Munnings colt sells for $475,000 to top Day 1 at Keeneland January sale

A colt by Munnings sold for $475,000 and multiple graded stakes winner Royal Charlotte sold for $400,000 to help the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale open in respectable fashion Monday, ahead of some anticipated offerings.

Keeneland reported 207 horses sold in Monday's opening session of the January sale for gross receipts of $12,155,400. In the opening session of the 2020 renewal, 233 horses changed hands, including 24 private sales added after the close of the session, for a gross of $15,003,300. Monday's average price was $58,722, a decrease of 9 percent from $64,392 last year. The median remained steady, at $35,000.

Monday's buyback rate was 31 percent, ticking upward only slightly from 30 percent, prior to the private sales, in 2020.

“The session was a continuation of the November breeding stock sale and a good, steady start to the January sale," said Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland's director of sales operations. “People have adjusted to the current marketplace. The consignors are very happy because they have adjusted to the new normal.”

Monday's session was the first of two in the Book 1 portion of Keeneland January and set the table for strong offerings in the book finale on Tuesday. That session includes all 21 broodmares on offer from the dispersal of the legendary Sam-Son Farm. The session also will include 20 horses from the dispersal of the late Paul Pompa Jr., with more to follow later in the week.

The Munnings colt who led the session was purchased by Larry Best's OXO Equine from the consignment of Hunter Valley Farm, as agent. The yearling was foaled in May 2020, making the January sale a better fit for him than the November weanling sales.

"We were hoping he’d bring $150,000 to $200,000 – he doubled our expectations basically,” Hunter Valley's Adrian Regan said. “He was a lovely horse. We’ve been breeding to Munnings all the way. We’ve bred to him almost every year. But in the last 12 months, every Saturday he’s had a stakes winner around the country, and I think the market has really clicked to how good a sire he is. He’s a fantastic sire.”

The Munnings colt is out of the stakes-winning Jump Start mare Sea Shadow, the dam of stakes-placed Rising Seas.

Royal Charlotte, the top-priced filly or mare of the session, was purchased by WinStar Farm. Elite Sales, as agent, had consigned the 5-year-old daughter of Cairo Prince as a racing or broodmare prospect.

Royal Charlotte, who is out of the winning Harlan's Holiday mare Sass and Class, won the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes, Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes, and Hystericalady Stakes as a 3-year-old in 2019. She was third in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom Handicap last year and placed in two other stakes.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.