Fast Out of the Gate
Eager to get their hands on the best of the best, buyers at last year’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale jumped at the opportunity from the start, resulting in some of the auction’s most robust trade coming in the first 20 horses that sold. In fact, across-the-board stats from the first 20 hips sold suggest sellers can have confidence in the marketplace to deliver exceptional results from Hip 1 on.
A Closer Look: First 20 Hips vs. the Rest of Book 1
| First 20 Hips Sold | Rest of Book 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Average | $534,000 | $495,884 |
| Median | $537,500 | $435,000 |
| RNA Rate | 9.1%* | 13.3% |
Keeneland has done a good job getting more buyers in early. I think the ad they ran highlighting the success of the first 20 hips was a good ad, and they need to sell that message. It’s important that people can have confidence to bid on the early horses.
An $850,000 Hip 1
Before the start of each session of Book 1, Keeneland hosts a Book 1 Brunch inviting buyers and sellers to the Sales Pavilion to kick off the festivities. In 2022, Book 1 began with a bang when Hip 1, a son of Medaglia d’Oro from the Lane’s End consignment, sold to the partnership of Talla Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds for $850,000. That was the highest price recorded for a horse assigned Hip 1 in the September Sale since at least 1999.
The very first hip bringing $850,000 set the tone.
First of Many Seven-Figure Sales Came Early
Reaching the seven-figure mark in 2022 did not take long. Claiborne Farm, agent, paid $1.2 million for Hip 8, a Quality Road filly consigned by Gainesway, agent. The filly was the first of 30 yearlings to surpass the million-dollar mark during the September Sale.
She was the real deal. We expected a lot of her, and she trickled over our expectations by 10 to 20 percent.
Selling Early Pays Dividends
With some of North America’s most prominent racing groups vying for the early Book 1 yearlings, the first 20 horses that sold brought an average price of $534,000, while the remainder of Book 1 averaged $495,884 and reinforced the benefit of selling early.
We focused heavily on setting the stage for the first 20 hips. A lot of people have the misconception that the first 20 hips in a sale are a soft stage of the sale. The first 20 hips produced some of the strongest results we had during Book 1.
Deep Early Buying Bench
A number of prominent buyers were active early during session 1 of the 2022 September Sale. Purchasers of horses sold within the first 20 hips included major racing operations and agents Bach Stables, Gary Barber, Claiborne Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Juddmonte, Ben McElroy, Little Red Feather, Mayberry Farm, Repole and St. Elias Stables, Mike Ryan, Talla Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds, Eddie Woods and Steve Young.
It’s a phenomenal sale. There is a lot of money around and huge demand. It’s all top-end. Everybody wants quality and they don’t mind paying for it.
