Mized Results at KEEAPR

By Lucas Marquardt
   Yesterday’s Keeneland April Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale sold its two highest-priced horses in five years, including a $1 million Malibu Moon half-brother to leading sire Tapit, and realized gains in both average and median, but enthusiasm among participants was tempered as the boutique action was battered by outs and, to a lesser degree, buybacks. In total, 70 of the 125 catalogued horses were withdrawn before selling began, meaning just 55 horses were put before the buying public. Of those, 38 sold for $8,769,000, an average of $230,763 that was up 17% from last year. The median saw an even bigger jump, up 33.3% to $200,000. The 17 horses that failed to meet their serves equated to a rate of 31%–not atypical for a 2-year-old in training sale. 
    “We proved yet again that we’re able to recruit buyers to come to this sale who will give top money for horses,” said Keeneland Director of Sales Geoffrey Russell. “But the overall view is that we sent home buyers without horses, and that’s not a good thing. As Mr. [Robert] Courtney so sweetly said once, ‘I bring horses to the market, and I bring home money.’ We want buyers to go home with horses, and consignors to go home with money. That’s our goal. And we didn’t succeed on part of that because some buyers went home without horses.” 
    Topping the auction was the $1 million Malibu Moon 3/4-brother to Tapit, who was purchased by a new partnership comprised of Gainesway, Mt. Brilliant Farm and Robert LaPenta. Niall Brennan consigned the flashy chestnut as Hip 55. It was the first seven-figure horse at April since Take Control (A.P. Indy) brought $1.9 million here in 2009. The only other horse to eclipse the half-million mark was a $770,000 Medaglia d’Oro colt (Hip 61) who sold to LaPenta’s Whitehorse Stable. Eddie Woods consigned. 
    “It was a thin market, but obviously there was still a lot of money for the ones they wanted,” said Brennan. “These select sales that have so many scratches, it doesn’t leave the buyers a lot to choose from. The guys went after the really good ones, and everyone else kind of held back, probably saying we’ll just keep our money for OBS April, where they’ve got more to choose from. We were very fortunate that the horses performed well and came home good and were sound, and we were able to get them sold. We had a good day. We only had eight here and I think we sold seven. We were very fortunate.” 
    There were 53 scratches at April before the breeze show, leaving 17 post-show outs. “There were a disappointing number of outs, but we at Keeneland don’t have control of that,” said Russell. “The horses that went through the ring sold very well, and we were very pleased with the buyers that were here for what was on offer. Especially the number of trainers that were here. It shows that this is a good place to have a 2-year-old sale, because we can attract the trainers that wind up training these horses.” 
    Russell said that Keeneland would prefer a larger April catalog in the future that could still present a critical mass of horses to buyers despite outs, but was realistic in his assessment. “Yes, we’d like a much larger catalogue. But the foal crop’s down, the number of 2-year-olds are down, and for most of the consignors we are an out-of-state sale,” he said. “We make an effort to recruit internationally and domestically, and so when buyers see 53 outs before the gallop show, buyers probably don’t want to come in for it.” 
    Keeneland was hosting its last April sale over its synthetic Polytrack, and Russell said it was possible a return to dirt for 2015 would attract more horses. 
    “We won’t know until next year, and I haven’t talked to enough consignors to get an answer to that,” he said. “But there are a couple of 2-year-old consignors who haven’t been here in a couple of years that do like dirt, so maybe they’ll come back. And OBS has a synthetic track, so maybe it will be an alternative to that.” 
    All three of the major boutique juvenile sales–April, Fasig-Tipton Florida and Barretts March–had trouble attracting a large number of horses this spring, and Russell conceded the market may not be able to support all three. “I would say that all three boutique sales will be evaluating that between now and this time next year,” he said. “That’s what we’ll do we do it every year. I’m sure the other sales companies will do the same. We’ll sit down with nice people, like accountants.” 
For complete results of the sale, visit www.keeneland.com.