Keeneland’s 82nd September Yearling Sale closed Week 1 on Thursday with cumulative sales from the first four sessions of $307,639,000 and an auction record 53 horses bringing $1 million or more. Today 233 horses sold through the ring for a fourth session-record $77,752,000 – with five seven-figure horses led by a Gun Runner colt purchased for $1.55 million by M.V. Magnier and Peter Brant’s White Birch Farm – while posting double-digit gains in gross, average and median prices.
Week 1, which began Monday, Sept. 8, featured Books 1 and 2 with more than 1,100 horses among the sale’s finest individuals based on pedigree and conformation in the catalog. Tuesday’s average of $675,180 and median of $550,000 both were September Sale session records. On Wednesday, a record for the third session of the auction was set with gross sales of $85,702,000.
On Thursday, the gross was up 23.33% from last year’s comparable session when 216 horses brought $63,046,000. The average of $333,700 increased 14.33% from $291,880 in 2024. The median rose 10% from $250,000 to $275,000.
“This market is a little surreal,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “It’s been consistent and just a good, healthy environment. Money was here right to the end and you have a great vibe for Book 3 as well. We’re hearing a lot of good reports of the horses they’re seeing. I feel really good for the breeders and great for the consignors who supported us. I think the buyers are having a blast, and that’s great.”
“Over the course of Week 1, we sold 31 more horses than last year, and our gross was $55 million more,” Keeneland Senior Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach said. “We’re grateful to our supporters, to the breeders who have sent us all these fantastic yearlings. Today, the top 15 sellers were to 13 different buyers by 12 different stallions and from 11 different consignors. That depth to the market gives you confidence going into the next eight sessions. The next wave of buyers are going to arrive for Book 3 and beyond, and people will still have to bid hard for the horses they really want. We’re grateful to everybody for being here and making it such a fun environment.”
For Week 1, the leading consignor was Taylor Made Sales Agency with sales of $46,815,000 for 108 yearlings, and the leading buyer was Mike Repole’s Repole Stable, who spent $13,975,000 for 31 horses. The top-priced yearling came Monday when a colt by Gun Runner sold for $3.3 million to M.V. Magnier/White Birch/Winchell Thoroughbreds. A total of 12 yearlings by Gun Runner brought seven figures or more, and his colts topped each session of Week 1 to help him to an average of $932,917 for 36 horses.
On Thursday, Four Star Sales, agent, consigned the session-topping son of Gun Runner who is from the family of Breeders’ Cup winners Shared Account and Sharing. His dam is Grade 3 winner Twenty Carat, by Into Mischief.
“I saw that horse on the farm quite a while ago,” Four Stars Managing Partner Kerry Cauthen said about the colt. “He was a rangy horse that probably didn’t have it all pulled together at the time. Ashley Franz, who works with me, saw what I saw, which is this horse would come along (with) the chance to really develop, and he did. He walked great. He was a big, tall strapping horse that looks like he’s got all the world and a future ahead of him. When you do that and you get the kind of bidders that were in here, that’s the kind of result you get.”
Mayberry Farm paid $1.4 million for a colt from the first crop of Horse of the Year Flightline for Lee and Susan Searing’s C R K Stable. His dam, Layla, is a winning daughter of Union Rags and a full sister to C R K’s Grade 1 winner Express Train. Consigned by breeder Dixiana Farms, the colt is from the family of Grade/Group 1 winners November Snow, Bounding (AUS), Anthony Van Dyck (IRE) and Morning Line.
“It is definitely a seller’s market right now,” April Mayberry said. “You’re gonna have to work for it. If you want them, you’re going to pay for them. We’ve been real, real picky, and I think we’re happy with everything we’ve gotten so far.”
Dixiana also bred Express Train and sold him with Lane’s End, agent, to Mayberry Farm for $500,000 at the 2018 September Sale.
Richard Drake paid $1.35 million for a colt by Not This Time from the family of Grade 1 winner Aubby K, Grade 2 winner Magic On Tap and Grade 3 winner Lilly Capote. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency, agent for breeder Summer Wind Equine, he is out of the Tapit mare Definitive.
Cash Asmussen signed the ticket for the colt, who will be the first horse his brother Steve has trained for Drake.
“He’s smooth and he’s athletic,” Asmussen said. “He’s got enough pedigree out of a Tapit mare and the Winchell family has been a great supporter of my family, and so Tapit is a very familiar horse for us. (The yearling) has the pedigree and conformation. It’s a roll of the dice, as we all know. But Mr. Drake said, ‘I want to roll the dice on this horse.’ ”
Asked what Drake is seeking, Asmussen said, “Well, he started with the Kentucky Derby, and then he said, ‘We’ll work down from there.’ He wants a horse that can get two turns, that could possibly be a classic horse.”
“I kind of was expecting that much,” Taylor Made President and CEO Mark Taylor said about the price. “First of all, he came from Summer Wind Farm. They just raise fantastic horses. I’ve known (General Manager) Bobby Spalding and (owner) Jane Lyon for a long time. We sold a lot of high-dollar horses for Bobby back when he was at Stonerside. This horse came in and he was just perfect, so I knew he was going to sell well. It was just a matter of how well. But Cash (Asmussen) got him. I mean, he’s a legend. (Asmussen) wasn’t on my list of the most probable buyers, but (the colt is) in good hands and I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do.”
Selling 32 yearlings for $10,615,000, Taylor Made Sales Agency led all consignors Thursday.
With five purchases for $3,745,000 on Thursday, Flying Dutchmen led buyers during the session.
Flying Dutchmen paid $1.25 million for a colt from the first crop of Grade 1 winner Life Is Good who is a half-brother to stakes winner and Grade 1-placed Tarabi, Japanese Group 3 winner Shivaji and 2025 Santa Anita Derby (G1) third-place finisher Westwood. Hinkle Farms consigned the colt, who is out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Bay.
“When you’re buying horses, they’re all undefeated right now, so you’ve got to be excited,” Hunter Rankin of Flying Dutchmen said. “And this family, they’re such special people and they get excited with every horse we buy, as we all do. The horse will be named within 24 hours. They name them right away. It’s just a really cool thing to be a part of.
“It’s hard to say if this is going to be the best one, but if you keep buying horses like him, you’re going to be successful,” Rankin continued. “It’s really hard to get them. I know we outbid some really good people, and it’s maybe a little more than what we had hoped to spend. But if you want to put nice horses in the barn, you have to spend real money.”
“That was insane. That’s a huge sale for that horse,” Anne Archer Hinkle said. “We were just remarking (about the) two yearlings we sold for a million dollars ($2 million for a filly by Not This Time out of Stave in Book 1) and this colt by Life Is Good out of Indian Bay. Stave and Indian Bay are half-sisters, both out of a mare we bred and raised named Buy the Barrel. So that’s really cool to see her still kicking for us in a way.”
Flying Dutchman also went to $1 million to acquire a filly by Not This Time out of Grade 2 winner Road to Victory, by Quality Road. A half-sister to stakes winner Corporate Power and from the family of Japanese Group 1 winner Moanin, she was consigned by Warrendale Sales, agent for Stonestreet Bred for Brilliance.
“We love the family,” Rankin said. “(Barbara Banke of Stonestreet) was so great to buy from; they raise their horses the right way. We were going to really try to get her. It got to the upper end of what we wanted.”
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Friday is a Dark Day at the September Sale when no horses will be sold. The auction will resume with the Book 3 catalog on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. ET and continue each day through Saturday, Sept. 20.
The entire September Sale is streamed live at Keeneland.com.
