Keeneland September Sale

Strong trade continued at Keeneland Thursday in the 10th of 11 sessions of the Keeneland September Sale and the second of three Book 5 sessions. The day's top seller was a Tapiture colt (Hip 3173) from the Paramount Sales consignment, who brought $145,000 from John Greathouse, agent for Glencrest Farm. A total of 303 yearlings summoned $9.194 million Thursday. The average was $30,343 and the median was $23,000. In the pre-vaccine pandemic era last year, 244 horses brought $4.764 million during the 10th day of selling with an average of...

Several new faces were on the Keeneland sales grounds this week as part of the initial pilot for the Amplify Horse Racing Mentorship Program. This August, the three-month program launched with a group of 12 mentees hailing from eight different states. While most mentor-mentee pairs were separated by distance and initially planned on holding their meetings virtually, several mentees expressed an interest in meeting their mentors in person and decided to make the trip to Lexington for their first visit to the Keeneland September Sale. Matt Scull, age 23, lives...

With Wednesday's Keeneland September Book 5 opener winding down, Maddie Matt Miller, agent, went to a session-topping $250,000 to secure a filly from the first crop of Army Mule. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency, agent, as Hip 3158, the chestnut is out of six-time winner Henny's Hurricane (Henny Hughes), a daughter of GSW Amarillo (Crafty Prospector). Hip 3158 is a half-sister to Amynta (Atreides), a multiple stakes winner in Panama. She was bred in Kentucky by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings. The Hill 'n' Dale stallion, standing for...

Less than 48 hours after what was arguably her greatest achievements in the horse business, Rosilyn Polan was back at Keeneland with a pair of yearlings slated to go through the ring on Sunday. Earlier in the week during Book 2 of the Keeneland September Sale, her City of Light colt out of the Tapit mare Anchorage became the probable sale topper when he sold for $1.7 million to Woodford Racing, Talla Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds. But now it was on to Book 3 and the spirited breeder and...

LEXINGTON, KY - The Keeneland September Yearling Sale lost none of its momentum during a dark day Friday, returning with an opening Book 3 section that featured strong demand from start to finish in Lexington Saturday. During the session, 269 head sold for $45,003,000. The session average was $167,297--up 53.46% from last year's Book 3 opener which was held amidst the uncertainty of the pre-vaccination pandemic--and the median increased 58.82% to $135,000. With just 92 horses reported not sold, the buy-back rate Saturday was 25.48%. It was 40.12% a year...

If City of Light was considered to be in demand after the close of Book 1 at the Keeneland September Sale, his yearlings were perhaps even more challenging to get ahold of by the end of Book 2. First a colt by the first-crop stallion out of the graded stakes-producing mare Ghostslayer (Ghostzapper) brought $1.05 million late in the second session of the auction on Tuesday, selling as Hip 376, but then the next day another colt by the Lane's End sire, Hip 612 out of SP Anchorage (Tapit), brought...

With the first book of the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale under wraps, the company's president and CEO Shannon Arvin joined the TDN Writers' Room to talk about her first September Sale officially running the show. This week's podcast also featured guest cohost Gabby Gaudet.

A colt from the first crop of MGISW City of Light (Hip 612) became the new sale topper Wednesday when summoning $1.7m from Talla Racing, Woodford Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds, who also took home a $1.55m Justify colt about 30 minutes earlier. Bred & consigned by Rosilyn Polan, the bay is out of MSP Anchorage (Tapit), who is also responsible for GSP Chip Leader (Giant's Causeway).

LEXINGTON, KY--The Keeneland September Yearling Sale starts its 11-day run Monday with the first of two Book 1 sessions, beginning at 1 p.m. The five-book catalogue offers a total of 4,032 yearlings by a variety of stallions, such as Triple Crown heroes American Pharoah and Justify; the red-hot Into Mischief; perennial leading sire Tapit; stalwarts like Medaglia d'Oro, War Front and Candy Ride (Arg); and top freshman sire Gun Runner. "I think when you get this volume of horses and there are a lot of really nice horses, there is...

Three yearlings in the Keeneland September Sale catalogue received big updates over the weekend when their year-older siblings captured Grade Is at two of America's premiere race meets over the holiday weekend. GI Runhappy Del Mar Futurity S. winner Pinehurst's (Twirling Candy) yearling half-brother by Cairo Prince sold prior to the juvenile's breakout score, bringing $120,000 from pinhooker Randy Bradshaw at Fasig-Tipton's New York-Bred Yearling Sale in mid-August. However, the winners of the GI TVG Del Mar Debutante S., GI Spinaway S. and GI Hopeful S. will be represented by...

Horses offered at auction during the upcoming Keeneland September Yearling Sale will be eligible to run in a pair of $250,000 allowance races at the 2022 FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs. Kentucky Downs will stage one $250,000 allowance race for 2-year-old fillies and one for 2-year-old colts and geldings restricted to horses that go through the sales ring at this year's Keeneland September Sale. Yearlings that are sold as well as those not reaching their reserve bid will be eligible for the lucrative allowance events the following September at Kentucky...

One of the highlights of Book 1 of the Keeneland September Sale each year is the opportunity to view and purchase the first foals out of some of the top racemares in recent years. This year is no exception with six such offerings available in Book 1. Below we feature six yearlings who are the first foals out of Grade I-winning mares, such as two-time champion Unique Bella (Tapit).   IT TIZ WELL - War Front colt (Hip 15) It Tiz Well won five of her 10 starts and was...