Keeneland yearling sale on track to eclipse last year's receipts

Two classic-connected yearlings brought Book 2 of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale to a close with solid figures Sunday night – and also brought the auction to the brink of surpassing last year's overall gross receipts only halfway through this renewal.

An Uncle Mo colt sold for $875,000 and a colt from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah sold for $800,000 as 264 horses changed hands during Sunday's trade in North America’s bellwether yearling auction. The sale's sixth session overall had gross receipts of $36,054,000. Those figures resulted in an average price of $136,568, a median of $117,500, and a buyback rate of 29 percent as Book 2 crossed the finish line. The two sessions finished with 548 horses sold for $87,113,700, an average of $158,967 and median of $130,000.

"Trade was very vibrant today," Keeneland director of sales operations Geoffrey Russell said.

Keeneland revised the structure of the first week of its September sale this year, expanding Book 1 to four sessions – essentially creating a blended Book 1 and 2, albeit one with a smaller group of horses cataloged compared with last year's single ultra-select Book 1 session followed by three Book 2 sessions.

With the changes, direct session-to-session or book-to-book figures have not been comparable. Through six sessions of this sale, however, the cumulative average is tracking at $265,670, an increase of 23 percent from the same number of sessions last year, when it was $216,211. The median price sits at $200,000, trending upward 22 percent from $150,000 at this point in 2017. The cumulative buyback rate tracks at 27 percent, improved from 32 percent.

The 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale had a total gross of $307,845,400 over 12 sessions, surpassing $300 million for the first time since 2008. This year's sale has already grossed $303,926,700, with seven sessions remaining.

"It shows the strength of this market currently," Russell said. "We thought last year was very good all the way through to the end. We were delighted to break the $300 million number last year, so to do it now, six days in, just shows the strength of this market."

An Uncle Mo colt who is a half-brother to 2016 Belmont Stakes winner Creator sold for $875,000 to the partnership of Phoenix Thoroughbreds and Winchell Thoroughbreds to lead the session. He capped a big Book 2 for young Coolmore sire Uncle Mo, who was represented by the $1 million book-topper sold to China Horse Club and WinStar Farm during Saturday's session.

"This sale has been very strong. I have been very good at getting outbid," Ron Winchell said of the market. He added that the purchase will eventually be trained by Steve Asmussen, who has horses for both the Phoenix and Winchell operations.

Consigned by Mt. Brilliant Farm, the colt is out of the Privately Held mare Morena, who earned honors as champion 2-year-old filly and 3-year-old filly in her native Peru and was Grade 1 placed in the U.S. Her two winners from a trio of starters is led by Creator, who won the 2016 Arkansas Derby and Belmont.

"This horse does it all," Mt. Brilliant owner Greg Goodman said. "He's got the mind, his X-rays were perfect, the scope was perfect ... there was nothing wrong with this colt. He looks fast, he has a huge heart, there's just nothing wrong with this horse. There weren't any knocks on him. He would have been a Book 1 horse, too, but he stands out here. He's a great-looking horse."

Later in the session, Justin Zayat, whose family's racing stable bred and campaigned Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, just signed the sales ticket on an $800,000 colt from the stallion's first crop. The colt will eventually go to Bob Baffert, who trained both American Pharoah and this colt's half-sibling, multiple Grade/Group 1 winner Secret Circle.

"He kind of reminded me of American Pharoah - he's a plain-looking, old brown wrapper horse, [but] he had the class," Zayat said. "He actually had a colic surgery a little earlier, which maybe scared some buyers off. But for us, we loved him. Bob actually looked at him for us, also loved him.

"Definitely like his dad - cool, calm, collected, smart horse, like a pet," Zayat added. "That's the thing about American Pharoah, he was like a pet, and all of his offspring are showing it. You don't see any of them rearing up in the ring. They're all very cool, levelheaded horses. They're selling like hot potatoes - it's absolutely insane! I knew it was going to be exciting, but to see the averages where they are, and all the million-dollar horses, it's unbelievable."

The colt was consigned by Warrendale Sales, as agent for Stonestreet Farm, which purchased his dam, multiple stakes winner Ragtime Hope, for $675,000 at the 2013 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Her three winners from five starters are led by Secret Circle, winner of the 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Sprint, 2013 Breeders' Cup Sprint in his second start off a layoff of well over a year, and 2015 Dubai Golden Shaheen. Secret Circle, who missed the top three only once in his career, won three other stakes and placed in seven others, including a runner-up effort in the 2014 Sprint.

For hip-by-hip results from Keeneland September, click here.

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