Keeneland Barn Notes — FINAL DAY OF BARN NOTES

By Amy Owens —-

MOMENTUM AT KEENELAND SEPTEMBER YEARLING SALE CONTINUES
· BUYERS COMMENT ON WEDNESDAY SESSION
· TRAINERS FLOCK TO SEPTEMBER SALE IN SEARCH OF STARS
· WEEK 1 OF SEPTEMBER SALE CONCLUDES TODAY
· BEHIND-THE-SCENES: SMALL TASKS PLAY BIG PART IN KEEPING SEPTEMBER SALE ON SCHEDULE
· SEPTEMBER SALE GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: LADY ELI
· SALE COVERAGE AND MEDIA ASSISTANCE
· DATES OF UPCOMING KEENELAND EVENTS

MOMENTUM AT KEENELAND SEPTEMBER YEARLING SALE CONTINUES

On Wednesday during the third session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, three horses sold for $1 million and more, increasing to 11 the number of seven-figure horses sold during sale’s first three days.

The legacy and international appeal of Scat Daddy continued to make an impact, when another offspring of the late sire commanded top price for the second consecutive day.

Yesterday’s session topper was a colt purchased for $1.1 million by Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier. Consigned by Anderson Farms, agent, he is the first foal out of the Tapit mare Orchard Beach. A Scat Daddy colt topped the Tuesday session on a bid of $950,000 from Kerri Radcliffe Bloodstock.

“It was a lot of money but sadly, as you know, we lost Scat Daddy a couple years ago,” Magnier said Wednesday about the stallion, who stood at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud near Versailles, Kentucky, and died unexpectedly in 2015. “It’s probably one of the biggest losses we’ll ever experience. We’re looking to have (the 3-year-old Group 1-winning Scat Daddy colt) Caravaggio to follow in his footsteps.”

Selling for $1 million apiece on Wednesday were a colt by Quality Road and a colt by Orb.

The strong market for quality yearlings continued throughout the session, with 194 horse sold for a gross of $47,018,000 and an average of $242,361 and a median of $180,000. Cumulatively, a total of 483 horses have sold for $149,414,000, for an average of $309,346 and a median of $220,000.

Today concludes Book 2 of the September Sale, which has cataloged a total of 4,139 yearlings over 12 sessions concluding Sept. 23.

The entire September Sale, which runs through Sept. 23, is streamed live on Keeneland.com.

BUYERS COMMENT ON WEDNESDAY SESSION

Randy Bradshaw: “The market is strong and it looks like it will continue to be strong. There is a lot of money here and there are a lot of really good horses here. I think having all those elite horses on the first day might have gotten them more money than having them scattered throughout the book. Having more horses on these early days (compared with previous years) makes for a long day. But we are here to buy horses so if we have to work a 12-hour day, so be it.”
Kip Elser, Kirkwood Stables: “I think the top of the market as always is very, very strong as you can see by some of the bigger buyers teaming up. And I think the middle market is still very, very solid. You can buy horses, but you better be prepared to pay a bit over your original appraisals if you want to get the ones you really like.
“(I was outbid) no more, no less than usual. You make your appraisals, you draw your lines and you get a few of them. We’ll be here all the way (through the end of the sale).”
Coolmore’s M.V. Magnier: “(The market’s) very strong. If you have the right horse, people want it, and I suppose that’s the way it should be.”

Trainer Kenny McPeek: “I really liked the horses that I saw yesterday. I’m really just getting going. Typically, the middle and end of the sales is where I (buy the most horses). I’m not typically a first-session, second-session buyer, but we did get a beautiful horse yesterday and a couple of really nice fillies we partnered with Three Chimneys on.”

Kerri Radcliffe, who purchased the $1 million Orb colt with Eric Fein: “Instead of beating each other up and smashing each other up (bidding against each other on the same yearlings), we might as well be in a partnership together.”
Trainer Rick Violette: “I followed some I couldn’t afford but you just have to wait it out. Clients have certain standards that they stick to and sometimes they are too expensive for our pocketbook. I thought we did very well on Wednesday.”

TRAINERS FLOCK TO SEPTEMBER SALE IN SEARCH OF STARS

Eclipse Award-winning trainers Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown, who both won classics this year with graduates of Keeneland’s 2015 September Yearling Sale, and Bob Baffert, trainer of champion and multiple Grade 1 winner Arrogate are among the notable North American and international trainers who have been shopping the September Sale for future champions and graded stakes winners.

