The Keeneland September Yearling Sale entered its second week with continuous tenders as the Book 4 section of the auction opened in Lexington on Monday.

“There is incredible trade here today,” said shipper Peter O’Callaghan of Woods Edge Farm. “There’s just a huge crowd up there. And they would knock you over for a good horse. In fact, I’m not surprised it’s so loud. Not with the way it started and the number of people who haven’t been able to buy horses yet. It was clear that the trickle-down effect was going to occur.

In Monday’s session, 319 yearlings brought in $ 27,330,000. The average of $ 85,674 is up 76.31% from the 2020 Book 4 opening and the median is up 50% to $ 60,000. With 52 horses declared unsold, the buyback rate was only 14.02%.

“It was a binge eating,” Gainesway’s Brian Graves said of Monday’s trade. “That’s all. It was just an absolute binge eating. I think right now the weak spot in the market is at the top, with the absence of Sheikh Mohammed and Shadwell. If there is a weak spot. in the market, it’s for turf type horses with a European appeal. The tip-top could be seen as a bit soft and probably some good buys have been made. And once you get into volume 2, and in particular volumes 3 and 4, it is there that the turnover is and it is extremely strong.

A colt from Mo Town’s first crop won the best deal of the session when trainer Tom Amoss bought the yearling for $ 450,000 on behalf of a partnership of clients. The top of the session was shipped by Gainesway, which was the leading shipper for the day with 27 sold for $ 3,262,000.

The yearling was one of three to hit the $ 400,000 mark on Monday and five to make $ 300,000 or more. The highest price during the opening session of Book 4 of the September 2020 sale – held amid the uncertainty of the pre-vaccination pandemic – was $ 210,000.

“It’s been extremely strong,” Blood Stock Officer Ben McElroy said of the market. “I thought it was going to be strong initially, with purses so high – there are four or five tracks where the first special weights cost $ 100,000 – and I think everyone is feeling good and hopefully. returns to normal. I think there is so much enthusiasm that it is reflected in the yearling prices.

The September Keeneland Sale continues through Friday with sessions starting daily at 10 a.m.

Mo Town Colt completes the set

It might not have been one of the foal buying partnerships in the headlines last week at Keeneland, but Tom Amoss was quietly assembling a pack of four potential classic horses for a new partnership of 10 of his existing clients. . The trainer made his biggest purchase of the auction going up to $ 450,000 to acquire a foal by Mo Town (Uncle Mo) (hip 2242) on behalf of Ensemble Stables.

“I have immense respect for the Uncle Mo line,” said Amoss of the yearling’s attractiveness. “I bought Mo Tom from his first harvest. When I saw this horse today, I really liked what I saw. He’s a really special athlete, in my opinion. I’m fully aware that it was a lot of stuff – and maybe the highest town in Mo that will sell this year – but I’m confident he’s an athlete. “

Mo Tom, bought for $ 150,000 at the Keeneland sale in September 2014, won the 2016 GIII Lecomte S. and won over $ 665,000 for GMB Racing.

Spearheading the new partnership was Joel Politi, owner of the 2019 Amoss-trained GI Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress.

“The trend is for people to come together and team up so that they can buy better horses,” Amoss said. “We see it a lot in sales. I might be a little late for the party, but Joel Politi made this group together. We call it Ensemble Stables because it is a collection of people. And we are excited.

In addition to the foal from Mo Town, Amoss also purchased a foal through West Coast (hip 1110) for $ 70,000, a son of Runhappy (hip 1706) and a foal by Midnight Storm (hip 1863) for $ 45,000.

“We finished the group with those four,” Amoss said.

Regarding the focus on the foals, he explained: “This is what the group likes. The group was formed with the idea of ​​trying to have an opportunity to win the Kentucky Derby. We wanted to get a lottery ticket for the Derby. And right now we have four lottery tickets.

Recorded by Gainesway, the session head son of first crop stallion Mo Town is from Closing Move (Bernardini), a half-sister to the dam of the winner of multiple rankings Stanford (Malibu Moon) and the winner of multiple Hedge rankings. Fund (Super Saver).

