Keeneland November Sale Starts Monday
Updated: November 2, 2015 at 1:32 am
By Jessica Martini
A brief one day removed from hosting its first Breeders’ Cup championships, action returns to Keeneland Monday with the first session of the November Breeding Stock Sale. The first of two Book 1 sessions of the 12-day auction begins at 11 a.m.
“We are very pleased with our catalogue,” commented Keeneland’s Director of Sales Geoffrey Russell. “I think there is a lot of depth to the catalogue. We’ve just come back from the barns and people are busy out there looking at them.”
A total of 491 weanlings, broodmares and racing prospects have been catalogued for Book 1, including several with Breeders’ Cup updates. The dam of GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Runhappy (Super Saver) will be offered Tuesday, while half-sisters to GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Liam’s Map (Unbridled’s Song) and GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Songbird (Medaglia d’Oro) go through the ring Monday. Also on offer Monday is the dam of GI Breeders’ Cup F/M Sprint third-place finisher Taris (Flatter).
“We hope that the same thing that has happened in the past when the Breeders’ Cup was in Kentucky will happen again,” Russell said. “When the Breeders’ Cup is in Kentucky, it enhances the sale. Having hosted the Breeders’ Cup, we hope we have the same benefit this year.”
The sale, which continues through Nov. 13, features a catalogue of 4,476, up from 4,026 a year ago. Russell said the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland may have lured a few more head to the November catalogue.
“We have more horses this year and I think that has come from having people wanting to take advantage of having the Breeders’ Cup here,” Russell explained. “We have had all these people come to central Kentucky who might not normally come to the November sale and I think sellers wanted to take advantage of that. I think that has stretched out the quality in the first week very much.”
The November sale will also feature the dispersal of Nat Rea’s Regis Farm. The entire dispersal, which includes GI Kentucky Oaks runner-up Shook Up (Tapit), sells without reserve through Three Chimneys Farm.
A weanling filly by Tapit sold for $3 million during last year’s November sale and this year’s catalogue features a bevy of weanlings with mouth-watering pedigrees, including a half-brother by War Front to that record setter.
“Last year we sold the Tapit filly for a North American record and I think that encouraged people to put some really once-in-a-lifetime offerings in the sale,” Russell said. “And we have several once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.”
After sessions beginning at 11 a.m. Monday and Tuesday, the Keeneland November sale continues through Nov. 13 with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.