clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Keeneland September Sale Preview

Keeneland has great racing during it's two meets a year, but the real action happens behind the grandstands, in the auction ring. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE
Keeneland has great racing during it's two meets a year, but the real action happens behind the grandstands, in the auction ring. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE

Keeneland's September Yearling Sale begins September 10th and runs through September 21st. In total, there are 3,604 yearlings set for auction. Halves to Paynter, Bodemeister, and Rags to Riches, a quarter to AP Indy and Summer Squall, dams that fill entire pages with their progeny, and a couple other interesting ones have all caught my eye.

Couple notes first:

  • The first two books more or less make up the "Select" portion of the sale. Fasig-Tipton names their first night the "Select" Keeneland does not. But for all intents and purposes that's how it works.
  • Anything out of AP Indy's female family makes it into the first two books. And rightfully so. You see Weekend Surprise on the page, guaranteed to go early.
  • Excited for the 50 Empire Makers in the sale especially after the good showing they had at Saratoga
  • Lots of talk that the Henrythenavigators look really good
  • There are a bunch of colts I wish were fillies instead (but I forgot to annotate which on my notes)
  • 44 Smart Strikes, 49 Unbridled's Songs, and 49 Giant's Causeways in Books 1 and 2
  • 26 of 27 offered Dynaformers are in Books 1 and 2.
  • I'm interested to see how Sea The Stars' first crop looks

My hips to watch after the jump.

Historical results for the last 5 years of the September Sale:
Year Offered Sold RNA Gross Average Median High
2011 3,689 2,921 768 $223,487,800 $76,511 $30,000 $1,400,000
2010 4,174 3,059 1,115 $198,257,900 $64,811 $25,000 $4,200,000
2009 4,360 3,159 1,201 $191,859,200 $60,734 $22,000 $2,050,000
2008 4,795 3,605 1,190 $327,999,100 $90,984 $37,000 $3,100,000
2007 4,901 3,799 1,102 $385,018,600 $101,347 $42,000 $3,700,000

Good showing last year. The high being down shouldn't be that big of a deal as the perfect storm has to occur for any horse to hit $1,000,000 let alone move all the way up to 2, 3, or 4 million.

Here's my list of horses that intrigued me (certainly not a list of any consequence, just the ones that caught my eye as I skimmed through the catalog):

Hip Sire Dam BM Sire Notes
3 Street Cry (IRE) On a Cloud Silver Hawk 2nd dam is huge producer
5 Unbridled's Song Our Dani Homebuilder Dam of You (won $2,101,353, producer)
10 Broken Vow Playa Maya Arch 1/2 to Uncle Mo
30 Dixie Union Strawberry Sense A.P. Indy 2nd dam 5x stakes foals
32 Tiznow Supercharger A.P. Indy 1/2 to Super Saver
36 Smart Strike Tabarin El Prado (IRE) 1/4 to Sir Cherokee
39 Smart Strike Teeming Storm Cat 1/2 to Rags to Riches
41 Street Cry (IRE) Tizso Cee's Tizzy 1/2 to Paynter, 1/4 to Tiznow
45 Smart Strike Untouched Talent Storm Cat 1/2 to Bodemeister
48 Medaglia d'Oro Welcome Surprise Seeking the Gold 1/4 to AP Indy/Summer Squall
73 Tiznow Cool Storm Storm Cat dam is full to Bluegrass Cat
85 Montjeu (IRE) Eliza Mt. Livermore Dam fills whole page with progeny
100 Smart Strike Hollywood Story Wild Rush dam won 1.17 million
106 Henrythenavigator Jewel Princess Key to the Mint dam won 1.9 million
111 A.P. Indy Lady Lochinvar Lord At War (ARG) loaded family of Master Command - hips 117 and 192 are from Lady Lochinvar's family as well
120 Unbridled's Song Maggy Hawk Hawkster 1/2 to Afleet Alex
131 Distorted Humor Mushka Empire Maker love Mushka
132 Distorted Humor My Miss Storm Cat Sea of Secrets 1/2 to My Miss Aurelia
145 Lemon Drop Kid Oh Pine Pine Bluff female family of Havre de Grace
151 Elusive Quality Our Rite of Spring Stravinsky 1/4 to Hard Spun
179 Istan Pocho's Dream Girl Fortunate Prospect 1/2 to Mark Valeski
184 Distorted Humor Possibility A.P. Indy 2nd dam is Personal Ensign
206 Tapit Pure Symmetry Storm Cat 2nd dam is Serena's Song
219 Malibu Moon Quiet Weekend Quiet American Clever semi-inbreed to AP Indy - Sire line and female family
234 Flower Alley Refinement Seattle Slew Full to Lilacs and Lace
246 Distorted Humor Rockcide Personal Flag 1/2 to Rule; 1/4 to Funny Cide
273 Henrythenavigator Satin Sunrise Mr. Leader 1/2 to Lionheart
303 Wildcat Heir Shopping Private Account 1/2 to Miss Shop; Trappe Shot
379 Distorted Humor Swift Temper Giant's Causeway dam won 1.3 million
383 Pulpit Take D' Tour Tour d'Or dam won 1.1 million
385 Unbridled's Song Tale of a Lady Tale of the Cat family of Ghostzapper and City Zip
409 Giant's Causeway Ticket to Seattle Capote 1/4 to Tizway
413 Awesome Again Tizamazing Cee's Tizzy dam is full to Tiznow
423 Street Cry (IRE) Treasure Trail Pulpit 1/4 to Zenyatta
427 English Channel Treysta Belong to Me 1/4 to Hard Spun
432 Tiznow Turko's Turn Turkoman 1/2 to Point Given

My DVR will be set to record the entirety of the sale, since it will be on HRTV.

You can view all of the entries to the September sale here at Keeneland.com.

I will not be at the sale this year, I'm hoping to make November for a few days though.