#2 MERASOL SUGAR ($15.20) wins the opener at Oaklawn in front-running fashion.

This was the first start for the Poindexter Thoroughbreds homebred, who was ridden by @keithasm7 for trainer John Ortiz. pic.twitter.com/BDwmuUjQPC

— TVG (@TVG) February 11, 2024

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Tipsy Tammy (f, 3, Arrogate–Peggy May, by Lemon Drop Kid) ran a winning race on debut. She just didn't win.

Those were the words of trainer Phil Bauer, who saddled the highly regarded $600,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase to a strong second-place finish behind 'TDN Rising Star' Impel (Quality Road) on debut at Fair Grounds Jan. 1.

Sporting a pair of bullet breezes on her worktab, the Rigney Racing colorbearer wasn't much of a secret and was off as the 4-5 favorite in the six-furlong affair.

Tipsy Tammy jumped well from post three and battled for command from an outside second with Impel in hot pursuit in third through an opening quarter in a sharp :21.89. Tipsy Tammy poked her head in front as Impel began to wind up with a flashy sweep on the far turn.

Tipsy Tammy fought on gamely along the rail as they straightened for home, but couldn't match strides with the Brad Cox-trained Juddmonte homebred down the lane. Impel crossed the wire 3 1/4 lengths to the good and it was another 10 3/4 lengths back to the distant third-place finisher.

Tipsy Tammy earned a 77 Beyer Speed Figure for the effort.

“Really thought she ran really well,” Bauer said. “Progression and maturity, she should move forward, hopefully.”

He continued, “It was as advertised. Obviously, when you spend that kind of money, you hope they turn out to be something special. She indicated that to us in the mornings and everybody was on to her as well. I think that was the reason for the short price.

Brad (Cox)'s horse shipped in from Kentucky, so maybe a little bit of camouflage there. No shame in running second to something like that. Visually, I thought they both ran winning efforts. They just got the better of us.”

Tipsy Tammy will look to go one better in her second career start in a six-furlong, $57,000 maiden special weight at Fair Grounds next Thursday. With a five-furlong bullet in 1:00 4/5 (1/12) under her belt in the interim, the 8-5 morning-line favorite has drawn widest of all in post seven. Mitchell Murrill will be at the controls once again.

Phil Bauer & Richard Rigney | Keeneland

“Who knows? Sometimes it's beneficial to get two starts in the maiden ranks and try and get some more seasoning before you take on winners,” Bauer said.

“She's put together really well and a very efficient mover. Obviously, you always hope that they'll stretch out a little bit in distance, which I think she will based on her training. We thought coming back in a three-quarter event would be the right move to try and get the maiden broke, then probably point towards something at Keeneland.”

Bred in Kentucky by Sierra Farm, Tipsy Tammy hails from the third and final crop of the much-missed Arrogate, who is already responsible for five Grade I winners, led by the recently crowned champion 3-year-old Arcangelo. She was the highest-priced yearling filly by Arrogate to sell in 2022 and the third most expensive overall of 61 yearlings by the late Hall of Famer to change hands that year.

The half-sister to MSW Doc Boy (Into Mischief) was produced by Peggy May, an unraced daughter of champion grass mare Perfect Sting (Red Ransom). The Adena Springs-bred Peggy May brought $170,000 from breeder Sierra Farm while in foal to Awesome Again at the 2014 Keeneland November sale.

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The heavily favored #2 LESLIE'S ROSE ($2.40) turned back Gun Song to keep her record a perfect two-for-two in the 6th at Gulfstream.

Irad Ortiz was in the irons for trainer @PletcherRacing and @whisper_hill. pic.twitter.com/M89WLCCMuC

— TVG (@TVG) January 11, 2024

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5th-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, f, 7f, 2:14 p.m. ET.
Courtlandt Farms purchased Whocouldaskformo (Uncle Mo) for $450,000 at last year's Keeneland September Sale. She debuts for Shug McGaughey alongside fellow firster and workmate, Very Practical (Practical Joke).

Whocouldaskformo's dam Midnight Belle (Bernardini) is a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic heroine Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song), who went to Whisper Hill Farm at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale for $3.6 million while in foal to Tapit. She produced two-time champion Unique Bella (Tapit). Midnight Belle is also a half-sister the dam of GIII Gotham S. hero Raise Cain (Violence). TJCIS PPS

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“Shooting a bazooka is so fun,” Rigney says. “My wife Tammy was like, 'You know what? I think it's okay that he shoots the bazooka, but I don't think you should really trust him to drive it.' Because I'm a really bad driver!”

