Lexington, KY - Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock sale will kick off Tuesday at 10 a.m. with a catalogue of 3,958 horses. The sale, which runs through Nov. 16, includes 1,890 broodmares/broodmare prospects, 1,691 weanlings, 363 racing prospects, four yearlings, nine stallions, and a share in stallion Macho Uno.
Last year’s sale included 2,554 entries with an average of $81,641, a median of $24,000, and 19.84 percent buy-back rate.
Two of the horses who pushed the numbers were Royal Delta, who brought $8.5 million as part of the Palides Investments dispersal, and an unnamed weanling by Medaglia d’Oro out of Quiet Dance from the Edward P. Evans dispersal, who brought $2.6 million, a North American record for weanlings at public sale.
“Benjamin Leon bought [Royal Delta] for his wife as a birthday present … which has really upset every man around the place,” joked Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s director of sales.
Russell doesn’t expect that kind of spending this year.
“This year is more of a traditional breeding stock sale. I think the dispersals accounted for about $60 million of our gross last year. That aspect will be missing this year. Having said that, we have a very good catalogue full of good mares in foal to good stallions, and a good cross-section of foals as well,” said Russell. “I think we’re seeing a truer market [since the downturn in 2008]. These horses will probably hold their value better.”
This year’s catalogue includes relatives of racing stars past and present, and received a sizable boost from last weekend’s Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships.
Easily the biggest catalogue update from the Breeders’ Cup came for Hip 312, a half-sister to Fort Larned, who won the Classic (G1) in a shocking upset on Saturday. The five-year-old mare is in foal to Uncle Mo, also of Breeders’ Cup fame as the winner of the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).
Craig Bandoroff, owner of consignor Denali Stud, says the race result will really help the mare stand out.
“Timing’s everything in life, right?” said Bandoroff. “She’s a nice-looking mare, and obviously [Fort Larned] is a great horse … she deserved this.”
Another entry to watch is yearling filly Samantha Nicole, Hip 243. Samantha Nicole is a full sister to Rachel Alexandra, 2009 Horse of the Year and winner of the Preakness Stakes (G1), and Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) among others. Already a tall, strapping yearling, Samantha Nicole was full of energy Sunday despite her popularity.
“She’s got a ton of pedigree … This filly is a collector’s item,” said Michael Hernon, director of sales for consignor Gainesway Farm. “She’s attractive. She walks well. She’s proven quite popular in the initial showings, as one would expect.”
Eaton Sales consigns Hip 195, a weanling colt by first-ranked first crop sire Henrythenavigator, out of Fitted Crown. Fitted Crown is also the dam of Excellent Meeting, one of few fillies ever to compete in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and earner of $1.4 million, as well as Crowning Meeting, graded stakes winner of 14 races. The colt is typical of other offspring by his sire, according to Reiley McDonald of consignor Eaton Sales—most of them aren’t big and flashy, but they are tough and have already proven they can run.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder in our business,” said McDonald. “To me, when you have a successful sire like Henrythenavigator, I like to see them look like the Henrythenavigators that are running.”
The 2011 Kentucky Oaks winner Plum Pretty is Hip 96 in the sale. The four-year-old by popular sire Medaglia d’Oro is offered as either a racing or broodmare prospect.
“She’s a phenomenal race mare … you don’t see horses win like she did,” Mark Taylor, vice president of sales and marketing for consignor Taylor Made Sales. “She’s also bred unbelievably. My brother Duncan researched her pedigree and just drooled over the page.”
Another entry with some famous fillies on the catalogue page is Calais, Hip 170 by A.P. Indy out of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner Flanders. The late Flanders was lauded for her talent as a two-year-old, crossing the wire first in all of her five races, and earning nearly $1 million in her short career.
Meg Levy, owner and operator of Bluewater Sales, is excited by the prospect of selling a mare with such a classic pedigree with a phenotype to match.
“She’s just gorgeous, taller than most, very elegant and very racy,” said Levy. “I don’t think it could get any better.”
Calais is in foal to Distorted Humor, sire of 2003 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) winner Funny Cide. Her weanling filly, by the now-deceased sire Indian Charlie, is also in the sale for Bluewater as Hip 171.
“With Indian Charlie being gone, particularly having an Indian Charlie filly is just about a collector’s item,” said Levy. “I don’t know if she could come from a better family.”
Levy had a consignment at Monday’s Fasig-Tipton sale also, and said that choosing which November sale to send each horse to is a bit of an art form. Typically, the goal is to put each entry in a spot where it will bring the best price without being overshadowed.
“Both sales have histories of what they generally attract,” she said. “The Fasig-Tipton sale tends to attract the best group of race mares around … therefore, it attracts the people who want those horses. We tend to have more foals at Keeneland, to let the market find its base before we go through.”
The sale began at 10 a.m., and will be streamed online at keeneland.com.