Day 4 - Wednesday, Jan. 12
Lexington, Ky. -
It's a happy new year so far for the Thoroughbred industry.
Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale ended Thursday with totals up more than 50 percent over the previous year, the third consecutive Keeneland auction with significant gains over the previous year, overcoming the recession and over-supply problems that had sucked a lot of air out of the breeding industry's balloon.
"The momentum that began to build during last fall's September Yearling and November Breeding Stock sales rolled into January, and that's a very healthy sign," Keeneland Vice President of Sales Walt Robertson said Thursday. "The years since the 2008 crisis resulted in an 'economic cabin fever,' if you will. Now there's a growing optimism, particularly among domestic buyers, that they have weathered the storm and are ready to get back in the game."
And, as Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland's Director of Sales, says, those breeders that remain in the game
"are in it for the long haul."
"In it for the long haul," is the same way that
Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm,
described their undisclosed client, who paid $775,000 on the first day of the sale for Spice Island, a mare who already has produced one Grade 1 stakes winner and is in foal to top sire Tapit.
Another mare who has produced a Grade-1 winner topped the sale. Northern Farm's Katsumi Yoshida paid $1.4 million for Topliner, who is in foal to leading sire Medaglia d'Oro.
The Yoshida
family purchased three of the sale's highest-priced horses.
The totals for the four-day sale were:
Gross receipts:
1,003 horses sold for $37,991,900, up
50.4 percent compared to last year's five-day sale when 1,021 horses brought $25,250,350.
Average price:
$37,878, up 53.1 percent from $24,731 in 2011.
Median price:
$15,000, up 100 percent from $7,500 in 2011.
Buyback rate:
19.7 percent, a
27.8 decrease from 2011.
Top buyers: Bluegrass Hall spent the most money,
$1,977,000, for 31 horses. Raut, a Russian buying agency, bought the most horses, 39, for
$1,259,400.
Top consignor:
Taylor Made Sales Agency
sold 96 horses for $4,264,700, topping
the January Sale consignor list for the 11th
time in 12 years.
Totals for the final day of sale were:
Gross receipts: 253 horses for $3,620,700, up 92.9 percent from a year ago when 230 horses brought $1,876,500.
Average
price:
$14,311, up 75.4 percent from $8,159 in 2011
Median price: 102.3 percent from $4,200 to $8,500.
Keeneland's next auction is the April Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale on April 9.
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Day 3 - Wednesday, Jan. 11
Lexington, Ky. -
After mares got most of the attention in the first two days of the sale, yearlings stepped to the forefront on the third day of the January Horses of All Ages Sale at Keeneland.
Overall, prices for Thoroughbreds were running well ahead of last year's pace, as they had the first two days of the auction sale.
"The market continues to show considerable consistency and strength," said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Walt Robertson. "In general, consignors and buyers both seem pleased with the current marketplace."
The three highest bids were for yearlings, topped by
$180,000 paid by Glen Hill Farm of Ocala, Fla., for a filly out the mare Garden Spot and sired by Kitten's Joy.
Totals for the day were:
Gross sales: 263 horses sold for $4,255,900, an increase of 47.8 percent over 2011 when 227 horses brought $2,878,150.
Average price:
$16,182, up 27.6 percent from last year's session average of $12,679.
Median price: $7,500 was up 7.1 percent from the $7,000 posted in 2011.
Reserve not attained:
The RNA rate declined 30.3 percent.
Today is the final day of the sale.
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Day 2 - Tuesday, Jan. 10
Lexington, Ky. -
It only took two days for the 2012 January Horses of All Ages Sale to surpass the sales totals from the five-day sale of 2011.
Gross receipts from the auction pushed past $30 million on Tuesday, the second day of the four-day sale, surpassing the 2011 sale total by nearly $5 million.
"It was another strong day, with increases in average and median prices and an especially big increase in gross sales," said Walt Robertson, Keeneland's Vice President of Sales.
The top bid for the Tuesday session was $600,000 from prominent European breeder Tom Goff of Blandford Bloodstock for Magnificent Honour, a full sister to 2007 Belmont Stakes winner Rags to Riches and a half-sister to 2006 Belmont winner Jazil. The 10-year-old daughter of A.P. Indy was sold in foal to leading sire Giant's Causeway.
Tuesday's sales totals:
Gross sales: 278 horses sold for $16,183,100, an increase of 81.5 percent over 2011 when 205 horses brought $8,912,600. Average price: $58,213, up 33.9 percent from $43,476 in 2011.
Median price: $27,000, up 35 percent from last year's $20,000.
Reserve not attained: The RNA rate was down 36 percent from 2011.
"The RNA rate continues to decrease, which is another strong indicator of confidence in the market," Robertson said. "Buyers are going after quality mares and quality yearlings with equal gusto."
The sale continues through Thursday.
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Day 1, Monday, Jan. 9
Lexington, Ky. -
Building on the momentum established in the 2011, the first Thoroughbred sale of 2012 showed continued strength in the market, especially for top broodmares.
"This was a good, solid start to the sale," Keeneland Vice President of Sales Walt Robertson said of the January Horses of All Ages Sale. "We saw significant increases in the gross, median and average ... while the top prices today mirrored last year's top prices at this session. All of these are favorable indicators and we hope that the momentum continues."
That top price was $1.4 million, paid by a Japanese buyer for a mare in foal to top sire Medaglia d'Oro..
The mare, Topliner, is the dam of Star Billing, a filly who streaked to an upset win in the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Hollywood Park in November.
"She's a young, proven mare and her family is great," said Naohiro Hosoda, who put in the winning bid on behalf of Katsumi Yoshida and Northern Farm in Japan . "(Star Billing) won on the turf, firm (ground), on the West Coast at a mile. Mr. Yoshida was encouraged. So I sent a photograph and he said, 'go ahead.' "
Hosoda said Topliner, who was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, will be shipped to Japan.
Topliner was foaled in 2002, the daughter of Kentucky Derby winner Thunder Gulch and To The Hunt, but was never raced. Topliner produced Star Billing, sired by Dynaformer, in 2008.
The second highest price was for another mare in foal, Grade 2 stakes winner Spice Island. Spice Island is the dam of Ice Box, winner of the 2010 Florida Derby and second in the Kentucky Derby, both Grade 1 races. Adrian Regan and Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm in Versailles, on behalf of an undisclosed client, paid $775,000. Spice Island is in foal to leading sire Tapit.
In all, Keeneland sold 209 horses Monday.
Gross sales: $13,932,200, up 30.3 percent from the same sale in 2011 when 187 horses brought $10,687,600.
Average price: $66,661, up 16.6 percent from $57,153 in 2011 .
Median price: $32,000, up 60 percent from last year's $20,000.
Reserve not attained: The number of horses failing to meet the minimum bid price decreased 21 percent.
Keeneland also saw significant increases at its September Yearling Sale and November Breeding Stock Sale in 2011.
There are 1,594 horses listed for the January sale, which runs through Thursday.
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