He finds a picture on his phone.

“Here's me going into the tank,” he says. “It was from World War II. I blew up a car, like, half a mile away. So that was a thing. We do a lot of traveling, and we love safaris. I guess that was kind of one.”

If that's a day on the range, you can imagine what scuba diving in Honolulu might entail.

“So Tammy set it up with these Navy SEALs who do a lot of stuff for Hawaii Five-O,” Rigney says. “So we're doing all these helicopter stunts and then, at the end of it, we're 45 feet above the ocean in our wetsuits and dive into the ocean for a shark dive.”

Sorry, this is for fun?

“This is for fun!” exclaims Rigney. “It's like when we went to Cambodia. She goes, 'I got two things for you to do out there. They're burning down the jungle. So how do you feel about being an anti-poacher, one day, and then putting out fires the next?' For that we had a zipline from the helicopter into the hotel.”

He chuckles, before making the most superfluous statement of 2023: “We're not like normal tourists.”

And that is true in more ways than one. Just ask the Vietnamese jungle guide whose daughter was upset when he made her laugh, because it showed how bad her teeth were. Rigney paid for a dentist to fix those. Then, when Covid hit and the guide had no trade, he also paid her college fees.

So here's a guy whose appetite for life is commensurate with the size of his heart. Rigney talks with infectious relish, a frank grin never far away. But nothing is more instructive of his nature than how that heart deals with a horserace.

In its literal function, it pumps the blood at such a frantic rate that the pulse monitor on his smart-watch goes nuts. “Whenever we're racing, even if it's just a cheap claimer, my watch will say: 'Did you fall down? Do you need help?'” he says. “Because I'm so excited. So yeah, the racing is my favorite of all. And winning a Grade I was the No. 1 most exciting thing in my life, besides having my kids.”

Played Hard with Phil Bauer | Mike Kane

That was when Played Hard, a $280,000 Keeneland September yearling, won the GI La Troienne S. on Derby Day at Churchill. She couldn't be more aptly named, whether for her parentage–by Into Mischief out of Well Lived (Tiznow)–or her owner in the other, more figurative workings of his heart. For this is indeed a life lived on a most generous scale.

Phil Bauer, his trainer, interjects that Rigney didn't even go down to the saddling ring before the race, because he gave all his paddock passes to guests. His finish-line suite at Churchill was supposed to accommodate 40 people, but Rigney brought in extra tables so that he could seat 60. His guests ranged from his kids' ski instructor, to greenkeepers from a golf course he owns in Oklahoma, to his usher at the Tampa Bay Rays.

“All these people are important to me,” Rigney says. “So I had them all come in to experience this race. What a humongous day for me, right?”

And that's key: Rigney makes it sound as though he's doing himself a favor. There's no mistaking the authentic pleasure this man derives from doing things for other people. Even if, like the friend who watched the Churchill race alongside Rigney, the process has its perils.

“I got so excited that I knocked him over!” Rigney admits. “He thought he was going through the window. If you don't know what a rebel yell is, stand next to me during a race.”

There were further such scenes at Keeneland last weekend, when Buchu (Justify) came from last to win the GII Jessamine S. in emphatic style. This was a new frontier, as the filly is homebred, retained at $275,000 at the September Sale last year. She's the first foal of Flowering Peach (Ire), a staying mare by Galileo (Ire) out of a Giant's Causeway half-sister to Medaglia d'Oro. Unsurprisingly, after starting out on dirt, those genes have enabled Buchu to thrive for the switch to grass and she will now be among the leading home contenders for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Buchu | Coady Photography

The sense that Rigney's program is going up a level, after some early struggles, is no coincidence. Played Hard was one of the first recruits made for Rigney by John Moynihan, renowned for his work with Stonestreet and others; while the private acquisition from Coolmore of Flowering Peach, with her sensational pedigree, qualified her as the cornerstone of a relatively new venture: a broodmare band, already up to 16, based at Denali Stud.

“So it's been kind of like a new thing with John,” Rigney explains. “I'm very excited about it. I really want John to be involved in developing the broodmare part. He's the right guy for it, that's obvious. And Played Hard was from the first full crop of yearlings he picked out for us. She was always one we were excited about–from when we were buying her, to when she went into pre-training, John was like, 'This is the horse that might take you to the promised land.'”

