By Sue Finley
Keeneland recently announced that its April Horses of Racing Age Sale will take place on closing day of its spring meet, April 29, at the conclusion of the day's racing. Not to be confused with their prior April two-year-olds-in-training sale, there will be no breeze show, and breeding stock and stallion shares will also be accepted. The sale will, according to Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy, be a mostly traditional “live” sale with a “hybrid” aspect, offering sellers the opportunity to offer their horses from wherever they already are. TDN Publisher Sue Finley sat down with Lacy to talk about the April Sale and its format.
Q: Let's start with some basics. Explain the format of this sale and the types of offerings you'll have.
TL: The sale starts at 6:30 in the evening on the last day of the race meet. We expect will have about 75 to 100 horses. The initial entry deadline is April 1st, but we'll be continuing to take supplements to ensure we have a nice, even offering of quality stock that is appealing to the customer base that enjoys these sales. For a period of time we had an April two-year-old sale but it's important to note that this is a horses of racing age sale. People have been asking, `when is the breeze show?' There is no breeze show. This is not a two-year-old sale. We're sensitive to the fact that a lot of consignors are dealing with other sales in different parts of the country during that period of time. For them to ship up a consignment at this time of the year was not practical. OBS has their major sale at that time, and for a lot of the consignors down there, it's important for them, and we appreciate that. So last year, we created the horses-of-racing-age sale towards the end of the meet, and we've been focusing on that synergistic feeling between racing and sales. This is a good time of the year, at a transitional time in the calendar, as owners and trainers transition from down South–from Florida, Louisiana, Oaklawn–and they're moving north. Sometimes they've got horses that they want to trade out or if they won a maiden impressively, there's an opportunity to monetize their share in that horse, or for people to restock after a winter off with conditions or stakes horses. It's a great time to do so before they do relocate up to New York, or even stay here in Kentucky, where the purse structure and the racing jurisdiction have become more powerful and more viable.
Q: You have said that you'll allow sellers to sell horses remotely. Can you explain the process and how it will work for both buyers and sellers?
TL: Yes, and we've done this before successfully. There may be horses who have already been at Belmont, for example, so we will provide video, obviously X-rays in the repository, all the scope reports, the Rags, and everything that they normally get if the horse were here. In that example, the prospective buyers can inspect them on the grounds at Belmont Park to get a physical view of those horses. I would describe it as a hybrid model, where we are able to use the online bidding aspect of our sale, where people are able to bid remotely but the horse may or may not be here itself. So if somebody felt like they didn't want to ship the horse down, he just ran two days ago, and they'd prefer we just sell him where he is, we can still sell the horse with all of the information or all of the access as if the horse is here in person.
Q: Let's talk timing for a minute. The sale is positioned the week before the Derby and the Oaks. I'm sure that's not a coincidence. Can you imagine someone taking advantage of that optimal timing, and basically offering a place in the Derby starting gate to someone?
TL: That is key. People's demand and wish to have participation in a Derby runner is growing. There's a lot of private trade and we understand that. An auction environment is one that allows more transparency and more openness. That gets people excited, and it lends the potential for a seller be able to capitalize on this. Eight days before the Derby, they could sell a portion, 25% for example, of their horse that would allow somebody that is really passionate to get involved. And as we look at partnerships and how they've evolved over the last number of years, people are more open and willing to partner on horses and that's something that we want to embrace as well. Obviously, we have a race meeting all the way through April. Last year, there were two-year-olds who won at the meet-amazing winners that were entered in the sale.
Q: Is there anything you want to add that I haven't asked you?
TL: We're really excited to host the April sale this year. Between the racing in the afternoon and the sale in the evening, it will be a fantastic experience for our clients and really represents everything that Keeneland embodies and the full-circle nature of our business. In fact, any horses in training on the Keeneland grounds will receive saddle pads with their hip number so people can watch these horses train in the morning. We're putting a ton of emphasis on this segment of the market–you saw it in November and again in April–and we think it will be well received and has plenty of growth potential.
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