Guarded optimism as the best of US breeding goes on offer at Keeneland

As consignors voiced upbeat assessments of their top prospects and buyers jetted into Lexington from many corners of the globe, the world’s largest yearling sale was poised to begin at Keeneland on Monday with high stakes drama.

A half-brother to Triple Crown winner Justify by Pioneerof The Nile, sire of another Triple Crown winner in American Pharoah, headed more than a dozen particularly well-bred youngsters ready to help kick off the first of three Book 1 sessions while catalogued hip 106 from Glennwood Farm.

The anticipation of attendance at the sale by Sheikh Mohammed also fuelled a rather heady optimism, at least for the most impressive of the 569 yearlings entered and still available in Book 1. With only hours prior to the first fall of the gavel, 73 of the Book 1 yearlings had been withdrawn.

“For the top horses, I think it will be a very, very strong market. There are a lot of nice individuals here,” said Clarkland Farm’s Fred Mitchell, breeder and consignor of the highly regarded American Pharoah filly, hip 498, who is a half-sister to champion Beholder, outstanding sire Into Mischief and Grade 1 winner and $3 million Keeneland sale-topping graduate Mendelssohn.

“There’s been good energy around the sale grounds, and you see the right people walking around,” observed Denali Stud vice president Conrad Bandoroff.

“Hopefully there are going to be two big planes parked on the runway over there [at the nearby Lexington airport], and that always helps in raising the level of the sale,” he added, referring to the jets Sheikh Mohammed and his brother, Sheikh Hamdan of Shadwell Farm, often travel in to buy at Keeneland.

Bob Elliston, Keeneland vice president of racing and sales, focused on containing enthusiasm a bit while pointing to many positive factors.

“I’m guardedly optimistic," he said. "The guardedly part is self-imposed - I don’t want to get too high - but I find myself very excited about the prospects for this sale for a couple of reasons.

“One, I know the quality of the offerings our breeders and consignors have brought to this sale and we couldn’t be more thankful of the tremendous depth that is in front of us.

“And secondly, I know folks are flying in here from all over the world because they are aware of that quality in the catalogue and they’re also aware that horses that come out of this sale, year after year after year, dominate Graded and Group stakes across the world."

Keeneland has prepared for this year’s sale by completing the first phase of a five-year programme that will encompass a $10m or more refurbishment of the stable area, with Barns 11 through 19 and surrounding areas having received upgrades including new roofing.

“A sale of this kind, the most influential worldwide, deserves to have facilities that are commensurate with that quality," Elliston said. "We’ve made dramatic changes through one section of our barns and they’re now beautiful. They’re the kind of quality facilities that equates to the quality of the offerings that are being shown there. We’re very proud of that.”

Keeneland also has made another in a series of recent changes to the Book 1 format, cutting the sessions from four to three. Last year, there were 989 yearlings in a four-session Book 1.

“It was by design,” Elliston said. “What we wanted to do, with the incredible quality we have in Book 1, is give buyers time to sufficiently evaluate that stock and that’s why we have fewer there. The 569 that were entered are of exceptional quality and were consistently applied across all three sessions of that book.”

Elliston pointed out that 231 different sires are represented in the entire September catalogue, with global leaders Dubawi, Galileo, Tapit, War Front and Curlin among those represented.

Prominent stallions with first-crop yearlings include European champion Air Force Blue, international star Flintshire, French classic winner The Gurkha, American champions California Chrome, Nyquist and Runhappy, Australian champion Vancouver, American Classic winner Exaggerator and versatile Grade 1 winners Frosted and Mshawish.

On the other end of the spectrum, the late Giant’s Causeway is represented by nine members of his last full crop in the catalogue, although three of those had been withdrawn up to Sunday.

Intriguingly, 18 yearlings bred by Coolmore and partners have been entered in Book 1 while spread among nine consignors. That group includes some of the most high-profile individuals in the select sessions such as hip 124, a War Front brother to Group 1 winner and Irish champion Lancaster Bomber and a half-brother to top miler Excelebration.

Also bred by Coolmore and partners are hip 159, an Uncle Mo filly out of Grade 1 winner Together, a three-parts sister to dual Group 1 winner Jan Vermeer; hip 517, a War Front colt out of a Group 3-winning sister to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Found; hip 530, a War Front colt out of Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Marvellous, a sister to European champion Gleneagles, and hip 531, an American Pharoah half-brother to European champion Peeping Fawn from the female family that has produced American Classic winners War Of Will, Rags To Riches and Jazil.

Looking over some of these offerings were buyers from Europe, Japan and Australia, as well as North America, leading up to the first of the overall sale’s 13 sessions.

“Let me put it this way: we all kind of have a roster of the largest buyers on a worldwide basis, and I’m struggling to cite for you somebody that we're not expecting here,” Elliston said.

“We always welcome His Highness Sheikh Mohammed. It’s an honour to have him on our grounds, if his schedule permits; we feel fortunate that he’s coming.

"And we know that our breeders and consignors have tremendous stock that are worthy of the kind of shopping he enjoys doing.”

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