LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Love to Shop sold for $700,000 to move into a tie atop the leaderboard as the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale continued to post solid figures in its second session.
Keeneland reported 242 horses sold in Tuesday's sale session -- the Book 2 opener, and second of three sessions overall -- for gross receipts of $10,854,300, prior to any private sales that will later be factored in to official results. True year-to-year, session-to-session comparisons for this sale are difficult, due to a format change from 2024. This year, the sale opened with a standalone Book 1 on Monday, followed by a two-session Book 2 on Tuesday and Wednesday. A total of 1,317 horses were cataloged for the entire sale, prior to outs. Last year's sale took place over four sessions, split evenly between Books 1 and 2, with 1,478 horses cataloged. In the 2024 sale's third overall session, the Book 2 opener, 197 horses sold for a gross of $4,374,900.
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Tuesday's average price, prior to any private sales, is $65,478. The average for the Book 2 opener in 2024 was $22,208. Tuesday's median was $20,000, against $10,000 in the book's opener a year ago.
The buyback rate showed that a marketplace that has long been described as selective is still so, at 27 percent compared to 19 percent in last year's Book 2 opener.
A day after graded stakes winners Delahaye and Pretty Birdie sold for $700,000 each to top Book 1, Love to Shop sold for the same price to match them atop the leaderboard. The 5-year-old Violence mare was purchased by Pin Oak Stud after being consigned by Claiborne Farm, as agent, as a racing or broodmare prospect.
"She was a filly that was bought as a yearling for Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola," said Jacob West, stallion seasons and bloodstock manager for Claiborne, who has also worked as a bloodstock agent for Repole and Viola. "We always knew she was going to end up at a public auction to dissolve the partnership. To be quite honest, that [price] exceeded a little bit of our expectations. She was such a beautiful filly. We’re just happy to hear that Pin Oak got her. She’s going to a great home, and she’ll get every opportunity."
Love to Shop never missed the board in 10 career starts, highlighted by a win in the 2023 Toronto Cup. She was also second in two editions of the Grade 2 Bessarabian Stakes and in the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion Stakes, and third in the Grade 3 Ontario Colleen Stakes and the Ontario Damsel.
She is out of the stakes-placed Uncle Mo mare Tiffany Case, also the dam of well-regarded multiple Grade 1-placed Nitrogen. Tiffany Case is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner and Grade 1-placed Talk Veuve to Me.
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