2022 Keeneland September Sale

[KatieK101]

Here's the top 10 from Book 1, Session 1:

hip 97 - Quality Road x True Feelings colt - sold for $2,500,000 to Talla Racing, Woodford Racing, etc.

hip 169 - Curlin x Carina Mia colt - sold for $1,700,000 to Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys.

hip 87 - Gun Runner x Tip at Tapit filly - sold for $1,500,000 to Winchell Thoroughbreds and Three Chimneys.

hip 52 - Into Mischief x Song of Spring filly - sold for $1,250,000 to Frank Fletcher Racing Operation.

hip 60 - Curlin x Stage Magic colt - sold for $1,200,000 to Hideyuki Mori.

hip 8 - Quality Road x Princesa Silvia filly - sold for $1,200,000 to Claiborne Farm.

hip 176 - Quality Road x Checkupfromzneckup colt - sold for $1,150,000 to BC Stables.

hip 117 - Into Mischief x Wildwood Rose (IRE) filly - sold for $1,150,000 to Whisper Hill Farm.

hip 73 - City of Light x Tea Time colt - sold for $1,000,000 to Courtlandt Farm.

hip 28 - Justify x San Saria (IRE) - sold for $925,000 to My Racehorse.

[KatieK101]

hip 275 - Gun Runner x Hero's Amor - sold for $475,000.

hip 276 - Constitution x High Performer - sold for $825,000.

hip 279 - Tapit x Honouring - sold for $475,000. Third dam is Better Than Honor.

hip 282 - Curlin x Icon Project - sold for $575,000.

hip 283 - Union Rags x I'm a Flake - sold for $425,000. Full brother to Express Train, 2nd dam is November Snow.

[brunanas]

it's nice seeing all sale toppers but then i remember all the rescues who can barely pay for their upkeep... i'd love to see news of those millionaires donating 6 figures to horses in need. but anyways...

[Miss Woodford]

297 Gun Runner x Just Wicked goes for $1.1 million

[Squeaky]

it's nice seeing all sale toppers but then i remember all the rescues who can barely pay for their upkeep... i'd love to see news of those millionaires donating 6 figures to horses in need. but anyways...

Yes. Like a small % goes to aftercare. We know a fair percent of these 6 figure horses will need it sooner than you think..

[Miss Woodford]

308 Omaha Beach x Lady Shipman, 1/2 to Golden Pal, just $385k. Americans really don't value turf horses.

[brunanas]

it's nice seeing all sale toppers but then i remember all the rescues who can barely pay for their upkeep... i'd love to see news of those millionaires donating 6 figures to horses in need. but anyways...

Yes. Like a small % goes to aftercare. We know a fair percent of these 6 figure horses will need it sooner than you think..

a while ago i looked through the 2018 KEESEP yearlings. here are some "basic" numbers:
148 sold for $500k or more > 128 started > 99 of these won, 71 more than once (meaning, 28 only broke their maiden) > 11 won graded stakes (4 G1, 3 G2 and 4 G3 - this is just their "highest" graded win, meaning G1 winners could have won G2s and G2 winners could have won G3s) > 38 ended up in the claiming ranks > 4 won back their purchase price (racing only, not including resale prices if they went through the auction ring again).
so, basically:
86% started
77% won
8,5% won graded stakes
29% became claimers
3% won back their purchase price

[Squeaky]

Thanks for those numbers- it shows how hard it is to have success even when spending big money. I wonder how many of these ended up in aftercare for a small fraction of their purchase price( eg, sold for 500k now available for adoption for 1500?) .

[brunanas]

Thanks for those numbers- it shows how hard it is to have success even when spending big money. I wonder how many of these ended up in aftercare for a small fraction of their purchase price( eg, sold for 500k now available for adoption for 1500?) .

i could only find adoption prices for three (a few more ended up as OTTBs, but either they weren't even offered for sale or i couldn't find their prices):
Big Mel ($800k) - $1000 (New Vocations)
Extraordinary ($750k) - $750 (Second Stride)
Awesome Party ($700k) - $5000 (OTTBUnited)

[Mylute]

I mean for $1 million you could buy multiple yearlings and probably increase your chances of having a stakes winner or filly with broodmare sale value.

Lots of nice horses sell for $100K or less.

[Izvestia]

308 Omaha Beach x Lady Shipman, 1/2 to Golden Pal, just $385k. Americans really don't value turf horses.

I like how $385,000 is not a lot of money…

[Miss Woodford]

308 Omaha Beach x Lady Shipman, 1/2 to Golden Pal, just $385k. Americans really don't value turf horses.

I like how $385,000 is not a lot of money…

Relative to this sale it isn't.

[SukiSatsuki]

Kind of surprising how its quality road with the most millionaires

[Izvestia]

308 Omaha Beach x Lady Shipman, 1/2 to Golden Pal, just $385k. Americans really don't value turf horses.

I like how $385,000 is not a lot of money…

Relative to this sale it isn't.

We don’t know how Omaha Beach is as a sire - is he dirt or turf????, Golden Pal is a freak and *maybe* she produces something like him again, and we don’t know about vet records…
They aren’t all selling for a million +. Impossible.

