November: First Three Days

As you'll see from the Weekly Sales Ticker, Fasig-Tipton's November Sale on Monday plus Keeneland Book 1 Tuesday and Wednesday, returned similar overall figures to last year, and in fact, the figures are very similar for each year back to 2013. This year, 341 horses were sold over the three days, for a gross just over $157-million, and an average of $460,619. Last year 371 horses sold for $152.5-million and averaged $411,170; on the corresponding three days in 2013, again there were 371 horses sold, for a gross just over $160-million, and an average of $432,321. So this top tier of the November market–the $400,000-average tier–hasn't changed very much since 2013. The clearance rate from the catalogues has dropped about 8%, which isn't great for anybody, but even so it's averaging out over $50-million a day in sales, which is pretty strong by anybody's standards.

But all markets have 'market tiers', and 'November first three days' is no exception. No fewer than 55 horses sold for prices of $750,000 or more during the last three days: 31 mares in foal; 20 fillies in or out of training; and four weanlings (all yesterday, interestingly). For the record, 24 of the 55 sold at Fasig-Tipton Monday night; 31 sold at Keeneland Tuesday and yesterday. The really striking bit is this: those 55 horses, which constituted 16% of the 341 horses sold, grossed $80,255,000, which was 51% of the three-day gross. They averaged $1,459,181, and included four sales between $3m-$4m: Baffled ($3.5m), dam of three Graded SW including Constitution and Jacaranda (who herself sold for $2-million) and Curalina ($3m) at Fasig; and Unrivaled Belle ($3.8m) and Secret Gesture ($3.5m) at Keeneland. The other 286 sales averaged $268,587.

Of the 31 in-foal mares (10 at Fasig, 21 at Keeneland) which have brought $750k+ so far, 22 were in foal to just four sires: Tapit (7); Medaglia D'Oro (6); Pioneerof The Nile (5); and War Front (4). Two were in foal to Curlin, with one each in foal to seven other stallions. The 55 total buys for $750k+ were purchased by around 28 different buyers (so two each, on average), with international buying entities, including Shadai Farm and the Yoshida family from Japan; the China Horse Club; and SF Bloodstock, on its own and in partnership with Australia's Newgate Stud; and domestic buyers Bridlewood Farm, Summer Wind Farm, and Whisper Hill Farm the most active in the top tier.

That's the tale of the tape so far, so now on to Book 2 and beyond, when weanlings and weanling buyers will start to become more prominent in the action.