Numbers soar at Keeneland sale

LEXINGTON, Ky. Keeneland's November mixed sale had a second consecutive day of dramatic double-digit gains at Saturday's 13th session, as the two-week auction neared its conclusion.

The Saturday session sold 202 horses for $2,143,900, up 73 percent from the total at last year's equivalent session when 161 horses sold. The 2007 average price of $10,613 was up 38 percent from last season's $7,678, and the $6,850 median was up 37 percent from last year's figure of $5,000.

Saturday's session-topper was the $77,000 broodmare Forest Image, a Forestry mare carrying a foal by Albert the Great. Three Chimneys Sales, agent, sold the 4-year-old mare to the Robert Dawe Agency. Forest Image is a half-sister to Grade 1 winner Victory Speech.

Through Saturday the auction had sold 3,098 horses for $338,771,400, a sale record for gross. The 13-day cumulative average was $109,352 and the cumulative median was $40,000. The Keeneland November sale, which this year cataloged a record 5,415 horses, was to continue through Monday at Keeneland's sale pavilion in Lexington.