TOTAL spending at the two-week Keeneland September Yearling Sale passed the $500 million mark for the first time on Thursday, with two days of selling remaining.
“New buyers are stepping in and making a tangible impact, which is truly a win for everyone connected to the game,” Keeneland vice-president of sales Tony Lacy said. The Offaly man continued: “But just as important are the breeders and consignors who have continued to entrust their horses to us year after year. Their confidence is the foundation of these results, and this moment is undeniable proof of what we can achieve as a community. We’re so proud that Keeneland continues to be the stage where we see this growth and enthusiasm come to life.”
The first 10 sessions of the September Sale have seen 2,373 yearlings sold for $500,230,000, for an average of $210,801 and a median of $120,000.
The total is 23.36% above the $405,519,500 from the corresponding period last year when 2,326 horses sold. The average has risen 20.91% from $174,342 in 2024, while the median is 15.38% higher than $95,000.
Coolmore again
Last week, we reported that Coolmore bought the top-priced horse in Book 1 of the sale when paying $3.3 million for a Gun Runner colt.
Gun Runner accounted for the top two lots in Book 2 as well last week, Coolmore taking home one of those at $1.55 million.
And it was Coolmore again to the fore when Book 3 opened on Saturday, paying $2 million for a colt by Into Mischief, the world’s leading sire in terms of prize money won for the past six years.
Now aged 20, Into Mischief was a Grade 1 winner at two and his best progeny include Kentucky Derby winners Authentic and Sovereignty, stallions Practical Joke and Goldencents, Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River, and many other Grade 1 winners such as Gamine, Life Is Good and Citizen Bull.
Working with agent Justin Casse and Peter Brant’s White Birch, Coolmore paid the highest price ever seen in the fifth session of the two-week sale for the Into Mischief colt from the family of champion Jaywalk. The yearling is out of Miss Jessica J, a daughter of Empire Maker who herself was a $2 million yearling.
Asked what appealed to him about the colt, Casse said: “The sire, the pedigree, the individual. He could have been easily in any one of the last few days; he just ended up on this day. He was a real standout. He was a beautiful physical with a lot of scope and obviously by a sire of sires who can do no wrong.”
Casse said he was not surprised to have to stretch to $2 million to acquire the colt because of the record-setting market during week 1.
“I feel like that Book 2 was like Book 1 five years ago,” Casse said. “Book 1 was in a whole other stratosphere from what we’ve seen in the past. The other books have shifted up in value. There is a real hunger.”
Into Mischief was also the sire of a colt sold for $900,000 on Saturday to Case Clay Thoroughbred Management. He is from the family of Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold.
Not This Time
The other sire making plenty of headlines at Keeneland this week was Not This Time.
A son of Giant’s Causeway, Not This Time did very well in week one also - he had five of the top 25 lots last week including a $2 million filly bought by David Lanigan and Ted Durcan for the Heider family. Amo Racing bought a couple of his colts too for $1 million and $775,000.
Last Saturday, two of his colts sold for $1.4 million and $1.15 million. These transactions brought the number of seven-figure lots at the sale to a record 56. The previous record was 40 in 2005.
From five crops to race, Not This Time has sired six Grade 1 winners including champions Epicenter and Up To The Mark, as well as top sprinter Cogburn and multiple stakes winner Next.
He stood at a fee of $175,000 this year at Taylor Made Farms.
By Giant’s Causeway, he is a half-brother to Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Liam’s Map. He was trained by Dale Romans and finished second in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile behind Classic Empire. He never raced again.
He has a very small number of runners in Europe, but they included last year’s Norfolk Stakes winner Shareholder, brought to Europe by Mickey Cleere for $62,000 and sold for €460,000 at the breeze-ups to Wathnan Racing.
On Sunday, the final day of Book 3, agent Jacob West spent $875,000 on a colt by Not This Time for owner Mike Repole, in partnership with Vinnie Viola’s St Elias Stables. The colt is related to the prolific champion Zenyatta.
Mike Repole owned one of Not This Time’s best sons, the turf champion Up To The Mark.
Also on Sunday, a son of Not This Time sold to Bradley Thoroughbreds for $775,000 and Justin Casse bought one of his fillies for $600,000.
Book 4 kicked off on Monday and saw Arkanasa owners Alex and JoAnn Lieblong pay $500,000 for a colt by Maclean’s Music.
The same owners had earlier bought two yearlings by new stallion Jackie’s Warrior for $425,000 and $650,000. Jackies Warrior is a son of Maclean’s Music.
Stock by first season sire Epicenter (by Not This Time) are proving popular. One of his colts sold for $475,000 on Monday to the session’s top buyer Pedro Lanz, agent for King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Sons’s KAS Stables.
On Tuesday, a colt by Yaupon sold for €560,000 to owner Mike McCarthy. A Grade 1-winning sprinter by Uncle Mo, Yaupon stands at Spendthrift Farm at a fee of $25,000.
Last week, Mags O’Toole bought a Yaupon colt for $150,000.
Among the Irish buyers in action this week was Tom Whitehead’s Powerstown Stud, which bought a Flightline filly for $230,000 and a colt by Jack Christopher for $135,000.
Katie Walsh’s Greenhills Stables signed for a Justify filly at $150,000.