[Squeaky]

I keep thinking of how many houses I could buy for the money spent on these unproven yearlings. The Avengers are really spending, as is Repole/ St Elias.

[Mylute]

The handler just gave Hip 434 a little pat and ear rub. So cute.

I keep thinking of how many houses I could buy for the money spent on these unproven yearlings. The Avengers are really spending, as is Repole/ St Elias.

Well yeah, they have to save the world from Thanos (the Kentucky Racing Commission and NYRA).

[Falinadin]

I mean, if 8.5% of those horses became graded stakes winners, that's actually really high, comparatively. I want to say that out of all foals born something like 1-2% become graded stakes winners, so buying out of that group would have increased your chance of of getting a GSW by about 5 times.
So you could buy 5 $100k horses and pay to train and feed 5 horses, or you could buy 1 $500k horse and pay to train and feed 1 horse. Theoretically your probability of winning a graded stakes would the same either way (but your risk would be much higher with 1 horse, since it would be an "eggs all in one basket" scenario). And, the $500k horse may be from a better family and as such have more residual breeding value on the backend.

Some people do try to get to the top of the game through numbers. The Ramsays are one, and the current Calumet kind of does it. Breed your stallions to everything with 4 legs, and hope that with a few hundred foals on the ground they win enough to get the stud's ranking up, and even moreso hope that lightning strikes and you get a Derby winner or something. (I know that nobody was really arguing for this, I just like analyzing different strategies and scenarios ) Inevitably though they end up with big bloated operations with so many poor runners that they can't afford to care for them all, and they end up getting sued for not paying training fees, etc.

Long story short, if you have the money, I can kind of see the advantage of buying 2-3 expensive horses vs buying more horses for less.

Going back to the sale, I think there were some nice broodmare prospects that went for a little less than I was expecting them to. I know the industry doesn't like yearlings out of older mares (for better or worse), but I would still think that a filly would sell well because the real value would come after her racing career. Like hip 147, the Curlin X Baffled filly. Yeah her conformation isn't great, but she has some really strong residual broodmare value. But hey, what do I know.

[KatieK101]

* in case anyone is curious, for book 2 I'm trying to only note hips that sold for over $300,000, unless their dam is otherwise notable.


hip 383 - Gun Runner x Perfect Flute - sold for $1,050,000. 2nd dam is Flute, family of Weep No More.

hip 384 - Wootton Bassett (GB) x Perle Rare - sold for $425,000. The only Wootton Bassett in the sale.

hip 389 - Distorted Humor x Prayed For - sold for $450,000. Family of Corinthian.

hip 391 - Good Magic x Puca- sold for $325,000. Colt is half to recently SP Gunning. Dam is half to Finnegans Wake.

hip 394 - Bolt d'Oro x Queen Laila - sold for $310,000.

hip 395 - Arrogate x Quezon - sold for $350,000.

hip 396 - Gun Runner x Quiet Temper - sold for $500,000. 4th dam is Blitey.

hip 403 - Flatter x Ready to Confess - sold for $425,000. 2nd dam is Confessional.

hip 405 - Street Sense x Renda - sold for $425,000. Colt is half to Rock Fall.

hip 410 - Curlin x Road to Victory - sold for $950,000.

hip 420 - Justify x Sambuca Classic - sold for $575,000. Colt is half to Classic Empire.

hip 427 - Gun Runner x Secret No More - sold for $650,000. Dam is half to Cyber Secret.

hip 428 - Tapit x Selcourt - sold for 485,000.

[Mylute]

Hip 459 - filly by Into Mischief o/o Steelin' for $900K. Half to Shanghai Bobby.

[KatieK101]

13 hips sold for seven figures in book 1, session 2. I went ahead and listed all of them rather than just the top 10.

hip 311 - Constitution x Last Full Measure colt - sold for $1,800,000 to Dana Bernhard.

hip 359 - Into Mischief x Nina Fever filly - sold for $1,350,000 to Courtlandt Farm.

hip 192 - Constitution x Cozze Up Lady colt - sold for $1,300,000 to Richard Knight, agent.

hip 302 - Quality Road x Key to my Heart (IRE) filly - sold for $1,300,000 to OXO Equine (Larry Best).

hip 297 - Gun Runner x Just Wicked filly - sold for $1,100,000 to Richard Knight, agent.

hip 331 - Quality Road x Magical World colt - sold for $1,100,000 to Whisper Hill Farm and Three Chimneys.

hip 339 - Justify x Milam colt - sold for $1,100,000 to MV Magnier.

hip 364 - City of Light x Numero d'Oro colt - sold for $1,100,000 to Repole/St. Elias Stables/West Point Thoroughbreds.

hip 369 - Curlin x Orbolution colt - sold for $1,100,000 to MV Magnier/Repole Stables.

hip 255 - Justify x Fully Living filly - sold for $1,050,000 to Richard Knight, agent.

hip 328 - Into Mischief x Magical Feeling colt - sold for $1,050,000 to Donato Lanni, agent for Starlight Racing.

hip 344 - Into Mischief x Moi colt - sold for $1,050,000 to Courtlandt Farm.

hip 363 - Into Mischief x Not In Jest colt - sold for $1,000,000 to BC Stables.