By Christie DeBernardis
The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale gets underway at 10 a.m. Tuesday with the first of four sessions. The sale was originally scheduled to kick off Monday, but was delayed due to a winter snow storm in Lexington, which also pushed back the ship in date. The 1,631-horse catalogue is comprised of broodmares, racing/broodmare prospects, newly turned yearlings, horses of racing ages and stallions/stallion prospects.
“It is a very solid catalogue with a lot of depth,” said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations. “The January Sale catalogue doesn't always have major highlights like we would in November, but we do have strong offerings at the top, like Co Cola (Candy Ride {Arg}). She is the dam of Search Results (Flatter) and is in foal to Flatter, so she is carrying a full-sibling to that Grade I-winning filly. She is a real standout offering who fits a lot of programs. We have a lot of good race fillies who could retire as broodmares or who could go on and be a lot of fun in 2022, such as Hello Beautiful (Golden Lad). She has won eight stakes and she is either an attractive broodmare prospect or race filly. We have Inthemidstofbiz (Fed Biz), who won the GII TCA here at Keeneland. We are excited about what we have and the momentum from November carrying over.”
It was a strong Keeneland November Sale from top to bottom, but many people left that auction with unfulfilled orders, according to Breathnach.
“That sale finished before people fulfilled all of their orders,” he said. “We took supplemental entries to this sale on the back of the strength of November. The entries for November happen early. They happen before the September Sale. The market had not revealed how strong it was going to be at that point, so through the November Sale, a lot of people were interested in selling horses and participating from a buying angle. The sale in November was a record median and a really healthy market from top to bottom. It did not feel overheated, but was really strong in terms of supply and demand. That is giving us a lot of confidence going forward into January.”
At last year's pandemic-affected Keeneland January Sale, 998 horses grossed $46,482,600. The auction was highlighted by three dispersals and was topped by a member of the Paul Pompa dispersal, MGSW Regal Glory (Animal Kingdom), who summoned $925,000 and is now a Grade I winner.
Travel restrictions will not impact this year's auction, though the COVID-19 pandemic has taken another upswing.
“The travel restrictions have basically gone away aside from fulfilling testing requirements,” Breathnach said. “People will make their own personal decisions, but if there is an advantage through COVID, it is the ability to bid online or over the phone. People have found a way to make sales work for them despite these difficulties.”
The Keeneland January Sale runs from Tuesday, Jan. 11 through Friday, Jan. 14 with each session starting at 10 a.m. Book 1 is Monday and Tuesday followed by a pair of Book 2 sessions.
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