 |
|
| Staff Writer |
 |
Book 3 of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale opened for business on November 10, and there was no letup in activity throughout the day. Hip 1050 was the day's highlight thanks to Lane's End's consignment of the young Honor Code mare Brockovich. Agent Jody Huckabay brought in $450,000 for the 3YO mare who was sold while pregnant to first-year sire Charlatan. There were 338 horses up for grabs on Thursday, and 248 of them changed hands, for a total of $20,988,500, a 2.6% increase over the total in 2021. Price increases of 8.4 percent for an average of $84,631 and 4.8 percent for the median price of $65,000 are both encouraging. To put it another way, the RNA rate was 26.6%, with 90 horses still unsold. A total of 330 horses were shown at the fourth session of 2021, with 262 of them changing hands for a total of $20,447,500, according to Keeneland's financial reports. We found a range from a low of $48,000 to a high of $78,044. The median price was $62,000. A total of 68 people (20.6% of the total) did not have enough reserve.
To date, Keeneland has reported that 823 of 1,081 horses offered for sale have been sold for a total gross of $163,085,500. This works out to an average price of $198,160 and a median price of $125,000. There have been 258 people (an RNA rate of 23.9%) who have been unable to accumulate their reserve. To date in 2021, 873 of 1,082 horses offered for sale have been purchased for a total of $149,942,500, with an average price of $171,755 and a median price of $115,000. For every 100 horses offered for sale, 199 were unsold (RNA rate of 19.3%). On Thursday, the top price went to Bay Shore Stable for $380,000 for a weanling colt by Twirling Candy that Nursery Place had consigned as Hip 1270. Mary K. Grum of Kentucky bred this colt out of the stakes-placed mare Ours to Run.
"Overall, it's been a good sale," Tommy Eastham of Legacy Bloodstock commented. "It's been unique in the barns; our show volume hasn't been great on weanlings. The mares have had a little show volume, but the weanlings have been down about 30%. Everybody here is serious about the game and a professional in the industry, everybody that has been coming by the barn is participating and buying, and we aren't having any tire kickers."
In the fourth session, Hunter Valley Farm's Fergus Galvin and Adrian Regan were the biggest buyers by gross, spending $835,000 on five mares (with an average price of $167,500). Book 3 of the auction will resume on November 11 at 10 a.m., with the Hips 1409-1822 up for grabs. ET. The number of horses scratched from Friday's session stood at 91 as of Thursday night.