Before that, Rigney and Bauer are candid that they were not shopping quite so effectively. But first let's rewind to how this whole thing started; how Rigney was first drawn to the color and excitement of the sport, as a young man privileged to grow up in buzzing Pasadena, California. (His father was an engineer who worked on the B1 bomber and Apollo spacecraft; while his mother was an accountant.)

Rigney paid his way through college by his wagering at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park–which instinct, incidentally, has never left him. In 2014, having never played a hand in his life, Rigney accompanied a buddy to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker. He thought he might as well pay the $10,000 fee and, from a field of 6,683, was famously ranking as high as 86th when losing out, on the fourth day, on a pile of chips that exceeded more than $800,000. Some of his rookie moves had baffled the professionals and Rigney, to disguise his ignorance, had maintained a silence so resolutely enigmatic that many assumed he couldn't even speak English.

But all this freewheeling through life–all these exotic exploits, all his munificence–is actually founded on lab coats and precision.

Rigney owns Clarendon Flavors, a manufacturer of extracts for the beverage industry. “It was just a very fortunate thing,” he protests. “I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but it was the right place, right time. I was working on my master's degree and looking for a job close by. And the nearest one to my school was in this little company, a flavor house. I didn't even know what that meant. But it said they needed a chemist, so I went to interview.”

So began his education in the intricate palette of ingredients from which flavor is designed.

'TDN Rising Star' Twirling Good Time | Coady Photography

“It's like painting,” he says. “It's a really bizarre industry: part chemistry, part art. And the longer you do it, the more of an artist you need to be. I don't really see myself as a chemist really anymore. It's just being a creative person.”

All flavor can apparently be broken down into basic constituents. “Banana, for example, has a hundred different components–but the No. 1 is isoamyl acetate,” Rigney explains. “And that's something you can synthesize from natural ingredients.”

In 1996, after a takeover of the holding group, the opportunity arose for Rigney to finance a buyout of the company he was working for. Three years later he had paid off the loan, and growth since has been perennial. He has clients around the world and across the spectrum: at least half in distilled spirits, but also others making soda pop, apple sauce, ice cream, baby food. Though his company's input usually comprises no more than 0.5-1.0 percent of the finished product, it will go out in 6,000-gallon tankers from two factories in Kentucky, at Louisville and Owensboro.

Things were soon going well enough that Tammy bought her husband a share in a racehorse: a Bernstein filly found by Kenny McPeek for $60,000 at the 2007 September Sale. In the silks of the Livin The Dream partnership, Dream Empress broke her maiden at Saratoga and then won the GI Alcibiades S. by four lengths before running second at the Breeders' Cup.

Not only was Rigney now hooked. He had also hit it off with Bauer, then working for McPeek. In fact, Bauer was the filly's groom at Saratoga before being made McPeek's assistant, even as Rigney started buying a few horses in his own right. The very next season Rigney was back in the Keeneland winner's circle after another juvenile Grade I, and Breeders' Futurity winner Noble's Promise (Cuvee) then went on to run fifth in the GI Kentucky Derby.

Eventually Rigney told Bauer that he would like to take his involvement to another level.

“He originally asked me how many horses it would take for me to go out on my own,” recalls Bauer. “I was unsure of a number. So then he said, 'Well, what about a private job? Just you and me?' And I said, 'I'm ready to go today.'”

“And we did terribly,” declares Rigney with a laugh. “So then I'm getting phone calls from all these different trainers, like, 'Hey, why don't you drop Phil?' And I was like, 'If I'm not with Philip, I'm not going to be in this game.' People didn't really quite understand, at first, but after a couple of years people stopped calling me. Because it's us doing this together. I get to be part of this process, I get to do the day-to-day. We talk all the time. We're like a married couple. We're always together, and we always support each other.”

Xigera | Sarah Andrew

And now, with the stock upgraded by Moynihan, it's all coming together. In 2023, Bauer has saddled 21 winners from just 89 starters–doubling his strike-rate from just two years ago. There are green shoots everywhere. A couple of weeks ago Twirling Good Time (Twirling Candy), a $250,000 Keeneland September yearling, was named a 'TDN Rising Star' for her stylish debut in a sprint maiden at Churchill Downs. Just three days previously Gorilla Trek (Curlin), homebred with Denali and Valli Rose Equine, also opened his account in Louisville; while only a day before that, Buchu herself had broken her maiden on a card that also featured a second stakes success, by six lengths, for the sophomore Xigera (Nyquist). That performance earned Xigera a 97 Beyer, one of the three fastest of the year among 3-year-old fillies, and helped Rigney racing to a share of the owner's title at the September meet.