Other North American trainers include Rusty Arnold, Steve Asmussen, Buff Bradley, Kelly Breen, Bret Calhoun, Christophe Clement, Ben Colebrook, Ignacio Correas, Neil Drysdale, Peter Eurton, Jinx Fires, Eoin Harty, Jerry Hollendorfer, Mark Hubley, Larry Jones, Eddie Kenneally, D. Wayne Lukas, Richard Mandella, Michael Matz, Ron McAnally, Andrew McKeever, Kenny McPeek, Ron Moquett, Tom Morley, Graham Motion, Bill Mott, Phil Oliver, Vicki Oliver, Neil Pessin, Mick Ruis, Joe Sharp, John Shirreffs, Al Stall Jr., Dallas Stewart, Mike Stidham, Barclay Tagg, John Terranova, Rick Violette, Brendan Walsh, Wesley Ward, George Weaver, Ian Wilkes and Nick Zito.

International trainers at Keeneland include Richard Gibson, John Gosden, Mark Johnston, David Lanigan, Jeremy McKeever, Aidan O’Brien, Joseph O’Brien and Sir Mark Prescott.

Pletcher won the Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Yum! Brands with Always Dreaming, sold for $350,000. Brown won the Preakness (G1) with Cloud Computing, a $200,000 purchase.

Arrogate sold for $560,000 at the 2014 September Sale.

Here’s the format for the remainder of the sale:

· Dark Day, Friday, Sept. 15 – No sale will be conducted.
· Books 3-6 (Saturday-Saturday, Sept. 16-23) – Sessions begin at 10 a.m.

The September Sale resumes Saturday at 10 a.m. with the start of the two-day Book 3 (Hips 1203-2026). Each remaining session of the sale, which runs through Saturday, Sept. 23, begins at 10 a.m.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES: SMALL TASKS PLAY BIG PART
IN KEEPING SEPTEMBER SALE ON SCHEDULE

Well before the start of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Dewey Harper, Alan Gooden and others on the Keeneland team are busy preparing barns for incoming four-legged residents. The individual chores might seem small, but collectively the tasks keep the world’s premier Thoroughbred auction moving at a steady pace.

Dewey and Alan are stationed in the stable office in the center of the barn area at the main horse loading dock. The mood is laid-back, but there is always plenty of action with ringing phones, beeping walkie-talkies and steady foot traffic.

“We do a little bit of everything in here,” Dewey said. “We are always in contact with someone about something.”

After the sales staff makes barn assignments, Dewey and Alan act as liaisons between consignors and Keeneland’s maintenance and other departments. Chores include relaying information about late scratches to the crew of “horse callers,” who coordinate getting yearlings to the auction ring on time and fielding requests for minor maintenance such as light bulb replacements or mulch to keep barn entrances dry.

When yearlings settle into their temporary homes, Alan circulates to document their specific stalls chosen by the consignors in their designated barns. He posts those lists in the middle of each barn and sends the information to the commercial horse haulers to simplify their searches. He and Dewey stay in contact with yearlings’ representatives to ensure that previously sold horses are removed on schedule.
Dewey and Alan do similar work during Keeneland’s April and October race meets, and for the November Breeding Stock Sale and January Horses of All Ages Sale.
Alan started working as a seasonal Keeneland employee in 1988. Now retired from careers involving agriculture and owning a roofing business, he lives in southern Georgia. His time at Keeneland is a working vacation that allows him to reconnect with old friends.
“I recently saw a guy I had not seen in several years,” he said. “It is always nice to see familiar faces.”
Dewey spent 30 years as a Lexington firefighter while raising cattle on property that is now a division of Juddmonte Farms. A Keeneland employee for 12 years, he oversees the barn area of the Keeneland Training Center on nearby Rice Road throughout the year.
“I like everything about being at Keeneland,” he said. “If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t be here. I enjoy being part of the year-round family and seeing all those that come from out of town for the sales and race meet.”

SEPTEMBER SALE GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: LADY ELI
Sheep Pond Partners’ Lady Eli crosses the finish line of every race with her ears back and a steely expression on her face, conveying the gumption that allowed her to overcome a battle with laminitis and win eight graded stakes races. Five of those victories were Grade 1 races, including the Gamely (G1) and Diana (G1) in 2017.
Consigned by Runnymede Farm to Keeneland’s 2013 September Yearling Sale, Lady Eli sold for $130,000 to Bradley Thoroughbreds, agent.
Pete Bradley of Bradley Thoroughbreds said the yearling Lady Eli was “extremely athletic and had a real presence about her.”
“While I make a living as a bloodstock agent by buying, selling and trading horses, the main reason I do what I do is to try to find exceptional equine athletes,” Bradley said. “My job is to be a talent scout. So for me, Lady Eli is the fruition of my passion for this sport. She is one of the best of her generation.”
Click here to read more about Lady Eli’s spectacular career and watch her sell at the September Sale. Lady Eli is to be offered as a broodmare prospect at this year’s Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which begins Tuesday, Nov. 7.

