LEXINGTON, Ky. – A trio of young mares sold for $700,000 each to top a strong edition of the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale that concluded Wednesday evening.
Keeneland reported that the three-day sale concluded with 685 horses sold through the ring for gross receipts of $33,444,900, prior to any private sales that will later be factored into official results. Year-to-year comparisons for this sale come with the context of a format shift. This year’s sale consisted of a single-session Book 1, followed by a two-session Book 2, with a total of 1,317 horses cataloged prior to outs. The 2024 edition of the sale took place over four sessions, split evenly between Books 1 and 2, with 1,478 hips cataloged. That sale finished with 831 horses sold for $38,330,300 through the ring.
“The catalog, in general, is a little stronger, top to bottom, than it would have been, because we lost primarily, we feel, from the lower end of the market in terms of the number of horses in the catalog,” said Cormac Breathnach, Keeneland’s director of sales operations. “The first day [was] probably a little enriched, but there’s a lot of quality [in Book 2]. It’s not really a Book 1 and Book 2 situation, but [the first day] was enriched a little bit. It’s not quite apples to apples because of the format tweak.”
The cumulative average price for the January sale was $48,825, a gain of 6 percent from $46,126 last year. Last year’s sale had two horses sold for seven figures through the ring, and another added as a private sale later. That this week’s average was up despite not cracking the seven-figure ceiling suggests activity in the middle and lower marketplaces, an impression borne out by the crucial median figure, which spiked 47 percent, to $22,000 from $15,000.
“It shows real activity,” Breathnach said of the median. “For a long time, the January sale has been sort of the little brother to the November sale, but this is a really strong median and huge growth from last year, when we had seven-figure offerings.”
The buyback rate showed that a marketplace that has long been described as selective is still so, at 24 percent overall compared to 20 percent at last year’s sale. There has already been solid post-sale activity, with more than two dozen horses changing hands for more than $1.4 million heading in to Wednesday’s final session, and more to be added to those numbers.
The market “is typical,” Gainesway general manager Brian Graves said. “You are unhappy until you identify one you really want to buy. Then you get to the sale ring, and you can’t obtain the horse. It is a little bit feast or famine and a little spotty but pretty good.”
Although the January sale was the first major-market sale in the calendar year 2025, it is actually about in the middle of the mixed-sale season that began in late October and will continue with sales at the nation’s other major auction houses, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. and Fasig-Tipton, prior to the start of the Northern Hemisphere breeding season next month.
Tony Lacy, Keeneland’s vice president of sales, described the marketplace as “a continuation” of some of the trends seen at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale.
“It’s encouraging in that nothing is overheated; the market is very steady, very consistent,” Lacy said. “Sellers for the most part have been very happy. It’s been very fair, and that’s something everyone is pleased with. Consistency is the key.”
The 6-year-old Pretty Birdie, carrying her first foal, sold for $700,000, as did the 5-year-old broodmare prospect Delahaye and racing or broodmare prospect Love to Shop.
Grade 3 winner Pretty Birdie, an offering from the estate of the late John Hendrickson, widower of the late Marylou Whitney and from her prominent breeding program, generated plenty of attention as she made her second trip through the Keeneland auction ring in the past three months in Monday’s Book 1 session.
Grade 3 winner Delahaye and stakes winner Love to Shop were both sold to dissolve racing partnerships, a common occurrence at this time of year as partnerships evaluate the plans for their mares moving out of one season and into another. Delahaye, by Medaglia d’Oro, was purchased by Three Chimneys Farm, which bred her and then raced her in partnership with Willian Lawrence.
“They felt like the time had come to retire her and send her to the breeding shed,” said Kerry Cauthen of consignor Four Star Sales. “It is a partnership, and one of them breeds and one doesn’t. So that is why we supplemented her.”
Cauthen added that the market was “very fair” throughout the January sale.
“January doesn’t always have the sizzle that November does, but overall, the market has been very fair,” Cauthen said.
Stakes winner and multiple graded-placed Love to Shop, by Violence, never missed the board in 10 career starts. She was purchased by Pin Oak Stud after being consigned by Claiborne Farm, as agent.
The highest price among the yearlings at the sale was a $400,000 Tapit colt, purchased under the name JPM Bloodstock, as agent. The colt was consigned by Gainesway, as agent.
The colt is out of the stakes-winning Mizzen Mast mare Maybe Wicked, a full sister to Grade 3 winner Money’soncharlotte and stakes winner Mizzcan'tbewrong.
Overall, five yearlings brought prices in excess of $250,000.
“Maybe the single biggest positive is the yearling market was really tough to buy in,” Breathnach said. “Plenty of strength and depth in the market to look forward to in the year. We’re off to the right start.”
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