Canadian Purchases in Session 5 of Keeneland January Sale

Over 40 horses were purchased by Canadians from the recently completed Keeneland January sale and the prospects ranged from mares in foal to broodmare prospects, racing prospects and short yearlings. Canadian Thoroughbred noted many of these purchases in news items throughout this week.

The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, which featured the dams of 2019 Eclipse Award finalists, graded stakes-calibre fillies and yearlings by exciting young sires, concluded Friday with healthy results that reflect a competitive market for quality individuals.

Gross sales for the five-day auction, held Jan. 13-17, totaled $42,480,500 compared to $48,280,100 from the four-day sale last year when champion Abel Tasman sold for a record $5 million. Cumulative average was $38,409 and the median was $14,000. In 2019, cumulative average was $50,768 and the median was $20,000. This year, 1,106 horses sold versus 951 in 2019.

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“We are very pleased with the solid trade experienced throughout the January Sale,” Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason said. “If you take out the sale of Abel Tasman last year, the results are remarkably similar to 2019. The consistent thread that runs through all these sales continues to be demand for quality horses.”

Three of the sale’s four highest-priced horses – Enaya Alrabb ($640,000), Inflamed ($525,000) and Pomeroys Pistol ($475,000) – were among the 29 supplements to the January Sale catalog offered during Book 1 on Monday and Tuesday.

“There was elevated demand for the supplements and they were very well received by buyers,” Keeneland Vice President of Racing and Sales Bob Elliston said. “Supplemental entries provide flexibility for us and for sellers, and we really took their recruiting to a new level with this sale. Some of these offerings, particularly race fillies and broodmare prospects, can come to hand quickly. They can have significant success on the track in the fall and then head right to the breeding shed.”

Canadian buyers from Session 5:

Cole Bennett – Perfect Setting, mare by Old Fashioned, $5,000

Slade Callaghan – Quonnie, Flat Out filly $7,500, racing or broodmare prospect

Nick Nosowenko – Successful Heir, filly by Successful Appeal $3,500, racing or broodmare prospect

Cam Ziprick – Takin Til Midnight mare by Broken Vow $4,200 in foal to A Shin Forward- Justoneofakind, mare by More Than Ready in foal to A Shin Forward $10,500

Doug Reddington – Skipshot short yearling filly $8,000; Skipshot short yearling filly $2,000; Creative Cause short yearling filly $16,000

Maureen Hewitt Topp – Animal Kingdom short yearling colt $1,400