Keeneland January Marches On

LEXINGTON, Ky – The Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale continued with its first Book 2 session Wednesday, with a pair of mares bringing six-figures and numbers largely in line with the 2016 Book 2 opener. Fifth and Madison (Street Sense) (hip 1118) brought the day's top price when selling for $135,000 to Doug Branham. Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned the 4-year-old mare on behalf of Starlight Racing. Bubbles and Babies (A.P. Indy) (hip 1050) also broke the six-figure mark when selling for $125,000 to Josham Farm from the Valkyre Stud consignment.

“It was a positive thing to see those two mares break $100,000 today,” said Keeneland's Director of Sales Operations Geoffrey Russell. “It shows that there is still money here for horses.”

After recording double-digit declines in Book 1, Book 2 opened with numbers similar with last year's corresponding session. In all, 197 horses sold Wednesday for a total of $3,415,900. The average was $17,340–it was $17,351 a year ago. The median dipped 5.56% to $8,500. The buy-back rate for Wednesday's session was 33.22%–up from 23.34% last year.

“It's the same sale as last year,” Russell said. “The average is roughly the same as last year. It is very similar, but we are going through a cycle at the moment that we all need to take note of. I think people will be evaluating their breeding stock for the 2017 breeding season and will have to decide whether they need to breed their mares or not.”

Regarding the continued polarization in the market, Russell added, “It's an expensive business to be in, so people are tending to gravitate towards less numbers and higher quality and that's been the theme for sales season 2016/2017.”

Taylor Made Sales Agency was the session's leading consignor by gross, selling 36 head for $812,700.

Taylor Made's Mark Taylor acknowledged that, while there was still competition for the top offerings, mares falling short in any category were largely ignored by potential buyers.

“The production costs are the same for everybody, on your upkeep, your vet, your board, all of that stuff,” Taylor said. “It's just hard on people dealing with these lower-end horses and less and less people want to do it. And that's the hard thing about our business, you have to go through two years of production and then, even if you do everything right, a very subjective opinion by a vet and you still don't succeed. The costs keep going up and it gets harder and harder to hit that bulls eye. The bulls eye keeps getting smaller and smaller because you have scoping, X-rays, DNA, heart scans and everything else and it has to all line up to hit the home run. I think it's driving a lot of breeders out of the business. The weanlings we've been selling have had good action on them, but it's just the further you get away from the racetrack, the weaker it gets.”

Taylor thinks the soft market on mares offers buyers the chance to find bargains.

“The good news is, I think the way prices are now on some of these mares, it's getting to the point where you can make money,” he explained. “There have been a lot of mares through here today that we've bought. And I'm thinking, 'I really don't want to own another mare, but I am buying her for $10,000. If I get lucky, she could have a $75,000 foal next year.' So the market will adjust.”

The Keeneland January sale continues through Friday with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

Fifth and Madison Tops Day 3

Fifth and Madison (Street Sense) (hip 1118) was the highest seller during Wednesday's third session of the Keeneland January sale when she brought a final bid of $135,000 from Doug Branham of Hurricane Hills Farm.

“We liked her and we thought we might try breeding her,” Branham said.

The 4-year-old racing or broodmare prospect was purchased by Starlight Racing for $250,000 at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The maiden winner is a half-sister to stakes winner and multiple graded stakes winner Fordubai (E Dubai) and to graded stakes placed Fast Alex (Afleet Alex).

Fifth and Madison was Branham's fourth purchase of the January sale. During Tuesday's second session of the five-day auction, Branham purchased Tizsomethingspecial (Tiznow) (hip 585) for $240,000.

“We are looking mostly for young mares who haven't been bred yet,” Branham said.

Fifth and Madison was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency on behalf of Starlight Racing.

“She is a beautiful horse–all of the Starlight horses tend to be really good looking,” said Taylor Made's Mark Taylor. “She had a couple of graded stakes horses under the first dam and she was big and beautiful. The market is tough, but for the ones like her it's strong. ”

Jack Wolf of Starlight Racing said he was pleasantly surprised by Fifth and Madison's sale price.

“She does have a nice pedigree,” said Wolf, who is in the midst of gearing up for the inaugural running of the Jan. 28 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational as the event's CEO. “It was the first day of Book 2, so she sort of stood out as a race mare prospect.”

Wolf added that he scratched two horses from the sale with a similar background to the topper, the 4-year-old fillies Deedeezee (Congrats) [hip 1087] and Firsthand Report (Blame) [hip 1121]. While his original intent was to keep the pair in training with Todd Pletcher, Wolf said that he may reconsider his options in the coming days if he hears from interested buyers.

“We thought we'd go ahead and race the horses instead of selling them, but I had no idea these types of horses would bring that type of money,” he said. “They're still at Taylor Made Farm.”

Bubbles and Babies to Josham Farms

Bubbles and Babies (A.P. Indy) (hip 1050) will be joining the broodmare band at Josham Farms after selling for $125,000 Wednesday at Keeneland. The 6-year-old mare, sold in foal to Street Boss, was consigned by Valkyre Stud.

“She's a beautiful A.P. Indy mare and we're very happy to have her,” said Josham Farm's Ted Burnett. “We have no idea who she'll go back to yet. She was probably a little more expensive than we thought she'd be, but she was an A.P. Indy and a pretty special mare for this day.”

Bubbles and Babies is out of Grade I winner Dream Empress (Bernstein). She produced her first foal, a filly by Noble's Promise, in 2016.

“We'll take her back to Canada, get an Ontario foal and ship the mare back here to be bred back to a Kentucky stallion,” Burnett added.

The result was no surprise to Catherine Parke of Valkyre Stud.

“She's a young mare with no holes in her,” Parke said. “The owner has the mother and has another daughter in training. She's just one of those mares that checked all the boxes, she had the pedigree, she had the physical, she was one cover, she was easy, and quiet and very pretty. And by A.P. Indy.”

Orb Colt Tops Yearlings Wednesday

Hip 1064, a colt by Orb, is destined for a return trip through the sales ring after selling for $95,000 to Jim Fitzgerald Wednesday at Keeneland. It was the highest price paid for a yearling during the third session of the five-day auction. Consigned by Hunter Valley Farm, the colt was bred by Paget Bloodstock and Galtee Bloodstock.

“He was a standout today and I'm a big believer in Orb,” Fitzgerald said. “He'll go to [Fasig-Tipton] Saratoga or [Keeneland] September.”

The gray yearling is out of stakes placed Cherryblossommiss (Langfuhr), a full-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Imperialism. The mare, with this foal in utero, sold for $90,000 at the 2015 Keeneland November sale.

As the Keeneland January sale marched into Book 2, Fitzgerald said it was still competitive for the top lots.

“A good horse is still bringing a premium,” he said. “It's been the same all week–I've been shut out so many times. You have to pay extra for the ones you want. I'm stretching for anything I like. There are a lot of sharp guys out there buying horses right now–it's very tough and everybody is on the same horses all the time. Same old story.”