Photo courtesy Keeneland Association
Keeneland’s September yearling auction has finished on solid footing for several years now, but on September 23 it concluded with its highest gross sales figures since the 2008 edition — the last before the market crash slashed prices.
The Thoroughbred market’s recovery from the economic downturn has been somewhat slow compared to other industries, since racehorses aren’t exactly essential items. Total sales at Keeneland’s September Sale, considered by many to be one of the most important Thoroughbred auctions in the United States, were $327,999,100 in 2008 and plummeted to $191,859,200 by September 2009.
At this year’s auction, gross receipts finished at $307,845,400 after topping last year’s total on the fifth day of the 12-day sale. The average price of $120,487 per horse was the highest since 2006 and the median was also a record at $57,000.
The average price of $120,487 per horse was the highest since 2006 and the median was also a record at $57,000.
The final RNA rate, the percentage of horses whose reserve price was not attained, was 25 percent.
“The September Sale exceeded expectations in every aspect,” said Bob Elliston, Keeneland vice president of racing and sales. “The sales grounds were electric from day one and that enthusiasm to buy racehorses never waned, even into the final days of the sale. Congratulations to our sellers and consignors, who brought an exceptional group of horses —truly the cream of the North American Thoroughbred foal crop — to market.”
This was also the first year Keeneland offered a bonus program, providing cash awards to purchasers of horses from the sale’s Book 1 who go on to win Grade or Group 1 races, as well as awards for sellers of grade or group winners at any point during the sale.
Officials anticipate releasing $2 million in awards to connections of successful September Sale graduates.
Photo courtesy Keeneland Association
Hip 69, a daughter of Tapit and Pretty ’n Smart, was the most expensive horse sold at $2.7 million.
The sale got off to a strong start with 13 horses taking seven-figure price tags (there were nine last year). The most expensive horse at $2.7 million was Hip 69, a daughter of Tapit and Pretty ’n Smart who is a full sister to Grade 1 winner Cupid and a half-sister to graded stakes winners Heart Ashley and Ashley’s Kitty. VanMeter-Gentry Sales was the consignor, and M.V. Magnier of the Ireland-based conglomerate Coolmore was the purchaser.
“That mare (Pretty ’n Smart) has been very good to us. I think we have sold something like $7 million (worth of horses at public auction) out of her,” said Tom VanMeter of VanMeter-Gentry.
The top five yearling prices were brought by sons and daughters of Tapit and War Front, the top two commercial sires on the market in the United States. Yearlings by Scat Daddy, who stood a short career at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud near Lexington, also did well, with two cracking the $1 million mark. Scat Daddy died unexpectedly in late 2015, dropping dead while being led in from the paddock one morning. This year’s sale saw the last of his foals come to market as yearlings.
The market theme throughout the past two years of auctions (for horses of any age) is high demand for horses in the upper price brackets (those of exceptional pedigree and physical build), and considerably less demand for horses in the middle and lower quality levels. Horses at large sales such as Keeneland’s September Sale are grouped into catalogue books by quality, and as usual, the later books saw a drop-off in average and median. At the same time, greater competition for top-level horses results in buyer’s agents who leave without their ‘orders filled,’ requiring them to continue shopping later in the year for clients who wanted a certain number of yearlings in their barns by the end of 2017.
“It was a tough sale — we were underbidder I don’t know how many times — so we stuck around (buying two horses for $270,000 in Book 5),” said Ben Glass, agent for top California-based owners Gary and Mary West. Glass spent a total of $4,990,000 for 24 yearlings.
This type of added competition could prove especially challenging for pinhookers, who buy young horses to turn a profit at 2-year-old in-training sales. Pinhooking is a risky proposition to begin with, as profit depends on the horses training with impressive times and remaining physically flawless during training. Heftier prices for yearlings will require those sellers to set their reserves higher in spring 2018 when the horses come to sale.
This type of increased competition also means agents could have bigger acquisitions on tap later in the year, which could be good news for Lexington-based sale company Fasig-Tipton. Fasig-Tipton will hold its annual October yearling sale October 23-26.
Natalie Voss is an Eclipse Award-winning writer and features editor for the Paulick Report, an independent horse racing news and business publication. Voss is a five-time nominee for the Stanley Bergstein Writing Award for investigative reporting. Her coverage of the equine industry has appeared in Business Lexington, the Chronicle of the Horse, The Horse magazine, The Blood-Horse, and Acreage Life, among others