KEENOV Concludes with Statistical Dips

[Wandering Eyes]

Keeneland’s 12-session November Breeding Stock Sale concluded Friday with dips in gross, average and median compared to last year. A total of 2,538 head changed hands for gross receipts of $188,508,300. The 2017 November sale, which featured a catalog that was 8.8% smaller and 2,424 recorded transactions, grossed $202,021,700. This year’s average was $74,274 (down 10.9% from $83,342) and median was $25,000 (down 18% from $30,500). The 2018 RNA rate was 26.5% compared to 24.7% last year. Eight horses met or exceeded the $1-million mark–18 reached that mark 12 months ago.

“I think it was a solid sale–it was down a little in terms of gross, off a little in the average because we had a few less in Book 1 with our new format and I think that kind of explains some of the small declines comparatively to last year,” Keeneland Vice President of Racing and Sales Bob Elliston said.   “But if you had a quality mare or weanling, there was tons of demand out there. It demonstrates the continuation of a strong market for American-bred horses.”

The 2018 November sale featured a one-day, super-select Book 1 compared to a three-day Book 1 last year. The 2018 catalog was comprised of 4,513 offerings–it was 4,147 in 2017.

“In terms of total number of offerings, we did have more offerings in the catalog [compared to last year] and most of them were in the back end,” Elliston said. “So, when you have more in the second week and particularly the latter half of the second week, that’s going to drive your average and gross down… If you look session by session, we track very much like the 2017 sale.”

The sale topper was MGISW Lady Eli (Divine Park) (hip 111), who was purchased by John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale during last Monday’s opening session for $4.2 million. Hill ‘n’ Dale consigned the gutsy champion, in foal to War Front, on behalf of Sheep Pond Partners.

The top weanling was a Tapit filly (hip 116A) out of champion female sprinter La Verdad (Yes It’s True)–she went for $800,000 to Whisper Hill Farm and Three Chimneys Farm and was bought out of the Eaton Sales consignment.

Horses of racing age have become a major focus of the November sale during its second week, and this year’s priciest male racing prospect was Federal Case (Gemologist) (hip 3495), who was sold by WinStar Racing to agent Jacob West on behalf of Robert and Lawana Low for $650,000. The juvenile colt was a debut winner at Keeneland Oct. 19.

“It was remarkable,” said consignor James Keogh of Grovendale, who handled the WinStar Racing consignment, about the interest in horses of racing age. “Every racehorse that we came up here with–whether we sold it for $7,500 or $650,000–there were three people there to buy every single one of those horses. That’s not always what you also see at yearling sales.”

For the 23rd time in the last 32 years, Taylor Made Sales Agency was the November sale’s top consignor, selling 258 horses for $23,958,400.

Agent Steve Young was the leading buyer by gross, making six purchases for $4,985,000, including $4-million second topper My Miss Sophia (Unbridled’s Song) (hip 147).

“The horses that we bought, I thought were very, very good horses and they brought about what I thought they would bring,” Young said. “Obviously, when you have a horse like My Miss Sophia, she is a priceless commodity in that what she brings, like what all horses bring, is dependent on the underbidder. But I thought she was a tremendous mare. I thought the other mares that we bought were mares of, hopefully, hidden quality, but they brought what I thought they would bring, too. It is like any other sale, if you lead a horse up there that has credentials, there will be people that fight to buy them.”

Elliston noted that there were 43 individual buyers who spent $1 million or more at November. Foreign entities were also active, with at least 23 different countries represented, and particularly strong interest from Japan and Australia.

Friday’s topper was 8-year-old mare Carnival Kitten (Kitten’s Joy) (hip 4255), who sold in foal to Red Rocks (Ire) for $45,000. The dam of this year’s two-time stakes-winning sophomore and GIII Pennine Ridge S. third Channel Cat (English Channel) was picked up by Nursery Place out of the Select Sales draft.

“Overall, I’m very pleased,” said Andrew Cary of Select Sales when asked about the market as a whole. “There’s always a little bit of uncertainty in election years and stuff like that but, generally, overall the economy is good and when the Breeders’ Cup is in town it’s always a great boost. I think it was more of what we’ve been seeing–quality horses are selling very well and there’s tons of demand for them. Horses who miss the mark a little bit are a lot harder to move, but if you have what they want there’s definitely an appetite for those offerings.”

The top weanling of the session was hip 4422, a Mizzen Mast filly consigned by Shawhan Place LLC, Agent X and purchased by Erin Lundy for $25,000. The grey was a $9,000 Keeneland January in utero purchase by Robert Francis.

The continued trend of demand and competition at the top of the market and increased weakness for perceived lesser-quality offerings continued on at November, with a significantly higher number of offerings failing to receive a bid at this sale compared to in years past.

“If you start off and you don’t have either the right covering sire or sire of a weanling, that makes the degree of difficulty that much harder,” Cary said. “If you’re already starting off with a bit of a hurdle to clear, it makes it that much more difficult even getting people to come look at your horse if they don’t pass the pedigree test. When there are a lot of young stallions or unproven horses or unexposed horses who don’t have a ton of commercial appeal, it doesn’t mean they’re not going to be good racehorses, but there’s a big gap between the commercial market and the racehorse market. That definitely gets exposed when there are a lot of offerings and not a ton of demand for them.”

Keeneland’s next auction will be the January Horses of All Ages Sale, scheduled for Jan. 7-10. For more information, visit www.keeneland.com.

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