Top of market strong amid mixed returns Friday at Keeneland November sale

The Keeneland November breeding stock sale’s Book 3 portion opened with mixed returns Friday as the top of the market remained strong, evidenced by the presence of prominent buyers, but the session posted declines in some economic indicators.

Friday's session at Keeneland, the first of Book 3 and the fifth of the sale overall, finished with 236 horses sold for gross receipts of $14,099,000. That marked a decline of 9 percent from the 257 sold for $15,538,500 in the corresponding session last year. The average price of $59,742 and median of $45,000 were declines of 1 and 10 percent, respectively, from $60,461 and $50,000 in 2014. At this point in the sale, however, the gross, average, and median are trending up 7, 16, and 11 percent from this point last year.

The session’s buyback rate finished at 27 percent, up from 21 percent.

The top of the market was strong as three horses sold for more than $250,000, a mark none reached in the corresponding 2014 session. Stonestreet Farm landed the session's leading mare, $320,000 Emerald Gal, and leading weanling, a $260,000 Curlin colt.

Emerald Gal, a winning Gilded Time mare in foal to Street Sense, was consigned by Select Sales, as agent. She is the dam of Sarah Sis, winner of the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes, Grade 3 Iowa Oaks, Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes, and Panthers Stakes and placed in two other stakes in a productive 2015 campaign. Emerald Gal is a half-sister to the stakes-placed Markum, and it is the immediate family of Grade 2 winner Isitingood.

The Curlin colt was consigned by Bluewater Sales, as agent. He is out of the winning Tale of the Cat mare Chaotic Cat and is from the family of Grade/Group 1 winners Colonial Waters, Southern Sultan, and Success Brocken, as well as graded stakes winners Sal the Barber and Panama Canal.

The Keeneland November sale continues with daily sessions through Nov. 13.

For complete sale results, click here.