“I knew Phil was a good trainer from the very beginning,” Rigney says proudly. “It's the way he takes care of horses. But it's also about the way we take care of people. The people at the barn are very important to us. We hire the best that we possibly can, and treat them the best we possibly can. So what's happening now, these are the most fun times.

“Some of these horses we get so close to, it all becomes very personal. Like a family experience. I have to worry about Philip a lot more than he has to worry about me! He gets all upset if a horse runs like Xigera did at the Breeders' Cup last year. I was like, 'It's okay, it's okay.' Most owners don't have to deal with this! But if things don't work out, we never look back.”

No need to do that, anyhow, with so much to look forward to.

“There's been an overall feeling, the last three years, that you could feel it coming,” Bauer agrees. “Just when you get introduced to the new ones coming in, when you breeze the horses, there's just so much more quality. It's such a difference. These horses are extremely talented athletes. A lot of times, you just have to keep out of their way.”

And, given how much their patron loves action, the program's evolution since Moynihan came aboard makes a lot of sense. With so much more quality now, plus a breeding division, there's seldom a dull moment. When they go to the sales these days, for instance, Rigney will be selling as well as buying. Buchu's dam Flowering Peach–aptly enough, Buchu is the flavoring agent for peach–already looks an extremely commercial proposition. She had an Uncle Mo filly this spring and is now in foal to Golden Pal.

Best of all, these episodic excitements all aggregate to something bigger. “The thing is that we're looking at it really long term,” Rigney emphasizes. “Even in our bad years, we've done better each year, and that was what I wanted. You do get used to being knocked down in this game, and that doesn't really bother me. It's a tough sport. There's a lot of people here who want to win just as badly as we do. And so I'm okay with that. But when we do win a big race, then it's just huge. We're so excited.”

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The bay filly is out fo SP Appeal to the Win (Successful Appeal), who is a half-sib to MSW Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) and the dams of GII Bourbon S. hero Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief) and GI Whitney H. champ White Abarrio (Race Day). Under Just for Fun's third dam, we find the dam of MGSW Pee Wee Reese (Tribal Rule).

Also making her debut is Lahar Blockade (Uncle Mo) for trainer Phi D'Amato. The bay filly went for $450,000 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale to Joey Platts and Volcanic Racing. TJCIS PPS

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#6 Catching Freedom makes his debut a winning one in R4 under the Twin Spires for trainer @bradcoxracing with @flothejock aboard!

The 2-year-old colt is by @WinStarFarm stallion Constitution.

#TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/BdxEZHaI0X

— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) October 1, 2023

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Also debuting here is Track Phantom (Quality Road), another alum from that same sale who went for $500,000 to L and N Racing, Clark Brewster, and Jerry Caroom, with breeder Breeze Easy retaining a share. Out of GII Lexus Raven Run S. heroine Miss Sunset (Into Mischief), the Steve Asmussen trainee's yearling half-sister by Curlin just sold at Keeneland September for $1.1 million to Lauren Carlisle. TJCIS PPS

4th-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 2:13 p.m.
Another Sunday Churchill maiden race under the same conditions includes Catching Freedom (Constitution). The $575,000 Keeneland September purchase bred by WinStar Farm, bought by Albaugh Family Stables, and trained by Brad Cox is out of GISP Catch My Drift (Pioneerof the Nile), who also produced SP Strava (Into Mischief) and GIII Peter Pan S. runner-up Bishops Bay (Uncle Mo).

Making the post just to his outside, we find Tis Charming (Omaha Beach). The dark bay colt trained by Ken McPeek who sold for $250,000 during Keeneland September is out of Derby Eve (Tiznow), who is a full-sister to GI Travers S. victor Colonel John.  TJCIS PPS

9th-BAQ, $90K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:15 p.m.
Finally, over at rain-soaked Aqueduct, Spendalot (More Than Ready) will debut for CHP Racing. The Chad Brown trainee initially went for $240,000 to Cavalier Bloodstock during Keeneland November before selling to agent Mike Ryan for $650,000 in the same ring as a yearling. The gray filly is a full-sister to GII Wonder Again S. winner Consumer Spending. TJCIS PPS

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“Coming into this year, we had to have a little bit of caution just because of the economic climate and some negativity in the sport,” admitted Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy. “I think we have to be extremely happy with the way the sale has gone. I know we go on about the energy and the enthusiasm, but I think it was actually amplified this year. It was great to see the pavilion packed, especially on the first day. The biggest issue we had was a lack of seating, which I don't think we've had in the past very often. I think the sellers felt very encouraged by the traffic, by the amount of vetting that they had before the sale. So overall, I think the table was set. The numbers were very similar to last year–which was a record year–so we've got to be very pleased.”