Dark Berry was purchased by Stella Stables for $ 75,000 at the Keeneland sale in November last year.

“It was the one Danielle Jones and I bought last year,” said Brian Graves of Gainesway. “Danielle has worked at Gainesway for many years. She wanted to have horses on her farm and we chose this one together. She took it home and got it ready and she did a great job with it. She was Gainesway’s partner on him.

The session top is one of 14 Mo Town yearlings to have sold so far in the September sale for a total of $ 1,916,000. The Coolmore stallion also sold fillies for $ 275,000 (hip 1905) and $ 255,000 (hip 1014) and a foal sold for $ 200,000 (hip 2118).

Ten Broeck Farm back for more Munnings

David Mowat’s Ten Broeck farm, who enjoyed Grade I success with Kimari (Munnings), added another coolmore stallion daughter to their roster when blood agent Ben McElroy signed the $ 400,000 note. $ the hip 2163 Monday at Keeneland.

“She was the spitting image of Kimari as a yearling,” said McElroy. “I saw her yesterday and she was the one we were supposed to have.

We tried a few fillies yesterday and we outbid it, but since seeing her yesterday I have always had a preference for this filly.

McElroy signed the $ 152.00 note to acquire Kimari at the Fasig-Tipton sale in July 2018. The bay filly, second in Royal Ascot’s entries in the 2019 G2 Queen Mary S. and the 2020 G1 Commonwealth Cup, earned his top-level success in the GI Madison S. in April for coach Wesley Ward.

Hip 2163 was bred by Gail Radke’s Asiel Stable and presented by Lane’s End. She is from Vitae (Awesome Again), a daughter of multi-stakes winner Bonita Meadow (Meadowlake) and a half-sister of multi-stakes winner Meadow Bride (Runaway Groom).

“When she walked in the reverse ring she was all classy,” McElroy said. “She is a May filly and there is a lot to look forward to.”

When asked who would train the filly, McElroy said, “We’re probably going to stick to the same plan as Kimari.”

Practical joke Colt pursues strong sale for O’Callaghan

Peter O’Callaghan’s Woods Edge Farm had a Keeneland sale in September, led by a mix of popular breeds and premonitory pinhook prospects. The dispatch had another strong session on Monday with a foal by practical joke (hip 2070) bringing in $ 285,000 to top off the deal’s performance that day. The bay yearling was bought by O’Callaghan for $ 110,000 at the Fasig-Tipton sale in November last year.

“He’s an exceptional physique,” ​​said O’Callaghan. “He was a real powerhouse and a very good representation of Practical Joke. You would see a lot of practical jokes in him, but you would also see an elusive quality – those elusive very good qualities that are big male horses. And he was exactly one of them. We had all kinds of interests in him during the sale and he sold accordingly.

Beyond popular crochet, Woods Edge was strong throughout Book 4’s opening on Monday as demand continued to be high.

“We had a one-day bargain,” O’Callaghan said. “We had $ 230,000 for a Bolt d’Oro filly with a reserve of $ 79,000. We got $ 200,000 for a foal from Mo Town with a reserve of $ 59,000 and $ 150,000 for a Goldencents who was the second horse in the ring. We haven’t sold two in the ring, but we sold a little while after and the other will be sold soon, I imagine.

Woods Edge, who enjoyed home success with a $ 1.05 million City of Light son, sold 34 yearlings in the first week of the September sale for $ 9,815,000.

“It was a great sale,” said O’Callaghan. “We had a very good harvest of horses this year, pedigree horses and foals purchased. It was a good mix of horses. We weren’t too much on the foals, our expenses were down last year. Everything fits perfectly. We breed a lot more now, so we don’t have to chase them [the foals] also hard. I still like to buy them and we have to buy them. There just isn’t any fun in these $ 300,000 foals. You need to keep it where enough people can bid for them. But everyone is trying to do it. We all try to do it and everyone knows it. It’s up to us to be disciplined.