By Sarah Mace
The middle books of Keeneland’s 2023 September Sale are seeing improved clearance rates for New York-bred yearlings. In Book 4, which spanned Sessions 7 and 8 on Monday and Tuesday, September 18-19, all six individuals who were offered successfully changed hands. While New York-breds had posted a 37.5% RNA rate at the end of Book 1, by the conclusion of Book 4 the number has moderated to a much more palatable 23.3%.
To recap, of 30 offered, 23 New York-breds have sold at Keeneland through the first four books of the auction, for total sales of $3,607,000. The New York-bred yearling average stands at a robust $156,826, while the group is still posting a six-figure median price of $100,000. The filly and colt toppers both sold in Monday’s Session 7.
The top New York-bred seller of Book 4 was Hip 2102, a bay filly from the initial crop of Honor A. P. Bred by Arindel, she was purchased by Silverton Hill LLC for $80,000 from the consignment of Lane’s End, Agent. An early foal, born on January 28, 2022 at Irish Hill Century Farm in Stillwater, the Honor A. P. filly is out of First Salute, a Kentucky-bred winner by Midshipman. The youngster sold previously as a weanling to Upper Mill Stable for $45,000 at the 2022 Keeneland November Breeding sale.
Arindel purchased First Salute in foal at the 2021 Keeneland November Breeding Sale for $27,000. Her second foal, 4-year-old gelding Never Satisfied by Exaggerator, is a three-time winner who has earned $98,925 to date. First Salute is also a half-sister to two stakes performers (Choice Play and Miss Luann) and a pair of stakes producers (Miss Luann and Catch My Eye). Half-sister Miss Luann is the dam of Group 3 winner Nomorerichblondes and stakes winner Sharp Winner. Catch My Eye is the dam of Grade 1 winner Maxim Rate.
The filly’s second dam is winner Sharp Eyes, by Storm Cat, and her third dam is Gaelic Bird (FR), a multiple Group winner in France and multiple stakes producer. Her gelding Celtic Celeb is a Group winner and 3-year-old highweight in France, and Gaelic Queen is a stakes winner and Group performer in Ireland.
In 2023, Sharp Eyes produced a filly by New York sire Waiting, who stands at Irish Hill & Dutchess Views Stallions, and was bred back to the same sire this year.
The top New York-bred male of Book 4 was Hip 2334, a bay colt by top-10 second-crop sire Collected whose immediate family is rich in black type. Bred by Fred W. Hertrich III & John D. Fielding, the sale colt was foaled at Waldorf Farm in North Chatham on February 4, 2022 and sold to Parrish Farms for $52,000 from the consignment of Taylor Made Sales Agency, Agent LVI.
The Collected colt is the second foal out of Supertrend, a winner by Yes It’s True who last changed hands at public auction as a two-year-old, when she sold to Brendan Heeney at OBS March 2016 for $115,000. The colt’s second dam Lakenheath, a multiple Grade 3 winner and $556,066 earner, has been exceptionally successful as a broodmare, producing three stakes horses, seven winners and two stakes producers.
The Truth or Else, a full-sister to Supertrend, is a stakes winner and multiple graded-stakes performer. Supertrend’s half-brother by Proud Citizen, Decorated Soldier, is a multiple stakes winner and graded stakes performer. A half-sister Fighter Wing is a stakes performer and dam of multiple graded winner Glass Ceiling. Ava Pie is the dam of stakes winner and graded stakes performer Forever Liesl and multiple stakes winner Sound Machine. Sedley is dam of graded stakes performer Frontier Market.
With two-thirds of the six books of 2023 Keeneland yearlings complete, the remaining legs of the sale are a pair of Book 5 sessions to take place on Wednesday and Thursday, September 20-21, and two Book 6 sessions on Friday and Saturday, September 22-23.
