With ‘Pretty Spectacular Increase in Median’, Pair of $700,000 Mares Share Top Billing at Keeneland January Opener

[Wandering Eyes]

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm

LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale opened with the first of its three sessions Monday and figures at the end of the day were well ahead of the pace set during the opening session of its four-day 2024 renewal.

“It was a good, solid day,” said Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “I think it was a continuation of November in large part. We saw good, solid trade for quality horses.”

For the session, 200 horses sold for $18,087,000 for an average of $90,435–up 11.11% from last year's opening session–and a median of $65,000, which increased a whopping 103.13% from 2024.

In 2024, 225 horses sold during the opening session of the January sale for a gross of $17,547,500, an average of $77,989 and a median of $32,000.

With 95 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate was 32.20% Monday. It was 30.12% a year ago.

“The demand was high, reflected in the median up over 100%, which is fantastic,” Lacy said. “We were up in all three major indices, which is encouraging. We did have a tick up in RNA rate. We will dive into that, but there definitely has been some protectionism, as we mentioned in the November sale, and has been evident here as well.”

Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach added, “For a long time, the January sale was a little brother to the November sale, but this is a strong median and huge growth from last year, when we had seven figure offerings in the first session.”

With a slimmer catalogue this year, the January sale has been condensed to three days, making direct comparisons between opening sessions difficult, Breathnach acknowledged.

“The catalogue in general is a little stronger top to bottom because we lost primarily from the lower end of the market,” Breathnach said. “This first day [Monday] is probably a little enriched because a lot of Book 1 sort of got forced into this. But there is a lot of quality, particularly tomorrow [Tuesday], because some of the big consignors are selling everything tomorrow. It's not really a Book 1 and a Book 2 situation, but generally speaking, today was enriched a little bit. So that's probably helping the median jump, but that doesn't change the fact that it more than doubled, which could never have been anticipated either. It's not quite apples to apples because of the format tweak, but we will know more in a couple of days.”

In addition to the smaller catalogue, the first day of the January sale had a large number of outs. From a catalogue of 459, there were 164 horses withdrawn from the session.

“We are watching the scratch rate and RNA rate as indicators of not everybody getting what they needed to out of the session,” Breathnach said.

Lacy added, “A lot of the scratches came in early. They were ones that we knew about for a while, so it wasn't that there wasn't enough activity on the grounds. There was fairly regular traffic of late scratches, there was nothing extraordinary in that sense.”

Hip 447 – Delahaye | Keeneland

Adrian Wallace of Coolmore, bidding on behalf of David Nagle's Barronstown Stud, went to a co-session topping $700,000 to acquire Pretty Birdie (Bird Song) (hip 453). The 6-year-old mare, in foal to Candy Ride (Arg), was consigned by Gainesway on behalf of the estate of John Hendrickson. Winner of the 2021 GIII Schuylerville Stakes, she had sold for $1.1 million at the 2024 Keeneland November sale, but was returned after she was observed cribbing.

“She's a lovely mare,” said Wallace. “We loved her the first time we saw her. She was a very precocious race mare herself and obviously coming from the estate of the late John Hendrickson, we are privileged to buy into one of his great families–and that of Marylou Whitney, as well.”

Of her announced status as a cribber at Monday's sale, Wallace, who confirmed the Coolmore team had bid on the mare in November, said, “We are delighted to get her this time at a slightly discounted rate. You take [cribbing] into account, but we've got lots of fence posts at Ashford Stud and hopefully she won't do too much damage.”

Wallace said Pretty Birdie will likely have a date with a Triple Crown winner this spring.

“The plan is to keep her in America,” Wallace said. “She is very well covered at the moment, so we will see what the foal is like, but probably you will find that she will go to Justify.”

Three Chimneys Farm bought out partner William Lawrence on GIII Old Forester Mint Julep Stakes winner Delahaye (Medaglia d'Oro) (hip 447) with a $700,000 bid late into the supplemental catalogue Monday. The 5-year-old mare was consigned by Four Star Sales as agent.

“That's the exact number I had appraised her at to [Three Chimneys owner] Goncalo [Torrealba] before she walked in,” said the farm's Chief Stipe Cauthen. “It wouldn't have shocked me if she had brought $800,000 or $900,000 and we knew she wasn't going to bring $500,000 or $600,000.”

Kerry Cauthen of Four Star Sales agreed on the price point.

“It was a great price for a Grade III filly,” he said. “And as has consistently happened year round and year over year, if they're as pretty as that and they show the performance, there's plenty of people that want to buy. [The price] was actually a little better than I thought she'd bring. I thought she was kind of a $500,000 to $600,000 filly. It's just a matter of finding two people who ant the same thing.”

Both co-topping mares were supplements to the main January catalogue.

“The nice thing about the supplements is that, when the time comes, I think they felt it was time to retire this filly and put her to the breeding shed,” Kerry Cauthen said. “And it was a partnership where one breeds and one doesn't, so that's why she went in here.”

Of the market during Monday's first session of the auction, Kerry Cauthen said, “I think it's been a very fair January. Sometimes January doesn't always have the same sizzle that you get in November, so you have some odd happenings but, as a market overall, I think it's been very fair.”

Delahaye is the first foal out of Bella Carina (War Front), a full-sister to MGSW Valid and a half-sister to a pair of talented runners in GISW Malibu Prayer (Malibu Moon), a $2-million KEENOV broodmare, and MGSP Grand Love (Gun Runner).

Three Chimneys, which bred Delahaye, will add the young mare to Gun Runner's upcoming 2025 book.

“She was extremely consistent and talented on the track and we just felt like it's an important family,” said Chief Stipe Cauthen. “Her dam is producing really nice horses. It's really hard to find quality that you can buy. Three Chimneys already owned half of her, she was on the market and if she brought more, she would've sold, but [Goncalo] was comfortable buying out the partnership. It's a win-win for everybody. The partner made money and had fun at the races. She made nearly a half million dollars. Now, she'll go to Gun Runner. She's a great young mare for Gun Runner.”

Chief Stipe Cauthen noted a slight down tick from the November market to January.

“The sale has been a very good quality sale, but maybe it just didn't have the electricity of November,” he said.

In addition to offering Monday's co-topper, Gainesway also consigned the day's top-priced short yearling. A colt by Tapit, hip 293 is out of stakes winner Maybe Wicked (Mizzen Mast) and was purchased for $400,000 by JPM Bloodstock, agent.

“It's typical,” Gainesway's Brian Graves said of the January market. “You're unhappy with a lot of what you are getting until you identify a horse that you really want to buy and then you go to the sale ring and you can't obtain the horse. It's a little bit feast or famine, a little spotty in January. But so far, it's been pretty fair.”

The Keeneland January sale continues through Wednesday with sessions beginning each day at 10 a.m.

The post With ‘Pretty Spectacular Increase in Median’, Pair of $700,000 Mares Share Top Billing at Keeneland January Opener appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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