A $1.2 million Curlin filly leads nearly $9 million of private sale transactions that will add to the Keeneland September yearling sale’s totals when all is said and done.
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. Thus, sales that take place back on the farm – such as at perennial leading consignor Taylor Made’s annual “RNA Party” in the coming week – will not count.
From Books 1 and 2, Keeneland has reported 41 private sales for a gross of $8.95 million. Topping these is a Curlin filly purchased by D.J. Stable for $1.2 million, after she drew a high bid of $1.15 million in the auction ring. The filly is out of the graded stakes winning and Grade 1-placed A.P. Indy mare America, making her a full sister to graded stakes winner First Captain.
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Other notably-bred private purchases include a full brother to Grade 1-winning turf sprint star Cogburn, purchased by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds for $375,000 after a high bid of $285,000 in the ring; and an Into Mischief colt out of champion Lady Eli, sold to Quarter Pole Enterprises for $185,000 after dropping the hammer at the same.
“Obviously, over the week, the RNA rate is the same, maybe 1 percent higher, which means that some people are not getting their horses sold through the ring,” Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland's senior director of sales operations, said. “So that’s something we’ll always be monitoring, talking to people, getting feedback the best we can to try to make sure the buyers are here at every level. Last year, we did a lot of RNAs-to-sale, and this year, we’re well on track to match or even exceed that, which is important for the sellers and the breeders, to get what they need from these horses. So we’re watching all of these things.”
Counting the private sale, a total of 36 horses have now changed hands for seven figures this Keeneland September, the second-best all-time. The 2005 edition of this sale traded 40 seven-figure yearlings in a booming market prior to the recession of 2008.
With Books 1 and 2, the first four sessions of the sale, complete, the top-end fireworks may be done for this year. The last time a horse changed hands for seven figures in the fifth session came in 2019, when that session was part of Book 2.
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