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Lexington, Ky - Day Two of Keeneland’s January Horses of All Ages Sale saw some high prices, boosted by the complete stock dispersal of Lexington’s Fares Farm. The dispersal, consigned by Lane’s End Farm as agent, accounted for $6,736,000 in total sales, with 54 horses selling for an average of $124,741.
“I thought Fares was on target or above,” said Walt Robertson, Keeneland’s vice president of sales. “I think that [having a dispersal] always helps. When you bring in a quality group, you bring in buyers.”
Perhaps surprisingly, the two seven-figure sales of the day were not from Fares Farm. The surprise session topper was a $1,450,000 yearling filly by 2007 G1 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, out of Doc’s Leader mare Please Sign In. Sold as Hip 517, the filly was consigned by owner Alfred H. Nuckols, Jr.’s Hurstland Farm of Midway.
“I thought coming up here, she was a $300,000--$400,000, tops—filly, and … I started getting feedback about what a nice filly she was,” said an overwhelmed Nuckols just after the hammer dropped.
This is the highest-priced horse Nuckols has ever sold of his own stock. He owns the dam in a partnership, and the filly was part of a foal share with Darley, which owns her sire, Street Sense. For Nuckols, the sale price thrilling as much for its testament to the historic farm’s success as for its amount.
“She’s a beautiful filly for her size, conformationally. I’ve had the whole family for four generations, and she’s probably the nicest individual to come along so far,” he said. “I raised her mother. I’ve always loved this family, it’s been a very special family to Hurstland Farm and to the Nuckols family.”
The farm’s first $100,000 horse was Hip 517’s fourth dam, who was sold by the farm as a yearling when Nuckols was 17.
“It’s a very special day for Hurstland Farm,” he said, fighting back tears.
The yearling was bought by Nat Rea’s Regis Farms, a new Canadian operation which purchased its first horse at the 2012 Keeneland September yearling sale. The price is the second-highest ever paid for a yearling at a January sale. The buyer declined comment.
The second leading price was a cool $1,000,000 for Hip 429, a seven-year-old broodmare prospect named Keertana, closely flanked by half-sister Snow Top Mountain, who brought $950,000 as Hip 584. Both mares were purchased by domestic interests, in a continuation of the North American buying trend begun Monday.
The mares were consigned by Four Star Sales, and were the first round of horses to be sold from Nicholasville’s Brownwood Farm. Barbara Hunter, owner of Brownwood, died in November at the age of 78 and her heirs are still deciding what to do with the farm and its stock. Hunter sold colts out of her breeding band but kept fillies, so the three Brownwood horses offered for sale from her herd carry pedigrees that have previously been commercially unavailable.
“It’s a credit to Barbara and her legacy,” said Tony Lacy of Four Star Sales. “Very, very bittersweet … [but] it’s good to see them going to good homes, and that’s the important thing.”
Lacy, who was an equine consultant for the farm before Hunter’s death, indicated that more Brownwood horses may be sold at a later time.
Seven-figure Keertana was purchased by Denali Stud’s Craig Bandoroff on behalf of an undisclosed domestic client. Auctioneers noted that she had recently aborted her foal, but Bandoroff said the problem was related to the umbilical cord, so his client remained unconcerned.
Snow Top Mountain was purchased by Audley Farm Equine. Audley’s Jens von Lepel reports that no stud plans have been made for the mare, who sold in foal to G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Blame.
“Physically [Snow Top Mountain and Keertana] are not the same,” said Lacy, who noted that their mother, Motokiks, tends to produce foals who resemble their sires more than the dam. “Personality-wise, they’re very much the same--very professional, very focused, and when they are given the opportunity to win, they just want to go and do it.”
Both mares are multiple graded stakes winners; Snow Top Mountain retired with earnings of over $525,000, and Keertana with over $1 million.
Overall, Tuesday’s numbers were up considerably from the second session of the 2012 January sale. Total sales jumped 23.7 percent to $20,013,700 from $16,183,100, while the average shot to $80,700 from $58,213 in last year’s second session—a 38.7 percent increase. The median was also up by a whopping 48.2 percent, to $40,000. The number of horses not sold was down slightly, which could be due to the dispersal horses, which did not carry reserves.
The cumulative total, average, and median are all up from last year also.
Geoffrey Russell, director of sales, said the lack of high-buying power from the usual international suspects, particularly the Japanese, is just part of the market cycle.
“I welcome a strong domestic market, and we certainly have that,” said Russell. “The Japanese tend to be very market-savvy. They tend to always buy under the market … they run in cycles, and Japan is ahead of us.”