DATES OF UPCOMING KEENELAND EVENTS
Sept. 23: Final day of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale
Oct. 6-28: Keeneland Fall Meet
Nov. 7-18: Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale
Nov. 19: Fifth Annual Sporting Art Auction
Jan. 8-12, 2018: Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale
April 6-27, 2018: Keeneland Spring Meet

Two Million-Dollar Fillies Reign During Lively Thursday at Keeneland September Yearling Sale

The bullish market at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale continued to generate strong trade among a global contingent of buyers on Thursday, producing healthy results and the sale of two fillies for $1 million each.
Keeneland sold 198 yearlings for a total of $47,231,000, an average of $238,540 and a median of $175,000 on Thursday, which marked the final day of the premier Week 1 portion of the September Sale. Through the first four days, Keeneland has sold 681 horses for gross sales of $196,645,000, for an average of $288,759 and a median of $200,000. Thirteen horses have sold for $1 million or more thus far compared to nine during last year’s entire September Sale.
Keeneland reformatted Week 1 of the September Sale this year to open with a select, single-session Book 1 followed by a three-day Book 2 versus last year’s three-day Book 1. The format change was designed to create momentum from the beginning that would carry through the entire auction, and to put as many top-quality horses before the world’s major buyers as possible during the first week.
“The goals we set out before the sale have been accomplished,” Keeneland Director of Sales Operation Geoffrey Russell said. “We wanted to engage buyers early and Monday showed that with great highlights. We wanted the momentum from Monday to carry through this week. The table has been very well set for the rest of the sale based on this week.
“We have sold million-dollar horses throughout the week, which shows the strength of the market,” Russell added. “There is a hunger for top-end horses.”
Thursday’s two session-toppers sold within minutes of each other. The first, consigned by Brereton C. Jones/Airdrie Stud, agent, is a filly by leading sire Tapit out of Jones’ Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Believe You Can, by Proud Citizen. She was purchased for $1 million by Don Alberto Corporation.
“First of all, she’s a Tapit,” Liliana Solari of Don Alberto said. “We had Proud Citizen at our farm in Chile. He was a wonderful horse and he sired very good fillies and colts. (This filly) had very nice lines – not too big, not too strong, but nice lines. So we want to have good horses (from) her.”
“All the smart people have told us that the filly looks exactly like all the really good Tapits,” Bret Jones of Airdrie said. “She is not a great big robust filly, but she is a well put-together filly and gives you the feeling she is going to give everything she has on the race track.”
Kerri Radcliffe Bloodstock bought the second million-dollar filly, who is from the last crop of Scat Daddy. Consigned by Gainesway, agent, she is out of the graded stakes-placed Ghostzapper mare Beloveda, a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Golden Mystery.
“This was my favorite horse in the whole sale,” Radcliffe said. “I saw her on Sunday and I knew I wasn’t going home without her. In my eyes, she is the best horse in the sale. She is a queen and hopefully she will be in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2 at Royal Ascot) next year.”
“(The filly) rose to the occasion here,” Gainesway’s director of sales Michael Hernon said. “She was shown over 220 times; she was just as strong at the end. And she came along really well, I’d say in the last six weeks. She attracted all the top buyers, as she deserved to do. We think she’s a Royal Ascot filly. There was a lot of across-the-board interest from major buyers. And you know the cream rises to the top. We think she’s a really good horse, and we’re delighted with the result.”
Eric Fein paid $900,000 for a colt by Tapit who is a half-brother to Grade 1 winner Taris, Grade 3 winner Theatre Star and stakes winner Stoweshoe. Out of the Theatrical (IRE) mare Comedy, he was consigned by Denali Stud, agent for Stonestreet Bred & Raised.
“We priced him anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million,” said Ian Brennan, who signed the ticket. “Good Tapit colts are bringing that kind of money. I’ve seen him for the last six, seven months and I’ve loved him. He’s done everything right.”
A colt by Curlin sold for $850,000 to trainer Kenny McPeek for Paul Fireman’s Fern Circle, whose runners include Senior Investment, winner of Keeneland’s Stonestreet Lexington (G3) in April.
“We’re just stepping up, trying to find stock that can compete at the highest level,” McPeek said.
Consigned by Clarkland Farm, the colt is a half-brother to stakes winners Imply and Dancinginthecircle and from the family of Racing Hall of Famer Holy Bull.
McPeek has unique insight into the colt.
“I know the guy that bought Curlin as a yearling; I know him pretty well,” McPeek, who purchased Curlin for $57,000 at the 2005 September Sale, said jokingly. “And I think that he was as much that type of horse as I’ve ever seen from the stallion. He just really stamped this colt. This colt vetted perfect, and he was a man among boys today.
“(We) expected (to pay) $600,000, $700,000, $800,000. (Fireman and I were) on the phone and he said, ‘Go ahead.’ We’re real lucky to have a horse in the barn like this.”
Two yearlings sold for $800,000 each.
Kempton/Berkelhammer, agent for Albaugh Family Stable, bought the first, a colt by Curlin who is a half-brother to English highweight Hawkbill, scheduled to make his first North American start in Saturday’s Northern Dancer Turf (G1) at Woodbine, and Free Drop Billy, second in the recent Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga. Free Drop Billy races for Albaugh Family Stable, which purchased him for $200,000 at the 2016 September Sale. The colt was consigned by Gainesway, agent.
“He just had beautiful balance, very clean angles. He was an athletic horse from a profile – just had so much class and presence,” Steve Castagnola, bloodstock manager for Albaugh Family Stable, said. “I think he was a better individual than Free Drop Billy was at this time last year when we bought him. And you know you can’t say enough about Curlin. The mare’s a fantastic mare. The more we looked at him, you could just see it. Sometimes they hit you right between the eyes, and he was one of them.”
John C. Oxley paid $800,000 for a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile from the consignment of Blandford Stud, agent. The filly is out of the winning Touch Gold mare All Mettle, half-sister to 2017 multiple Grade 1 winner Paulassilverlining.
“She is gorgeous and I love (her sire) Pioneerof the Nile,” Oxley said. “She had the same look as (his son Triple Crown winner) American Pharoah. She was too attractive to pass up, so I had to stay in there and win. That was a little more than I thought she would go for and quite a bit more than I hoped she would go for.”
Hinkle Farms consigned a colt by Pioneerof the Nile who sold to Marchmont Stable for $775,000. Out of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Accessorize, he is from the family of French highweight Mubtaker.
“I am thrilled that he is going to a great home,” Tom Hinkle said. “I knew he was popular and I knew there was a chance he might break out a little bit. We had a very reasonable reserve on him. There were some very fine racing stables interested him. We are delighted with where he is going.”
“Hopefully they will be running in classic dirt races on Saturday afternoons,” Walker Hancock, president of Claiborne Farm, said about the horses bought in the Marchmont Stable name. “That is what our clients have asked us to find, and I think we have done that. Ideally, these horses will become stallions at Claiborne Farm.”
Robert and Lawana Low paid $750,000for No Joke, a filly by Distorted Humor, who is a half-sister to recent Del Mar Debutante (G1) winner Moonshine Memories and stakes winner Indian Evening and from the family of Horse of the Year Favorite Trick. She was consigned by Lane’s End, agent.
“I said to Mr. Low, ‘It’s the perfect recipe for success for a filly to bring a lot of money,’ ” said Jacob West, who signed the ticket for the filly. “She’s an outstanding physical, incredible pedigree behind her, updates in the pedigree, so it was a recipe for success. She’ll go to (trainer) Todd Pletcher.

