November sale much smaller

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Mare reproductive loss syndrome has had a dramatic effect on Keeneland's November breeding stock catalog, which will offer 986 fewer horses this year than it did last year. The 2001 November sale, set for Nov. 5-15, will offer 4,115 horses this year. In 2000, the auction ran for 14 days and offered a record 5,101 horses.

"I would think that mare reproductive loss would have had some effect on the catalog this year, as there were 2,500 mares affected," said Keeneland director of sales Geoffrey Russell.

But Russell also noted that last year's auction had what he called an "oversaturation" of foals, a factor he thinks also played a role in reducing the number of weanlings offered for 2001. This year's auction will offer 2,094 broodmares or broodmare prospects and 1,887 weanlings, down from 2,443 mares and 2,332 weanlings last year.

According to a Keeneland release issued Friday, this year's catalog will feature mares in foal to such sires as A. P. Indy, Danzig, Fusaichi Pegasus, Giant's Causeway, Nureyev, Real Quiet, Seattle Slew, Seeking the Gold, Thunder Gulch, and Unbridled.

Mare reproductive loss, whose cause has not been identified, caused many mares in central Kentucky to abort early-term and late-term foals this spring.