The Numbers Are In: Keeneland September Yearling Sales Week Two

The Numbers Are In: Keeneland September Yearling Sales Week Two– Another year is in the books! The Keeneland September Yearling Sale has wrapped up and with twelve sales sessions in thirteen days (with one dark day in week one) and six books later, the final numbers are in! In week one, Keeneland saw gains in sales results. In the second week, Keeneland results actually fell just a tad.

In 2014, the Keeneland September Yearling Sale had thirteen sales sessions, but for the sake of comparison, we will only be looking at the sixth through twelfth sessions.

In 2014, a total of 2,052 yearlings were sold for a gross amount of $100,259,700. The session’s toppers included yearlings sired by Smart Strike, Curlin, Exchange Rate, Scat Daddy, Midshipman, and Archarcharch. These six stallions included only two unproven stallions, with Midshipman having two-year-olds on the track and Archarcharch having his first crop selling at Keeneland. The top price of the last six sessions (excluding session thirteen) was $700,000 for the Smart Strike filly out of Distinctively, a mare sired by Awesome Again.

In 2015, the final six sessions saw a total of 1,777 yearlings sold for a gross total of $76,578,100, a decrease from 2014. Relatively new stallions, including Quality Road, Curlin, Astrology, Blame, Colonel John, The Factor, and Stormy Atlantic, topped the final six sessions. While Astrology and The Factor do not yet have their first crops on the track, Stormy Atlantic and Curlin are proven as stallions. The session seven topper was a filly by Curlin bringing $975,000.

For the overall sale, the Keeneland sale did see gains through the whole process. In 2014, out of the 4,181 cataloged yearlings, 2,819 sold for a gross amount of $279,960,500 with a sales topper selling for $2.2 million. Shadwell bought the Tapit colt for the high price tag. The colt is a half sibling to New Years Day, the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner. The colt was the co-sales topper with the $2.2 million dollar War Front colt. In 2015, with 4,164 yearlings cataloged for sale, a total of 2,745 sold to bring a total gross amount of $281,496,100 with the entire sale being topped by a $2.1 million son of Tapit. Mandy Pope purchased the colt. The colt’s pedigree not only includes top stallion Tapit, but he is out of a daughter that was a result of Mr. Greeley and the 1988 Kentucky Derby winner, Winning Colors.

With another year in the books, and top horses being sold, it will be fun and interesting to see how these young horses mature, especially as this 2015 yearling sale was loaded with young stallions. Astrology, The Factor, Creative Cause, and Union Rags were just a few that were well received in the sale. Zayat Stables purchased a few yearlings from these first crop sires, including a $600,000 colt by The Factor. Union Rags had a filly sell for $430,000 to Shadai Farms. Stonestreet purchased an Astrology colt for $425,000, more that fifty-six times the stud fee set by Taylor Made. Creative Cause was well received, bringing $400,000.

Hopefully half the horses sold for large amounts live up to their potentials, as it will be fun to see how these horses improve in the next few years, and how these young stallions are producing runners. The next sale to take place at Keeneland will be the November Breeding Stock Sale.