Keeneland still in six figures

The 12-day Keeneland September yearling auction rolled into its eighth session Tuesday off successive gains from its first seven days. Though the daily top price was tailing off as the sale neared conclusion, six-figure horses were still passing through the auction ring.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the day's top seller was a $230,000 Silver Charm colt that Bob and Beverly Lewis bought from James Keogh's Grovendale agency. The colt is the first foal out of Extra Rare, a Texas stakes winner by Rare Brick.

At the Monday session, Keeneland sold 285 yearlings for $12,305,000, up 17 percent from last year, when 276 yearlings sold at the equivalent session. The average price rose 13 percent to $43,175. The median remained unchanged from last year at $30,000.

Through Monday, the auction had sold 1,690 horses for a total of $247,770,500, an average price of $146,610 and a median of $75,000. The 2003 gross was 31 percent above last year's total for 1,710 lots, while the average and median were up by 33 percent and 25 percent, respectively.