At the close of business Saturday, 2,754 yearlings had grossed $394,127,900, third highest in sale history. The average of $143,111 just ticked up from last year's record-setting figure of $142,429, while the median of $67,000 was down 4.29% from last year's record of $70,000. The buy-back rate was 20.22%. It was 18.24% last year.

Additionally, 130 horses that did not meet their reserve price in the ring were sold privately for a total of $13,927,000 to push total gross sales to $408,054,900 as of the close of the Sept. 23 session.

The September gross topped $400 million for the first time in 2022 when 2,847 horses sold for $405,495,700.

Thirty horses topped $1 million this year, including the $3-million sale-topping son of Into Mischief purchased by the partnership of Chuck Sonson, Woodford and West Point Thoroughbreds. That matches the number to hit that threshold from 2022 and doubled the number from the 2021 auction. There were  168 horses who sold for $500,000 or more this year, compared to 162 in 2022.

“The 30 seven-figure horses in Books 1 and 2 was the same as last year and we've actually exceeded the number of $500,000 sales compared to last year,” said Keeneland Director of Sales Operations Cormac Breathnach. “It's been a very healthy market with a lot of participation from many countries and many domestic buyers.”

Depth in the Buying Bench

The Keeneland September sale attracted another deep and diverse buying bench with strong domestic participation bolstered by a wide array of international buyers.

“One day, the top 15 horses were from 13 different entities and most of those were domestic,” Lacy said of the buying bench. “There were some international buyers that were participating at the high level as well and they were critically important and always have been in the market.”

The stallion-making partnership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing and Madaket Stables was the auction's leading buyer, acquiring 20 yearlings for $12,590,000. A year ago, the partnership was the second leading buyer with 21 purchased for $12,825,000.

Mike Repole's Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables partnered up to be last year's leading buyer, with 31 purchased for $12,840,000. While the two operations did not purchase together this year, Repole was the auction's second leading buyer with 35 yearlings purchased for $11,835,000. He purchased a further eight horses in partnership with Spendthrift for $4.185 million.

Alone or in various partnership, St. Elias bought 12 head for $4.645 million.

“You see an emphasis on partnerships and syndicates,” Lacy said. “I think with the purse structure right now and the possibility to have a lot of fun and a return on your investment, it makes a lot of sense for people spending considerable amounts of money. Mike Repole has been a critical part of that and with one or two horses, he has paid for the whole package. So this makes sense. It's playing at the big table, but again it pays off in the long run.”

The domestic buying bench at the top end also included Jim and Dana Bernhard, who purchased the historic Pin Oak Stud last year and recently added land from the former Adena Springs. The Bernhards acquired 19 yearlings for $8,835,000. Newcomer John Stewart also made a splash at the auction, purchasing 13 head–including a $2.5-million filly by Uncle Mo–for $8,425,000, while Robert Clay's Grandview Equine purchased nine yearlings for $3,530,000.

“I think purse structure is really what's promoting, or permitting, the domestic buyers to be so strong,” Breathnach said. “We had tremendous international participation at this sale, but they were evident on the grounds at some points more than on the results sheets because the American buyer base is very powerful right now. The vast majority of the top 20, 30, 40 yearlings sold in this sale are staying in the U.S., even the ones purchased by Sheikha Hissa.”

The Shadwell stable of the late Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum was largely absent from the September sales results in recent years, but made a big return this year with his daughter, Sheikha Hissa on the grounds at Keeneland. The operation purchased the session topper on the sale's first day, going to $2.3 million for a filly by Into Mischief. It also acquired a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro for $1.1 million. In all, Shadwell purchased four yearlings for $4,850,000.

“It was great to see Sheikha Hissa return to the market here at Keeneland,” Breathnach said. “That was really rewarding for us that she was here and she had a great time. That's important to us in terms of the future of the game here and the international market as well.”

