Keeneland November Sale Starts Wednesday

LEXINGTON, KY – The auction action heads across town Wednesday with bidding on the first session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale getting underway at noon. Wednesday's select Book 1 session features 284 catalogued fillies, mares and weanlings.

Consignors, who were busy showing horses on an overcast morning at the Keeneland sales grounds Tuesday, are expecting a strong market at the 12-day auction, with continued high demand at the top end.

“I expect that it's going to be a strong sale,” said Conrad Bandoroff of Denali Stud. “The stock market has been strong over the last few months and the economy seems to be holding up. So I think we're going to hit a good market. But it's going to be the same old song and dance. I feel like we say it every time, but it remains the same. It's going to continue to be selective. The perceived quality offerings are going to outsell themselves and bring above expectations and, if a mare has a bit of age on her or has a couple holes in produce records, those ones are always going to be difficult to move.”
Denali has 14 mares and weanlings catalogued in Book 1, including Conquest (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a full-sister to multiple Group 1 winner Minding (Ire) in foal to Triple Crown winner Justify; and a weanling filly by Curlin out of champion La Verdad (Yes It's True).

“There are a lot of quality offerings around the grounds and we've got a quality group in our barn,” Bandoroff said. “When you bring horses who have the racetrack performance or the pedigrees that some of these have in foal to the stallions that they are in foal to, you've got to be optimistic.”

The 2018 Keeneland November sale featured nine seven-figure transactions, led by the $4.2-million Lady Eli (Divine Park). In all, 2,644 head sold for $197,851,300. The average was $74,830 and the median was $25,000.

“I think it's going to be a lot like last year,” said Eaton Sales' Reiley McDonald. “I don't see any real reason for the market to change, despite the fact that I think there are huge changes that are happening, and need to happen, in the Thoroughbred racing business. But in this market, I think these big mares will bring a lot of money and I think there are a lot of really good foals in the sales.”

Eaton sold the top-priced weanling in 2018, an $800,000 daughter of Tapit out of La Verdad and its Book 1 consignment this year includes an American Pharoah weanling colt who is a half-brother to Grade I winner Alterite (Fr) (Literato {Fr}), as well as a weanling full-sister to GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit (Tapit) and a full-brother to champion Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro).

“I have a particularly strong group of foals in Books 1 and 2,” McDonald said. “I think the foal market is going to be strong, not only from the pinhookers, but from end-users, too. We have had great success over the past six or seven years bringing really good foals into these sales. For a really clean foal with great conformation, I think you can get close to yearling prices here. There is normally a ceiling on weanlings where there wouldn't be on yearlings on the very top end. But three years ago, we sold three weanlings for over $1 million and one for over $3 million. So I think end-users now are a little more accustomed to buying weanlings here at the November sale.”

Bandoroff said he thought a strong yearling market over the summer and fall will lead to a more competitive foal market in November.

“There are more and more people playing in the foal market,” he said. “The pinhooking has become so well capitalized and a lot of them have good money behind them. Most of them had good years at the yearling sales. That always drives the foal market. I think it's going to be good if you're selling nice foals and it's going to be hard if you're trying to buy foals. I think people are all going to land on the same ones and it's going to drive that market. I feel like the foal market tends to mirror the yearling market and it's usually a more select pool. The foals you bring to market you usually think are nice foals, so you're expecting them to sell well. Otherwise, you'll take them to the yearling sales.”

Claiborne's Walker Hancock said he sees a lot to be positive about in the Thoroughbred industry and thinks that will create a healthy November market.

“The market has been strong all summer long and into the fall,” Hancock said. “So I don't see why it would change all of a sudden. Purses are increasing at Turfway and at Churchill and Keeneland. The industry seems strong here in the state, so hopefully the prices will reflect that.”

War Front was the leading covering sire at the 2018 November sale, with six sold for an average of $2,170,833, including the sale-topping Lady Eli. Three of the top four-priced mares at the auction were in foal to Claiborne's powerhouse stallion.

“We have three mares in foal to War Front that are by Galileo (Ire),” Hancock said of the farm's 2019 Book 1 offerings. “We have a young Phipps mare carrying her first foal from a huge Phipps family, and Stanwyck (Empire Maker) is a half to a GI Kentucky Derby winner [Giacomo] carrying a foal by Into Mischief. We've got a few good ones to bring up there, so hopefully prices are good.”

Keeneland pushed back the date of the first day of the November sale to accommodate buyers attending the Breeders' Cup in California over the weekend.

“I love the extra day,” McDonald said. “It's so much easier on everyone. I think Keeneland was very smart to make that move. Otherwise, everybody is crushed. Next year [when the Breeders' Cup is at Keeneland], I don't know that they have to put the extra day in, but when it's in California, it's too hard on everybody.”

Following its first-session noon start time, bidding on the remaining sessions of the November sale will begin at 10 a.m. The sale continues through Nov. 17.