Update 3: Prices posted to hips I was watching.

Update 2: 3/4 to Zenyatta (and out of a G1 Stakes Winning mare) did not sell sold at a final bid of $750,000.  Remarkable. (HRTV was wrong with their initial info)

UPDATE: So far the sale topper is 1.4 million. Three foals have sold for over one mil: 1 AP Indy, 1 Street Cry, and 1 Unbridled's song. More to come. BIds and averages are up so far over last year. But there' still lots to go.

The Keeneland September Yearling Sale begins next week. I think that more than any other off-track event it is a determinant and a measure of the strength of the thoroughbred industry. You can see new money, big new players, hot bloodlines, cooling bloodlines, and sheikhs throwing money around like they own oil fields or something. When the average is up, it's a good thing. When the highest bids are up, it's a great thing. I've perused the first 3 books (there are a total of seven) and have pulled out a few interesting cases.

But before I get into the specific hip numbers, a little rundown for the uninitiated. Each horse is given a hip number. Literally, this is a sticker with a number that is placed on the colt/filly's hip. Every horse is blocked off by book. The lower the number book your horse is in, the better bred it is considered by Keeneland. Inside of each book, the horses are ordered by the first letter of the dam's name, so lower hip number does not perfectly equate better breeding.

The first two nights (Monday and Tuesday) are considered the select portions of the sale. This is when the heavy hitters (read: Repole, et al) drop the huge money. Wednesday-Sunday is the rest of the sale. A total of several thousand colts and fillies will cross the auction block this week.

I've pulled out a number of very interesting horses. I'm not saying these will be the highest bids nor the most successful runners. But these are just interesting. Now every horse is completely sight unseen by me, so they may be crooked as hell, but I'm just going off their page.

Hip 153: Street Sense - Cappucino Bay (Bail Jumper) - 1/2 to Medaglio D'Oro - Medaglio is super hot right now due to the fact that he's Rachel Alexandra's sire. The first book is filled with MD's. (sold for 200k)

Hip 183: Elusive Quality - Kolda (Strawberry Road (ARG)) - Full sibling to Quality Road. Kolda's dam was a sold producer too. (sold for 650k)

Hip 244: Medaglio D'Oro - Ron's Lady - 1/4 to Lawyer Ron (RNA 120k)

Hip 261: Scat Daddy - Russian Broad (Broad Brush) - 1/4 to Indian Charlie. With Uncle Mo's success, may draw some interest from that crown. I really wouldn't be surprised to see Repole but this one.  (sold for 220k)

Hip 269: Tale of the Cat - Satin Sunrise (Mr. Leader) - Full to Lionheart. With him a proven stallion, this could be tempting. (sold for 260k)

Hip: 295: Medaglio D'Oro - She's the Queen (Lasting Approval) - 3/4 to Rachel Alexandria. Someone will drop some skrilla money on this one. (sold for 170k, must have bad films)

Now these aren't necessarily the ones I'd buy, but I find the repeats of breedings interesting. How often does lightning strike twice? But then again, maybe you want to just try to get lucky. But most of these aren't bred for racing, they're bred for commercial appeal, and those are two entirely different tactics for choosing who to breed to.

My choices? Hips 7(update:350k) + 337 (100k) (Dynafomer from a Carson city mare). Hip185 (out) too.

We'll see how it goes. I hope lots of money gets spent in Lexington, that's always a good sign.