Keeneland’s September yearling sale enjoyed strong numbers for another year, in no small part thanks to the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, head of the international Godolphin Thoroughbred operation and ruler of Dubai. It has been at least a decade since the top owner/breeder’s private jet was spotted parked at Bluegrass Airport along Versailles Road.
Keeneland
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's presence helped create an air of excitement at the Keeneland September sale.
Sheikh Mohammed has sent agents to Keeneland September to buy for him in that time, but spent considerably more this year when he was able to look at yearlings himself. He is an avid horseman, a frequent rider and endurance racing competitor himself, and is said to take an active interest in his sizable Thoroughbred herd. Godolphin picked up 27 yearlings for a total of $19,960,000, which, according to Keeneland records, was the most for a single purchaser since 2006.
“We were pleased to welcome Sheikh Mohammed and his wife, Princess Haya, to Keeneland for the first time in a number of years,” said Bob Elliston, Keeneland vice president of racing and sales. “His presence and the participation of his brother, Sheikh Hamdan, and the Coolmore contingent change the atmosphere of the sale. It creates an excitement that reverberates around the sales grounds.”
The sheikh’s presence also reignited a longtime rivalry. Godolphin has multiple divisions across the world and is active at all levels of the market — standing stallions, breeding stock, purchasing horses at auction, and racing its horses on multiple continents in a quest to win as many Grade/Group 1 classic races as possible. Irish-based Coolmore is a similar operation with similarly deep pockets. Both have stud farms in the Lexington area – Coolmore’s Ashford Stud stands both 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and recently confirmed it will stand 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, too. As such, when the two operations set their sights on the same horse at auction, the price can sometimes gallop away.
In 2006, an unraced 2-year-old colt by Forestry sold for a record $16 million at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale when both entities decided they wanted him. The price remains the highest paid at public auction in North America, and the horse (ultimately named The Green Monkey) raced three times in Coolmore’s colors and retired winless.
Keeneland
Godolphin and Coolmore revived a longtime rivalry, battling it out for Hip 91. The chestnut colt by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was ultimately purchased by Godolphin for $2.2 million.
There was at least one noted bidding war between Godolphin and Coolmore at Keeneland September, though without such an eye-popping final pricetag. The two duked it out for Hip 91, a chestnut colt by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah who ultimately brought $2.2 million and was purchased by Godolphin. The colt, consigned by Peter O’Callaghan’s Woods Edge Farm, was out of graded stakes-placed mare Kindle and was the second highest price of the auction.
Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier signed for the auction’s highest-priced horse, a colt by top stallion War Front who cost $2.4 million. Hill ‘n’ Dale consigned the horse, who was a homebred out of its mare Streaming.
Keeneland
Coolmore purchased the auction’s highest-priced horse, a colt by top stallion War Front that brought $2.4 million.
The strength Godolphin, Coolmore and others brought to the early part of the sale reverberated throughout, as consignors continued to experience high traffic in the later part of the 13-day auction. Total receipts of $377,130,400 were the fourth highest in the sale’s history, and surpassed last year’s total sales after the seventh session.
The average for the 2,916 yearlings sold rose 7 percent from last year to finish at $120,487. The median of $50,000 was down 12 percent from last year.
The buyback rate, or the rate of horses not attaining their sellers’ minimum price, was 24 percent, roughly the same as last year.
Geoffrey Russell, director of sales operations at Keeneland, said the auction’s strong numbers were due to a combination of factors coming together at the right time.
"If the horses aren’t top quality, buyers aren’t going to pay extra money for them just because they have it in their pocket." — Geoffrey Russell
“In the end, it has to be the horse,” he said. “Yes, there are external factors like a strong economy and stock market and new tax laws that obviously help raise the bar. But if the horses aren’t top quality, buyers aren’t going to pay extra money for them just because they have it in their pocket.”
Central Kentucky breeders will hope that momentum continues. Fasig-Tipton will hold its yearling sale next month, and Keeneland recently announced it will revive its April Two-Year-Olds In Training Sale next spring for the first time since 2015. In a release earlier this month, Elliston pointed out some of the yearlings sold at Keeneland September may return to the sale grounds as 2-year-olds for the April auction as part of a process called “pinhooking.” Pinhookers will often shop at lower and mid-range price points at Keeneland September and other mixed-age sales, with plans to buy a weanling or yearling to resell for a profit as a 2-year-old – a risky, but sometimes lucrative business plan if the horse develops well.
The next public Thoroughbred auction in Central Kentucky will be Fasig-Tipton’s October Sale, which runs Oct. 22-25.