'He was a fantastic individual and looked the part' - $725,000 colt tops session

Selling from Book 3 concluded on Sunday at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, when a son of Spendthrift freshman sire Audible took top honours after realising $725,000 from Flurry Racing Stables, with agent Clay Scherer signing the sales ticket.

The day consisted of steady trade as a new wave of buyers shuffled in from the previous Books 1 and 2, eager to purchase prospects for their racing and pinhooking operations.

The sixth session finished with 286 of the 366 horses on offer changing hands for gross receipts of $40,172,000. An average price of $140,462 and a median of $110,000 was recorded. Eighty individuals failed to meet their reserve to represent an RNA rate of 21.9 per cent.

Just five hips from the end of the day on Sunday, Scherer stepped into the pavilion to go to bat for the Audible colt consigned as Hip 1952 by Paramount Sales. He was purchased for $725,000 for Flurry Racing Stables.

"He was a fantastic individual and he looked the part," said Scherer. "Into Mischief [sire of Audible] has been a great sire, and I think he will be a good sire of sires."

The colt was bred in Kentucky by Versatile Thoroughbreds, who saw him through the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, where he sold for $160,000 to Big Bear Bloodstock.

The April-born colt is out of the Kafwain mare Oh Boo Hoo, a winner, and from the family of stakes winner Haitian Vacation, producer of Grade 1-placed Palacio De Amor and Island Hop, a stakes-placed performer.

The price was no surprise to Scherer, who said: "The good ones will bring a premium, and he certainly looked like he could be one of the best ones."

Paramount Sales had a banner day. Including the sale-topping colt it sold 24 horses for gross receipts of $4,404,000 at an average of $183,500, to be the session's leading consignor.

Kerry Cauthen's Four Star Sales closed the sixth session out after selling 20 yearlings for gross receipts of $3,439,000 at an average price of $171,950 to be the second-leading consignor by gross.

"I don't think you could look at this day, the book, or the sale and not say that this was an outstanding sale and this was a terrific sale day," said Cauthen.

"It seems very buoyant, and I think we had a lot of good horses that fit a lot of people from pinhookers to racing end users. I think it was just that kind of day. It was fast and furious, and as buyers get shut out or fail to buy horses, they start to look at the last day of the book, and they know that the next group is a level down, so they get aggressive, and it builds up.

"It's definitely above expectations. I think it's been fantastic, and we have many happy buyers and many happy sellers."

Local bloodstock agent Mike Ryan, purchasing on behalf of various clients, secured seven individuals for a total of $1,285,000 to be the session six leading buyer at an average price of $214,167. He also purchased Hip 1950, a colt by West Coast, for $300,000 as LRE and JEH Racing/Mike Ryan, agent.

Cumulatively over the first six days of the sale, 1,299 horses were sold of the 1,635 through the ring for gross receipts of $336,666,000. An average price of $259,173 and a median of $200,000 was recorded. There were 336 horses who failed to meet their reserve to represent an RNA rate of 20.6 per cent.

Selling from Book 4 begins on Monday.

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