By Alan Carasso
The calendar may say that Friday is the first day of autumn, but the prices during the second of two Book 5 session at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale Thursday in Lexington were anything but 'fall'-ing. With fully two days of bidding yet to come, gross receipts surged past the $300-million mark for the first time since 2008, when the turnover was nearly $328 million. The catalog for that particular sale of 5,555 yearlings was better than 25% bigger than the 4,139 booked for this year's event.
As has been reported, the new format of the 2017 sale renders strict comparisons somewhat difficult, but during the corresponding final Book 5 session–the 11th session overall–in 2016, a single horse crossed the $100,000 threshold. Further amplifying the buoyancy of the 2017 September sale, no fewer than a dozen offerings hit that mark Thursday.
For the third consecutive day, a stallion son of Medaglia d'Oro provided the session-topping offering. On Tuesday, a Warrendale Sales-consigned son of Warrior's Reward fetched $325,000 from Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation, while Wednesday's trade was topped by a daughter of first-crop yearling sire Atreides, who sold for $175,000 to Martin Anthony.
During Thursday's round of bidding, it was a colt by freshman 2-year-old sire Violence who rose to the head of the class, hammering to Wave's Bloodstock for $180,000. Consigned by Village View Farm, Agent, hip 3499 is a son of All About Allison (City Zip), the dam of three winners from as many to race, including Ali Blue (Bluegrass Cat), stakes-placed as a juvenile and a three-time allowance winner in 2017. The extended female family includes Medaglia d'Oro's son Den's Legacy, a Grade III winner on grass and Grade I-placed on synthetics as a 2-year-old in 2012.
The Violence colt was bred in Kentucky by Mr. & Mrs. Duncan Lloyd, who acquired the dam of hip 3499 in foal to Stonesider for the upset price of $1,000 at the 2012 Keeneland January sale. The foal she was carrying at the time made $17,500 as a Fasig-Tipton Midlantic yearling in 2013, a result far surpassed by Thursday's transaction.
The first-crop progeny of WinStar Farm's Fed Biz (Giant's Causeway) have performed well at the September sale, with 27 sold from 32 through the ring for an average of $102,685. Superfine Farms acquired the afternoon's second-priciest offering, going to $160,000 for hip 3476, a Stuart Morris-consigned son of Virtuously (Congrats), whose third dam Larkwhistle (Silver Deputy) was Canada's Sovereign Award-winning juvenile filly of 1996. Among the latter's offspring was SW & GISP Appleby Gardens (A.P. Indy). Hip 3476 was one of the day's successful pinhooks, having previously been bought by Northface Bloodstock for $65,000 at last year's Keeneland November sale.
While colts by 10 different sires occupied the top 10 spots (with ties) on Thursday's sales sheets, hip 3332, another first-crop yearling–this one by Three Chimneys's Strong Mandate (Tiznow)–was the dearest among the session's fillies. Produced by a half-sister to GSW Off Duty (Yes It's True), the Apr. 25 foal was hammered down to Ike and Dawn Thrash for $115,000 from the Vinery Sales draft. The filly's dam, Ms Delfy (Dixie Union), was purchased by Tapira Stable as a 2-year-old at KEENOV in 2013 for $14,000. Hip 3332 is her first foal.
The first of two sessions of the sixth and final book of the 2017 Keeneland September sale kicks off Friday morning in Lexington. The sale concludes Saturday. For the catalogue and full results, visit www.keeneland.com.
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