Strength Follows Strength

While Keeneland's elite Books 1 and 2 attracted plenty of competitive bidding, there was concern demand might drop off in the auction's later books, but the results remained strong.

“We were more concerned about the last book or two,” Lacy said. “The conversations we had with a lot of potential buyers during the summer on our travels, whether it was domestic or international, they were very much engaged with coming to Keeneland. So I think we felt pretty confident that [demand] would go to Book 4, but we are incredibly happy with the way Book 5 started off and the clearance rate. [Friday] we had a clearance rate of almost 90%, which I think has got to be very positive from the perspective of breeders who are able to get their horses moved on into the system and they can reinvest in the next crop.”

Phil Hager signed for 18 yearlings for $2,507,000 in the name of his Taproot Bloodstock and he was involved in the purchase of several other head during the 12-day auction.

“Going into the sale, I was expecting the first week was going to be really tough to buy and then it would drop of pretty significantly shortly after that,” Hager said. “And I felt like it was definitely tough that first week, but there was pretty spirited bidding all the way through, really. Those first few days were really tough, but after that, I felt like we started to get a few more bought. It seemed like the transition to the second week, there was one day that felt like it was light and then it picked right back up again and got pretty active. It was a little stronger at the end than I thought it would be.”

Still, Hager said Keeneland's emphasis on putting strong physicals up front in the sale may have led to some bargains early on.

“I thought Book 1 was really strong in terms of physicals,” Hager said. “You could tell that Keeneland was trying to put some of the better physicals into Book 1 and there were maybe some horses in Book 1 that could have brought more if they were in Book 2 or 3. And I felt like there were some good opportunities there, but sometimes it's hard to talk owners into looking into Book 1 because you get used to vetting them and then getting blown out of the water. But just looking back on it, it seems like maybe there were a few opportunities–and I'm not talking under $100,000, it was the $200,000 to $400,000–but maybe horses that were decently bought in those first two days.”

He continued, “If you wanted a really good physical and some pedigree, then, yes, it did cost a lot. At times probably more than you would have thought going in. Luckily, a few of my clients were willing to pay a little more to get that horse. There were a few that we bought that I thought could have brought more. But overall, I thought it was pretty fair.”

Finding Value in Fillies

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners was active in the September market, purchasing–alone or in partnership–18 yearlings for $5,385,000.

“It's a very healthy market,” said Eclipse's Aron Wellman. “It has been for several years, especially in the upper echelon of the market, which is where we try to play. There has been no clearly defined middle market for quite some time, but we do our best to try to seek out value and carve out a middle market of our own, so to speak.”

With the current proliferation of colt-buying partnerships, Eclipse Thoroughbreds has sought to find value in buying fillies–just five of its September yearlings were colts.

“It's a strategy that has proven fortuitous for our program and our partners,” Wellman said. “There is just such an insatiable appetite for what buyers perceive to be stallion prospects and the premium being paid for those individuals that sometimes when we are able to place more of an emphasis on fillies, we feel as though we get a little bit better value for our money.”

Eclipse did purchase a colt by Into Mischief for $850,000 and a son of Good Magic for $725,000.

“Those were two our swinging for the fences type plays and then after that we were back in our sweet spot, back in the $150,000-$250,000 range,” Wellman said.

Wellman sees the buying power of the colt partnerships expanding into even later sessions.

“The conglomerates that have been put together to purchase high-profile colts with stallion physique and pedigree have made that a very competitive niche market that is expanding,” he said. “You are seeing guys in sessions six and seven paying high six figures for colts right now. So it's not confined to Book 1 or even Books 2 or 3. When there is that perception that there is a potential stallion prospect, with those traits and characteristics, there is no ceiling as to what those horses might bring.”

Wellman, sounding like a man just coming out of war, said the competition ran straight through the sale.

“We shopped all of the way through Book 5,” he said. “There is an incredible buying bench headed up by great bloodstock agents right now and I think they are supported by fantastic capital–just when you think the money is going to run dry, there is no such as thing as sneaking one past anyone anymore. There is such an incredible desire for owners to have horses that they envision being capable of competing at the highest level. So they are willing to pay premiums if they believe those horses possess those tools. And you've got to go into the pavilion every time thinking you are going to war. There is no letting down at any point in this sale. It's a war, it's a marathon, it's a battle of attrition. And you've got to be equally mentally and physically focused because it is challenging on every front. You go into battle mode for a couple of weeks and you hope to come out with as many healthy soldiers as you can find.”