“(The market)’s strong; it’s incredibly strong,” West added. “You have a number in your head and you better be prepared to give 25, sometimes 50 percent more. (High prices are) good for the breeders. It’s hard to get (the yearlings) through all the hoops and get them in here, so when you do that you need to get rewarded. I’m happy that these breeders are getting rewarded.”

Rick Porter’s Fox Hill Farm was the leading buyer on Thursday, spending $1,675,000 for seven yearlings.

The leading consignor was Taylor Made Sales Agency, which sold 33 horses for $6,617,000.
No sale will be held Friday, Sept. 15. The sale resumes Saturday. Remaining sessions begin at 10 a.m. ET. The entire sale, which concludes Saturday, Sept. 23, is streamed live at Keeneland.com.

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For more than 80 years, the Keeneland Association has devoted itself to the health and vibrancy of the Thoroughbred industry. As the world’s largest Thoroughbred auction company, Keeneland conducts sales every January, September and November. Its sales graduates dominate racing across the globe at every level. In April and October, Keeneland offers some of the highest caliber and richest Thoroughbred racing in the world. In 2015, Keeneland hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Uniquely structured, Keeneland is a private, for-profit corporation that returns its earnings to the industry and the community in the form of higher purses, and it has donated millions of dollars in charitable contributions for education, research and health and human services throughout Central Kentucky. To learn more about Keeneland, visit Keeneland.com.