Seven-figure lots continue to flow at Keeneland September, with $1.7M colt topping Thursday session

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A $1.7 million Quality Road colt led the way as the Keeneland September yearling sale wrapped up its Book 2 portion with a Thursday session, hitting this point of the sale with gains compared to this point of the resurgent 2021 sale.

The Quality Road colt led an octet of seven-figure horses sold during the two-session Book 2 -- with six of those, led by a $1.4 million Into Mischief colt, coming in Wednesday's first session of the book. Overall, 30 horses have now sold for seven figures at the September sale, with the bulk of those coming during a two-session Book 1 earlier in the week. Last year's Book 2 traded four seven-figure horses, and the sale had 15 overall.

Led by these marquee offerings, Keeneland reported that 669 horses have sold through the ring at this point of the 12-session sale for gross receipts of $236,990,000. Through the first four sessions making up Books 1 and 2 of the 2021 sale, 620 horses had sold for $200,419,000.

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The cumulative average price of the September sale sits at $354,245, up 10 percent from $323,256 at the same point last year. The current median for Keeneland September is also up 10 percent, to $275,000 from $250,000. The median is considered a key indicator of market health because it is not influenced as much by a handful of high-ticket horses as the average may be. The buyback rate is also considered a key factor. That cumulative figure currently sits at 26 percent, compared to 30 percent at this point last year.

Keeneland vice president of sales Tony Lacy said the staff is "incredibly pleased overall," especially noting the strength in that segment of the market.

"I think it was competitive and energetic," Lacy said. "The buyers were very motivated to buy the horses that they felt were most appealing. ... Certainly I know a lot of sellers were very, very happy today."

"Everything's really trending the right direction," Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland's director of sales operations, said.

Bloodstock agent Donato Lanni signed the ticket on the book topper, and said that the Quality Road colt would be trained by Bob Baffert. Lanni did not disclose his client, but later in the afternoon, Amr Zedan's Zedan Racing tweeted that it would race the colt.

"[Baffert] loved him, we all loved him -- everybody loved him, it looks like," Lanni said. "Everyone was waiting for him to walk through the pavilion. He's just super athletic, pretty laid back. A fast-looking Quality Road and made really well; he is the kind you want to take home."

This sale continued a monster week for Quality Road, who sired the $2.5 million colt who led Keeneland September's Book 1. With seven seven-figure lots sold overall, Quality Road currently leads stallions at this sale by average price, with his 29 yearlings changing hands averaging $646,552.

Quality Road is the sire of three Eclipse Award champions in 2017 champion 3-year-old filly Abel Tasman, 2017 champion 2-year-old filly Caledonia Road, and 2021 champion 2-year-old male Corniche. Abel Tasman and Corniche were both trained by Baffert during their championship seasons.

"Bob did such a good job with Corniche ... he was brilliant, and this horse kind of reminded us a lot of him," Lanni said. "Just very fast, looks real fast on his feet."

This colt is the second foal out of the winning Street Sense mare Act Now, who is a half-sister to stakes-placed The Right Path, by Quality Road. The colt has several prominent sires in his family, including dual-continent champion 2-year-old Johannesburg, in turn the sire of globally successful classic stallion Scat Daddy; Grade 2 winner Pulpit, whose sons at stud include perennial leading sire Tapit; and the Grade 2 winner and consistently successful sire Tale of the Cat. This colt is also from the family of Group 1 winner and sire Minardi, Grade 2 winners and sires Fed Biz and Stanford, and the Grade 1-winning gelding Joking.

Familiarity with certain bloodlines also helped motivate the purchases of the yearlings who rounded out the top three prices of Thursday's session. Bloodstock agent Mike Ryan went to $1.2 million for a colt by Horse of the Year and red-hot young sire Gun Runner. He said he purchased the colt, who was consigned as agent by Four Star Sales, for a partnership that will use Chad Brown as trainer.

“He reminded me quite a bit of Early Voting," Ryan said, naming this year's Preakness Stakes winner from Gun Runner's first crop. "I said to Chad, ‘Can you imagine Flavien Prat or Irad Ortiz on his back right now?’ [The colt] was a magnificent horse, a lot of class, a lot of quality. Bred to get a mile and an eighth or a mile and a quarter. ... What more can you say about the stallion?

“He was a hell of a horse," Ryan continued. "Big, impressive, handsome, imposing, horse, and his movement was unbelievable, and he had a great aura about him. Good horses have class, and he has a lot of class.”

The colt is out of the Grade 1-winning Malibu Moon mare Malibu Prayer, whose lone starter is a winner. She is a half-sister to Grade 2-winning millionaire Valid.

Gun Runner also sired a $925,000 filly, with bloodstock agent David Ingordo signing the ticket as Mayberry Farm.

The filly, who was consigned by Paramount Sales, as agent, is out of the multiple graded stakes-winning Mizzen Mast mare Stonetastic. Out of the Unbridled's Song mare Special Me, she is a half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner Gift Box. The latter, who was scouted out by Ingordo as a weanling, is by Twirling Candy, who, like Gun Runner, is a son of Candy Ride.

“I love Mizzen Mast broodmares, I love Stonetastic," Ingordo said. “Some of these Gun Runners remind me of the good physicals of the Candy Rides. This is a nice mating — the Candy Rides cross well with Unbridled’s Song. This is the same cross as Gift Box."

Following its dark day on Friday, the Keeneland September yearling sale resumes with daily sessions through Sept. 24, consisting of two sessions each for Books 3, 4, 5, and 6. All sessions begin at 10 a.m.

For hip-by-hip results, click here.