LEXINGTON, Ky. – Finesse, another young mare in foal to red-hot sire Nyquist, sold for $900,000 to lead Thursday’s action as the Keeneland November breeding stock sale concluded its Book 2 portion with gains to this point.
Keeneland reported that 556 horses have sold through the first three sessions of the November sale – consisting of the single-session Book 1 and a two-session Book 2 – for gross receipts of $125,606,500. At this same point of last year’s sale, under the same formatting, 564 horses had traded for $123,860,000. Both sets of figures include only horses sold through the ring, not including private sales that Keeneland will later factor in to official results.
The cumulative average to this point sits at $225,911, up 3 percent from $219,610 last year. Even more encouraging, the median is up 13 percent, sitting at $170,000 compared to $150,000.
“That’s what we look for more than anything,” said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland’s senior director of sales operations. “Significant improvement in the median and the RNA rate . . . those are the best indicators of a healthy marketplace.”
The buyback rate, which was significantly improved in Book 1 to start the week, also shows cumulative improvement through the first two books. The rate sits at 27 percent, compared to 31 percent at this point last year.
When a horse goes through the auction ring and fails to meet their established reserve, bidders on the horse or other parties may approach the consignor or owner to negotiate. For a private sale to be published in Keeneland’s official results, it must take place while the horse is still on the auction grounds. The conditions of sale state that horses must leave the grounds within 24 hours of the fall of the hammer. To this point, an additional 24 horses who were originally buybacks in the first two sessions have changed hands at the November sale for an additional $4,895,000 that will ultimately be added to the gross.
“I think it’s really encouraging that there’s a lot of RNAs to sale that are getting through – it’s very healthy,” said Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales. “There’s a good number getting through. So even though they might be listed as RNAs on the sheets right now, you’ll see those filtering in, and some really healthy numbers. So [the buyback rate] is actually not completely indicative . . . it’s actually healthier. There’s a balance between the reserve set and what people want to pay for certain things, and then that gets mitigated. So I think it’s good and healthy in there.”
Finesse, an unraced 3-year-old by Street Sense, was purchased by Dixiana Farms for the session-topping $900,000, which also topped the book overall. She sold carrying her first foal, to the cover of champion juvenile Nyquist, who is enjoying a stellar year on the track. His current crop of 2-year-olds includes Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Immersive, Grade 1 winner Tenma, and multiple stakes winner Studlydoright, while his older runners this season include Grade 1 winners Johannes and Randomized. Smash Ticket, who topped Wednesday’s Book 2 opener, also sold in foal to Nyquist.
“We’re over the moon,” said Kitty Day of consignor Warrendale Sales. “It was fantastic. She was well past her reserve at that level, but she’s just a beautiful physical, in foal to a horse that is on fire, with a family that goes with it and in foal on one cover with a filly. It was a perfect storm.”
Finesse is out of the winning Tapit mare Etiquette, dam of three winners from as many starters, led by multiple Grade 1 winner Society. Etiquette is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Pleasant Prince, and graded stakes winners appearing on the catalog page include Canadian champion Holy Helena.
“She is just very pretty. It’s a good family,” Dixiana owner Bill Shively said, adding that he will wait to see the Nyquist foal before determining a 2025 mating for Finesse. “It’s very hard to buy a good horse, right? It’s what we’re looking for at Dixiana, just really quality. I think she’ll be great for a long time.”
Keeneland November now continues with Books 3, 4, and 5, consisting of two sessions each, running with no break through Nov. 13. The single-session November horses of racing age sale, which was broken out into its own session with separately reported figures in 2022, follows on Nov. 14.
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