Format Formally a Success

For the third year in a row, the Keeneland September sale was presented with two-session Books 1 and 2, followed by a dark day. Sales officials continued to be pleased with the results of the format.

“When we start breaking the $400-million mark two years in a row, I think that illustrates stability,” Lacy said. “The one thing our buyers and our clients want is consistency. They want familiarity. We put our necks on the line with this format, but it was something that needed to happen. I think the consignors and the breeders are starting to understand what we are trying to do and what we are achieving. So we have a huge amount of buy-in right now. I think we are seeing that stability in the numbers. Even in some challenging economic times, we are still able to maintain some really, really good numbers.”

Demand at the top of the market during week one fueled gross sales of $234 million, on par with last year's $236 million for the corresponding period. The average price of $367,818 rose 3.8% while the median climbed 9% to $300,000.

“With a consistent format and with the focus on getting good physicals into the early books, we feel like we have a formula that works with the buyer base and that's an important part of the equation,” Breathnach said. “If we have approximately 400 in Book 1 and 700 in Book 2, that format allows us to have a critical mass of horses on the grounds at effectively the same time. So we can start at 1 p.m. with 200 horses a session in Book 1 and we can start at 11 a.m. in Book 2 and those are critical extra hours in the morning for the buyers to get their vet work done and get second looks and to stay ahead in looking at horses in the upcoming sessions. When we have the dark day, it gives people that opportunity to keep pace with the sale.”

The push of quality to the front of the auction has produced the desired results, according to Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency.

“Keeneland has done a good job in Book 1 of getting better physical horses pushed forward, and the market responded to that,” said Taylor. “We sold horses in Book 1 for a lot of money by freshman sires and by non-traditional Book 1 sires. Keeneland's ongoing push to get breeders and consignors to support Book 1 with really good physicals by a diverse group of stallions is paying dividends.”

Plenty of Mischief at Keeneland September

Of the 30 horses to bring seven figures during the September sale, 12 were by Into Mischief and five were by Uncle Mo. The two stallions were responsible for nine of the auction's top 10 prices. Gun Runner had three million-dollar sales, Not This Time, Curlin and Tapit had two each and Constitution, Medaglia d'Oro, McKinzie and Volatile one.

Into Mischief was the sale's leading sire by average with 53 yearlings averaging $698,019.

While first-crop sires McKinzie and Volatile produced million-dollar yearlings at Keeneland, it was Authentic who led all sires in that category by average. The GI Kentucky Derby winner had 67 yearlings sell for an average of $270,358.

Gainesway Leads All Consignors

Gainesway ended Taylor Made Sales Agency's eight-year reign as the September sale's leading consignor. Antony Beck's operation sold 137 yearlings for a gross of $43,573,000. Gainesway got the auction off with a bang, selling nine million-dollar yearlings, and didn't slow down throughout, leading the consignor's list at every session in which they sold horses.

“I would describe it as a lifetime achievement,” Gainesway General Manager Brian Graves said of the title. “I'm just so grateful to our clients for giving us such a quality product to put us in a position to be the leading consignor. We knew we had a really nice physical draft of horses, especially with the addition of Mandy [Pope]'s horses and top pedigrees, and the feedback from Keeneland was very positive. They had asked us to put more horses into Book 1 and move more horses from Book 3 to Book 2, so that was a good sign we had a strong and really deep group of horses. Then the results turned out good.”

Taylor Made was the auction's second-leading consignor with 268 head grossing $39,387,000.

Silent Name Colt Tops Keeneland Finale

A colt by Silent Name (Jpn) (hip 4037) topped the final day of the Keeneland September sale when selling for $185,000 from the partnership of X-Men Racing, Madaket Stable and SF Racing. Consigned by Grovendale Sales, the yearling is out of Holy Cargo (Holy Bull), a half-sister to GI Preakness S. winner Red Bullet (Unbridled). He was bred in Ontario by BHMFR, LLC, which purchased the mare with the colt in utero for $10,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November sale.

Alone or in partnership, X-Men Racing, the Canadian partnership assembled by bloodstock agent Donato Lanni, purchased 13 yearlings for $1.366 million during the 12-day auction.

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Through both sessions of Book 4, Keeneland sold 606 yearlings for $46,078,000. The book average of $76,036 declined 5.0% from last year, while the median dipped 8.3% to $55,000.

