KEE Sept: Trio of seven-figure colts leads cracking session
By Joe Nevills. DRF
A colt from the final crop of Scat Daddy sold for $1.1 million to M.V. Magnier of the Coolmore partnership to lead Wednesday's session at the Keeneland September yearling sale. He was one of three yearlings sold for seven figures on the day.
The level of competition among buyers at Book 2 of the Keeneland September yearling sale jumped to the next level on Wednesday, featuring a trio of seven-figure transactions.
Wednesday’s session was the second of three comprising the bellwether auction’s Book 2 as part of an overhauled catalog. Books 1 and 2 of this year’s renewal are arranged with an ultra-select, single-session first book followed by three Book 2 sessions before the auction’s traditional dark day. By comparison, last year’s sale featured a three-day Book 1, followed by the dark day, then two Book 2 sessions.
At the end of Wednesday’s trade, a total of 194 yearlings changed hands for revenues of $47,018,000.
The average sale price closed at $242,361, while the median checked in at $180,000. Wednesday’s average marked a 79 percent gain from the second session of last year’s Book 2, which landed at $135,638. It also displayed a 63 percent rise from last year’s cumulative Book 2 average of $148,672.
The buyback rate finished at 33 percent on Wednesday, compared with 35 percent during the second session of last year’s second book and 33 percent for Book 2 of 2016 at large.
Led by the three yearlings that brought seven figures, a total of six horses sold for $750,000 or more, and 22 sold for $500,000 or more.
“Book 2 started off strong yesterday and continued on today,” Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s director of sales operations, said. “I think [the new format] has done what we’ve wanted it to do, and it continues to show the results we’d hoped and expected to get. Buyers have been involved all the way through, and prices have been very good.”
