Keeneland’s popular January Horses of All Ages Sale is just around the corner, where horse lovers can find their pick of the best broodmares, yearlings, racing-age horses and stallions. If the results from Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale and November Breeding Stock Sale indicate anything, it’s that there’s currently a strong market for quality Thoroughbreds.
According to Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s Vice President of Racing and Sales, that should continue at the January sale. “The November Sale market was so competitive that many buyers were not able to fill their orders. The January Sale provides an opportunity to purchase exceptional individuals, particularly broodmares, short yearlings and horses of racing age,” said Elliston.
European Market Boasts Gains Also
The European market was also up this year, notably so with $8 million or more per sale of three top race fillies: Songbird ($9.5 million) and Tepin ($8 million, in foal to Curlin) at the Fasig-Tipton November sale; and Marsha, who broke the European auction record at 6 million guineas (about $8.5 million) Dec. 5.
“The 2016 yearling market was off a bit from 2015’s post-recession highs, so, being conservative, we would say the 2017 North American/European Union yearling market was up a little under 9% from 2015,” said Bill Oppenheim in BloodHorse Daily.
Bluegrass Horse Farms Highlighted in Sale
This marks the 60th anniversary of the sale, and Keeneland has cataloged 1,582 amazing horses for the special occasion.
Local farms like Crestwood Farms and Castleton Lyons, who benefit from using products from Winchester Feed, have several horses available for sale, including Crestwood’s yearling sired by Triple Crown winner and Horse of the Year American Pharoah. Just three progeny each from Bluegrass area farms’ sires Scat Daddy, Medaglia d’Oro, and Pioneerof the Nile are listed in this year’s sale. The latter placed 2nd in the 2009 Kentucky Derby and sired American Pharoah.
More Than 36 Notable Sires Produced Sales’ Catalog
The interactive January Sale catalog, available online at keeneland.com, includes 677 broodmares and broodmare prospects, 628 yearlings, 264 horses of racing age, and 13 stallions and racing or stallion prospects.
The January Sale catalog features broodmares in foal to 154 stallions, among them leading sires American Pharoah, Awesome Again, Bernardini, Candy Ride (ARG), Distorted Humor, Empire Maker, Hard Spun, Into Mischief, Lemon Drop Kid, Liam’s Map, Malibu Moon, Medaglia d’Oro, More Than Ready, Nyquist, Orb, Palace Malice, Point of Entry, Quality Road and Speightstown.
Cataloged yearlings represent 155 exciting young stallions and established sires, including American Pharoah, Awesome Again, Bayern, Cairo Prince, Candy Ride (ARG), Carpe Diem, Curlin, Ghostzapper, Hard Spun, Honor Code, Into Mischief, Kitten’s Joy, Lea, Liam’s Map, Malibu Moon, Medaglia d’Oro, More Than Ready, Orb, Palace Malice, Pioneerof the Nile, Quality Road, Speightstown, Tiznow, Tonalist, Uncle Mo, Union Rags, Verrazano, War Front and Will Take Charge.
Can 2018 Sales Top 2017?
Graded stakes winners of 2017 who were sold as yearlings at the January Sale include Catholic Boy, winner of the Remsen (G2) on Saturday. Others are Grade/Group 1 winners Mind Your Biscuits and Practical Joke; Grade 2 winners Giant Expectations and Tower of Texas; and Grade 3 winners Alert Bay, Awesome Slate, Code Warrior, Flameaway, Hogy, Miss Temple City, One Liner and Untrapped.
With a lineup like this, 2018 is already positioned to be another strong year of quality Thoroughbred sales here in the Bluegrass. The January Horses of All Ages Sale will be held January 8-11, 2018. Sessions begin at 10 am ET each day and will be streamed live on keeneland.com.
