Keeneland September: Book 1 Wrap Up

Wow.

So, while I think anyone would have certainly assessed the mood as a good one coming into the sale, not sure anyone saw that coming. What I can safely say is that this format is probably here to stay for at least a few years. The momentum should carry over to Books 2 and 3 as well.

But the most obvious trend that continues is that deep pocketed buyers continue to pay big dollars for the best of the best. Let's take a look at the hips that sold for seven figures:

712 - 2.5 mil - colt by War Front

541 - 2.2 mil - filly from Indian Charlie's last crop out of Take Charge Lady

446 - 1.75 mil - filly by Tiznow, half to Speightstown

523 - 1.7 mil - colt by MdO - half to Super Saver

855 - 1.7 mil - filly by Tiznow - half to Havre de Grace

515 - 1.55 mil - colt by Tapit - half to burgeoning juvenile filly superstart Sweet Lulu

19 - 1.5 mil - filly by MdO - half to Hungry Island, from Verrazano's family

496 - 1.4 mil - colt by Galileo, half to sire Mastercraftsman

80 - 1.35 mil - filly by Malibu Moon out of MG1W Hollywood Story

291 - 1.3 mil - filly by Bernardini, half to champion Proud Spell

681 - 1.2 mil - colt by Tapit ouf of great producer Ava Knowsthecode, dam of Algorithms and Justin Phillip, et al

110 - 1.1 mil - colt  by UBS, out of G1W Irish Smoke

61 - 1 mil - colt by War Front, from family of sire Zensational and Departing

325- 1 mil - colt by Tapit our of MGSW producer

426- 1 mil - colt by Smart Strike out of Canadian champion Serenading

438- 1 mil - filly by Malibu Moon from huge family of Power Broker, Miss Shop, and Trappe Shot

846- 1 mil - colt by MdO, half to sire Majestic Warrior

868 - 1 mil - filly by Tapit, half to G1 winner

/takes deep breath.

/grabs paper bad to stop hyperventilating

/takes deep breath

Ok. So. Wow. So not only did all 18 (!) look great, they all had undoubtedly solid pages. Ironically, the weakest page is the sale topper thus far. However, there is no doubt that he is perfect and while he may never live up to the price tag, he must be spectacular. Plus he's a War Front, so he's good to go. He's absolutely lit this sale up. And this is off of a $15,000 stud fee for these yearlings. Good luck ever getting to him again, unless you've got HDG as your broodmare. He's literally that good. Plus he's in demand overseas, which is a great and drastic departure from the stallions of the last decade or so here in Kentucky.

Total figures thus far:

• 18 $1mil + yearlings (7 in 2012)
• 55 $500,000 + (42 in 2012)
• 546 sold/242 RNA (30.7% buyback rate)
• Gross - $153,385,000
• Average - $280,925
• Median - $207,500

I can't draw a direct comparison to last year, seeing that it's a drastically different format. However, the 18 million dollar yearlings thus far equals to total number in 2008 and absolutely obliterates last year's total number. But when you look at the average and Median figures it is clear that if you have the creme de la creme, you get paid, big time. If you are even a notch below that, you will have to scratch and claw for every dollar. It really is the new market paradigm.

Big week for Tapit, MdO, and War Front. Really no suprises there.

Looking forward to Book 2. Lots of great hips there too and there really should be a ton of carryover momentum over the next few days.