The median is $120,000, sitting 50 percent up from $80,000 in eight 2020 sessions. The overall buyback rate is 23 percent, compared to 34 percent.

Speedway Stables purchased the session-leading Collected filly from the consignment of Anderson Farms, as agent. Speedway campaigned Grade 1 winner Collected, who now stands at Airdrie Stud. The son of City Zip won five graded stakes, with his biggest score coming in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, in which he defeated Arrogate in 2017.

The session-topping filly, an Ontario-bred, is out of the unraced Medaglia d'Oro mare Bezzera, who is a full sister to Canadian classic winner and Horse of the Year Wonder Gadot. She is also a full sister to Grade 2-placed stakes winner Solemn Tribute, and a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Hard Not to Love.

The next two highest-priced horses of the session were also Ontario-breds, coming from the continued dispersal of the storied Sam-Son Farm. A Bernardini filly whose dam is a half-sister to Canadian champion and classic winner Irish Mission, among other standouts, sold to bloodstock agent Ben McElroy for $300,000. Earlier in the session, a filly from the final crop of Pioneerof the Nile and out of stakes winner Mythical Mission, another half-sister to Irish Mission, went for $295,000 to CJ Thoroughbreds.

Keeneland September is set to conclude with Book 5 running from Wednesday through Friday. For hip-by-hip results, click here.