Keeneland concluded Week 1 of its 80th September Yearling Sale on Thursday with a session highlighted by steady trade among a number of major buyers and the sale of colts by Curlin for $1.1 million and by Not This Time for $1.05 million. Cumulative gross sales for the first four days of the auction, when 30 yearlings sold for seven figures, reached $234 million, down slightly from the same period last year, while the average and median prices posted increases.
Week 1 featured Books 1 and 2, with more than 1,100 horses, among the sale’s finest individuals based on pedigree and conformation in the catalog. The format was designed to offer the largest number of exceptional horses possible to major domestic and foreign buyers before the sale takes a one-day hiatus on Friday, Sept. 15.
During that span, Keeneland sold 637 horses through the ring for a total of $234,300,000, for an average of $367,818 and a median of $300,000. Compared to Week 1 of 2022, the gross dipped 1.14 percent, while the average was up 3.83 percent from $354,245 and the median climbed 9.09 percent from $275,000.
The 30 million-dollar horses equals the number sold last year and is the highest for the September Sale since 2007.
Several Canadian-bred yearlings went through the ring during the first four sessions including a flashy chestnut filly by Ghostzapper from the unraced mare Superlative, a daughter of Curlin from the Champion Older Mare Serenading. Sold by Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa, as agent, the filly brought $500,000 from West Bloodstock, as agent for Repole Stable, a leading owner in North America.
Sean and Dorothy Fitzhenry of Toronto sold a filly by Medaglia D’oro from the mare Pavini (Fr), by Dubawi (Ire) through agent Keith Lancaster for $325,000. The filly, purchased by Katsunonri Tanaka, is from the immediate family of Group 1 champion Peintre Celebre.
Jay and Christine Hayden’s Saintsbury Farm sold a Maclean’s Music bay colt from Unreachable, by Giant’s Causeway, through agent Cara Bloodstock for $310,000. Powerstown Stud bought the colt who is a half-brother to Japanese Group 1 winner Lemon Pop.
David Anderson’s Anderson Farms sold a full sister to Canadian Two-Year-Old Champion Gretzky the Great for $285,000 to Lake Ave. Bloodstock. The filly is by Nyquist from Pearl Turn by Bernardini. Anderson also sold a Frosted filly from Dreams are Free by Bellamy Road for $210,000 to D.J. Stable.
The Keeneland September sale takes a one-day hiatus on Friday, the 15th, and continues Saturday.
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