The 2013 format will be as follows:
Week 1 (Book 1) — Monday-Thursday; sessions begin at 12 p.m. (EDT) daily.
Friday — The traditional “dark day” when no sale will be conducted.
Weekend (Book 2) — Saturday-Sunday; sessions begin at 10 a.m.
Week 2 (Books 3-5) — September 16-21; sessions begin at 10 a.m. |
“We’ve been adjusting the format for the last couple of years to move with
the market,” Keeneland Director of Sales Geoffrey Russell said. “We feel this
new format will work very, very well.
“Starting the Book 1 sessions at noon as opposed to 11 a.m. last year gives
buyers plenty of time to move through the barns in a manageable way to see all
the horses before the sale starts and gives consignors plenty of opportunity to
sell their horses,” he added.
Russell described how 3,908 yearlings found their spots in the marathon sale.
The process began on May 1, the deadline to enter the sale.
“Then we take a selection of the horses that were entered and we physically
evaluate them,” Russell said.
Soon after the Kentucky Derby until July 4, Keeneland’s two inspection teams
traveled extensively to look at about 2,200 yearlings.
“With input from our consignors and the information of the physical
evaluation notes that we have and our own internal computer system, we then
graded the horses and placed them where we thought they will best sell,” said
Russell, who spends hours studying the information to ensure the order in which
the horses are presented is the most effective.
“The computer system gives you the guide, then you also have the physical
component, which can change anything,” he added.
For each book, the dams of the yearlings were placed in alphabetical order,
and a letter was randomly selected to determine which letter will appear first
in the catalog. Therefore, Hip No. 1 is out of Fairy Princess. The final horse
in Book 1 is out of Eyes On Eddy.
Russell called the yearlings in this year’s sale “a solid group of horses.”
Oxbow and Palace Malice recorded classic wins in the 2013 Preakness and
To date in 2013, 91 September Sale graduates have won graded or group stakes,
“The September Sale is the one sale that shapes the sport,” Keeneland Vice
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Yearlings representing 239 of the world’s leading sires have been cataloged,
among them being Arch, Awesome Again, Curlin, Distorted Humor, Duke of
Marmalade, Dynaformer, Elusive Quality, Fastnet Rock, Galileo, Ghostzapper,
Giant’s Causeway, Hard Spun, Harlan’s Holiday, Henrythenavigator, High
Chaparral, Iffraaj, Indian Charlie, Invincible Spirit, Kitten’s Joy, Lemon Drop
Kid, Majestic Warrior, Malibu Moon, Medaglia d’Oro, Midnight Lute, More Than
Ready, Pulpit, Raven’s Pass, Scat Daddy, Sea The Stars, Sky Mesa, Speightstown,
Stormy Atlantic, Street Cry, Street Sense, Tale of the Cat, Tapit, Tiznow,
Unbridled’s Song and War Front.
Also cataloged are yearlings by such exciting freshman stallions as Blame,
Desert Party, Discreetly Mine, Eskendereya, Lookin at Lucky, Majesticperfection,
Makfi, Munnings, Quality Road, Super Saver, Tale of Ekati and Warrior’s Reward.
Racing fans can follow the September Sale news via Facebook and Twitter.
Keeneland will provide a live stream of the sale on its website, keeneland.com,
which also will feature barn notes, session updates and press releases.
Keeneland provides a number of innovative tools that offer convenience,
facilitate the sales process and deliver up-to-the-minute information to
clients and the media.
Keeneland Pedigree offers expansive online catalog pages for horses listed in
Book 1, featuring links to race records, charts and race replays, and free daily
updates. The Consignor Portfolio enables clients to manage their consignment
information online with the ability to update all contact and account
information; submit and track paperwork; receive alerts about horses before,
during and after sale; and print account summaries and statements on demand.
Keeneland Portfolio allows buyers to maximize valuable information about horses
cataloged and sold at Keeneland. This tool assists with managing and updating
personal account information; creating “short lists” of horses for each sale and
establishing alerts for those horses; and accessing current and historical
account and sale information.
By Sunday morning, activity at the barns indicated that the yearlings were
attracting a lot of interest.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Gabriel Duignan of Paramount Sales said. “It
started the minute we started showing Friday morning and hasn’t let up. There’s
a great buzz around the place.”
“We’ve got great action,” said Michael Hernon, director of sales for
Gainesway. “The amalgamation of Book 1 into Book 2 is a very progressive move.
People in past years were slightly wavering away from Book 1. Now that they’re
together, it’s going to raise the market and there’s going to be a very good
clearance rate. I would say it’s a great move by Keeneland. We’re delighted to
be here. This is the super market of horse sales.”
“We’ve had great action at the barns,” John Sikura of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm
said. “We’ve showed a lot of horses. Everybody seems positive and encouraged and
enthusiastic to buy horses. You get a sense that the interest is deeper and more
widespread than it’s been in the past several years.”
“They’re looking at them (yearlings), so everybody’s pretty optimistic,”
Denali Stud’s Craig Bandoroff said. “You just gotta stay level-headed. Everybody
thinks (the sale is) going to be good; all indications are it’s going to be
good. The world’s in a better place. I think the horse business is in a better
place.”
Russell picked up on the same vibe.
“There’s a great air of anticipation and excitement here,” Russell said.
“We’re just looking forward to getting it started.”