A Swan Song? Not Quite Yet at KEENOV

And then there was one. One session left at Keeneland November, that is, following yesterday’s penultimate day of selling in Lexington. Numbers were down a bit from last year’s corresponding 10th session. A total of 258 horses sold for $2,917,500, an average of $11,308 that dipped 2.1% from 2013. The median was $6,750, down 10%. The RNA rate was a low 16.5%, but still off last year’s figure of 11.4%. 

As it stands now, 2,350 horses have sold at November for $204,830,100. The cumulative average is $87,162, an 8.6% gain from a year ago, while the median is $40,000, up 14.3%. The cumulative RNA rate is 21.4%; last year it was 14.5%. 

Topping Thursday’s session was the 5-year-old broodmare Songs and Sonnets (Unbridled’s Song–Bedanken, by Geri), who elicited a bid of $115,000 from Jane Buchanan, agent. The handsome gray sold in foal on a Feb. 20 cover toAlternation (Distorted Humor). Buchanan, sitting along the aisleway just under the press box, said she was buying on behalf of an undisclosed client and confirmed the mare would resume her breeding career in the States. 

Jody and Michelle Huckabay’s Elm Tree Farm consigned the homebred Songs and Sonnets as Hip 3661 on behalf of Pin Oak Stud, which stands Alternation. 

“She’s just a beautiful Unbridled’s Song mare,” said Jody Huckabay, who joined with Pin Oak’s Clifford Barry in thanking Buchanan. “We’re all big fans of Alternation, and she was put in here with the hopes of topping the session, and thankfully she did.” 

A daughter of Pin Oak’s very good MGSW Bedanken, Songs and Sonnets broke her maiden at second asking in an Arlington Park maiden special in 2011. She later romped by eight lengths in a one-mile Oaklawn N2X in her first start on conventional dirt. She was trained by Donnie Von Hemel. 

Some have commented over the last few days that good mares were being overlooked in preference of weanlings, but Huckabay said he wasn’t worried that Songs and Sonnets would attract the right attention.

“It seems if you bring a good one up, someone jumps on the phone and finds the money for her,” he said. “This was a mare I saw six months ago who I just fell in love with. She’s absolutely gorgeous, and the price reflected that. If you have the horse at Keeneland, they’re going to give you the money. Everybody was lined up behind her coming up from the barn. It’s a lot of fun to sell a good one.” 

A former TDN Rising Star, the millionaire Alternation won nine of 19 starts, including the 2011 GII Peter Pan S. and the following season’s GII Oaklawn H. 

“He’s a really nice horse that Pin Oak bred and raced, and they’ve supported him with some really nice mares,” said Huckabay. “Physically, he’s a beautiful, beautiful Distorted Humor. He’s really leggy and has a really good hind leg on him, and we think he’s got a big future. We bought a share in him ourselves.” 

Today’s final session of Keeneland November begins at 10:00 a.m. For more, visit www.keeneland.com.