International Buyers Encounter Same Strong Market at Keeneland

At a record-breaking Keeneland September Sale, there were very few hidden gems throughout the two weeks of trade and buyers shopping at all levels had to dig deep to land any of the treasures they came to find.

31 different countries were represented on the Keeneland results sheets, but just like some domestic buyers, there were also international buyers that came away without signing a ticket. The way Newmarket-based trainer Dylan Cunha chooses to look at it, leaving empty handed just means you're landing on the right horses.

“Our shortlist has been unbelievable,” said Cunha on his final day of inspecting yearlings at Keeneland. “I think the cheapest horse off our shortlist has been about $250,000 and we haven't been able to buy one of them. It's been that strong.”

Cunha, a Group 1-winning trainer in South Africa before relocating to Newmarket three years ago, was attending his first Keeneland sale this year and stayed on through Book 4. Shopping alongside his father Luiz Cunha and bloodstock agent Jamie Piggott, Cunha described his first experience as eye opening.

“Just the sheer number of horses and how strong the market is here, it's crazy,” he noted. “In England at the type of sale with this many horses, one would slip through the net. Here, nothing slips through the net. It has been really hard to buy, but we will definitely be back next year.”

Cunha still had plenty to show for his trip despite not having signed any tickets. During his limited downtime in Lexington, he visited Coolmore's Ashford Stud to meet international superstar sire Justify and spent a morning of training with Wesley Ward and Andrew McKeever.

“It's really interesting because it's so different to England and South Africa,” said Cunha. “It sort of re-highlighted why we are here. I said straightaway to Jamie and my dad that we have to come back with a Breeders' Cup runner. That's the aim. Probably not this year, but definitely next year or the year after.”

Based at the historic Phantom House Stables, Cunha's current stable roster features the likes of 2024 William Hill EBF Brocklesby Stakes victor Zminiature (GB) (Territories {Ire}), recent G3 Super Mile Stakes runner-up Prague (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Gogo Yubari (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}), who has won five races and placed in five more already this year.

Much of Cunha's early success has come with horses purchased on a limited budget. Gogo Yubari was a 5,000gns buy at the 2023 Tattersalls December Mare Sale. Zminiature and Prague were both 10,000gns purchases.

Cunha's operation had seven yearling purchases going into the September Sale. The trainer's goal ahead of this year's sales season was to focus on quality over quantity, but shopping on a tight budget limited their options at Keeneland.

“We came over here because obviously we are wanting to upgrade the whole time,” he said. “Our ambition is not to grow in numbers, but grow in quality. What makes us unique, and it's pretty unique in England, is we continually are doing well with a ten-grand budget. The idea is to try to buy horses that can run in group races so we can also come race in America, Dubai and places like that. We're trying to attract bigger owners to support us and be able to buy the horses we want, like this week.”

A packed house at the Keeneland September Sale | Keeneland

Breeze-Up Shoppers Abound at Keeneland

A few handfuls of European trainers like Cunha attended this year's Keeneland September Sale, but there was also no shortage of breeze-up pinhookers. Newmarket-based agent and bloodstock editor Nancy Sexton shopped the September Sale with Powerstown Stud's Tom Whitehead, who purchased Black Forza (Complexity) for $65,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July Sale before the colt went on to fetch £220,000 at the Goffs Breeze-Up Sale and then claim the G2 Richmond Stakes.

Sexton said that every year, it seems that more European breeze-up pinhookers are making the trip to shop at the September Sale.

“You used to get quite a few trainers going over, with the likes of trainers like Mark Johnston, but it's more the pinhooking now,” she explained. “That's not to say owners don't buy in America. There will be plenty that do come over especially at the higher end, but of those signing on to their own name, it's mainly pinhookers. They've had a lot of success doing it.”

In some years, the later part of the Keeneland Sale overlaps with the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale. This year the Tattersalls Sale did not start until Sept. 24, giving European buyers plenty of time to stay through Keeneland. Sexton said many pinhookers took advantage of the opportunity and she also noticed several coming out earlier in the sale than they have in past years.

“Some of them have done very well buying out of Book 1 and Book 2,” she said. “If something can fall through the net, which doesn't happen very often, they'll probably be there. Then there are others who would rather come out the second week. I think they have their set patterns. Alan Hannigan came out earlier. He signed under Sideways Bloodstock. Donal Keane came out earlier than he did last year and he got a fair bit done. I think they were always trying to stay as long as they can, but this year it was made easier because they didn't have to choose between Fairyhouse and Keeneland.”

Sexton said that during her time shopping at Keeneland through Book 2, she was amazed by the number of conversations surrounding the Kentucky Downs race meet.

“We're getting more and more Europeans going over there now, but it was all anyone could talk about was how much money someone won with a maiden,” she reported. “It just generated a lot of buzz with people making serious amounts of money. The prize money here makes it so much more easier for trainers and agents to dive in.”

Along with Black Forza, who makes his next start since performing at Kentucky Downs this coming Saturday in the G1 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes, Powerstown's other recent success stories include Ribaltagaia (Blame), a $40,000 Keeneland September buy who brought 225,000gns at the 2023 Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up-Sale, and Almurtajiz (Good Magic), a $60,000 Keeneland September yearling who later fetched €280,000 at the Arqana May Breeze-Up Sale and is currently performing well in Saudi Arabia.

Powerstown Stud's five purchases from this year's Keeneland sale are all bound for the breeze-up sales. They went to $100,000 for a Twirling Candy colt out of Grade II-placed Show Stealer (Eskendereya) and then landed on a colt from the second crop of McKinzie and from the family of Grade I victress Paulassilverlining (Ghostzapper) for $92,000.

Of the market overall, Sexton said it was one of the strongest sales she has attended.

“I remember one of my first September Sales was in 2005 and it reminded me of that because the strength at the top was phenomenal,” she said. “There were 36 million-dollar yearlings from 24 entities. That's only something we can dream of over here. It's good to see the Japanese participating at a high level as well. It was the breadth of market that was quite astounding. Nothing was getting missed.”