Cormac Breathnach

LEXINGTON, KY- The 79th renewal of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale opens its 12-day run Monday with the first of two Book 1 sessions beginning at 1 p.m. Consignors started showing Book 1 yearlings Friday and an international cast of shoppers were getting second looks at those elite youngsters on a misty Sunday morning in the Bluegrass, while also getting a head start on Book 2 horses who will start selling Wednesday. "I think the activity is very good, particularly for Book 1," said Peter O'Callaghan, whose Woods Edge Farm...

ASCOT, UK--Racing at Ascot this Saturday may focus on the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S., but a top-class card gets underway in style with the running of the G3 Princess Margaret Keeneland S., a race now in its fifth year of sponsorship by the American sales company. Shannon Arvin, who was appointed Keeneland's eighth president and chief executive officer last year, is the first woman to hold that position, and she arrived in the UK earlier in the week to meet some of the company's clients in...

Here's a conundrum for you. When does your outstanding yearling become merely one that stands out? It's something the Keeneland sales team find themselves asking a great deal right now, out on the farms, during the annual process of sieving entries into the right tier of the world's biggest yearling catalog. Time after time, they run into the same, nearly superstitious nervousness among some consignors about September Book 1. The action is too tight at the top end. Let this guy be a big fish in a smaller pond. Well,...

Acting Out (Blame), who most recently caused a 6-1 upset of the Carousel S. at Oaklawn Park Apr. 2 (video), was hammered down to Bill Farish, acting as agent for his parents Will and Sarah, to lead the way at Friday's Keeneland April Horses of Racing Age Sale held following the conclusion of the closing-day program at the racetrack a handful of steps up the hill. Previously trained by Hall of Famer Jerry Hollendorfer for the ownership group of Sherman Racing Inc., Zivka Akin and Robert Hawkins, Acting Out won...

The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale concluded its four-day run in Lexington Friday with steady figures which continued to show strength in the marketplace into the new year. "We are very, very pleased with the sale," said Keeneland's vice president of sales Tony Lacy. "Continued competitive trade, high clearance rate and high median price have solidified some confidence in people who were nervous before the beginning of the sales season. They feel positive about moving forward into the rest of 2022 and are investing as such. The market...

by Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, delayed a day due to last week's blizzard, took some time to find its footing, but gained in strength throughout Tuesday's opening session to end the day with figures up compared to its 2020 opening session. "We are very pleased with the way things ended up," said Keeneland's vice president of sales Tony Lacy. "We were expecting a very solid day. There was some nice quality, especially towards the end. And that is...

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...

The seasonal foliage was about the only thing falling at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, which concluded a wildly successful run in Lexington Friday afternoon. Over the course of 10 days of trade, sales officials reported gross receipts of $203,585,500 for 2470 horses sold, good for an average of $82,423. Further demonstrating the strength of middle market, the median price of $37,000 established a new November record, eclipsing the previous mark of $35,000 set on five previous occasions, but most recently in 2014. The buyback rate closed at a...

By Jessica Martini & Christie DeBernardis LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale continued with strong demand during a lively session of bidding Thursday in Lexington. The auction's first of two Book 2 sessions concluded with both average and median up and the buy-back rate down from the corresponding session in 2020. "Incredible," Keeneland's Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said of Thursday's action. "It was a really vibrant market again today. I think people were a little frustrated in buying, but we had a lot of happy...

The sales action moves across town Wednesday with bidding on the first session of Keeneland November starting at 1 p.m. The 10-day auction, which runs through Nov. 19, opens with a single-session Book 1 comprised of 229 mares and weanlings, five of which were late supplements. The sale has five books in total and the last half of the final day will be dedicated to 285 Horses of Racing Age. "We have a lot of optimism," said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland's Director of Sales. "We had an electric atmosphere starting in...

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale, launched last week with a Bluegrass band, mimosas, and a boutique Book 1 section, continued its momentum straight through to the end of its 11th session, concluding with a sales record average, median and buy-back rate. The gross, which was over $300,000,000 for three straight years before falling to $248,978,700 during the pre-vaccination pandemic in 2020, rebounded to $352,823,000 by the time the last hip went through the ring Friday evening. It was the auction's sixth highest gross in history. "The hope was that we...

Keeneland will offer a horses-of-racing-age section at its 2021 November Breeding Stock Sale by creating a separate, single-day session to be held on the final day of the auction. A selection of breeding stock will be offered early in this final session, followed by the full group of racehorses cataloged to the sale. "We are excited about this refreshed take on the racehorse segment, and we feel this change will provide a nice bookend to what we anticipate to be a lively market for the November Sale," said Keeneland Vice President...