MV Magnier and White Birch Farm upped the ante on a record-breaking second day at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, stretching to $3.7 million for Tuesday’s session topper, while Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing later gave $3.1 million for a Gun Runner colt.
The second and final day of the sale’s prestigious Book 1 segment saw 23 yearlings sell for $1 million or more – bringing the two-day total to 41 – each individual records, 12 months on from a sale that set new highs across the board.
Over the first two and most high-profile days of the sale, which runs until September 26th, 208 yearling generated turnover of $151.4 million, which marked a 5% increase on last year’s sales for 217 horses. The average grew by 9.55% to $727,885, while the median rose by a similar rate to $600,000.
The clearance rate was the only figure to suffer, as Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin recognised in Tuesday’s debrief, saying: “It was a great day. Lots of energy carried through with great participation internationally and domestically. The prices held and better. The gross was up 5%. Median, average — both up about 9%.
“The RNA rate was a little higher; it ticked up higher than we would like it to, so we’d like to see that continue to go down. That means we may have some sellers excited to keep their stock, and we may have some sellers disappointed that they didn’t find a spot in the market. We definitely are paying close attention to that.”
Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy echoed Arvin’s comments. “We saw some selectivity in the market and are keeping a close eye on that. Overall, we’re very pleased with the numbers. To see us surpass last year in most metrics is really, really encouraging. They’re sustainable increases, which I think is more encouraging. We’re not on a sugar high, and we’re very much on a solid trajectory.”
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John and Tanya Gunther enjoyed a strong start to the sale when selling a half-brother to Justify for $1,900,000 on Monday, but that result was blown from their minds when MV Magnier and White Birch Farm gave $3,700,000 for an equally well-bred homebred, an Into Mischief half-brother to Hollywood Derby hero Mo Town.
Bred by the father-and-daughter team out of their homebred Bernardini mare Grazie Mille, the session topper is also a half-brother to dual stakes winner and multiple Grade 3-placed mare Justique, who sold to Whisper Hill Farm for $2 million last year.
Following the mare’s most successful sale, John Gunter reflected: “He was just a big, strong colt, tremendous walk and a great presence on him. Everybody loved this one. I wanted to stay in, of course, but that’s not going to happen on this one.
“He’s in good hands now and they mentioned that he’s going to stay in the U.S., so that makes me feel really good, as well.”
The Gunthers are a familiar name on these shores, not just for their graduates’ success, but having also raced St James’s Palace victor Without Parole, now a Group 1 stallion at Newsells Park Stud.
They enjoyed less success in the UK with their Siyouni mare Love And Thunder but gained a Grade 3 win after moving her to the Chad Brown stable and on Tuesday, her second foal – a Gun Runner filly – brought $625,000 from Eurowest Bloodstock. Her first foal, a Justify filly, sold to Hugo Lascelles for $925,000 12 months ago but has yet to run.
A Gun Runner colt became Amo Racing’s first purchase of the week as Ben McElroy signed the docket at $3,100,000. Eaton Sales consigned the full-brother to dual Grade 1 scorer Locked, who began his stallion career at Gainesway this sprint.
“We loved him from the get-go,” McElroy reported. “Obviously by a sensational sire. His full brother is at stud, so we are hoping for the same result. This horse made a ton of sense (to buy).”
Eaton’s Reiley McDonald added: “He is an absolute specimen of a horse. I don’t know if I have ever seen a better Gun Runner. He has a fluid, strong, easy stride and a great mind.”
Eaton Sales sold three of their four offerings at Book 1 and reflecting on trade, McDonald commented: “This is an incredible market on the high end. It has been unbelievable at the top. When you have this many horses going for seven figures, it creates a lot of atmosphere. Everybody is looking and everyone is saying, ‘who’s that?’ That creates a lot of excitement. It has been a fun couple of days.”
Gun Runner was a clear winner of the Book 1 sire standings, after 28 yearlings sold for a combined $29,080,000. The same number of yearlings by his nearest rival Not This Time totalled $22,085,000.
M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm ended Book 1 as leading buyers after spending $10,150,000 on a quintet of seven-figure colts, three of them by Gun Runner. Travis Boersma’s Flying Dutchmen, fresh from splashing $21,625,000 on 11 lots at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, sat second in the buyers’ table, with nine yearlings bought for a total of $8,725,000.
Two of their purchases were by Into Mischief, sire of their first Grade 1 winner, but their highest bid of $2,600,000 was for a colt by Flightline. Lane’s End Farm’s top-class recruit began his stallion career at $200,000, dropped to $150,000 and commanded $125,000.
The son of Tapit currently sits fifth in the first season sire championship, but given that the unbeaten bay didn’t run at two, it’s widely expected that the best is yet to come. His runners include debut second Powerline, who is a full-sister to the Flying Dutchmen’s most expensive purchase, consigned by Lane’s End on behalf of Summer Wind Equine.
Ten lots earlier, Lane’s End and Summer Wind Equine sold a Justify half-brother to Pennsylvania Derby victor Saudi Crown for $1,950,000. Mayberry Farm signed for the colt, whose accomplished half-brother cost $52,000 as a weanling.
Mandy Pope’s Whisper Hill Farm paid the same price of $1,950,000 for Hill 'n' Dale’s Curlin half-sister to triple Grade 1 winner Mind Control.