Optimism Abounds As Keeneland September Opens Monday

LEXINGTON, KY – The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, which has settled into a standard format over the last four years, opens its 12-day run Monday with the first of two boutique Book 1 sections beginning at 1 p.m. Bidders returning to the Lexington venue will be welcomed to a redesigned pavilion with a more wide open view of the rostrum from the entrance, as well as wider hallways, increased lighting, and a grouping of tables and sitting area behind the rows of seats in the pavilion.

“It's something we've been looking at for a number of years,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said of the pavilion reboot. “When I was a consignor walking through there every morning and living in the pavilion basically, it was always a place that felt a little institutional. It was built in the '60s and hadn't really had any major changes. As we looked at how people interact with the space, we saw some of the challenges that we needed to try to overcome and where we needed to make people feel more welcome. We wanted to give them places to sit, address people's changing needs, bring them back into the pavilion, get them to live and work in the pavilion again. Because those green [rows of] chairs are fine, but they are also not conducive to people staying there for very long. I always equated walking into the pavilion previously like walking into church late. Everyone stuck their heads down like the didn't want to be noticed. We need to loosen it up. And that will result in people staying a little longer in the day or longer into the sale.”

The tables and seats at the back of the pavilion will be reserved for the first week of the September sale.

The September sale begins with 366 yearlings catalogued in Book 1, featuring a group of not just stellar pedigrees, but also hand-picked physicals, according to Lacy.

“The feedback for the Book 1 horses on the grounds has been very good,” Lacy said. “We have had a lot of encouraging responses from the buyers and the consignors are very happy with the traffic and the number of people that are here.”

Keeneland has worked to overcome the hesitancy of some buyers to shop and some sellers to have their horses in the select Book 1 section.

“People say you've fixed Book 1,” Lacy said. “But this year was still as tough as last year to put it together. We have to represent the buyers and what they are asking us to do, so we can't just do it because people think that's what the buyers want. We have to respond to the feedback that we're getting. We need diversity through stallions as much as we can, we need to get as many of the strong physicals forward as we can. Even some of the lesser pedigrees, we need to get the physicals and the athletes forward. And that's what a lot of the buyers have been looking for. We want to make sure that the principals who come here, that they are excited about what they see. It's not just all about pedigree, it's very much about physical as well. Then if the market is strong, it flows into the other books, it creates momentum and a marketplace for the later days.”

Brian Graves of Gainesway, which was the leading consignor at the 2023 September sale, agreed some sellers might shy away from cataloguing their horses in Book 1.

“I think for a lot of breeders, there is a bit of an anxiety about being early and the select nature of Book 1 and that's understandable,” Graves said. “But for the right horse that has a good physical and pedigree and no real holes in it, it's where the real money is.”

For consignor Fergus Galvin of Hunter Valley Farm, more buyers appear interested in shopping Book 1.

“I think it's shedding that tag a little bit,” Galvin said of any reticence about shopping Book 1. “We've seen people who maybe you wouldn't necessarily see in Book 1 that are mindful that there are horses who might slip through the cracks and they have to do the homework to find them.”

On a third day of showing, consignors were awaiting the uptick in vet visits at the sales barns on a brilliant morning in Lexington Sunday.

“The activity has been very, very solid,” Graves said. “We are sitting here waiting for the vets to come and back it up. And that's happened on a good portion of the horses so far. Hopefully it will happen on the other 20 to 30% here before the sale starts tomorrow.”

Keeneland Photo

Galvin echoed the same sentiments.

“Traffic has been good and strong,” he said. “This is our third day and we are starting to see vet work here now. We are pretty optimistic. We've got some nice physicals and we are quite hopeful.”

The yearling sales have already produced record results this summer and there was optimism on the Keeneland grounds that demand would remain strong for the bellwether auction.

“Fasig July was really a very positive start and it obviously carried forward into Saratoga,” Galvin said. “It seems like all the regulars are here and they are busy on the grounds. It's a good book of pedigrees and if the physicals match up to that, it will be a pretty strong sale.”

The activity on the grounds heading into the sale was punctuated by a large number of international buyers.

“We have more buyers from around the world than we've had in recent memories,” Lacy said. “But that again is a result of the success of American-bred horses around the world and the expanding marketplaces. As we travel around the world, to the Middle East and Asia, we are trying to make sure that this product is promoted in the right way. That's something we work very aggressively on year round. And it's great to see a lot of these people here now or coming back and feeling like these are the horses they are looking for and that their clients are looking for.”

The top of the market is often impervious to economic conditions, but the middle market can be buffeted by global uncertainties with more fluctuating demand for horses.

Looking ahead to expectations for Keeneland's later books, Galvin said, “The great thing about Keeneland is you have different groups of people coming in at various stages of the sale. It seems they hit the reset button after every couple of books and there are people with different budgets. That's the beauty of Keeneland, many buyers at many levels targeting different books. If the sale gets off to a good start, as we found last year, people got pushed back to where people who normally buy in Book 2 were pushed back to Book 3. It has that knock down effect. That's what, as sellers, we are hoping for.”

Of expectations for September's later books, Lacy said, “Cautiously optimistic. Right into the middle books, the domestic market is strong and I think there is an international market that is keen to participate in the middle market. The back end, it is a very strong group. That was probably the toughest part of putting the sale together because we do have a full Book 6. There has been a stigma previously that Book 6 was a low-class group and I can promise you it is very strong. People can't afford to breed mediocre horses anymore. They have to be of a certain standard to make it viable.

“We had a $180,000 yearling last year that was a record for a Book 6 horse. That's a part of the market we actually focus very heavily on. We want to make sure breeders in the second week, all the way to the very end with the last hip have our support.”

Last year's Book 1 section featured 23 seven-figure yearlings, led by a $3-million son of Into Mischief.

Seven of the million-dollar yearlings came from the Gainesway consignment, which continued on strong throughout the 12 sessions before ending as the auction's leading consignor.

Asked if the farm could repeat in 2024, Graves said, “The real success for me is if we can get each horse sold and that the buyer is happy and the seller is happy. Being the leading consignor is a bonus and it was awesome last year, but I never expect that.”

Following Book 1 sessions beginning at 1 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, the Keeneland September sale continues with Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday beginning at 11 a.m. After a dark day Friday, the sale resumes Saturday and continues through Sept. 21 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.