During last year's Book 4 section, 609 yearlings sold for $48,726,500. The section's average was $80,011 and the median was $60,000. The book's top price was $600,000, one of seven to sell for $400,000 or over during the two sessions. Just two hit that mark this year.

With just 55 horses reported not sold Tuesday, the session buy-back rate was 15.45%.

Paramount Sales, which sold the session topper, was the session's leading consignor with 26 head sold for $2,529,000.

“We had a fantastic day,” said Paramount's Pat Costello. “I think we only had three or four RNA's, you can't beat that. It's a great sale, all in all, really. And it's still coming on. I didn't think it would be this strong, but it is.”

The Keeneland September sale continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

Candy Grab for Pin Oak

A colt by Twirling Candy (hip 2555) was a clear standout Tuesday at Keeneland, attracting a host of admirers from around the grounds before selling for $925,000 to Jim and Dana Bernhard's Pin Oak Stud. The operation has already enjoyed top-level success with a son of Twirling Candy's sire, Candy Ride (Arg).

“He's a big two-turn looking Twirling Candy with a standout physical,” the Bernhards' advisor Matt Weinmann said of th yearling's appeal. “We've had good luck with the Candy Ride line so far in Geaux Rocket Ride and we want to find 10 more just like him. This colt fits that bill and we're thrilled to have him.”

Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) was one of the Bernhards' first Thoroughbred purchases when they acquired the colt for $350,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton July Sale. He won this year's GI Haskell S. and was second in the GI Pacific Classic.

Bred by Alice Bramford and Highfield Investment Group, hip 2555 is out of Hiking (First Defence) and he was consigned by Paramount Sales.

“Our expectations were high for him,” said Paramount's Pat Costello. “He was a nice individual. He passed everybody and most of the grounds were on him. We were delighted for the breeders and delighted Pin Oak got him.”

Of the colt's final price tag, Costello said with a laugh, “That was on the upper side of our expectations, being honest.”

Also Tuesday, Pin Oak purchased a colt by Oscar Performance (hip 2481) for $105,000. Through eight sessions, the operation has acquired 19 yearlings for $8,835,000.

Belladonna Stays Busy at Keeneland

Trainer Cherie DeVaux continued to add yearlings to the Belladonna Racing partnership into Book 4 at Keeneland, purchasing the top-priced filly of Tuesday's session when going to $275,000 to acquire a daughter of Not This Time (hip 2631)  from the Paramount Sales consignment.

“David [Ingordo] goes out and scouts at the farms,” DeVaux said. “And he had seen this filly out prior to the sale last month and marked her down as a horse to keep an eye on. He waited for her today.”

Also Tuesday, the partnership purchased a colt by Twirling Candy (hip 2159) from Warrendale Sales for $240,000 and a son of Collected (hip 2593) for $80,000.

“You hope it gets more reasonable,” DeVaux said of the market as the Keeneland sale moved into its second week. “But these days, the way the sales have been throughout the last two years, it's been really strong throughout and you have to buy when there is a horse that you like that fits whatever your parameters are. If you try to wait to get more in the later books, it doesn't necessarily translate.”

Through eight sessions, Belladonna has now purchased 18 yearlings for $4,917,000. Leading the way was a Quality Road half-brother to GI Pacific Classic winner Arabian Lion (Uncle Mo) (hip 41) acquired for $500,000 during last Monday's opening session of the auction.

“We are just trying to get the best athlete with some pedigree for what we pay,” said DeVaux. “Some we knew we would have to stretch on, we know, but we were really just trying to stay where we evaluated them.”

Belladonna was represented last season by graded-stakes performers Coastana (Kitten's Joy), third in the GIII Fasig-Tipton Waya S. and the GII Flower Bowl S., and Bout Time (Not This Time), who won the Goldwood S.

“We started out with only getting fillies for the first four years just because that was less risk with having some residual value,” DeVaux said of the evolution of the partnership. “We introduced colts in the last couple of years buying predominately from the yearling sales instead of the 2-year-old sales. And it's gotten a lot bigger. The first group had six and it had four the third year, it continues to evolve in the numbers and the budget.”

The sixth edition of the partnership will continue its shopping next spring.

“We still have some [of the budget] left for the 2-year-old sales,” DeVaux said. “The budget really isn't that much different from last year, it's just our average per horse is less this year than it was last year.”

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